What If Everything You've Been Told About 'Following Your Passion' Is Making You Broke?
Solopreneur Letters #8
I chose passion over profit and stayed broke longer than I needed to.
When I go back and look at what I wrote when I started five years ago (who I wanted to be and who I wanted to help) it's been the solopreneur, solo founder, solo creator.
The person like me trying to build something on their own, not trying to be scaled or big or grand.
That's who my heart and gut wanted to serve.
I don't know why.
Maybe because it feels like me.
Maybe it's fear, feeling like that's who I can help because that's who I am.
The Advice That Led Me Astray
We've all heard it:
"Follow your passion and the money will follow."
"Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."
"Find your why and build from there."
This advice is everywhere.
From Instagram quotes to bestselling business books. It sounds inspiring. It feels right.
And sometimes it's dangerously wrong.
Because I believed these mantras, I convinced myself that helping other solopreneurs was the only authentic path.
That anything else would be untrue to myself.
But I could have built a better business making more money if I'd focused on boring businesses from the beginning.
The Path I Didn't Take
If I'd just said "I'm going to help HVAC cleaners or dentists or roofers" there are thousands of them in any of those categories across the country.
Their websites are terrible.
They have no email marketing, no SMS marketing
No systems for lead generation beyond word of mouth and hope.
I hesitated to go down that route because I didn't feel like I was following my passion.
It felt unexciting and boring.
I had just come off five years of raising $4 million and building a hotel that's now a highly rated, upscale nature lodge.
Helping roofers felt like I’d be going down a road I wanted to avoid.
Or maybe it was me doubting I could actually help them.
I should have just gone that route, built steady income, got more skills and experience.
Then I probably could have helped more solopreneurs by writing about what I was doing, how it was working, what I was learning.
I would have been sharing real, actual, practical advice about how to create a sustainable business.
The Real Issue
When you're starting off - especially if you've got to pay bills and cover expenses and take care of your family - you don’t have the luxury of passion.
Now, if you have the time to develop your passion over the course of months and years, then pursue it even if it's not immediately monetizable.
That's great.
But if you need money now, don't overlook the boring opportunity.
In my case, it was marketing for local businesses.
It might be something different for you.
For a lot of coaches and consultants I talk to, they want to be like Tony Robbins and help everybody instead of just focusing on a very small core problem for a small group of people.
Maybe it feels too small or boring versus appealing to everyone.
When Passion Makes Sense
I'm not saying passion doesn't matter.
It absolutely does. Just not always at the beginning.
Passion makes sense when:
You have runway (savings or another income source)
You're building something as a side project while maintaining stable income
You've already established expertise that makes your passion immediately valuable
You're genuinely passionate about something that happens to be profitable
The mistake is thinking passion must come first, rather than seeing it as something that can be integrated once your financial foundation is solid.
Where I Am Now
I could still go down that route today.
In some ways I am...I'm helping local businesses franchise through one of the businesses I partner with.
I run a community of small business owners for that same client.
So I've kind of gotten there.
But I spent years chasing broke dreamers when I could have been working with boring businesses that have real revenue and will pay properly.
Stop chasing sexy.
Go after boring.
This is Letter #8 of 'Solopreneur Letters' – a series I’m writing where I share the hard-earned wisdom I wish I’d had when I started on my solopreneur journey. See the full list:
