The convergence of passion & work

Greetings from Fairfield, Idaho!  Amie and I just returned from a mid-week trip to Boise.  We decided to leave the high plains and meet up with Chris Guillebeau on his Unconventional Book Tour.  If you follow Chris’ blog, you already know he is on a tour of all 50 states, 10 Canadian Provinces plus San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, and Washington, D.C.  Add that all up and you get a total of 63 cities in 4 months. Not bad!  He is doing it to promote his new book, “The Art of Non-Conformity”.  If you are at all interested in a non-conventional approach to life & work, do yourself a favor and get this book!

I’m telling you about Chris because he has been such a huge inspiration to us over the past couple of years.  He’s found a way to follow his passions and interests while at the same time making money and helping others.  Its the type of life Amie and I are pursuing at this very moment and its great to have met a real life “solopreneuer” in person.

As many of you who read this site already know (there are thousands, trust me), I too am working on combining my passions and interests with my work.  Its a really tough thing to do when starting out.  There aren’t a lot of people who understand the goal, and even more that think it might be a cop out to not get a real job.  While I would love to immediately start writing and making money doing it, its going to take time and dedication to make that my sole source of income.  So instead of giving in and getting that J-O-B, I’m building a business instead.

Luckily I have other passions that relate a little closer to my background and skills.  One of those passions is technology and the fast pace at which it is evolving.  I’m fascinated by how quickly it is changing our lives and the world around us, almost so quickly that we hardly notice it is happening.  I love to check out new software and systems and see how they all integrate together.  Above all else, I love seeing the effects that technology has on our work and the businesses we create and support (I know, I’m a geek).

Because of this passion, and because I already have over 11 years of experience with technology consulting, I’ve decided to focus on building a small consulting practice & blog.  My goal is to help small businesses adapt their mindsets and work practices to operating in the digital age.  I’m calling it Biz Evolution.  I’d love it if you checked it out and became a fan on Facebook.  Its definitely in its infancy now (still working on updating design and services), but something I’ve actually been working on since early February of 2009.

I’m hoping to grow this business very slowly and deliberately so it can help sustain Amie & I in our upcoming adventures.  We are hoping to start traveling around the US and the world starting next spring.  If I have my way, I’ll be working remotely while we travel. We’re going to need all our skills and determination to make it work, but the effort will be worth it!

One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.  – Henry Ford

I honestly believe that if we work hard enough, and don’t back down, our dream of working for ourselves and living a location independent lifestyle really will come true.  As a worst case scenario, at least I will have tried!  That sounds a lot better than never attempting something hard in the first place.  In other words, its better to have tried and failed, than to have never tried at all. Many successful people out there will tell you that same idea.  The more you fail, the closer you get to success the next time.

So here’s to following our passions!  Here’s to finding a way to live those passions out and make money at the same time.  Here’s to helping other people along the way.  But most of all, here’s to failing and being willing to try again.

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How about you?  Have you ever had a crazy idea that you wanted to try but haven’t?  What are you afraid to do?  Let me know in the comments below or go out there and do that thing right now!  Please share this if it helps inspire you.  Thanks so much.  – Bryan