Entrepreneurs Need to Master This to Get Through Their First Year (3 Tips)

I grew my passion into my profession in one year.

This is what the past 365 days have looked like:

I backpacked through 14 countries

I depleted my bank account to less than $100

I figured out how to make a meager living on Upwork

I studied online writers doing what I wanted to be doing

I grew my passion into my profession by mastering the art of patience.

There’s a threshold you pass when you decide to go after your dreams. You start on one side, where all you want is to find your passion. You don’t know what your passion is yet, but you know that it is out there and for unexplainable reasons, you need to find it.

Then, there’s the threshold. It’s the place where you’ve found your passion and now you’re deciding what to do with it. Do you pass the threshold and go all in on your dreams, or do you stick to the norm and keep working your 9–5?

Those brave enough to turn their passion into a profession will find a difficult lesson waiting for them.

My first few months of working online and living on the road were really hard. I expected the days after I passed the threshold and became an online writer to be filled with smiles, wins and good news. What I found was the first six months were some of the most trialing months of my life.

Looking back, I can see that I was undergoing a metamorphosis. Just like a caterpillar has to go within his bug version of a sleeping bag and sit with his own thoughts for awhile, I had to do the same.

For me, this sleeping bag was Europe and while I backpacked through I was undergoing an intense version of metamorphosis.

I was shedding the old me and coming into a brand new person. Of course, I didn’t realize this. It didn’t feel like a transformation. I more so felt like I was becoming smaller and smaller everyday.

I remember texting my friend, “how can I go all in on my dreams and feel this way?”.

These times were extremely challenging, as my bank account dwindled and I lost sight of why I even wanted to have a passionate career.

In hindsight, this all could have been avoided.

I could have had an easier transition from waitress to content writer had I known the art of patience.

Patience is what keeps you sane. It’s the voice that tells you, everything is going to be okay. It’s the reason you won’t give up. It’s the number one thing you’ll need when you decide to make your passion into a career.

Here’s how to stay patient while you turn your passion into a profession.

Take your dreams, make them smaller and write them down.

There’s one overarching dream that you have. For me, it was to be a content writer. Instead of writing down on a piece of paper, “I want to be a content writer,” I should have reversed engineered my way there. My goals should have been to, Get One Writing Job or Email One New Potential Client. I strongly believe in creating minuscule goals at the beginning. Using this strategy now, it helps me to feel accomplished and feel myself moving.

Every two weeks, turn around.

If you don’t turn around, you don’t give yourself enough credit for how far you’ve come, how much you’ve grown and all of the little wins you have accomplished. For six months, I kept my head so straight forward that all I saw was my missed goals and time frames for achieving them. Instead, I should have looked back and saw what a massive growth spurt I had undertaken during these past months.

If you are brave enough to turn your passion into profession, you have to become your biggest cheerleader. I keep a journal with my goals and thoughts as I’m undertaking this journey. Having a tangible place to look back on my growth has been key to helping me realize how fast I am moving. I currently write in a notebook every day and write through about two notebooks each year.

Figure out who inspires you.

In the intersection of a conversation between people on different life paths, there is a lot of assumption. The conversations that seem to evaporate my motivation are the ones with people who can’t fully see my vision. They assume that this is a temporary career, when in my head it’s a permanent one. In fact, I don’t ever plan to fully retire. I love what I do too much. Talking professionally around people who do plan to retirecan make you feel slightly insane for your life choices and like an outsider. In this past year, I’ve learned that there are some people you stay quiet around and others where you can let loose.

On the other hand, there are people who will inspire you. I have a select few friends and family who I can really talk deeply about my passion and profession to. They understand that I’m building something larger than they might be able to see, but they are 100% with me along the way. These are the only people I talk like this with, because to talk with the former, for a lack of better words, is a waste of time.

In one year, my entire life changed.

I went from a waitress to a content writer.

I went from an apartment, to living around the world.

It all came down to my bravery. I was willing to take the chance and to take a serious bet on myself.

I turned my passion into a profession and I have absolutely no regrets.

If your passion is calling you, you have two choices.

Say no thank you.

Or, to go on a wild adventure.

The choice is yours.

I chose to go on a wild adventure and it led me to Bali, Eva Gutierrez on Instagram