Last summer, I had a traditional internship. I worked at a Fortune 100 company 8-5, Monday - Friday, and it was so not me. People weren't really friendly, they were all super stressed & had plates that were overflowing & as a Public Relations major at Butler, I did not enjoy all the number crunching and excel spreadsheet work I had to do.
I left work crying a lot of days.
I feel like I have a lot of gifts and none of them were being used in that position. However, the money was great, and if they would have needed me in a communications role this summer, I would have gone back and done the same thing again just for the money.
But they didn't re-hire me & what a blessing that was.
It was a blessing, because I realized how much more important it is to do something I love than to chase money.
and you know what else happened? While doing what I love, I've made almost one-and-a-half-times what I made at that internship last summer.
I never dreamed it was possible.
When I didn't get re-hired at that internship for the summer, I decided I would just do my best to rock-out at my photography business. People were skeptical, but I knew I could do it with a lot of work. Also, I worked really hard to get the perfect summer internship writing blog posts for a PR company in Indianapolis for which I could work from home. I got it.
Now, I make my own schedule & I make money, good money, by doing what I love: photography & writing.
I got to go on a two-week vacation, because I make my own schedule & I had the means to do it. I get to have lunch with friends when I want to and take the day off to go to the lake when I want to too.
But I bust ass sometimes.
Sometimes I'm working until the wee hours of the morning, or I start at the wee hours in the morning. If I mess up, it's my whole business' reputation ... messing up isn't a joke - it falls on my shoulders.
But you know what, it doesn't matter if I'm working in the early morning when I'm doing what I love. It doesn't matter if I have to miss an event for a shoot, because I'm doing what I love successfully.
So what am I saying? Don't give up on your dreams because they're scary.
Doing what you love is so much more important than chasing money & when you do what you love well, the money will come.
2 comments:
I love this so much. It's so true. Good luck in chasing your dreams, that's what matters.
Good for you, Ali. A good friend of mine finished her degree, but instead of using on something she liked, she is doing what she loves, which happens to be photography. So happy for you guys that are doing that! :)
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