10 Reasons why there is no Profit from Your Pursuit of Purpose

“On its own, purpose is nothing more than an aspiration. It has its sidekicks—measures and methods that make purpose tangible and keep managers on the straight and narrow”

Harvard Business Review

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here are hundreds of thousands of “gifted” people around us. Why are they broke? There are those who are in hot pursuit of purpose yet for years on end, they do not see a profit out of it. This is the reason why very many people would rather seek for jobs than pursue their passion.

A case of Obvious against not so obvious

A job comes with immediate guarantees of a certain amount of cash at the end of the month. There are some obvious benefits that follow a job. These things however are not so obvious for the entrepreneur or the artist whose love and passion keeps them awake. We have writers who are broke. We have singers who are struggling. We have gifted instrumentalists who are yet to make it in life. We have artists who are obscure!

As a result, most of these gifted and extraordinary people are being disillusioned. The question in the lips of most people who love them is “why is there no profit from your pursuit of purpose?” Indeed, this is an important question that these incredible people must take some time and get an answer for it.

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“It is better to pursue purpose and be broke momentarily than take a diversion that offers temporary reprieve”

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Personally, I strongly believe that it is better to pursue purpose and be broke momentarily than take a diversion that offers temporary reprieve but permanent regret in the end. The way of Profit From Passion has not been “Institutionalized” as much as the way of jobs from graduation has. That is why many people would rather take a job.

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“The way of Profit From Passion has not been institutionalized as much as jobs from graduation has” [/ictt-tweet-inline]

It has been done before

However, there are various teachers and mentors and Conscious Business Entrepreneurs who have made a breakthrough in this area. There are countless of thousands of people who have monetized their purpose and are earning a profit from it. So if it has been done by another human being, chances are that it can be done by another.

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“If it has been done by another human being, chances are that it can be done by another”.

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Nothing to be ashamed of

I will always say this: that no matter how weird your idea or passion or purpose sounds, as much as it matters to you, it has a place in the earth to serve. However, due to financial pressures and the cultures of the world today, very many people are abandoning their purpose to follow something that is more obvious in terms of giving them a financial reprieve.

In turn, they end up regretting later on. Jim Rohn says,

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”

So the pain of discipline in the moment can be overwhelming especially when there are other avenues readily available for alleviating it, whether they offer congruency with our purpose or not.

The thing is that there are certain reasons why your pursuit of purpose has not returned a profit (yet). The same reasons could be why your pursuit of purpose would still never return a profit for years to come. The truth is that turning your purpose into a profit is all about knowledge, strategy, intention and action.

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“Turning your purpose into a profit is all about knowledge, strategy, intention and action”.

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Just the fact that you are passionate about writing does not mean that you will get a profit out of it. There are certain disciplines and strategies that you will need to implement. Now, the biggest reason why many people dump their passion for a job is because it takes considerable time for the purpose to build a strong platform enough to start generating good income.

That is why Dr. Myles Munroe has encouraged people to “work after five O-clock” on their purpose and passion. He is telling us that, “Yes, this venture takes time to mature, so instead of dumping it for alternatives, take a job, Yes, but on the side, work out your purpose and passion in order to generate a profit later on”

The following are reasons why your pursuit of purpose has not generated a profit (yet)

1. No Power:

You have a weak intention on monetizing your craft. Perhaps you are too modest. Consequently, you do not have any channels or streams of income that you have clarified concerning monetizing your purpose. You probably have a mindset that says that it is not good to charge for doing your purpose. My question is: how are you going to pay school fees for your children? How are you going to pay bills? Get some powerful intention of earning from your profit without feeling guilty. God made it that way.

“The first criteria, doing what you love will make your business seem like play than work. During the filming of the first Indiana Jones movie, The raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Speilberg turned to John Lucas and said, “Can you believe we are being paid to do this?”

Matt Morris, The Unemployed Millionaire

2. No Plan and Strategy:

If you do not see cash from your purpose, it is because probably you have not outlined a strategy that you would use to bring in the cash. Planning is everything in any form of success you want. No success comes arbitrarily. So take some time and really plan how, when, where, and what kind of money you want from your purpose.

“If I am given 6 hours to chop down a tree, I would probably spend 4 hours sharpening my axe”

—Abraham Lincoln

3. No Products:

Having a life purpose, vision and mission is awesomely great! However, that alone is not going to give us any money, unless what we are looking for are “Offerings”. We have to go a step ahead and identify the audience that needs our purpose. We then create tangible products and specific services that they can consume and be blessed by them. Then of course they will pay. With this, it is important to master the spirit of excellence in creating the products.

4. No Platform:

You might be living a life of purpose but that does not necessarily mean that you have an income or a following. In other words, you are not (yet) an authority or a ‘go to’ person in thay area of purpose.

People always look for an authority in any area of life that they need help with. You won’t to an obscure doctor to get an operation. You want the best. Fortunately, we can build our brand in this day and age in just about any niche available. That is why I am convinced that the next revolution is the revolution of purpose

5. No Purpose:

Exactly. Your purpose is not paying because you have abandoned it. You are no longer daily crafting anything that comes from it. It lies like a benign spark in the distance waiting for someone to fan it. Such a purpose cannot attract any finances to it. So what you are doing instead is to “meddle” in other things so that they can momentarily pay your bills. “Momentarily” however has become a mirage.

6. No “Practice”:

You are not earning from your purpose because you have no payment system. You have no frameworks that potentially, a customer might go through in order to pay for your services even if they wanted to! No more explanation needed here.

7. No Push:

Little or no marketing. Again, you are too modest. You are not “tooting your own horn”. Brian Tracy says that 3 major things will make a business succeed. First, a new product, second, customer service and third, a robust sales and marketing strategy. You cannot remain obscure and expect to earn from your craft. Let people know who you are, where you are and what you do that they can pay for. Do this daily. This is the flower that attracts the bee to the nectar!

8. No People Pleasing:

So maybe you have few customers that have interacted with and have benefited with your purpose. The problem is that you do not have a customer retention strategy. You do not know where those customers are. You have forgotten them. You do not know their email address, their birthday, how many kids they have and so on. The more details you have no these people, the better it is to wow them and serve them.

9. No Peer Collaboration:

You are a one man show. You have not actively sought out the help of other people in the niche. Your industry leaders do not know that you exist. You are not collaborating with anyone. And so they cannot recommend your services to anybody.

10. No Patience:

Perhaps this is the biggest. You have just started, so you cannot expect to get some cash out of it. The above 9 need to be built first. However, it is possible to stay in this state years after you started. So change the game. Decide when you want to start earning. Set a goal for it and start working towards it.

Be patient as you build. Lack of cash flow in the initial stages does not mean that you are not valuable.

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that if we flipped the above 10 reasons and worked on the underlying principles, any purpose quest can be monetized. What do you think?