I apologize for the prolonged absence from posting. Unfortunately, the snow and ice dams terrorizing my house have been my main focus of late. As a related aside….we all value different friends for different reasons. It’s important to have friends that will listen to your problems and offer sage advice, or friends to grab a drink with, watch the game, etc. For my money though, nothing trumps the friend that will come over on a Sunday and spend three hours helping you shovel off your roof, hammer away at ice dams and teach you how to repair a damaged roof. Having dispensed with that little tidbit, let’s move on to today’s post…
I’ve been giving a fair amount of thought to the idea of loving one’s work as it’s a topic I’ve been encountering often recently in blogs, tweets and conversations. My generation is much more likely to make drastic career changes, or even just change jobs often within a given field, than our parents’ generation. Factor in a struggling economy and abnormally high unemployment rates and it has become increasingly common for people to answer the question of what they do for a living with something along the lines of “I’m working doing X, but my background and true passion lies in Y,” or some variation thereof.
We’re all familiar with the old adage, “Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” I’ve seen/heard this idea countless times over the years. If only it were that sample.
Last week I read Gary Vaynerchuk‘s (@GaryVee) book, Crush It! I found it extremely motivating and inspiring. I am eagerly anticipating reading his next book, The Thank You Economy, due out next month. All that being said, I’m a firm believer that everything in life is a trade-off. Despite Gary being perhaps the foremost current example of taking something you’re passionate about and finding a way to monetize it and succeed, even he struggles with finding a balance. He was featured recently in an Inc. Magazine article and noted the following regarding his work/life balance and family time. “As much as I love work, family’s the most important thing to me. But I don’t want to be the alcoholic who says he doesn’t have a drinking problem. I wish I spent more time with my wife and daughter. It’s something I struggle with. I’m scared to play the I’ll-get-to-it card. These days, I spend about 90 percent of weekends with my family, which is a big accomplishment for me. Last year, it was 40 percent. At least I’m heading in the right direction.” I bring this up not to disparage Gary, who I respect and admire greatly, but merely to further illustrate the point that even the happiest, most successful people make trade-offs and seek greater balance.
As you may know, I have a background in sports marketing, and it’s an industry with which I remain very engaged. There has been much discussion amongst the #sportsbiz folks on Twitter about working in the sports industry and being a sports fan. In fact, during the inaugural #sbchat (a weekly sports business Twitter chat) it was one of the issues most commonly raised when the topic turned to what pitfalls to avoid when trying to secure a job in sports. Many people warned against (or even shared horror stories about) saying in interview settings that you want to work in sports because you are such a big fan. While I wholeheartedly agree with that advice, I would also argue that being passionate about sports is essential to one’s survival working in sports business. My love of sports and interest in the business behind it led me to transfer schools, spending two extra years in college in order to secure a degree in Sports Management. That same love kept me going once I secured a position in the industry, working tirelessly while being paid well below fair market value. Like many small, in-demand niche industries, the pay scale doesn’t come close to comparing to other fields and the hours can be long. Longevity can be difficult to achieve without a real passion for sports. Working in the field can no doubt leave you jaded and drastically change your perspective, often shifting you from being a fan of a certain team to a fan of a sport in general, but the passion remains. Some of these issues were covered in a recent blog post, entitled “The Snow Bowl Took Away My Fandom“, written by Lou Imbriano (@LouImbriano), a 25-year veteran of the sports marketing world. I can relate to much of what he has to say.
Until next time. If you need me, I’ll be the crazy guy on his roof monitoring the paths of flowing water…
Michele says
>Hey! Welcome to the blogosphere! Maybe between this and FB we will actually talk to each other until the snow melts 🙂
Jonathan Rose says
>Great post, Dave! I will have to start following you on Twitter to find out about updates, etc. Keep up the good work!