Juggling your life passion and your full-time job

Only you can choose whether you have the capacity to run your passion alongside your current career path or even integrate it. But where to start?

Finding and developing a passion from any age is tough as we don’t always have the same interests we had when we were younger.

But speaking from experience, once you have found a job you love, that feeling will stay with you for a long time. If you’re lacking the motivation to change to a career that you love, I have got my very own top tips:

Weighing up your options

Are you ready to take the plunge? There are so many things you have to factor in if you decide to make the ultimate leap.

Do you think you can quit your full-time job or will you have to do something on the side? If your chosen profession or business type becomes a success, it can transform your life.

Are you willing to do what it takes to turn your dream into a reality? If your answer is yes, then let’s make it happen!

“Some people dream of success, while other people get up every morning and make it happen.” — Wayne Huizenga, owner of Video and the Miami Dolphins.

Find the links

In my various roles through my business and secondary projects, I find that each role has some sure-fire links that benefit the other.

I started my career working in a petrol station and chatting to taxi drivers on shift who expressed they were having trouble finding reasonable insurance policies because they couldn’t speak fluent English.

Through these interactions, I found the niche and a potential business opportunity that would result in full-time employment.

How I built my own business

From here, while I was building the business, I knew that I was missing an element of helping others, but my insurance firm started to open doors to make this happen.

Even now, all of the causes in my repertoire give me exposure to new people and new potential customers for the insurance business.

For example, my work with Birmingham Youth Sport’s Academy (BYSA) and the Pathway2Grow Networking events provide me with opportunities and allow me that extra exposure that I wouldn’t necessarily have gained through my current role.

Now all three projects are working hand in hand, it makes my career (and home life) so much easier. You can achieve this in most business sectors and can utilise connections when you need them.

“The best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch.” — Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of TechCrunch.

Don’t ‘find time’ – MAKE time

When you’re starting to build a business or a side project alongside your full-time job, it goes without saying that pursuing your passion means putting in the time. If you’re doing this alongside your current daytime job, it will be hard to find the motivation after a full day’s work.

You’ll find that once you’re doing something that you enjoy, you will build momentum more naturally and somehow find more energy.

Whether it’s working with children throughout the weekends or setting up your own freelance business in the evenings, putting in the hours does come with the territory. Don’t make your home your constant work base

The biggest tip that I give to other budding entrepreneurs is not to make your home your base life completely work-focused if you can.

Finding that space

You need that space to be able to unwind in so if you can find an area where you can completely disassociate the two, then that will help your state of mind and potentially boost productivity.

The most important lesson to learn from turning your passion into your business is that you must take care of it while expecting nothing in return.

However, find comfort in the fact that when your startup does blossom, it makes all the patience and hard work worthwhile.

“You have to see failure as the beginning and the middle, but never entertain it as an end.” -Jessica Herrin, founder and CEO of Stella & Dot.

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