Job Passion
For many in life we have the beauty to choose what we want to be, but sometimes going in the wrong direction for a certain time in your life can be a harsh mistake to comes to terms with. That’s why it’s very important to choose the right career and stick with it throughout. Take my friend for an example, he started out in the IT industry back in the 1990’s, back then there weren’t many IT job vacancies as there are today. They were limited. However, him being good at what he does he went on to become a Regional Director for the government in charge of IT Operations across the region. That’s a big role and it took him 17 years to get there, throughout his IT career he had been a Sys Admin, Technician, Network Admin, Senior Manager and covered various Director roles. I spoke to him a year ago and he told me that ho no longer enjoys IT and has resigned from his position, I was quite shocked to be honest. He was on a 6 figure salary, benefits + bonuses and he walked away from it all. He said that his time had come and he no longer had any interest in IT, in his own words he said “I wake up in a repetitive world”.
But Roy always had a passion for designing, he’d design things like pen pots, book covers and lot’s of other stationary accessories. It was his passion for designing and drawing. He had taken up designing full time as a hobby, and now less than 2 years on Roy has launched his own brand of stationary which he supplies to all the big retailers. He’s actually a millionaire now and his life has turned around forever!
The moral of the story is, Roy spent a long 17 years of his life in a career which brought him nothing but his time. After all he followed his passion for what he did and eventually it led him to success, obviously his IT career also boosted his business acumen and it helped towards building a business. But Roy chose his passion after 17 years and today he is the owner of an international stationary company which supplies to retailers in 80 different countries and he had a takeover bid for £24 million which he refused. Me and Roy go quite some time back and we share each others personal stories, he’s a good friend of mine. Roy has it all now, from plush cars to indoor swimming pools, but he’s a very down to earth guy.
Although Roy’s a very wealthy man and has everything, he tells me that one thing he can’t buy back is time. I asked him once “Roy, if there’s one thing you wish you could have changed in your life, what would it have been?” Without a pause he said “Following my passion earlier”.Whatever you do, follow your passion. Every successful thing in life is built on a passion, from Thomas Crapper to Richard Branson to Roy.
