That whole "just follow your passion" advice almost wrecked my career

I quit a stable IT job in Austin to start a pottery business because every guru said to do what I loved, and I lost $18,000 in 8 months before crawling back to tech. Has anyone else found that advice to be total garbage in practice?

3 comments

3 Comments

blairj5525d ago

I mean, 18 grand in 8 months sounds rough but maybe you were just unlucky or picked a bad location or something. Idk, a lot of people make that pottery thing work, it's not like the advice is totally wrong just because one attempt fell flat.

kelly.daniel24d ago

@blairj55 I found a tolerable day job that covered my bills, then did the pottery thing on weekends and evenings for fun and extra cash. That took all the pressure off and let me actually enjoy making stuff again.

uma_nguyen2425d ago

blairj55 saying maybe it was just bad luck or a bad location, but I've seen this pattern way too many times. The "follow your passion" thing sounds nice in a graduation speech, but in real life it ignores that most passions don't pay the bills right away. I've watched friends jump into baking, dog grooming, and even a vintage clothing store because they loved it, and almost all of them ran into the same wall you did. Take this with a grain of salt, but I think the real trick is to find something you can tolerate that pays well, then use that money to fund your passion on the side. Your mileage may vary, but stable income buys a lot more freedom to do what you love without the stress.