Make people (myself included) will preach doing what you love.

In fact, a few years ago a book was published – ‘Do What You Love – And The Money Will Follow’.

But there’s a warning here – and it’s that you can’t make money doing absolutely anything.

I remember an old ‘Far Side’ cartoon, where a game-playing child had his parents gleeful, imaging the money he would one day make as a professional game player.

Ironically, that is no longer funny, as game playing can be a career (although right up there with skateboarding and dogsled racing, that is to say, money-making for a very few). But it is a reminder that not EVERY job is available, or that passion alone will do the trick.

So what else is needed?

A practical view of things. For instance, your love is photography. Good – plenty of people make money with that. But how do you want to start? What training will go into it? What type of photos? Do you have the equipment? Enough money to get you going? And so forth.

Ask yourself these questions, and others. But more important than the answer, get a handle on how you feel discussing this, even to yourself. If you find it irritating to think of the details, or planning, then perhaps it’s a sign that your plans aren’t fully-formed yet – and you may need to think a bit more before striking out into the world doing what you love.

Because while it’s a great thought to do what we love and get paid for it, there’s usually more that goes into it than just a hope and a prayer.