Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Hey there.
Let me ask you, you ever take something you love, like, I don't know, baking cookies at midnight in your pajamas and then one day you wake up and realize, wow, I now owe 200 cookies by 9am for people who are going to just complain about the texture.
Wow. Yeah, that escalated quickly.
Welcome to the show where today we're talking about the magical, mysterious, slightly dangerous transformation when your passion becomes your profession.
Or as I like to call it, when your hobby puts on a tie, gets a LinkedIn and starts emailing you at 6am yeah, this is the dream, right?
Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life.
Well, whoever said that clearly never tried to turn their hobby into a business during tax season.
Now today, we're digging deep and we're separating the good, because, yeah, there's a lot of it.
The bad, because burnout is real, my friends.
And the balance, because we're trying to keep your soul intact while your calendar fills up.
So whether you're a photographer that's drowning in quick shoots, or a gamer that's turned streamer and they haven't slept since Tuesday, or someone who just realized that their peaceful hobby is now an unpaid internship with yourself.
Yeah, this episode is for you.
And if not for you directly, you may know someone who fits the description and requires an interventional coffee talk as soon as possible.
Let's get into it
[00:02:48] Speaker B: from the natural state. This is Public Facing the Podcast with Joe Holman.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: Thanks for that introduction, Annabelle. You are too kind.
So let's start with the positives, the good stuff, because turning your passion into a job can be incredible.
Now, the criteria for this is, well, you actually enjoy the work most days.
You see, there's, there's something powerful about waking up and not dreading your day.
You're not staring at the clock thinking, if I blink slowly enough, maybe time will skip ahead.
No, instead you're thinking, okay, I get to create today.
Yeah, that's right, I get to. Not, I've got to. That's huge.
Now, studies consistently show that people who find meaning in their work report higher life status satisfaction, even if they work longer hours.
So yes, you might be busy, but it's purposeful busy.
Now, the skill mastery will happen pretty fast.
When your hobby becomes your job, your learning curve goes from casual Sunday stroll to full on Olympic sprint uphill.
And you're doing that daily.
Now. You improve faster, you notice details and you develop a style.
Now you're not just someone who likes photography anymore.
You're arguing with lighting, setups at 2am like it personally threw a drink in your face and is screaming at you to get out.
And we have to talk about the financial opportunity because we got to talk money right now. Let's be honest.
Getting paid to do something you love, well, that's the dream, isn't it?
Side hustles, they become income streams.
Income streams, well, those become businesses, and businesses become spreadsheets and stress and.
But also growth.
And oh yeah, don't forget the taxes too.
And an important note, you're building something that's all your own, that's important.
Now, you're also probably going to be experiencing some sort of identity alignment.
Now, there are psychological benefits here that are often overlooked, as when your work aligns with your interests, you feel more authentic.
And you're not code switching personalities all day long, which is a behavior adaptation that, where someone alters their demeanor or their speech or even their appearance or perhaps a social presentation to fit into a different cultural, professional, or social context.
So you don't have to be one person that's at this part of the work and another person, another part there. You don't have to change face so you don't feel like you're living two different lives.
You become cohesive.
And with that, we look also at the. Some of the benefits, you know, of a creative freedom, at least at first.
And I'll explain that. See, early on especially, you get to experiment with things. You get to explore ideas and take risks.
And there's a sense of creative ownership, and that's deeply fulfilling.
So before clients show up and say, can you make it pop? But like subtle but also viral.
Come on, look back at community and connection.
See, your passion, it connects you to other people.
It connects you to other creators, other clients and other audiences.
So you're no longer alone in your interest.
You've become part of an ecosystem now.
So yes, there's. There's real beauty here with the positives, right?
You took something personal, something joyful, and you gave it a life beyond yourself.
And that matters.
But now, now we need to talk about the other side.
Yeah, the negatives.
Okay, deep breath.
Because this is where things get complicated.
That joy that you felt, well, that can start to fade when something becomes mandatory.
It changes your relationship with it.
Your brain goes from I want to do this to all of a sudden I have to do this.
And that's a subtle shift.
That's everything.
Now also, burnout hits a bit different here.
So the reason I say that is burnout from a regular job. That's Tough, for sure.
But burnout from something you love, well, that's sort of confusing.
It affects your. Your thinking and your. Your emotions and all that. You just. You start asking, wait, do I hate this now? Or maybe I'm just tired.
And that identity conflict can really hit hard.
And there's, of course, external pressures that creep in. Things like deadlines and unhappy clients and expectations. And suddenly your hobby has feedback loops or performance metrics or people saying, this isn't what I wanted.
Look, nothing will humble you faster than someone saying, I love your work.
Just not this one, or the last one, or the next one.
Now, monetization tends to change behavior as well, because when you start monetizing, then you start optimizing.
Instead of, what do I want to create, it becomes what will perform.
And that's when passion starts negotiating with algorithms. And there's no real winners here. The trade off is seldom worth the 30 pieces of silver for your betrayal to yourself.
Overworking, it's easy to do.
Why? Because you care.
Because you care. You don't clock out.
Just one more edit, just one more tweak, just one more existential crisis at 1:00am and then the. The reality kicks in.
Oh, no, it's 1:00am Boundaries, they blur.
And going down, this method tends to have you to lose your safe space.
That's right.
Your hobby used to be your escape, but now what is it?
It's your responsibility.
And you can't always turn to it for comfort because it might be the source of your stress.
And there is another negative of financial instability, especially early on.
So let's not romanticize this part either.
When. When you're turning your passion into income.
Well, that often comes with an unpredictable earnings format, right?
Inconsistent demand and pressure to say yes to things you don't want to do.
And really, here's the hardest part.
Sometimes you miss how it used to feel.
That simple joy, that low pressure excitement, that moment when it was just yours.
But this isn't the end of the story.
No. Because there is a way forward now. Well, we're going to find our balance, all right?
This is where we rebuild.
Because the goal isn't.
Don't turn your passion into a job.
The goal is that you don't lose yourself when you do. So now, keeping work mode and play mode separate, that's critical.
You need passion time.
That time where there's no pressure, there's no output expectations, and you need your work time where things are structured, where things are goal oriented.
It's the same activity.
We're just going to Take on a different intention.
And so setting boundaries like your sanity depends on it.
Do that because it does define what your working hours are going to be and limit client scope. You and your business are not just for everybody.
Much like this podcast has a target audience, your business ought to have a target audience as well. So limit that scope and limit the how deep that rabbit hole goes for what your offerings are.
Learn to say no without having to write a three page apology.
Seriously, no is a complete sentence.
Not no, but I can stay up all night destroying my mental health for you.
No.
And no means no.
Now keep a just for me version of your hobby. So what do I mean?
If you're a photographer, let's say, then take pictures that no one will ever see. Those are just for you and for your hobby.
Not everything is for everybody.
And if you're a writer, write things that you'll never publish and protect those and that space like it's your last slice of pizza.
And then redefine what success is to you regularly.
Your goals, they're going to evolve over time.
You necessarily have the same passion or likes or, or what's most important in your hobby now as what you did back when you started the hobby.
So check in with yourself.
Am I still enjoying this?
What needs to change and what can I let go of?
By doing that, you begin to even build more recovery time into your schedule.
Because rest, rest is not optional.
Rest is something we need to be able to, to sort of draw up the creative juices and those that creative work especially requires.
A mental reset, emotional space and time away.
Sometimes we have to step back and reevaluate our situation again, which is again what, you know, we, we can, we can do that. But let's make sure we're getting a rest now you can diversify your identity.
What does that mean?
You are not just your work.
In other words, I am.
Joe and I share podcasts.
It's not that.
It's not that my identity is fully podcast and oh, by the way, my name is Joe. No, no.
So you are not just your work, have other interests, have other relationships, and have other sources of joy and accept that things are going to feel different and that's okay.
Like I said, it's not supposed to feel exactly like it did in the beginning.
Growth, it changes things.
But different does not have to mean worse.
No, you see, balance, it isn't about perfection.
It's about awareness.
Small, intentional adjustments over time.
Well, here we are. We've made it to the final word now in today's final word.
I just want to share that you turning your passion into a profession is one of the most rewarding and challenging things that you can do.
It can give you purpose.
It can give you freedom.
It can also test your limits in ways you didn't expect.
Key well, the key isn't avoiding the transition, no, it's it's managing it, folks.
Protect what made you fall in love with it in the first place.
Respect your limits.
And remember, you are allowed to evolve alongside your work.
And hey, if your hobby starts emailing you again tomorrow morning, well, you can always mark it as Read. Later, folks, if you've found value in today's episode, email me at hello at Public Facing Pod Stream now. I've enjoyed our time together and until we meet again, I'll be here keeping things real and public facing.
I'll see you next time. Bye for now.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: Thanks for listening to Public Facing, the podcast with Joe Holman. Visit us online at publicfacingpod stream and on x.com public facing pod.
