Why People (Don't) Want to Make Money out of What They Love

How would you like to make money out of something you like, or even better yet, love? I know everybody is tempted to say yeah. But when you dig a little deeper, it feels more comfortable for most to leave hobbies just as that. How come?

I hadn’t even thought that if given the choice, a person would not want to make money out of the thing he/she loves. But this little conversation from a movie got me thinking:

Fritz: I used to take pictures all the time.

Gray: Why did you quit?

Fritz: Started getting paid for it. Took all the fun out of it.

(From the movie Catch and Release. Fritz is in advertising. His passion is photography.)

Maybe what Fritz meant was, when you start getting paid for something, usually a boss comes within the territory. That brings rules, deadlines, limits to imagination and creativity. So while I know it sucks to be restrained on an artistic level, I believe one can always find projects that he will like. He just has to look hard enough.

I write. I have been writing in my head since I was very little. At 12, I started putting things on paper. I write when I want to write, which is basically all the time. So it is just perfect when someone pays me for what I already do for free.

Another reason regular jobs are so “popular” is usually the steady pay. Many of my friends wouldn’t even dare going freelancing. And they wouldn’t even look within themselves to see if they really have a passion. This is very scary. The moment you value stability over happiness, you start to let go of what excites you. Don’t. You don’t have to risk everything but getting paid for doing what you love should be the norm; not the exception. Being happy is fun. Being happy and being paid while you are at it is even more so.