Why You Don’t Need Passion to Start Freelancing
Struggling to pick a vocation? Here’s why passion is irrelevant when starting your freelance business, and what to focus on instead.
The saying goes, “Follow your passion. Passion will set you free.” I call bullshit.
Passion is great. But it can also leave your spinning your wheels and jumping from one area of interest to another.
To succeed as a freelancer, you need to build a set of skills that will help you attract clients and projects you love. Passion will come about organically. Here’s why.
The stakes are high, and Instagram is full of glam pics.
“What are you passionate about? Would you rather do marketing or go off and do something else more fun, like tours in wine country?”
Choosing the right field can be challenging. Log onto Instagram, and you’ll probably come across a photo of the ocean from your favorite travel blogger’s Airbnb view in Maui. Meanwhile, you’re staring at the dregs of autumn and yesterday’s coffee, and it makes you wonder what your passion is. You don’t know the exact answer, but it sure doesn’t look like this. Besides, Maui is beautiful this time of year.
That’s where Mary finds herself on a grey Thursday afternoon.
We’re sitting at a low-traffic coffeeshop talking about networking when Mary leans over and asks, “What are you passionate about? Would you rather do marketing or go off and do something else more fun, like tours in wine country?”
I pause, midstory.
“Wine tastings would be fun, and I love to travel, but I’m sure there are people with way more experience than me doing that,” I answer. “Besides, I’m good at digital marketing.”
She leans back. Her eyes twinkle as she confesses, “I’m trying to figure out what I’m passionate about.”
She goes on: “I’m a curious person. I like to try things out. So I tried sales, and I was good at that. Customer research, advertising — good at that, too. And this week, going through a whole bunch of life stuff, I’m stuck. I wanna find what I’m passionate about.”
We stare at each other.
I can relate. Mary assumes that if she can nail down her passion, she can create a business that aligns with what she loves. She’s hoping that her passion will give her an edge as she builds the business of her dreams. It’s a question that almost drove me mad in trying to answer it.
“I think you should be asking a different question, then,” I respond.
Passion is a by-product of knowing your craft.
If you, like Mary, are stuck on the passion train, jump off before you hit a wall.
Focusing on passion puts the cart before the horse. I liken it to asking the universe to tell you what you should be doing — before you’ve built the skills and experience necessary to do it. You want to jump into something that feels exciting — but you also want to be sure before you leap.
So, you sit and stew on questions like:
“What’s my meaning?”
“What’s my purpose?”
“What’s my calling?”
These types of questions lead you to analysis paralysis. The reality is passion comes from doing, not from a strike of lightning when you are sitting on the couch. Start down a path, build your skills and experience through execution, and you’ll realize the path is your passion. The trick is to start walking.
Cal Newport, a professor at Georgetown University, productivity expert, and the author of bestsellers like So Good They Can’t Ignore Yout and Deep Work writes, “If you want to love what you do, abandon the passion mindset (‘what can the world offer me?’) and instead, adopt the craftsman mindset (‘what can I offer the world?’).”
Asking the latter puts you in the driver’s seat.
“Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before,” writes Cal. “In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.”
Building a marketable skill requires time and practice. These prerequisites also help you figure out what you enjoy and what you’re good at. It’s a process of elimination, not enlightenment. Over time, you can take these hard-earned skills and trade them for money — or the freedom to work as you see fit.
Anyone can build a successful freelancing business that they are passionate about. You don’t need to read this or that article, check off a list of to-dos, or pick the perfect time to quit your job. But what you do need is a rock-solid marketable skill that you know you can rely on (and at least six months of savings built up). Having this currency makes your chances of succeeding as a freelancer more tangible. It won’t be easy, but I’m guessing you already knew that.
It’s a process of elimination, not enlightenment.
The craftsman gets the dough.
Once you start, how do you build these critical skill sets that help you stand out and succeed? Seth Godin, marketer extraordinaire, and bestselling author of Purple Cow and a slew of other thoughtful books has the answer. He explains that there are five levels of Freelancer — Mechanical Turk, Handyperson, Craftsperson, Unique, and Remarkable.
I won’t do it justice here, but the gist of it is this: Mechanical Turk jobs require low-level skills. Stuff like driving a car, opening a door, or putting this cog into that wheel — little-to-no training required.
The next level is the Handyperson. This is someone good at a slew of things. Do you need help with one of those things? The Handyperson can help you. In marketing, for example, it’s the freelancer that offers everything and the kitchen sink.
The Craftsperson has leveled up. They have built a skill or a set of skills that can’t be replicated easily. Individually, these might be skills that many other people have — but the Craftsperson has put in commitment and honesty to build these skills. They are in the top 5–10% of their peers in terms of proficiency, and they’re regularly sharpening their saws to keep getting better.
Uniques and Remarkables are in the stratosphere of skill sets. Their work has an unmistakable look and feel. People seek Uniques out — not just to assign a set of tasks, but to solve problems. Seth dubs Paul Rand, the famous logo designer, a Unique. Paul created iconic logos. When you needed a visual identity for our business, you went to Paul. And when Paul agreed to work with you, he didn’t give you a slew of options; he gave you one logo.
Remarkables are the final level, not only does their work have a distinct signature look that sparks conversation. Frank Lloyd Wright is Remarkable. His buildings are iconic and have been studied by legions of people.
It requires skill and patience to move on each of these rungs — you have to invest in what you do. Passion is helpful, but it certainly is not as crucial as the non-glamorous stuff like discipline, diligence, and consistently showing up. You might also find yourself choosing harder work or projects that will challenge you to break out of your comfort zone.
As you go through the tiers, you level up on what you do. It gets better. You can set more favorable conditions for procuring your work, and your options as a freelancer improve correspondingly.
The process is messy.
I’m finding that getting through each of these steps is a messy process. It requires reiteration, reflection, and improvement. But it can lead you to something that works for you, and help you avoid paths that you are ill-suited for. As you expose yourself to harder and harder challenges, you can define and redefine what it is you do — and what you enjoy doing. Through acquiring skills and experiences, you arrive at the epiphany of discovering your true passion — your Maui.
