20. Make money from doing something you love

There is one blog, I learned today, that managed to convert itself from online self-publish to commissioned book to ITV series earning its author, I expect, a shed-load of money in the process along with some controversy and a touch of infamy. That blog was Diary of a Call Girl. The series was broadcast on prime time ITV and it starred Billy Piper who had just played the ever-so-wholesome girl-next-door assistant to our very own bastion of propriety, Dr. Who, so an interesting juxtaposition of roles. Billy Piper’s portrayal of the callgirl Belle de Jour in a series aired just after the watershed showed that prostitution had clearly gone mainstream. Now I hope in some shape or form to make some money from writing my blog but I’m not planning, yet, on writing about anything quite so contentious or steamy and there is also the small matter that my hobbies and pastimes are slightly more wholesome and a whole lot less interesting. But it was a useful and inspiring little snippet of information and at this point you are probably wondering about the source of this pearl of wisdom and exactly what sort of website I was trawling. As it happens it was a throw-away comment in a webinar about having the courage to do the work you were born to do rather than spending your life doing something that just pays the bills which we all know is the vast majority of us. Now I, like you, might normally dismiss such radical and new age notions as nothing more than an attempt to make us feel even worse about our daily drudgery at the office our misery compounded by being at the beck and call of some narcissistic and sadistic boss whose promotion perfectly fulfills the criteria of the Peter Principle (that's alarmingly like a rant). But this webinar was being hosted by Rachel Elnaugh of Red Letter Days fame and her guest was Nick Williams – entrepreneur, speaker and coach. Now I have a lot of time for Rachel not only because of her ability to bounce-back from something that would have sent most people into the Siberian wilderness of business collapse but that she took the time and effort to reply to a survey on women entrepreneurs I was doing for my MBA dissertation last year. And Nick Williams, rather than being some sound-bite popping smug lifestyle guru looking for acolytes was instead a warm, erudite and generous spirit who has walked the walk of doing the work you are born to do. The ninety minute webinar passed in what seemed like a jiffy and unusually for me I felt sufficiently engaged with the presenters and subject matter to pose a question for which I got some sound advice – give up the blog, go back to the day job, be nice to your boss. I josh, the advice was sound and useable and I shall put it into practice right away. For anyone interested in entrepreneurship I would recommend registering for Rachel’s future seminars at www.rachelelnaugh.co.uk and once I finish my blog for this evening I shall be going straight onto Nick’s website to download his free e-course Discover the Work You Were Born To Do at www.inspired-entrepreneur.com .

Now I think I have discovered the work I was born to do and it will be interesting to see if my sense of ‘coming home’ is borne out by Nick’s e-course when I download it. But what I know is that the large tracts of time on my volunteering project where I had nothing to do were easily and diligently filled by writing. In fact writing my blog became as compelling than the volunteer work I was doing and that desire to write, that itch to sit at my keyboard in front of my PC and put words down on paper doesn’t appear to be going away. In positive psychology there is something called ‘flow’ which expresses the notion that when we are using our signature or core strengths we are fully absorbed by the task in hand to the point where time seems irrelevant and nothing easily distracts us. It was while doing a short course on positive psychology through the Centre for Applied Psychology (CAPP) that I came across something called the VIA survey – the V.I.A stands for Values in Action. This short questionnaire, free at www.viasurvey.org, measures which strengths are those that we like to use everyday and which make us feel good when we do use them – the ones that put us in flow. My own top five strengths were interesting to see:

1. Love of learning
2. Curiosity and interest in the world
3. Humour and playfulness
4. Judgment, critical thinking and open-mindedness
5. Industry, diligence and genuineness

Writing my blog fulfills all these desires and I can tell you now, I am in flow, big time and have been for the last two and a half hours. And I feel great. Tell me though, please someone, how exactly can I make money from this blog without having to resort to Belle de Jour titillation?

Comments

[Jackie Northedge]

Hi Lorraine,

Thanks for your contact, your blog is great, as a fellow Rachael follower I also felt that the webinar last night was truly inspirational. It made me sit up and think, I thought at one point that they had scooped in to my current situation and was reading from my Shadow life it was a little eerie.

Thanks for the link to VIA survey I love personal development and analysing myself.
My Top Character Strengths are
Love of Learning
Perspective [wisdom]
Persistence [perseverance, industriousness]
Citizenship [social responsibility, loyalty, teamwork]
Fairness

Which really is uncanny.

Thanks again I will bookmark your blog and I am glad to be one of your tribe.

[Lorraine]

Hello Jackie

My tutor at Capp recommended a new strengths based questionnaire called Realise2. I've not tried it yet and it does cost 15 quid so I will try and find out a bit more about it first but you can find it at www.cappeu.com. If you do take it then let me know how you get on.

I'm glad you are enjoying the blog. When I know people are reading it, it makes it even more enjoyable to write. If you fulfil any of your own dreams or ambitions then let me know and I can add a guest author on the blog. Kind regards. L