Be Prepared for Passion

In High School, we are surrounded by teachers, friends, movies, etc, that tell us to follow our dreams. Chase our passions. conquer our challenges.

How often can we turn our High School dreams into reality? I am all for supporting people to do that but how often do we want the same things out life as we did when we were in High School?

Also, how often are we able to make money off of what we are passionate about? Many books claim to know the secret, but very few muster the dream into reality. However, like Steve Harvey said, "you have to wait for the Golden Parachute."

Chess instructional videos are now trending on YouTube and Facebook. Sales of Chess boards are up 1,000% (that's not a typo, one thousand percent) as compared to this time last year. Why the sudden interest in Chess? Millions have fallen for the Queen's Gambit.

Netflix's latest hit follows an orphan named Elizabeth Harmon as she battles with international Grandmasters and her own addictive demons. Beth Harmon was quickly found to be a prodigy at the age of 8 and scaled the world rankings from there.

Her success is also creating success for people in real life as well. Chess.com is reporting a huge inflow of new users (including myself: invite me to play at ErictheN) and retailers are selling Chess boards and books hand over fist. Even long time Twitch Chess Streamers are seeing bumps in viewership and revenue.

This reminded me of the "Golden Parachute" Steve Harvey promised us all. Somewhere in the world there was somebody who wanted to make some money off of Chess.com but you could tell they were clearly passionate about it. There is a very small membership fee, but most lessons and puzzles can be accessed totally for free. I'm sure whoever is behind Chess.com was making good money before but their revenue is probably going bananas with this renewed passion.

Table top games are on the rise in general as people are looking for more in person connections, but I would have bet money on Monopoly with a bigger rise than Chess. Amazing to see how a captivating story can translate to big revenue for those following their passions, quietly skirting along catering to a minuscule population, following their passion.

This should serve as a reminder to all of us that you never know where your "Golden Parachute" will be coming from. Gymnastics gyms across the country get a huge bump in attendance when the Olympics come around. Where will the next trend in a passion project come from. I would love to see it come from a viral LinkedIn post....this platform is so powerful. Take advantage of it while you can.