Last December I went to Sacramento for a workshop and stayed in a fancy, boutique hotel downtown where valet parking was a gajillion dollars. (Or, $50. Same, same.) But, I noticed that you could park on the street for free between 6 pm and 8 am. Score!
So the next morning I went out to my car at 8 am like the responsible, frugal person I always am… not. I picked up my friends, drove to the workshop, parked on the tree-lined street and headed in.
I love coincidences, but…
Four hours later, we sauntered out for lunch. And there was the ticket on my windshield. For $50.
I’ve been thinking about this coincidence for months. Possibly related? Possibly. It seems far-fetched. And yet… again, I’m just so curious.
(Definitely related? The lovely passenger who split the ticket with me is now my business partner.)
Do what you love, and the money will follow.
So they say. Except, on the ground level, sometimes it looks to me like cheating. You mean to tell me that this thing I love doing, that feels like my best day of play, can support me? Financially? Pffffft.
Even as I collected money, it felt like riding a magic carpet. A rug that could be pulled out from under me at any time. I imagined that as soon as people find out how much fun this is for me, poof. Gone.
That can’t be sustainable, can it? (Here’s what really wasn’t sustainable: Earning gobs of money in a career I didn’t love. It was so not sustainable that eventually I had to walk away.)
But this magic carpet sensation worried me. If we don’t believe it’s possible to support ourselves doing work we love, will we prove ourselves right? What coincidences might we set in motion?
Maybe none. But even if it doesn’t matter, even if I could absolutely support myself this way while simultaneously believing it’s pretty much impossible, it just felt crappy.
Where attention goes, energy flows.
Another thing people say. But once I can get past the new-agey ring, it actually makes concrete sense.
And every time I pay attention to my money stuff, even just symbolically, good things happen in real life. It almost doesn’t matter why. If I feel better when I explore it and good flows from the exploration, why not experiment?
With all my fascination and experimenting, I even started creating a solve-my-own-problem money product. Because how could I not? Once I started paying attention to the money mishaps beating down my door, solving my own challenges has been strange and magical. And incredibly fruitful.
Like: I was jotting down notes about this idea of exploring what’s possible, and took a break to check my email. I found two messages from a new client, paying us to do work we love. Spooky-wonderful.
And you?
Does part of you believe that doing what you love a one-way ticket on the magic carpet of financial doom? Do you ever notice a link between how you feel about money and money’s reciprocation?
I’m having fun with my open, fluid curiosity about the way money flows, and I’m not really interested in Laws or universal theories. But I would love to hear what you’re curious about!
Edit: Just to be super-clear: I believe it’s possible to support yourself doing what you love. Lots of layers; sometimes I forget that I believe it. This is about reaching a place where we no longer forget.
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I think people in the creative fields especially have been told all their lives that they can’t expect to make a living from their art — it’s a hard thing to get out of your head …
“So they say. Except, on the ground level, sometimes it looks to me like cheating. You mean to tell me that this thing I love doing, that feels like my best day of play, can support me? Financially? Pffffft.
Even as I collected money, it felt like riding a magic carpet. A rug that could be pulled out from under me at any time. I imagined that as soon as people find out how much fun this is for me, poof. Gone.”
Exactly where I’m at. Could NOT have said this better! Thank you for putting words to my feelings…love your blog!
I have been thinking and writing on this very topic this week. The conclusion I’m sitting with right now is that by committing to the work you love, people are attracted to your confidence and resolve, and you’re also more likely to notice and take advantage of resources and opportunities that might have been there all along but you didn’t see them because of your uncertainty about the whole enterprise. Therefore, by believing in your dream enough to commit, you create the circumstances for success to come more naturally than when you’re resisting and unsure.
I notice that I absolutely believe that it’s possible for other people but I don’t entirely believe that it’s possible for me just yet. Even while I notice that clearly the opposite – earning lots of money doing something that I wasn’t completely passionate about at its core – wasn’t sustainable, since here I be.
I also notice that it’s not entirely that I don’t believe it’s possible for money to come in in that fashion, it’s that I don’t believe I *should* be asking for money in exchange for things that are clearly so enjoyable and done with love and that are (seemingly) easy and that I would do regardless. If I love them, that should be enough. How can I ask for more.
Wheeeee. More money journalings.
Elizabeth´s last blog ..guilty pleasures
Oh yes, this is a super-interesting point. Because there’s that paradox where in some ways not charging for something we love doing will make it less available for anyone who would feel uncomfortable benefiting from your passion without some kind of energy exchange. Yes, way more pondering to do : )
I believe 100% that it’s possible.
And at the same time, I catch myself finding “evidence to the contrary” the minute things don’t go the way I expect. Like my monsters are hyper-vigilant for the opportunity to say, “See? We told you it’s not possible!”
Yet it all seems to work out in the long run. Thankfully!
Victoria Brouhard´s last blog ..Sticking It to the Man- One Year Later
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