4 reasons to think twice before "doing what you love."

A Rotman lecture by Danial Pink, author of Drive, is available on iTunes "BigIdeas" podcasts, and as I listened to him late at night this week, I mulled over his push for people to work in jobs that they love. 

Pink went to law school and dropped out of the whole, restrictive, boring law career. He says, "Law school was the worst thing I did." 

Yet, I listened to him because I know he went to law school, is able to express himself logically and is not a delusional, "just say what you want and it will happen" expert type. I can understand why people love his point about doing what you love, but life is tough and gets in the way. My business just signed up with a superb business owner to help him transition his business. We spent 18 months working with him and his wife to show how our company will help his family business achieve the wealth he needs to retire. 

Was I doing what I love? Not totally. I hate negotiating the engagement. I hate discussing the amount of debt and family shares owed. I hate picking up the check for our work fee - I find that awkward. But I do it. I have to ask for the job, go through the value and why our fee is fair, explain the engagement letter, pass it back and forth with a hundred changes, get his signature and ask for the check to start work. I hate that but as a small business owner, I had better be very good at this detail and arm wrestling because it is what sets us apart. Besides the work I love to do, if I want to be successful as a business owner, I had better be good at those skills my MBA taught to me and believe me, that was not painless either.

Once I am through that sales close, now, it is exciting. Persuading a family business owner to do what is in his best interest is far from what I love to do, but I know how happy this man will be within a few months once we improve his wealth situation. I know how it will improve his family relations with his sister and father. 

So here are 4 reasons not to do what you love:

1. You love it — but you're not fantastic at it. There is the 10,000 hour rule of how much you need to invest to become very good. If you do not have the body type, you will never be a ballerina. Same with intellect. The women who started up Zipcar over day care were not just thumb sucking an idea. They were both experts in transportation and engineering. How good? MIT and Harvard PhD good. Lots of women come to me with ideas for start-ups and they are passionate about green and pollution by cars, but do not have the intellectual backing to add depth. Without competence, passionate people would not get the start up funding Zipcar attracted.  It is hard to judge yourself accurately, so ask your friends and employer what your talents and weaknesses are, and then play to your strengths, even if they don't lead you to what you would currently describe as your "perfect" job.
2. You're skilled at your passion — but hate the work that surrounds it. Many businesspeople are masters at their craft but drop the ball when it comes to everything else. One of my clients is a brilliant Day Care operator who set up in-house child care for big companies. But — although she loved working closely with clients and helping them create employee benefit programs with her Day Care — she was simply unable to manage her pricing and cash flow. She had boxes of unpaid checks in her basement. It's possible to learn these skills, but, for many, the process sucks the joy out of their chosen field and small business. (Michael Gerber writes about this extensively in The E-Myth).
3. You're too emotionally attached. You've already heard about Marion Stoddart. I recently heard Charlaine Harris, author of the wildly popular vampire series that spawned the TV show True Blood, talk about this issue too. The best writers, Harris said, don't fall in love with their characters, or their words. They don't mind being edited; in fact, they're open to any suggestion that makes them better. Writers who get too close to their work and take criticism too personally never improve. As an author, I learnt that a long time ago. Your work improves with others commenting. Business people also need to look carefully at whether passion for their work is clouding their judgment. When you care deeply about a pet project, for example, it's hard to make a rational decision about whether it should live or die.
4. No one will pay for it. You can turn a hobby into a job — but only if someone's willing to pony up. Sometimes the market's just too small (luxury vacation planning for couples honeymooning in Cape Town). Sometimes the margins are too thin - decorating business targeted at Divorced Dads. And sometimes your company simply has other priorities (no matter how many times you offer to move the business into web video, your boss wants you to get your actual job done, and today please).