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> Passion is what you can't not do ... That's the thing I've never understood about following your passion. If you "can't not do" it, once people figure that

by femto 11y ago

> Passion is what you can't not do ... That's the thing I've never understood about following your passion. If you "can't not do" it, once people figure that out they will stop paying you, secure in the knowledge that you will keep doing it anyway. Perhaps the secret to wealth is that your passion has to be money?

deepnet 11y ago
Unless they want someone to do the passionate thing more and better in which case they will support you - the Patreon / fanbase model. Or the passion is limited unique items (artworks) in which case they will buy it - if you become popular and supply is limited this can be self reinforcing like fine-art as investment. Or they want the passionate person to work for them, so Google hire a passionate programmer so they can patent their work - knowing that the passionate programmer will improve in their off-time. Or game companies who hire the young and passionate as they know they are invested in the end product and are less likely to bail if times are tough or they get a better offer (this can be exploitative and is closer to what you suggested). Quite often things that become valuable are because people perceive qualities such as passion as 'honesty' in art and work this has value. If people perceive someone is just in it for the money then they may less inclined to invest in their development as they could stop at any time and somehow the end-product seems less honest, a passionate person will do the best they possible can, some-one in it for the money will do just enough to get paid (hyperbole but it can be a perception). True passion can be a very valuable quality - but it can also as you suggest be a crippling impediment to success, some are too passionate and unwilling to compromise so die poor ( e.g. Vincent van Gogh).
balabaster 11y ago
You confuse "can't not doing it" with "can't not doing it for you"... There's many things that make me who I am, things I can't not do, but if you're not going to pay me to do them, I will do them for myself and sell them to someone who will pay for them, or I will go do those things for someone who will pay for them. I don't disagree with the secret to wealth being (or at least partly being) money though... those that don't care about the money are more likely not to be destined to have more than they need to provide what is important to them.
chipsy 11y ago
If you're in enough demand you won't be able to work for free for everyone, and then you can start naming your price. But it's still dependent on "your passion" being in demand in that sense, which is a fragile thing. There's a lot of demand for some musicians, and almost none for most of them.
egypturnash 11y ago
The secret is that if people pay you to do this thing you can't not do, you'll be able to do more of it. For instance: I can't not draw comics. I just finished spending four and a half years on a graphic novel. I like to draw them and I seem to be pretty decent at them if the reactions I've been getting are any guide. But I have to pay rent. And power, and internet. And pay for my subscription to Adobe's Creative Suite, and upgrade my computer now and then. If nobody's paying me to draw my comics, I'm going to need to find a way to pay those bills anyway. If I'm not lucky enough to have someone else pay them for me, then I need to get a job. There are only so many hours in a day. A job will take up a lot of them. And I'll have to wedge tiny bits of making comics in the edges of what's left. I'll need to deal with a commute, and with spending all my energy at work, and just wanting to come home and sleep instead of draw. So I draw my comics, put them out for free, and put a tip jar out with them. If enough people start throwing money in that tip jar on a regular basis, I can start cutting back on my day job. Eventually I can get to a point where I'm able to pay all my bills from comics, and don't need to worry about taking time from them to keep a roof over my head. I can spend my entire workday thinking about making my comics and drawing them, and get a lot more pages out a lot faster. A lot of my fans are taking advantage of the fact that I'll draw comics anyway. But a subset of my fans have enough money to throw a few bucks my way and help ensure that I can make a lot more of the comics they like. Does that make sense?
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
snowwrestler 11y ago
Then their competitor will come and offer you a little bit of money so you'll deliver your passion through them instead of your current employer. Then another competitor will offer a bit more than that. Then another will offer a little bit more. Etc, etc, over time--this is how "market rates" come to exist for jobs.

by femto 11y ago

deepnet 11y ago

Unless they want someone to do the passionate thing more and better in which case they will support you - the Patreon / fanbase model. Or the passion is limited unique items (artworks) in which case they will buy it - if you become popular and supply is limited this can be self reinforcing like fine-art as investment. Or they want the passionate person to work for them, so Google hire a passionate programmer so they can patent their work - knowing that the passionate programmer will improve in their off-time. Or game companies who hire the young and passionate as they know they are invested in the end product and are less likely to bail if times are tough or they get a better offer (this can be exploitative and is closer to what you suggested). Quite often things that become valuable are because people perceive qualities such as passion as 'honesty' in art and work this has value. If people perceive someone is just in it for the money then they may less inclined to invest in their development as they could stop at any time and somehow the end-product seems less honest, a passionate person will do the best they possible can, some-one in it for the money will do just enough to get paid (hyperbole but it can be a perception). True passion can be a very valuable quality - but it can also as you suggest be a crippling impediment to success, some are too passionate and unwilling to compromise so die poor ( e.g. Vincent van Gogh).

balabaster 11y ago

You confuse "can't not doing it" with "can't not doing it for you"... There's many things that make me who I am, things I can't not do, but if you're not going to pay me to do them, I will do them for myself and sell them to someone who will pay for them, or I will go do those things for someone who will pay for them. I don't disagree with the secret to wealth being (or at least partly being) money though... those that don't care about the money are more likely not to be destined to have more than they need to provide what is important to them.

chipsy 11y ago

If you're in enough demand you won't be able to work for free for everyone, and then you can start naming your price. But it's still dependent on "your passion" being in demand in that sense, which is a fragile thing. There's a lot of demand for some musicians, and almost none for most of them.

egypturnash 11y ago

The secret is that if people pay you to do this thing you can't not do, you'll be able to do more of it. For instance: I can't not draw comics. I just finished spending four and a half years on a graphic novel. I like to draw them and I seem to be pretty decent at them if the reactions I've been getting are any guide. But I have to pay rent. And power, and internet. And pay for my subscription to Adobe's Creative Suite, and upgrade my computer now and then. If nobody's paying me to draw my comics, I'm going to need to find a way to pay those bills anyway. If I'm not lucky enough to have someone else pay them for me, then I need to get a job. There are only so many hours in a day. A job will take up a lot of them. And I'll have to wedge tiny bits of making comics in the edges of what's left. I'll need to deal with a commute, and with spending all my energy at work, and just wanting to come home and sleep instead of draw. So I draw my comics, put them out for free, and put a tip jar out with them. If enough people start throwing money in that tip jar on a regular basis, I can start cutting back on my day job. Eventually I can get to a point where I'm able to pay all my bills from comics, and don't need to worry about taking time from them to keep a roof over my head. I can spend my entire workday thinking about making my comics and drawing them, and get a lot more pages out a lot faster. A lot of my fans are taking advantage of the fact that I'll draw comics anyway. But a subset of my fans have enough money to throw a few bucks my way and help ensure that I can make a lot more of the comics they like. Does that make sense?

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

snowwrestler 11y ago

Then their competitor will come and offer you a little bit of money so you'll deliver your passion through them instead of your current employer. Then another competitor will offer a bit more than that. Then another will offer a little bit more. Etc, etc, over time--this is how "market rates" come to exist for jobs.