Comments on: Doing What You Love Won’t Make You Rich

By: Making Money From A Hobby — Almost Frugal- a frugal blog

Making Money From A Hobby — Almost Frugal- a frugal blog — Wed, 20 May 2009 06:52:08 +0000

[...] Micah says that doing what you love won’t make you rich, and I have to agree that the one does not assure or assume the other. But if a hobby is something [...]

By: Turning a Hobby into a Job — Almost Frugal- a frugal blog

Turning a Hobby into a Job — Almost Frugal- a frugal blog — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:19:15 +0000

[...] Micah says that doing what you love won’t make you rich, and I have to agree that the one does not assure or assume the other. But if a hobby is something [...]

By: Kelly from Almost Frugal

Kelly from Almost Frugal — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:56:40 +0000

I do think the money will follow- although like David and Meg said, it never said how much! I am in the process of changing careers, and going from teaching ESL (which I enjoyed, but was just OK as a career for me) to working in internet marketing and communication (which I LOVE) means a big jump in salary, although I will by no means be rich. that’s OK- I don’t need to be rich, it’s much more important to do something that I feel passionate about, which is one of the reasons I’ve kept plugging away at blogging for so long .

Kelly from Almost Frugal’s last blog post: College and Money

By: Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #20 | Pecuniarities

Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #20 | Pecuniarities — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:45:16 +0000

[...] Micah says Doing What You Love Won’t Make You Rich, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do [...]

By: David

David — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:35:39 +0000

I figured you did . I do believe you can make enough to support yourself if you do what you love and make changes to make that happen..

David’s last blog post: Credit Card Research: Biodegradable Discover More Card.

By: Weekly Round Up | Master Your Card

Weekly Round Up | Master Your Card — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:47:37 +0000

[...] Mrs. Micah goes against a popular adage to tell us why doing what you love won’t always make you rich. You’ve heard it before, “do what you love and the money will come.” Mrs. Micah [...]

By: mrsmicah

mrsmicah — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:12:09 +0000

@sara l I think it really helps to have a job where you can grow your skills. I love expanding the area where I consult.

@Steven Yeah, in the post title I meant the conventional type of rich because people often talk about wealth in terms of money. But I often feel rich (unless I start focusing too much on our debt) even though we lived on about $20k last year.

@Rob True, I mentioned the importance of figuring out why you love doing things and what else you can do with that–my interests in databases could almost definitely get me a better job once I have a little more education to back it up.

@CindyS There’s a great book by Jean Chatzky called You Don’t Have to Be Rich and she makes the same point about how good money management may make you wealthier despite a lower salary.

@Money Matters I can see how people would get discouraged. I know I sometimes do about my consulting business and that isn’t even a full-time job…so I don’t have to support my family from it.

@Meg I think smart people don’t use the phrase that way (yes, David, I know that’s not how you meant it), but I’ve heard others imply that just by doing what you love, you’re going to be wealthy–kind of like using the “Secret” to visualize things into your life

You make a good point about the dangers of turning a hobby into a career. I use quilting as an outlet hobby so that I have something besides my job, my blogging (which is not unlike a job), and my consulting (definitely another job).

@David I know. It was just a good post to link to. I didn’t feel like linking to some of the more egregious sites which do assume you can become rich by doing what you love.

By: David

David — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:01:01 +0000

I didn’t say it would make you rich – I said the money would come. And it will.

By: Meg from FruWiki

Meg from FruWiki — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:58:37 +0000

Then again, there is some danger to doing what you love. Often, we love things more as hobbies than as careers. If turning your hobby into a career means that you’ll end up hating it, don’t do it — or at least cultivate other hobbies. We all need something in our lives that brings us joy and some hobbies just can’t withstand career pressures.

By: Meg from FruWiki

Meg from FruWiki — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:55:44 +0000

“Do what you love and the money will follow.”

Well, it never said HOW MUCH money!

Honestly, I never took this to mean that you’ll get rich doing whatever it is you love. For me, it’s more about priorities. If you’re doing what you love, then money isn’t such a big priority. Do something you hate for a living and you’ll spend plenty of money trying to get your mind off of work, but do what you love and you’ll be happier on a lot less.