Best Job Ever!

Chapter 10You Can Follow Your Passion Without Quitting Your Job

Be careful of following your passion. Dorothy followed hers and she ended up being so poor she had to kill a woman to get her shoes.

—Unknown

Dave was a dentist for more than 25 years when he decided to sell his practice and move to a small town in Alberta, Canada, to open greenhouses so he could grow and sell organic fruits and vegetables.

Shawn left an accounting career—where he was on track to make partner—so he could become a real estate agent.

Julie left her finance career so she could make jewelry and sell it on the Internet.

All three of these individuals had reasons they wanted to leave their jobs and chase after their dreams. The most common reason why they could no longer stay in their previous job was their deep desire to “follow their passion.” They had to “make a go of their dreams.” Each of these individuals introduced at the beginning of this chapter experienced what it was like to leave their jobs and follow their passion! They described their experiences in actually following their passion as: “exciting, nerve wracking, an immense amount of work, and more disappointment than they had ever before experienced.” They also said the experience was “more fulfilling than anything they had ever before accomplished.” Some individuals were successful, while others experienced failure. Some of them wished they had never left their corporate jobs, while others told me they would “never go back to working for ...