Passion Paycheck

Nowadays, with how hard it is to get one, I am in appreciation for any check that comes my way. Being a small business owner, I understand the stress and anxiety that can come with finding business and keeping cash flow coming in and not just out.

Do what you love, love what you do and the money will follow? Find work that creates your ultimate fulfillment is what everyone preaches—it is what I coach my clients too discover.  Yet, lets be honest, it isn’t always so easy and making allowances now and then has to happen.

I do what I love and dream of what I think I love. I love what I do. For all my current clients reading this, coaching makes my heart sing. I have a talent for holding accountability, saying things no one else will say, teaching people to be the best leaders they can be and leading behavioral changes. I understand business and how to make money. Helping people create marketing strategies, profit plans, strategic visions and employee strategies—I am good at it and I love it. Managing employees, leading my salespeople and creating alliances is what drive me everyday.  It has been a journey of learning, practice and experience that had made my coaching company one of the best in the country.

My husband and I have built two incredible business’s that allow me to do what I know, what I have passion for and what my incredibly expensive education taught me. Yet, it is that teenagers dream that still holds my attention for what I feel is still left to fulfill.

Writing, journalism, communication. Nothing has fascinated me more than having the talent to express my thoughts into words. As we all know, it is not that easy and takes a talent unlike any other to grasp the attention of a reader, via words. In today’s world where our audience is becoming lazier and lazier in what they are willing to do to be entertained; writing and reading is becoming extinct.

Well, being a super star writer is what I have dreamt of. The great novel, The New Yorker, movie scripts and Saturday Night Live—they all entranced me as something that was the end all be all to what I should do for the rest of my life.

I can remember as a little girl writing stories, entering contests and excited to receive homework that had to do with essays. I started winning contests, awards and receiving exceptional feedback on “how verbose Rachel is”. I became fascinated with everything I could learn from the great authors of the world.

I didn’t go to college for writing. I was much more practical and came out with business degrees and an economic minor. I ensured that I would be able to take care of myself through something practical, yet always hoped that one day I would find my fame through my written words.

As I started my business coaching career, which turned into my very own large business, I tricked myself into thinking I was a writer. I wrote, blogged, did some copy writing and of coursed coached. Thousands of hours have gone into coaching hundreds of clients, which quite frankly is a lot of talking, emailing and hence communicating. Yet, I still felt a need. A need that wasn’t quite fulfilled yet. There was something that still wasn’t complete in being able to say, “I am a writer.”

When my first true opportunity came my way to write for money, I jumped on it. I jumped on it to test myself. Was this it? Was this going to be the world I have always dreamed of? Was my Passion Paycheck going to happen?

When I received that first check, I stared at it for a really long time. It held everything I had been waiting for; fulfillment, passion, love and dreams. It represented a lifetime of hope and longing. I had done it. I had arrived.

When I deposited that Passion Paycheck and started work on the next one, I realized one thing. While it was really exciting to do what I love and get paid for it, it was still hard work. It was still clocking in and clocking out. It was going to the office, working all day and coming home to an eager family who had missed me.

So, while I can say that getting paid for a passion is fulfilling, it isn’t more fulfilling than what truly matters. For me that is family. Seeing my kids grow up and spending time with my husband.

I appreciate that doing what I love needs to be worth the price I am getting paid for it. Discovering what I thought was most fulfilling; lead me to something even more valuable. Discovering your dreams, fulfilling your desires and getting your first Passion Paycheck will not be the end. It will be the beginning to discovering something deeper. Finding what your true passion is—which goes way beyond a paycheck.

When you find yourself challenged to stay accountable to your current venture, remember that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. What you may think your current business is not delivering, maybe isn’t fully meant too—because nothing is meant too. Your passions go way deeper than work; they are represented by your truest of loves. If you haven’t reconnected with your values, passion and purpose recently, maybe it is time. Because your passion paycheck could be the one you hold now.