Staying passionate about something seems like it would be an easy assignment, and perhaps it is if you find something, anything in life you can be passionate about. The topic of finding your passion and then pursuing a career aligned with your passion has been in vogue for the last decade. Colleges, career counselors and human resource professionals routinely give out the advice to follow your passion. I will agree it makes sense to align your passion if possible with your career or career aspirations, but it may not be as easy as it sounds. Or is it?
Personally when I think back to finding my passion, it began when I studied Advertising in college. This major was under the School of Journalism, and truthfully, I did not know this was something I could study. However, because I was always interested in print, radio and television advertising, it made perfect sense for me to study this subject. When I thought about advertising, I was always fascinated by how each product, service or brand told its story, or value proposition via words, images and sounds. I enjoyed the narrative of each advertisement, and the sheer delight in assigning my own grade to each advertisement I encountered. This was fun, and when I was faced my sophomore year of college with declaring my major, I will never forget how fellow University of Maine student, Gary Huffnagle told me he was an Advertising Major, and how much he loved it. He loved this major because it combined both writing and a creative element which could be expressed visually, verbally or via a combination. His enthusiasm for the major, the type of classes he was taking, and the fact I was always interested in advertising made it the obvious choice for me to follow in his footsteps.
I’ll admit I have always been a practical person, so my degree in Journalism was not a coincidence, as I knew it was a practical degree. I also knew I could find a job with the skills it provided me. Having these skills allowed me to practice and master my communication skills in the business world, and it opened up the proverbial door for me into having a Marketing career which has spanned over twenty years. Most of the Marketing expertise I acquired was via hands-on learning experiences. For example, I will never forget in one of my early jobs the company was going to a tradeshow and it was up to me to figure out how to get us there, and what this entailed. I also vividly recalling learning about social and digital media marketing as it was becoming a new way to do marketing, writing my first press release and holding my first press conference without any guidance on how to do either.
The point I am making about my various early career marketing experiences is because of my passion, I was fearless when it came to trying new things, which often I had no business in even attempting. However, each time I tried something new, I then had more confidence to try something else I had little to no experience doing. Having passion for Marketing gave me a sense of confidence, and it was my confidence which helped me to stay focused and figure out how to accomplish what needed to get done to succeed. Best of all, it never felt like work, and this may in fact be one of the key elements to knowing if you have found your passion.
Sure there are other things in my life I am passionate about (e.g., real estate, interior design, coaching/mentoring people), but when I truly think about what I am rock solid passionate about, and what has held my interest for so many years, it is the field of Marketing. The fact this field is so varied and offers such a diverse amount of marketing options to pursue (e.g., advertising, channel, communications, content, demand generation, digital, events, graphic design, international, operations, product marketing, public relations, web site design), is what has held my attention for the length of time it has. The field of Marketing has also been a perfect profession for me because it has also allowed me to work with so many different business disciplines, and to learn more about how the functions work together (e.g., Accounting, Customer Service, Engineering, Human Resources, Product Marketing/Management and Sales).
So, if you are faced with either starting out in your career, or making a decision to change the career direction you are in, think about the type of subjects which make you smile (e.g., traveling, playing a musical instrument, designing, riding your bike, running, baking, fixing computers or anything mechanical). Now think about the fields associated with these subjects which interest you. Then make a list of all of the types of jobs which are aligned, evenly slightly with the subject. Once you have your list, narrow it down to your top three subjects you are interested in. Finally, begin asking people you know to introduce you to people who have jobs associated with your top areas of interest. Ask them about how they got started, and what advice they would give you to get started. Most importantly, have fun with this, as I guarantee you will find motivation in pursuing knowing more about the topics you listed. You can then ideally begin your path towards pursuing your passion via a career which will hold your interest for many years to come.
Thanks to Tom Snelders for encouraging me to write, and by picking this topic from my list of topics to write about next. Up next will be the topic on “Thinking through the process of plotting your career strategy and map. Have an end game, and goals to works towards.”
Kathleen E. Murphy is the Founder, Chief Strategist and CMO of Market Me Too. Market Me Too has expertise in bridging marketing and sales teams and providing organizations techniques to accelerate their market growth, regardless of the industry they are in, or the business stage they are presently at. Contact Kathleen at kathymurphy@me.com.