“follow your passion and the rest will come”

Passion Before Paycheck   

Wendy:

Location: Durban, South Africa

Age: 43 

It’s an awful dilemma - how to do something you really love, and make enough money to to give yourself and your family a good home, a good education, an opportunity to explore the world and all the rest …

All these things require a regular income, and so often one’s passion - painting, say - doesn’t come close to providing this.

Many people really want to make a difference in people’s lives, and those jobs seldom pay well either - teaching, nursing, social work. Sad, but true.

I became a journalist 23 years ago because it was my passion, knowing full well that it was about on a par with teaching as far as income goes.

And if I had my life over, I wouldn’t change a thing on the career front. That’s a lovely place to be.

Ten years ago, I began specialising in consumer journalism, which is a perfect fit for me. I get to help hundreds of people get justice from companies every month - they get a free service, I get to feel really good about myself, and the two media companies I work for - a national newspaper group and a regional radio station - get to pay! And they pay rather well.

So I get to follow my passion, feel that I’m making a difference, AND make a decent living. And most of the time it doesn’t feel like work at all.

Plus I get to work from home and be pretty much a full-time mother to my kids.

Looking back, my only goal was to be a journalist, and a damn good one. And along the way, I rose to challenges, even though they scared the hell out of me. Such as taking on a consumer radio show four years ago - not a print journalist’s natural medium!

So I guess the saying “follow your passion and the rest will come” ended up applying to me perfectly. And in many ways, I’m just getting started.

Wendy

Wendy would like you to visit her site at: Consumer Watch

What is Passion Before Paycheck and how do I post my passion?