Best of Ep 6: What If Your Passion Doesn’t Pay Well

If you believed that you could make a million dollars doing whatever you dreamed of, whether being a coach, an entrepreneur, an artist or writer, or even a musician, what would you be doing right now? 

Are you worried that if you quit your job to pursue your passion, you won’t make as much money as you’re making right now? 

We are always quick to think about the negative what-if scenarios, but have you ever thought about the positive what-ifs? 

What if you could make more money?

In this episode, I discuss how your limiting beliefs keep you in your comfort zone and playing small. If you’ve convinced yourself that you can’t make massive amounts of money doing something you love, I’m here to tell you you’re wrong. 

You can make money doing literally anything, especially pursuing the things you’re passionate about. 

Besides, the amount of money you make is not a reflection of your worth. 

Stop letting your fear keep you trapped inside your comfort zone. 

Don’t miss this week’s ‘Best Of’ episode to learn how to identify & escape the limiting beliefs that are keeping you stuck.

Chapters

• 0:58 The biggest mindset blocks and limiting beliefs that revolve around money you have
• 8:22 Your beliefs dictate your actions
• 12:48 Believing in yourself
• 18:18 How to turn any skill into a way to make money
• 25:32 Trust your intuition

Transcript

[00:00:58] Hello, my friend. How are you doing today? I am so excited. I say that literally every episode, but today we're talking about one of my favorite topics: money. Okay. And I for sure am going to be making more episodes that talk about money because. The biggest lessons that I have learned and the biggest mindset blocks and limiting beliefs that I have had to overcome as an entrepreneur in order to have a successful business all basically, all of them revolve around money and my thoughts and beliefs on making money and how much money I can make, and just so many things. Today I specifically wanna talk about what to do if your passion doesn't pay well, which I know is probably what's holding you back; one of the major things that hold people back from going after what they really want.

[00:02:07] So get ready to have your mind blown, and everything you thought you knew about making money is just about to be destroyed. I have a super exciting announcement to make, so make sure you listen all the way to the end because I got some exciting news for y'all. Today is just an exciting day all around.

[00:02:34] All right, so what do you do if your passion doesn't pay well? I'm going to ask you one question that will invalidate the idea that your passion doesn't pay well. Okay? Here's my question: is that ultimately true? Is it ultimately true that your passion doesn't pay well? I am going just to use music as an example because I was actually talking to someone the other day who is an accountant and a musician, and she

[00:03:15] pursued accounting instead of music full-time because she said that music doesn't pay well. So is that ultimately true that music doesn't pay well? Can you name someone in the music industry making a lot of money? Because I can name about a thousand people in the music industry just right off the top, who are making literally millions of dollars.

[00:03:43] So, is it ultimately true that music does not pay well? No, that's not true at all. And I would be willing to bet it's not true for literally any industry. How about this? If you can think of an industry, if you truly believe that your passion and the industry of your passion does not pay well, I want to know, like email me at info@lindsayhanson.com, DM me, find me on Instagram, find me on LinkedIn, find me however you need to find me.

[00:04:21] But I have yet to be presented with a passion that actually doesn't pay well because, the thing is, that's not how it works. That's not how it works. By the way, side note that question, "Is this ultimately true?" This is a great question to ask yourself to overcome any limiting belief that you have any time you are presented with an obstacle, something that's holding you back, which is truly just an excuse, which is truly just a limiting belief in some form, but you may not think it's an excuse because you might really believe it's valid. But anytime you hear yourself saying something about why you can't have what you want, ask yourself, is this ultimately true?

[00:05:19] It's a great way, I ask myself this all the time, and it's just a great way for me to stop believing my own bullshit in five seconds. But continuing on with the music example, it is not true that music doesn't pay well because there are plenty of people in the music industry who are millionaires.

[00:05:44] So the issue is not that your passion doesn't pay well; the issue is that you don't believe in your ability to make a lot of money doing the thing that you love because that is what is going to determine how much you can make. It's not the industry; it's you. This is how we think money works.

[00:06:15] This is where I used to be; I get it. I so get it. Because I was an accountant. I grew up in this corporate world. I was not exposed to entrepreneurship really at all growing up. There was like no one in my immediate family who had their own business or anyone that I knew. And so all I really knew was this idea that you acquire certain skills, and depending on the industry you go into and how many skills and degrees and certifications and how much experience you have, that determines how much money you can make. And there's always a cap on that. Like you're earning potential depends on the industry you go in and the place where you work at. And that's just it.

[00:07:04] You don't have control over how much you make, aside from choosing the industry you go into. It's decided by the industry. But what if that's not how it works? What if you could go into the music industry and create amazing music and add value to the world through your music that people want to pay for?

[00:07:28] What if you could become a famous musician? The problem isn't that music doesn't pay well, or your passion doesn't. The issue is that you are not believing in your ability to excel and reach massive success in that field, and here's why changing that underlying belief is so important.

[00:07:55] Imagine. Just imagine you wholeheartedly believing you could make a million dollars doing blank. I could make a million dollars as a musician. I could make a million dollars as an artist. I could make a million dollars as a writer. I could make a million dollars as a photographer. I could make a million dollars as a coach.

[00:08:22] Imagine that you wholeheartedly 100000% believed that statement. What would you be doing right now? What actions would you be taking? Would you be writing music? Would you be spending more time on the thing that you love? Would you be searching for people you can help? Would you be promoting yourself?

[00:08:47] Would you be selling what you have to offer? Would you be creating music, art, or programs to put out into the world and serve other people and provide that value? It truly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's like that saying, whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right either way because what you believe will dictate how you act.

[00:09:15] If you don't believe that you can make a lot of money doing what you love, then you're not going to spend a lot of time on the thing that you love, or you're not going to promote yourself and try to make money doing it. You're just going to see it as a hobby, so you're not going to make a lot of money doing it.

[00:09:33] For example, as long as you believe I can't make a lot of money with music, then you will not be looking for ways to make money with your music because you don't believe they exist. So you're not, maybe not even going to be creating music, but you're certainly not going to be promoting it.

[00:09:50] You won't be searching for opportunities to promote your music to make money doing what you love. And so the result of that is you're not going to make money doing it, and you're going, your brain is going to use that as evidence of, 'oh, I can't make money doing what I love.' But that's not true.

[00:10:10] That's not ultimately true. But if you believe that you can make a lot of money doing it, then you're going to go out, and you're going to spend more time on it, and you're going to think of things that you can create in ways that you can provide value in ways that you can help other people, and you're going to go out and promote your services, and you're going to start making money doing what you love.

[00:10:31] The underlying belief is always where you need to start. So why is it that you don't believe you can make a lot of money doing what you love? Why is it that you don't believe you can be massively successful in the field that you're passionate about? That's the underlying belief that we get to work through and change.

[00:10:54] And once we can change that belief, that's when you're going to start seeing the results because you're going to start taking action toward those results. But you're never going to do that as long as you don't believe that money and success is possible, but especially if you want to work for yourself if you want to start your own business, why are you only focusing on the possibility that you'll make less money than you're making in your corporate job, accounting job right now?

[00:11:30] And not focusing on the possibility that you'll make a shit ton more than you're making right now by owning your own business. We only ever focus on the negative what if and not the positive what if. And we're so scared. Um, oh my gosh. Who said this quote? I think it was Kyle Cease. Um, this quote.

[00:11:58] Stuck with me since I heard it a few months ago, he said, "You're only scared because you can measure what you might lose, but you can't see what you might gain." And that's really where you're at when you are in a corporate job, in your accounting job, dreaming of starting your own business, going after what you really want, and you're faced with the possibility of losing a stable job, losing the paycheck that you're getting, making less money, failing. You're faced with everything you could lose, and because you can measure those things, you're scared. But what if you could see what you can gain? Because yes, you could make less money by going after your dream and starting a business.

[00:12:55] That's a possibility. But you know what else is a possibility? Making millions doing what you love, even in accounting. I actually just recorded an interview with, I'm so excited for you guys to hear this, with a girl who I connected with on LinkedIn. She actually left the big four to start her own tax practice, and the topic of money came up in that interview, and this is exactly what we were talking about. Like you guys, even in the accounting industry, even if you left your corporate accounting job to start your own accounting practice, you could be making so much more money than you're making right now. But instead of focusing on the possibility of making millions, we get so wrapped up in the possibility of making less.

[00:13:51] Start believing in yourself. Damn it. Why don't you believe you're capable of being successful in the field you want to go into and make a lot of money doing what you love? And there is such the biggest misconception that I hear from people is that doing what you love will mean taking a pay cut. We automatically assume, “if I do work I love, I will make less money than I'm making as an accountant.” And that's why a lot of people go into accounting, because, not because they love it, but because it's that stable job that will provide a good, steady paycheck. But then you'll get there and realize that that paycheck does not make up for the fact that you don't enjoy the work and don't find it fulfilling.

[00:14:44] But then, you stay stuck because you believe that doing work you love will mean making less money. And here's the thing, here's the other thing. Even if you made less money doing what you love, even if that was the ultimate truth, which it never is, let's just say it is. So what? Truly, so what are you in this for the money? Or do you want to be happy? Do you want to feel fulfilled by your work? What's more important to you? You get to decide that just because your passion pays you less, which again is not ever true, but even if it was true, you still get to decide whether you care more about making money or you care about doing work you love.

[00:15:35] When I decided to pursue my passion for fitness and become a fitness coach, I assumed I would make less money; I fully went into it fully expecting, okay, I'm going to make less money as a fitness coach, but I don't care because I'd rather be doing something I love and making less money like my happiness just mattered more to me.

[00:15:58] So I didn't care. I went into it expecting to make less money and just not caring that I was making less money. But over the course of building my business, my whole mindset has changed, and I now realize how possible it is to make so much more money than I ever would've made as an accountant by owning my own coaching business.

[00:16:20] Whether I had stayed with fitness or as I continued with life coaching, either way. I'm going to make a lot more money than I would have made as an accountant. Am I there yet? No. But do I expect to be there by the end of this year and going forward? Yes, absolutely. So, what are you making it mean about you if you were to make less money?

[00:16:45] And yes, on the one hand, it may be to the extent that I need to make a certain amount of money to pay my bills. Like, okay. But aside from that, beyond that, after you have enough to pay your bills and reach your financial goals, what are you making it mean about you if you were to make less money? Are you making that mean that you have failed in some way, that you're not good enough, that you did something wrong?

[00:17:19] Would you be comparing yourself to your friends who are making more money, or would you be making more money and feeling insecure about that? What are you making that mean? I went into fitness, not caring whether I made less money because I didn't interpret that to mean anything about me, my success, my self-worth, my dignity, or anything because how much money you make is not a reflection of your worth.

[00:17:54] So I do also want to touch on some practical ways that you can make more money. This isn't all just an episode about mindset and your limiting beliefs, which really are always what the issue is no matter what the context; stop believing your own bullshit is basically always the answer. But there are also an infinite number of ways that you can make money and add multiple streams of income into your life, no matter what you're doing. No matter your full-time thing, there are many ways to make more money. It's literally 2020, you guys. We need to stop making excuses for not having enough money because you can literally make money right now from your couch.

[00:18:46] You can start a business like you have the internet. That's all you need. You can make money literally right now. So if you want to start your own business while you're getting started and figuring out everything and not making a lot of money initially, you could start a business and start making a lot of money right away. Thinking that you have to make very little money at the beginning of your business is also just a limiting belief. And it's not ultimately true, but if you want to buffer in case you don't make a lot of money in the beginning, you can get a part-time job or, I mean, you can start your business as a side hustle and keep the full-time job you have right now until you're making enough money in your business to go full-time with it.

[00:19:33] Like that's what plenty of people do. But if you wanted to focus on your business full-time, you could get a part-time job. You could start driving for Uber or Lyft. You could; there are so many apps where you can just make, you can do like dog sitting, walking people's dogs. You can like grocery shop for elderly people... Infinite ways to make money literally from an app. You could also sell things online, flip things online, and make money. That way, you can turn literally any skill you have into a way to make money. That's basically what entrepreneurship is, but even if you don't want to be an entrepreneur, if there's something that you enjoy doing, that is a skill that other people don't have or something valuable to others.

[00:20:27] Like I am, in addition to my business, I'm doing part-time bookkeeping, like freelance thing on the side. I'm still using my accounting skills, and I enjoy bookkeeping. Don't ask me to do your taxes, I don't want to do people's taxes, but that's another thing I could do; I could be doing people's taxes on the side.

[00:20:53] I also help people out with setting up their social media profiles, like your LinkedIn and Instagram profiles, if you are a coach or some type of business owner consultant. I've gotten really good this past year, from building my own business and doing my own marketing through social media that I know how to help you set up your LinkedIn profile and optimize it to attract your ideal client and connect with people and get calls booked.

[00:21:25] I also do that on the side, I have multiple ways that I'm making money, aside from just my coaching, and I also, if I wanted to, could still be doing fitness coaching, doing personal training in person with people. You can literally turn any skill you have into a way to make money, even if it's not your full-time job or you don't want it to be your full-time job.

[00:21:51] if you like to paint things like painting furniture, you could start doing that as a side hustle. I mean, you could do, you could make a whole business out of that, but even if you're just like, oh, I kind of like taking old furniture and refurbishing it or painting it to make it look newer like people will pay you for that, right?

[00:22:14] You could be doing freelance work, freelance writing, you can be someone's virtual assistant, you can tutor people. Some websites will pay you to edit essays for students or tutor them. You could be doing music lessons if you like music or have any musical talent. There are infinite ways to make more money, whether you're an entrepreneur or a full-time corporate job.

[00:22:49] It doesn't matter. You can make money doing anything these days, but aside from the practical ways, you can start making money, and literally right now, start a side hustle in whatever. You need to address those underlying limiting beliefs because the issue is not that your passion doesn't pay well. The issue is those underlying beliefs that you have about your ability to be massively successful and earn a lot of money doing what you love and what you're making it mean. If you were to move into something where you made less money, whether it was long term or just temporarily, you made less money while you were building up your business or while you were starting out in a new industry, what are you making that mean?

[00:23:41] You get to decide if you want to make less money. That's still an option, but it's not the ultimate truth that you will make less money by doing what you love. Quite the opposite and I'm sure going to make more episodes talking about money. 

[00:24:02] Okay, special announcement time. Listen up if you are an accountant.

[00:24:09] If you're feeling stuck in your quarter-life crisis, and you have this idea and dream of working for yourself someday, then this is for you. Okay? Because I remember being there. I distinctly remember the day I had my quarter-life crisis and knew I needed to change. And I, you know, when I started my job, I just felt like I didn't belong in the corporate world. Truly, I just couldn't relate to just working for the weekends, chasing a paycheck, and going through the motions. It never felt like I belonged there, and I wanted the freedom to set my own schedule to travel and just live life on my own terms. Like I thought it was absurd to have Sunday scaries and literally be anxious about the majority of your week and like spend your life dreading Monday through Friday. I wanted to feel excited for Monday. I wanted to be doing work I loved, something I was passionate about, and something that really impacted the world. And I just knew in my heart; I was like, I know there has to be something better out there.

[00:25:32] I know I'm made for more, but I felt so stuck because accounting was all I knew. And as I said, I had never been exposed to entrepreneurship. I had no idea how to go about starting my own business, but I also had so many fears around. What if I don't make enough money? What if I fail? What are people going to think?

[00:25:54] Right? Everything that comes up. And you know, thinking back, the thing that really pushed me into action was just imagining myself 40 years from now when I look back on my life. And I just knew that if I never took the time to see what else was out there for me, I'd regret it. If you have that voice inside of you, don't let yourself have to wonder what if.

[00:26:24] Trust that voice. Trust your intuition. Listen to your highest self. This is the time to see what's truly possible for you. If you like this episode, take a screenshot, and put it on your Insta Story. Tag me @lindsaymhanson. I love to see that you're listening and what you think of the episodes. I so appreciate you, and I hope you have an amazing week.