This sorry piece of advice needs to go out with the bathwater.
Whoever believes that if you “Do what you love and the money will follow” is off his rocker.
In general, the money will NOT follow if you do what you love. It’s time to bury this false claim six feet under.
Money follows few people who do what they love.
Any of you remember that popular, single-frame comic strip “Ziggy”? This short and pudgy bald guy was always down on his luck.
In 1989 a book came out, “Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow,” by Marsha Sinetar.
One day, the blurb coming from Ziggy’s mouth was, “Gee, according to this, I can get rich eating ice cream and watching TV.” He was holding a book with Sinetar’s title.
I never read Sinetar’s book, but I’m sure it gives helpful information for people who feel stuck in a rut with their job.
But the catchy title is very misleading. It’s also frequently used by entrepreneurs, including those for whom crazy dumb luck was part of their success.
I currently work part time as a direct support professional with an autistic woman who enjoys making coasters.
Money will never follow her despite how much I’ve helped her with selling her creations.
How do you net meaningful profit selling only coasters?
There’s only several fairs per year she can afford the vendor registration fee for. Plus, it costs money to keep stocked with the wood, mod podge, adhesive felt pads and paper.
Not to mention the time involved – from AI design to finished product. I wonder what Sinetar would have to say about this.
This individual also loves taking pictures of animals and baby showers (she’s had only six paid gigs so far).
Real money will never follow. How do you make steady income from this? By posting signs all over town that you’re available to take photos at baby showers?
By posting this on her Instagram so her 53 followers could see it? By tacking up signs inside recreation centers?
Poor People Do Things They Love
If money literally followed people for doing things they enjoy, then everyone would have plenty of money.
Even a person with the brains of a brick knows that when spare time presents itself, you do things you love, not hate. Duh.
If money really did follow you upon doing things you loved, you’d have money at your feet just for bowling, eating cookies, listening to music, strumming a guitar and dancing in the living room.
Now of course, you’re probably thinking that I’m taking the mantra way too seriously.
- But the mantra is frequently used by people leading entrepreneurial workshops.
- It’s told to college students about to graduate.
- People in the poorhouse tell it to their children!
- It’s a load of crap!
What about people who’ve gotten filthy rich doing what they love?
Getting Rich Singing
Rihanna loves to sing. She became a multimillionaire doing this.
Oh wait, let’s not forget how she was discovered: Record producer Evan Rogers spotted her when he just happened to be vacationing in Barbados, her home country.
But the luck continues: According to Insider, Rihanna’s facial presence … a gift from the right combination of genes … had everything to do with her landing a contract.
The money followed her alright, courtesy of a man’s vacation and winning the genetic face lottery.
I’m not saying Rihanna never worked hard after that chance discovery, but it shows my point:
A lot of luck, chance encounters and unforeseen serendipity are involved in cases where people get rich or even just make a livable income doing what they love.
Making Money Eating
In 2005 Sonya Thomas earned $50,000 eating at one sitting. She has, in fact, won many eating contests … which come with prize money. I guess Ziggy’s snarky comment isn’t so snarky after all.
- The judges on “American Idol” get paid a huge sum for listening to music.
- Some people have made a fortune blogging.
- The money that pro-athletes make is obscene.
- Some Instagram stars earn thousands of dollars with every post.
The aforementioned “jobs” all sound like so much fun. You don’t learn to drill a football down a field smack into someone’s hands by not loving this activity.
But for every one of those just mentioned, there are thousands to millions doing the same thing and loving it dearly … but not earning a single dime.
It’s not that the money-makers are harder workers. It’s luck in most cases.
One day my mother said to me, “Have you ever seen a recording star who wasn’t good-looking?”
That got me thinking. It was so true! Or are we to believe that women who look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame can’t sing?
Find me just one major female recording artist in the hip-hop, country or soft rock genre who isn’t good-looking. Even the hard rockers are usually pretty good-looking.
Find me just one leading man on a cop or doctor show who isn’t handsome and at least 5’10. You might. How about finding three? Or three in the same show? Sure, Jan.
It’s no coincidence that non-celebrities who’ve raked in money from Instagram are usually (not always) very attractive.
For them, I guess it’s true: Do what you love and the money will follow … if you have a killer face and killer body.
But who makes money hiking, fishing or reading mystery novels? Please don’t say someone who leads sightseeing tours in the mountains or book editors.
There’s a big difference between hiking on your own and leading a tour (which would pay peanuts anyways), and reading whatever you want, when you want — vs. editing books for a publisher.
Many years ago I was playing pickup volleyball games about 20 hours a week. Didn’t earn a penny.
I used to do a lot of climbing at rock-wall gyms. Never got paid.
And don’t tell me that coaching volleyball or becoming a climbing instructor are the same thing as what I’d been doing. They are NOT the same thing! Far from it!
I love watching the ID Channel. Now don’t you dare tell me that being a crime scene investigator is the same thing as sitting on my comfy sofa and watching “Fear Thy Neighbor” while I eat ice cream.
What about people who love their jobs?
Have you ever wondered why, when you ask people if they like their job, most will say “Yes” or “Yeah, I love it”?
It’s difficult to believe that so many people like, let alone love, their job, being that:
- “Happy hour” is after work, not before.
- There’s a TGIF but not a TGIM.
- There’s the hostile work environment but not the hostile retirement environment.
- There’s workplace harassment but not retirement harassment.
It’s very possible that people answer they like or love their job to avoid pity and/or the many questions that would follow if they replied, “No, it sucks.”
The day after my father had a knee replacement surgery, he sincerely commented to his surgeon, “I bet you really love your job.”
The surgeon replied, “Actually, I hate it. But I’m good at it.” Gee, the money sure followed that guy even though he hated what he was doing.
When my niece was a bank teller, she said she loved it.
But I think my niece was just trying to be upbeat and optimistic in her young troubled life, and part of that is fooling herself into thinking she “loves” her job so that she can stay sane.
But I’ll bet the farm that if she had been stranded on an island with a Holodeck, the last virtual reality program she’d ever simulate is a day on the job at the bank! Yeah, right!
Instead, she’d be setting simulations for trips all across the U.S., play dates with her cats, karaoke nights with friends, wine tasting parties, feeding giraffes all day, rock concerts, creating nail designs, etc. Not ONE program would involve working at the bank!
But what about trying to make money by doing something you love?
Many men and women do what they love and are living in their car. And they will never be followed by money. Life will always be paycheck to paycheck.
If you love to get your hands full of flour and enjoy mixing up breads, baking and decorating cakes, etc., Sinetar’s title means it should be a piece of cake to figure out how to get restaurants to buy your pastries and acquire a facility (oh, that’s easy!!) that’s big enough to handle the workload, deal with inspections, labor costs, employee hassles, hiring, managing, overhead, the never-ending administration…
You’re no longer doing what you love. You’re now sitting at a desk all day crunching numbers, interviewing prospective employees, dealing with restaurant owners, putting up with any boors so you can get their business, wearing fake smiles …
You are no longer in your sunny kitchen taking your time baking pies for the neighbors. Wouldn’t it be great to get paid good money just to do only that?
“Do what you love and the money will follow” is the biggest load of bunk.
It should be, “Do whatever it takes so the money will follow, and hope you have good looks and other luck in the process.”
