If You Don’t Have Passion – Get Out Da’ Kitchen

It’s a motto for all things in life. But I do find that the internet/social media community has had a larger portion of this Kool-Aid than most.

Regardless – it’s a topic worth exploring, especially for any journalist (young or old) that wants to explore their entrepreneurial side.

If you aren’t passionate about what you are doing, stop right now, because you will fail.

Nobody makes a better case for this than Gary Vaynerchuk
who absolutely oozes passion. Here are two of his recent posts: “Execute on Being You” and “PHCC (Patience, Hustle, Community and Content).” I hear Chris Brogan is also somebody to note on this topic, but haven’t followed him much yet.

(on a side: I love watching Gary’s videos. At first I found him
obnoxious and wanted to tell him to stick to decaf, but slowly I got it –
he’s good at pumping people up. Let his enthusiasm wash over you and
see if it spreads.)

PASSION – IT’S WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST

• More than Just a Slogan

Saying “you must have passion” isn’t selling snake oil. It’s legit, and I’m finding out every day what that means.

I’m now dealing legal, marketing, hosting, development, design, community building, and other aspects of Spot.Us – the likes of which I never planned on making a part of my livelihood (it wasn’t long ago that I was a humble beat reporter).

I never would have expected dealing with these issues to be fun. But they are – because they all add up to creating digital poetry. I continue to love every minute of every day working on spot.us. I’m exhausted, yes – but loving it.

What Passion Won’t Do – Replace the Need to Hustle

The hustle part of Gary’s video (second link) is incredibly important.
But you have to realize that all that hustle isn’t romantic. If you
aren’t passionate about what you are doing – all the travel,
handshakes, link-love in the world won’t make you happy. In the end –
you gotta believe in what you are doing, or inside you’ll feel like a
phony.

• Passion is contagious

No man is an island and nothing, especially on the web, can work without collaboration. But you can’t just expect people to work on any old project. They want to know what makes your idea special. They are often looking for inspiration – and that can come in the form of your passion.

Your passion can ooze and effect other people.

I’m incredibly lucky that I have people like Hashrocket, Jeremy Toeman from Stage Two Consulting, lawyers like David Ardia, diverse advisers like Dan Gillmor and Neil Vineberg, organizations like Public-Press and so on pitching in.

I’d like to think they’ve all come to help as a direct result of my passion, but that would be a stretch.

Success breeds success. Networks never stop with one person – they expand and bloom as more passionate people join.

What Passion Won’t Do – Get People to Work For Free Forever

Know your strengths and apply all your force to them. For things you can’t do – learn to rely on your network, but don’t exploit it. That’s not what passionate people do. Sharing your enthusiasm,  doesn’t mean exploiting people for short-term gain. Sometimes it’s hard to express your appreciation – but you must find a way, otherwise your passion won’t spread and all your good will goes to waste.

• It’s Authentic

You could probably try to fake the funk, but it won’t work. It’s what drives you to get up in the morning, answer that last email, make the extra phone call, and strive to create the best product you can.

At Columbia J-school a professor once told me to “never be a hack reporter.”
We all know what that hack-job article looks like: It has a classic inverted pyramid lede, one or two quotes from the go-to source and wraps up the piece with a cliche.

Never be a “hack anything” …. and the best way to ensure you won’t is if you really believe in what you are doing.

What Passion Won’t Do – Pop Up Out of Nowhere

It has to be genuine. Don’t think you can will your passion into existence.

• It Never Ends

You can run out of a lot of important things….. but passion is, in most respects, under your control and discretion. Nobody can take away your passion. They might disagree with you – perhaps with as much passion as you.

Be an adult about it. Take in their concerns and questions and see how you can learn from it. But even if their points are valid, passion can still be your guide.

What Passion Won’t Do – Convince Everyone

The flip side of passion being contagious: Just because you believe in something adamantly doesn’t mean that other people will agree with you. Learn to construct logic around your passion to state your case, but don’t assume de-facto agreement.

• It Keeps You Focused

What Passion Won’t Do – Your Actual Work

Which is why I have to end this blog post and get back to making stuff happen. Lots to do.