Should you follow your passion or follow the money?

A good friend of mine has a nephew. Nineteen years old. He’s a little bit lost, not sure what to do with his life and has been chatting with the adults in his life, looking for advice. The problem is, everyone says something different. His mum says follow your passion and interests. His aunt says take any opportunity that pops up and see where it goes, gain experience, build your skills. His uncle, he suggested that he do anything that makes good money. It’s easy to see why the poor lad’s confused.

When I left school at 16, with no qualifications, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life either Lucky for me, life presented me with an opportunity. The choice of an apprenticeship in finance or in freight. Now, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really passionate about either. Football was where my heart was, but I was smart enough to know that a career as a premiership footballer was not on the cards for me. So, I took the opportunity and jumped into the world of freight. Funnily enough, it turned out it ticks all my boxes and 35 years on, I am crazy passionate about shipping, logistics and the whole world of freight forwarding.

But it’s not just the day-to-day that I love about my business. It’s the lifestyle it brings too. Take this week as an example. As you’re reading this, I’ll already be in Turkey, enjoying a few days’ break and watching my footie team, Aston Villa, play in the Europa cup final against Freiburg from Germany this evening. I get to travel, not only to follow my football team around Europe, but also to visit clients and attend networks. And it allows me the time to enjoy my other passions too like music, gigs, and a lot of socialising.

So I was thinking, this young lad, what advice would I give him? Follow the money? Follow your passion? Take any opportunity that comes your way? Yes to all of the above. Because that’s how you can build a life you really love.

 So how about you? Do you have any passions? Do you get to follow them in your work or even in your free time? I’d love to hear about them.