Money Doesn't Always Follow Passion or Impact
Dan Schawbel
LinkedIn Top Voice, New York Times Bestselling Author, Managing Partner of Workplace Intelligence, Led 80+ Workplace Research Studies
A lot of self-help gurus talk about how if you make a big impact doing what you love, in the service of others, you'll make a lot of money. They say that you should focus on impact because money will follow every time. But, that's horrible advice and simply not true. As a serial entrepreneur, and someone who has penned three books, dozens of research studies, a few thousand articles and working with the biggest companies in the world, I will tell you that the business model is key to having money follow passion and impact. You could publish content regularly that is never seen and even if your content is seen, it doesn't mean you'll make any money. You could work with non-profits to support the homeless, making a huge impact in their lives, without making any money whatsoever either.
Money follows impact as long as you've structured a business around it. You don't automatically make money if you impact people. You need a business model so you can earn off the impact, then reinvest to grow and make a larger impact. If you follow your passion, without a business model in mind, then that passion will more than likely become a hobby you do for fun instead of a real business that can scale. Think of money as the fuel you need to scale your impact to reach more people and affect more lives. The money buys the resources, like employees, that enable you to service more people, rather than just doing it yourself.
I'm always hearing in the social media echo chamber "I want to have an impact", without the thought of how they want to make an impact, and how they will be able to make money to scale their impact. That's why I believe that we have to be more thoughtful when we say "follow your passion" or "make an impact" because neither works well without acknowledging the business model that creates the sustainable growth platform you need to accomplish both.
Have you thought of a business model for your passion?
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Helping HR Managers & C-Suite Execs increase productivity & reduce stress | Workplace Wellbeing I Resilience Coaching l Resilience Training | Conference Speaker | Therapist I Keynote Speaker I Resilience Speaker
5 年great insights thanks for sharing
The Grass is greenest where you water it, not on the “other” side. The choice to water it is ours.
5 年Love the passion idea linked with practicality to follow opportunity first and then manifest your passion through your opportunity.
Accelerating Small Business Growth / Strategy Consulting in Business Development & Implementation / Proven in Enhancing Revenue & Efficiency.
5 年Great advice.