Want to know if your passion is a hobby or has the potential to be a fulltime gig? Use the test below to find out. Once you do, share your results in the comments below. 
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I love the infographic, Jonathan! I found myself stuck at “Will monetizing this passion compromise what I love about it?” because my passion is writing [fiction, I suppose], although I’d like to say I’m very interested in a lot of other things. But as I learned from you, carve your own niche, don’t just sit there and find one. If I combine writing and History, for example, there’s a whole other niche that gives me the possibility to monetize.
Thanks for everything you do. Congratulations to whoever wins the giveaway.
R. Silver
The link https://pte.bz/pssd9q in the middle of the graphic did not work for me…?
The link is case sensitive. Give this a try: https://pte.bz/PsSd9Q
:)
As I quickly read down the questions and answers like a pachinko ball, I smiled at the inevitable conclusion, Yes. Thank you for being such a major source of help, fun and focus.
Love the infographic, Jonathan! I like how it got me thinking, seriously, about whether or not my passion was a viable, profitable business. I’m happy to say that thinking through this has strengthened my desire to plow forward with some serious changes I am making in my life. I quit my six-figure job (next Friday is my last day) and will be devoting my hours to A) spending more time with family and B) building some valuable content that I hope will help others find the time in their life to do more of what they love!
Thanks for the valuable tool – have a terrific day!
Lisa
Insert Passion HERE: Book Reviews
Am I prepared to d what it takes to become the best in the world at this?
YES
Is my passion consistent with my deeply held values and beliefs?
YES
Will monetizing this passion compromise what I love about it?
No
Is there a community of others in the work that share my passion?
YES
DO I have an earnest desire to help others in this field?
YES
Am I prepared to spend a lot of work day doing administrative tasks for my business such as Accounting?
Customer support, sales, marketing?
YES
What Did I learn? I learned that I love to read. I am going to make a living doing book reviews and posting them to Amazon.com. I have a two year progress which now your chart tells me that I should expand my level of thinking and look outside the box for making my living doing it – to quit my corporate job that I hate.
My Passion??? Natural Hair care and Design (photography and graphic-web design to be exact).
I’d love to make them more monetized for me and my family!! And awesome infographic by the way!! :)
I’ve known for a while that my passion can be profitable because so many others have gone the same path and I know I can do it if I work hard. I guess for me it’s just a matter of pushing myself everyday to work at it and never give up. Awesome infographic, by the way. :)
I’m finally getting off my duff and working to make my passion profitable. I’ve done a lot of soul-searching, and I am ready. Your infographic confirmed that I have finally found/figured out what to do and how to do it. Thank you for your encouragement!
You’re welcome Ron. Glad it could help.
My passion is teaching, I realize I don’t have to go the conventional route to monetize my passion. I don’t have to get a teaching credential, I can have private lessons and one on one clients.
I get so excited when I see something from PTE in my box! The whole design scheme and communication is so very visually pleasing…but the content is priceless. WIN-WIN. I have found that if ‘I’m too busy to really focus on your posts and offerings–then I’m too busy.’ I hope when I can come up for air, the hoarding of your tutelage will reap the benefits I am anticipating. Peace.
I’m pretty sure this isn’t what you’re looking for, but what I learned is that flowcharts still confuse the living daylights out of me and if anything substantive depended on my making sense of one, I’d be up a creek without a ladder.
Wow!!! It seems like mine is straight to PTE life. Cool.
That was great. It is definitely eye opening for me. I am going to have to revisit it several times. I did it twice and the first time it lead me to the passion.
I started it again because honestly there were a few maybes along the way. The second time through I switched those and it lead me to hobby.
If I go all anti-(Tom)Crusian on the matter and complete my own psychoanalysis I would have to say the “maybes” are more self doubt than actual second guessing of my passion.
If I never used it again it has already helped so thanks for a useful tool!
I absolutely love this infographic. Super easy to follow and even more helpful.
As for my results, the ultimate answer is yes, I can make a living from my passion. But my stumbling block has never been “Is it possible?”
Its always been “Is this possible for me?” So, the only question that has ever stumbled me, was the first: am I willing to do anything to be the best at this? In the past, I would have said no. And I would have “tried”, but never given it all my effort.
But now? Now, I am ready to really put my heart into it. Put all my effort into doing and learning. And its an awesome feeling.
Thank you for this great concept, loved the infographic, as it helped to clarify my wild, fun,crazy, passionate mind. For about 6 mths now I have been reading many blogs, subscriber sites, internet marketing ” gurus ” for want of a better description, but they got me more confused the more I read!! Your questions made me focus on what really counts & helped me decide to act now, not next week or in six months time, but NOW. Thank you, Jonathon for this special tool & your willingness to share it. Will personally mention you in my first publication–don’t hold your breath, but it will happen!
i got hung up on the last part with administrative, accounting, marketing and sales. :( I said no… But I want to change that. I DEFINITELY want to do marketing and sales now and for a long time, I was hung up on marketing.. so that’s an achievement, at least.. But I’m really clueless when it comes to numbers and logistics and figured I could hire out the accounting/admin part. Or at least ACCOUNTING! I hope that means its not just a hobby. I am dedicated to this but I don’t want to do numbers. Is that so bad?
No, I think that’s perfectly reasonable. I hired an accountant to do bookkeeping and taxes from Day 1.
I did not “recover” a passion that could be a money maker with this test but I did gain a litmus kit that I can use again and again to distill my many hobbies down to a few passionate possibilities. Although I may not have found a passion to use for profit (yet), the article about mastering a skill gave me the confidence to continue to pursue teaching myself HTML5 and CSS3 for the sake of becoming a web designer. Many thanks Jonathan, for such a wonderful gem.
I am not willing to spend a significant amount of time doing administrative work, but that does not make my passion unfit as my life work. I know my strengths – training and rehabilitating horses, not creating invoices. A perfectly fabulous free lancer takes care of the billing.
That’s a great point. Some things can definitely be outsourced.
I just found my passion!
Yes! What is it? :)
Hi Jonathon,
I am loving these infographics. I have to admit, I was a little scared to look at some of this. It may sound strange, but my passion is living my life. I spent more than ten years being the prisoner of anxiety and now that I am free of that I just want to live the beautiful life that I dreamed of for so long. As I have acknowledged this part, I’ve realised that what I want to put out into the world are things that help others who are trapped by similar things to get back into their life and rock it! There are way too many beautiful souls and incredible gifts getting stuck because of this. Your infographic actually stirred up more ideas within me. I’m living my passion, and in doing so I’m beginning to create a business that not only aligns with my passion, but also gives me purpose.
Thanks as always for sharing your inspiring wisdom.
Kate
You’re welcome Kate. Glad it struck a chord with you.
For me it comes down to commitment. Commit to be the best, commit to be different, commit to keep going, commit to help as many people as you can, commit now!
I believe that any PASSION can be turned into a profitable business. I see examples everyday of people making money from crazy things they love, that no one would have imagined that it could make any money. The most important thing is to believe that you can make meaningful money out of your passion, then find creative ways to connect your passion to people’s problems and desires.
What a great infographic! I found that the thing I have a degree in may better be suited as a hobby, but something else I have been considering switching to would be suitable as a passionate job. Luckily, they can work together and each be tools to the other… which will make both skills more valuable!
Great graphic. My passion is math and science and helping people who think they “hate” it or are “bad” at it overcome those misconceptions. There was something very powerful to answer yes to whether or not I have an “earnest desire to help others”. I do! And somehow confirming that outloud is very motivational! Thanks!
Well, thanks! This is perfect and I really needed this exercise of clarity.
“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
This is all I’m trying to be, this is all I’m trying to do. It’s been almost a year that I got unemployed and that I also met you – Jonathan Mead ! And what a ride I might say!
I do believe that “roller coaster” are the best words to describe the past 11 months… and I am still learning but it’s so hard, so tough, so happy and sad (all at the same time). And now I do know that (thanks to this infographic and all your great posts and powerful advices) my passion is profitable! I still don’t know how to put all in a shiny, pretty box… but I do believe that I’ll get there sooner or later. For now I still need to deal with fear and low self-esteem, but I also know that I’m not the same person I used to be, I’m so much better now!
So, thank you for taking all this time to share your knowledge, expertise and braveness… it has helped me A LOT over this overwhelming year! You are a true empowering rock star! Bravo Jonathan Mead!
This infographic is brilliant. Though I have no idea what my passion is. None.
I’m a Jack-of-all-trades and it’s terrible. I’ve tried my hand at anything that seemed right at the time and went with my gut into some of the best and worst jobs available. I’ve started 2 degrees anf finished neither due to lack of funding. I know what I’m skilled at, but I’m not passionate about any of it. What do you do when you don’t have a clue?
If you don’t have a clue, I recommend getting Trailblazer. It’s completely designed for someone in your situation Milo: http://www.jointrailblazer.com
This is indeed very exciting. It’s a totally new way of thinking. I’m looking forward to learning more and discovering…. sorry, re-descovering WHO I am and WHAT I can really do! Thank you for the opportunity!
Been following you for some time now and enjoyed your beautiful evolution – evidence that what espouse is worth it. Be who you are- your the best at it, after all!
Jonathan,
Thank you!
I’d been planning to build my own business for more than 2 years, but I hadn’t actually started because I never felt ready and other things were always on the way.
Last week, after my second car crash in 2 months (accidents are mostly out of our control, but in this case it was probably due to my tiring job routine that requires a lot of driving), I knew this was it. In a rather rushed and instinctive move (so different from my usually overthought and carefully planned actions), I talked to my boss and quit my traditional job, to the astonishment and incomprehension of some close people around me.
Luckily, deep inside I still think I did the right thing, and I still have the support of a few loved ones. Of course, things could have been smoother; I could have saved more money than I did until now before taking this leap; I could have had more time to test and adjust my business. But I have a strong vision plus the abilities and willpower to do what it takes to make it come true! And, according to your test, yes, my passion is profitable!
I ended up in hobby-land. Because I’d rather do the actual thing instead of all the administrative tasks. But those can be outsourced, right?
Definitely. And it really just depends on the stage of your business. Most stage 1 businesses can’t afford to outsource when you’re just trying to make your first profitable sale. But at stage 2 & 3, it’s much easier to hire independent contractors and employees. You may have to admin stuff in the beginning, but it’s only temporary.
I was a bit nervous taking this test because I genuinely thought that my “new found passion” would miserably fail the passion test and land me in the abyss of hobby. Surprise! As I went through the flowchart, I honestly answered several of the questions with a reluctant “No”, but was happily overjoyed to be lead back to the land of passion :-D
During these last 5 months of discovering my true passions, I’ve found something else – the real me! This startling discovery has opened up a whole new set of ideas and passions that truly excite and inspire me to move forward with rock solid momentum and determination.
Thanks Jonathan for stimulating my visual senses with this infographic and reminding me that it’s better to flush out the passion vs. hobby argument at the beginning than to be hugely disappointed and depressed at the end.
When I first reviwed this in an exhuasted stupor, I landed cheekily on having no passion at all. I say cheekily because as soon as I cleared the cobwebs from my brain and worked through the flow chart in a more honest and awake manner, I realized that perhaps my passion has shifted and maybe it’s time to revisit that part of myself to re-engage and discover where my true passion lives. Thank you for making the journey fun and insightful.
helps …
One question really resonated with me: Are you prepared to become the best in the world at anything? For so long, I have had a complete lack of motivation. Any career I considered sounded interesting at first, but eventually would provoke intense boredom. I see now that these careers are all stories with endings–and I need to write my own story.
Great info graphic!
I wish I would have had this a few months ago when I was just starting my blog, Colored Girl Confidential. I was so nervous about turning my passion for helping women (esp. women of color) lead happier, more fulfilling lives into a business that I almost didn’t take the huge leap I needed to. Fear of regret was what finally pushed me over the edge. I haven’t looked back since. :)
Great infographic! I definitely can take my passion and make money from it. And the final step? Am I prepared to spend a lot of work day doing administrative tasks for my business such as Accounting, Customer support, sales, marketing? Though my answer was yes, I hope that somewhere down the line I can outsource some of this.
Hi Jonathan,
This is a great tool! I was able to answer “yes” at each stage. It was logical and has given me the courage to power ahead and get started on my passion and dreams.
Many thanks
Great, clear infographic. I think being ready to be the best at being your passionate self can also lead to monetizing your passion. I strive to be the best at my brand of excellence, which is always to beat my own records, and I believe that is just as great as being willing to be the best at a particular thing.
My passion is to study to be a health coach: nutrition/personal training/herbalist. I hope to better other’s lives by helping them find solutions to their health issues through diet, exercise, and natural supplements.
Now I just need the education, the guts, and the clients. :)
Simple logic is always the best. This led to a huge realization and the thoughts in my head became more organized seeing each question as a step in this chart. I didn’t even read the “no’s”Can you make a “get off your a** and do it” chart? :)
Thanks a bunch!
Brandy,
That would be an awesome chart! I’m putting it in Evernote as a potential infographic concept : )
Totally agree with you on this one Brandy! Once someone gets to the bottom of this one they’ll probably be asking, “Now what?” Join Trailblazer would be the obvious answer (shameless plug for you Jonathan :) ).
Great decision tree! When answering the questions for what I’m doing, I went (almost fell) straight to Start Blazing Your Trail.
Regarding the admin tasks, I’m an accountant by trade so that one has never bothered me. Before starting my site, I would have said that I hate marketing. But knowing that my blog and business will go nowhere without it, I’ve become a major student and have found that I absolutely LOVE it! And I love helping others with it. And customer support keeps me in touch with my community so what’s not to love about that?
I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned and grown since I started blazing my trail. It’s been an amazing adventure and I’ve only begun.
This infographic is an awesome tool for anyone wondering if it’s possible to monetize their passions. Most people think, by default, that they can’t. This will show that they usually can. Thanks so much for putting this out there!!
I like this infographic because it shows respect for the hard work required to turn passion into a business.
I think a lot of people fall into the trap of assuming that if they are passionate about something they won’t have to work their butt off to turn it into a business. Or maybe some people realize this but they don’t actually understand what that means.
There is one area that I think the infographic misses. I think that if we are going to follow our passion and turn it into money we have to be willing to sit on an island alone for a while.
What I mean is that often there is a gap from the period of time one discovers their passion and is able to generate income from it. We have to be willing to sit on this island keep on moving forward. If we keep pushing at some point we break free and others start to listen. Eventually as the message gets stronger and more listen we can provide products.
Though I guess you could say that the first box “Am I prepared to become the best in the world” covers this. But I think many people do not recognize what this truly means.
Cool and helpful infographic, my path to profitable passion was a resounding yes all the way! I’ve spent so many months dithering and contemplating all sorts of potential possibilities that left me in a state of analysis paralysis. It’s time to move forward and enjoy work again. Thanks, for a fun passion test.
I’m a proud jack of all trades, so I hit the “Go Read This” immediately.
Then, along the same lines, I had the problem of being totally uncertain which of my passions to actually run through the flowchart. Instead I decided I’m just going to get back to work on an app I’m building that will make me some money :D
I discovered the Nike ad nailed it: JUST DO IT!
Thanks for the reminder.
:)
My epiphany did come with the first “insert your passion here”… I inserted my actual job: I’m a psychotherapist and I work with people with stress and anxiety.
But all of sudden I realized… Is this my passion? or This is something that I do because I have a degree, the knowledge and is a contribution to the society? But “My passion?”.
No. It is not my passion. I’m always learning, and implementing new things for my patients benefit. But it is not something I can call my passion.
So, I found that the “marketing, and sales” step is what I enjoy the most. And then I had my AHA moment…
I felt fulfilled when I worked with patients that are entrepreneurs and professionals.
I enjoy the process of creating a new course, writing copy, doing PR for my business… so, this is my passion.
And I found that I want to teach this things to professionals like me (in the health business)… It is what I am passionate about and I’m already doing it without payment just because I can’t help it… :D
Your process help me a lot in putting aside the nonsense, and negative beliefs and really think in a rational way about the path I can take. Thank You :D
I was a little hesitant at the question about the administrative tasks. Sure, I’m going to do what I have to do, but aren’t these the perfect tasks to be outsourced?
Anyways, I really love the graphics you’re using recently. They look very unique and are always interesting.
PEACE etc. :)
I get stuck at “Will monetizing my passion compromise what I love about it?”.
I guess the only way to find out is to try it, and see.
It can definitely be difficult to tell whether weather monetizing a passion what take away from the joy of it. Good luck!
I have to agree with Iris above: when reading “am I willing to do the admin tasks…”I totally say “yes” because I’ve done them for so long in my own business, but they are totally the first things I’ll be outsourcing, so I can focus on the vision and management!
And, since a lot of folks seem to get stuck on the “will it compromise my passion to monetize it”, I’d suggest one more box if they say “yes”: and that box would say, “Are you sure?” …I’ve seen people think about that one really deeply, and often come to a conclusion that no, it won’t compromise it but help spread the passion around. Not always, but often!
Thanks so much for the graphic that gets us all thinking….
Annie
Thank you so much for the infographic. It just confirms that my passion is writing, that I can do it to my heart’s content, and there is a strong possibility it will make me get money one way or another.
Great infographic! Very inspiring and helpful. At first glance, it looked like simple tips and questions that you would think anyone would ponder before making their decisions, yet these can easily be overlooked when people try to turn their passion into business.
Thanks for the graphic and test Jonathan.
What did you use to make the graphic? – I’d like to hobby around and make one!
This test revealed to me that my passion of blogging about daily happiness could be profitable. That is reassuring to me but what isn’t is the fact that I make less than a dollar a day from it.
I am going to have to keep working (as the test states) to become the best happiness blogger in the world!
Best,
TJ
What a great blog !
Thank you Jonathan, I thought I was the only one in the world to think create a niche is much better than follow one. And you’re right, everyone should be paid to exist. That is what I teach through my blog too.
Thank you to exist :-)
my passion is graphic designing. I love creating website. and I know that there are lots of money in this area. I am just (I think) scared of expanding my horizon and socializing with people who is interested in my work. ^__^
Mine flowed through like water through a sieve, Jonathan. Answering each question without hesitation and arriving straight away at profitable leaves it sounding like an ideal project, don’t you think? Thanks for the kick!
Great graphic! Shared with my peeps!
Hahahaha! I got mine real good, real quick. I took some time to think on other questions because of some of my limiting beliefs. But all in all answering this test got me excited into making my dreams into reality. Into working my ass to make it real. Just makes me smile to my ears.
To keep myself accountable to work on it I will spill it out.
It’s this: To do increedible, mind-blowing, intelligent art works.
I have a question about the question “Will monetize this passion compromise what I love about it?”
This is a tricky one. Because if I’m a musician writing and playing virtuous music then I might tune my music a bit to have an audience that makes it worthwhile. Still I would love to earn from my music and make it big. So I think I have to compromise a bit and go a bit mainstream if the style of my music I like is just a bit to edgy.
I’ve seen this over and over again with artists who have difficulties with marketing their talent. I believe you have to be willing to adapt slightly to make your dream come true.
Great infographic and thanks for the opportunity to go through this exercise. I answered a big YES to all, with a dose of uncertainty about the “how” of turning my passion into a business.
I am grateful for my day job, and yet I see the need to consciously invent the next stage of my life and the value I create for the world. All while honoring the significant financial karma I have taken on. So it is a matter of doing the daily work toward liberation, and toward well, even MORE of the real work I need to do!
My passion is based on my lifetime of spiritual seeking and practice, and the desire to help others move forward on their own path of what you have wonderfully called “real growth” in a different post. Inspiration, motivation, designing tools to gently set souls on fire. That is what I will spend my life becoming the best in the world at. Lots of people doing this already and I am humbled (and scared shitless) to see their work. So how do i make my stuff unique? Yet they and the millions of those seeking or walking a spiritual path on this planet are my true family and tribe. I know this now. And providing unique value to them is a worthwhile goal.
Holy crap. Sorry for the long winded comment. This is the first time I have written this down. Thanks for the opportunity and for the great work you do here at PTE.
Wow, this infographic really displays what I’ve been putting into action over the last few months and very consistently over the last week. I have had so much passion for dance and helping people but have struggled with how to monetize it. Not because I have a philosophical issue with monetizing something so close to my soul, but more because I had so many info marketing naysayers telling me there was no market for it.
I’ve gone to my market, and asked a lot of questions and found that yes, they can use my help and they love my strategies. The exercise of going through this beautifully simple infographic drives home that—YES, I can! With a plan, with vision and with dogged determination, I can build a business based on my passion that will help my tribe!
My passion is supporting men to reach their potential Manhood through therapy and initiation and to facilitate a cultural change in raising Men. I’m really energised and have loads of information but lack what I’m really looking for – a step by step ordered guide. All the info I have appears to form a circle with no ‘on ramp’.
I’m in!
Lets do this!
I learned that no matter how much you love your passion and how much you want to pursue it for yourself, if you want to turn it into your life’s work, you have to make it about other people.
Awesome decision making algoritem!
I inserted my passion – body psyhotherapy – and came all the way down.
Grateful and encouraged by the findings I’m continuing along the planned path.
Thx Jonathan!
My passion is definitely profitable. Reading and learning from the PTE community has helped me realize that living on your own terms is not limited to people in first world countries. I’m pretty excited to be an African pioneer in lifestyle design and looking forward to helping millennials live, love, learn & leave a lasting legacy!
I was talking about my business with a friend/co-worker awhile back, and they asked me if I was taking any clients yet. I’m currently building the website for my business, and I work full-time, so there isn’t time to take clients yet. I explained to her that right now I want to make sure that my website is professional and easy to navigate. I also need a platform for blogging and marketing. I said that I have a job right now, so I’m not desperate for money, so there’s no rush. I consistently and steadily work on my business every day. She then said, “so it’s more like a hobby then.” That statement annoyed me. I answered yes to every one of the questions above in the infographic. The business I’m building right now, though not taking any clients yet, is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I live and breathe it. I’m obsessed. Just because a business is building its store and hasn’t opened its doors yet, does not mean its just a hobby.
“Best in the world” sounds like EGO talking to me…. I think passion has nothing to do with “Best in the world” more to do with doing what you like to feed your soul. I like laying in the sun:-)