Today, one of my favorite writers had an article on his blog entitled Professionals, amateurs and the great unwashed.  Seth Godin is really a master at writing only a few words but getting a strong point through to the reader.

Seth was talking about people and how they work.  Seth said that a professional is somebody who is expensive, but worth more than you pay because of the quality of the work that they do.  An amateur is somebody who is cheap, even free, because they are not doing it for the money, but for their love of what they are doing.  The “great unwashed” are people who are only doing it because it is a job.

Professionals? It seems so.

How many of us are the great unwashed here?  Sorry to say, but I expect that most of us are.  Too many people do what they do only because that is how they make money.  Some people start off with a passion for what they do, but later it becomes nothing more than a job.

Amateur, but loving what he does

After reading Seth’s article, I took some time to think about myself.  What am I?

• A Professional? I believe that in many ways I am a professional at the things that I do.  I strive to be the best.  I make a sincere effort to improve my skills and provide a good value for my clients.  In many cases, my services are expensive, but I believe that even though my fees may be higher than others in my field, the services that I provide are high quality and thus a good value.
• An Amateur? Sometimes I do things for free or for a reduced price because I do love what I do.  But, in the end, I mostly want to be paid good money for the value I provide, so I suppose that puts me more toward a Professional.
• The Great Unwashed? It’s easy for me to say that I am not in this class.  Why?  Because I only do things that I enjoy doing and that I am good at.  If I enjoy something but am not good at it, I improve my skills and make myself good at it.  If I do something to the point where it’s nothing but a way to make money, I change what I am doing and reinvent myself.  I have gone through a lot of careers over my life, because if I get tired of my “job” I change to something that I want to do.  That’s one of the beauties of being an entrepreneur like I am now.  I choose what I’m going to do.

So, what am I?  I would say that I am 80% Professional and 20% Amateur.  What are you?

Doing things that you love doing, and making sure you are good at them is a great habit to get into.  If you are just doing a job to make money, how can you enjoy life?  For me, you can’t.  You do hear, though, a lot of people say they are wage slaves.  Why would anybody want to be a slave to their job?  These days, it’s so easy to change what you do, and do what you enjoy!

It’s a simple question.  Very basic.  But, it’s also a question that terrifies a lot of us, if we stop to think about it.

I’ll just ask you straight out…

Are you loving what you do?

I mean, we all “do” something.  We have some kind of job, or something that keeps us busy.  Do you love what you do?  I’ll be honest… in general, I do love what I do.  Partly, because for the most part, I do what I want to do.  Every morning, when I wake up, I decide what I want to do that day.  I don’t have to get up at a certain time, take a shower and head to the office.  I don’t have to report to any certain person.  However, I have to answer to myself.  And, you know what? I am the toughest boss that I have ever had. I started working pretty regularly at age 12.  I am 47 today.  I’ve been working for myself since I was about 31 years old or so.  I don’t recall ever having a boss that was as tough on me as I am.

I like it that way, though.

Steve Jobs of Apple Computer

You know who Steve Jobs is, right?  Jobs is the founder and CEO of Apple Computer.  He’s really a self-made man.   I don’t always see eye-to-eye with Jobs.  We have somewhat different life strategies in many ways.  I do respect him for what he has done, though.  Steve Jobs said something at an address to Graduating Students at Stanford University:

“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” – Steve Jobs

I couldn’t agree more on that statement.  Brilliant.

How I started doing what I love

I started “doing what I love” in 1992.  It all happened quickly.  Up to that point, I had always had a job.  I thought you were supposed to have a job.  Most people think that.  Most people get up in the morning dreading their day of going to work.  They can’t wait for the weekend so that they can do what they want to do.  Well, why not do what you want to do every day?  That’s what I do.

You see, in 1992, I had taken a trip out of the country for a few weeks.  When I got back to the States, I went to work, and was immediately fired.  It is the only time I was ever fired from a job.  It is, though, the best thing anybody ever did for me!  I couldn’t thank my employer enough!  I didn’t look at it that way when it happened.  I was devastated.  I am still unsure exactly why I was fired, because I had done nothing wrong.  But, that’s beside the point.  Although it took me some time, after I had time to consider it, I realized that it was quite liberating to be “on my own,” so to speak.

During the ensuing 17 years, I did go back to a “regular job” for about 2 years.  Other than that, though, since getting fired I have always been self employed.  Today, I can’t really say any single thing that I “do” for a living.  I have lots of different things I do.  I have many businesses.  Some of my businesses go years between making money.  Some of my businesses make money every day.  When I get up in the morning, I tend to concentrate my efforts on whichever business I feel like messing with on that particular day.

What was it Steve Jobs said?  When he looked in that mirror and asked if he “wanted to do” what he was about to do that day, if he said “no” too often, he needed to make an adjustment, right?  Well, I don’t look into that mirror, and I doubt that Jobs literally did either, but I make a similar decision each day.

From time to time, each of us must do something that we would rather not do for a day or two.  Even me.  Yes, most days I do whatever I want to do.  Some days, though, I have to concentrate on something I would prefer to not do.  But, that’s life.  As long as those “do what you have to do” days are not what I have to do too often, well, I’m OK with that.  Because I know that in just a few days, I will get to do what I want to do again.

I didn’t come up with my personal motto immediately when I got fired from my job.  In fact it took me about 15 years before I realized what my motto was.  But, even though I did not realize it was my motto, my daily life has been lived by this motto for many, many years already:

Do what you are passionate about, and what you enjoy.  If you are passionate about it, the money will follow.  – Bob Martin