Should you monetize your passion?

What sparks you? Is there anything that interests you or make you excited?

I’ve written a post about Finding Your Passion and if you’re wondering what’s yours then I encouraged you to read it first.

Done reading?

Now, my next question is, should you monetize your passion?

Some would say, don’t. They say if you mix passion with monetization, you’ll start hating your passion in the long run. That’s sad.

In a way that’s true. Let’s take myself as an example. I realize that blogging is one of my passions. I enjoy writing my thoughts, my experiences, and whatnots. I’ve been writing for years (and even published a book) and I’m not bored with it yet.

During the first few months of the pandemic, I decided to get some freelance writing gig. I was asked to write 1,500 - 2,000 words per day of various topics. I thought it will be easy but I was soooo wrong. I hated it!!!

I love writing but I realized that writing with deadlines and topics I don’t care about is not FUN. And no matter how much I get paid, I knew it wasn’t sustainable for me. So after 1 and half months of that writing gig, I quit.

Another example, growing up, my son keeps on saying he wanted to be a chef. For 11 years or so, that’s what he kept on saying. Since he was 12 years old, he started to cook and bake whatever he likes. Pasta, cookies, cakes, menudo, everything he fancies. I’ll buy the ingredients, he cooks.

Now that he’s 14, he said that although he likes cooking, he doesn’t want to do it everyday. He can’t imagine having his own restaurant or making a living out of cooking. Well, I’m glad he figured it out now and not when he’s in his 2nd year of college.

“LynJoy, are you suggesting then not to mix passion and money?”

Let me say this, burnt out in business is not because you’re monetizing your passion but because you’re doing other things in business that you actually don’t like.

You’re probably obsess with baking and can bake thousand of cookies and cakes in a day. You don’t feel tired nor stress doing what you love so you decided that you’ll start a baking business. Monetize your passion, right?

However, in business, production is just one part of the business. There’s sales and marketing, finance, tax, customer service, and people management. And I doubt if you’re good nor interested to any of these things.

This is when stress kicks in.

The Wealthy Pinay is a passion business for me. How am I doing it then?

I started The Wealthy Pinay because I wanted to share what I know about the law of attraction, money blocks, and money mindset. I would write about these topics non-stop and I was enjoying it.

Then, when I started monetizing, I started to feel bad. Not because it’s wrong (one shouldn’t feel guilty earning when they’re providing value) but because I don’t like social media. I don’t like marketing. I’m a self-confessed introvert who wants to be alone with her thoughts and just write.

What have I done then that allowed me to have sold-out book, speaking gigs, and paid training and seminars?

I stopped thinking about the money.

Yup, I stopped thinking too much of what I’m earning and start focusing on what I do best - helping. Overtime, I realized that marketing is easy. Just share something valuable and ask for the sale.

Once your income allows it, start delegating tasks that really stress you. Pay someone to create your website or hire a cousin who can act as your social media manager.

I also recommend not to let your passion business be your only source of income (at least at first). You can sell other stuff, be employed, provide other service and earn from them. In that way, you can do your passion business without worrying if income is enough to pay your bills.

Overtime, your skills and confidence will grow and things that used to stress you become much easier to handle. I used to prepare months for a workshop but nowadays, I can prepare all the content and materials within a day or two.

I’m now glad of starting a business out of my passion. And you can have that, too. You just have to have faith and start.

P.S. If you need help starting your passion business, I can help. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what your passion is yet or have something already started. I’m very good in helping you clarify what you want and going after it.

Pinay Money Bootcamp is the one only money mindset course designed for all entrepreneurial Pinays. In this online course, you’ll learn about marketing, copywriting, applying the law of attraction, and everything you need to finally live the life and business that you imagined for yourself. This is more than a course, this is a MENTORING PROGRAM.

Now, if you prefer some personal guidance, I’m officially opening my calendar for 1:1 mentorship session with me. I’ve always been asked about this and was hesitant to actually do it for various reasons but I’m following many signs from the Universe and opening up my calendar to help more people. And now, I’m letting Pinoys (and not only Pinays) to avail my mentorship services. If you want to book a mentoring session with me, learn more here —> MENTORING