On passion, business, and douchebaggery

The Old Model: spend energy thinking up how to make money doing what I love and am good at (love+skill).

Potential New Model: spend energy leveraging my love+skill to truly help people.

Some ideas:

• Help people achieve total un-douchebaggery online.
• Help projects/organizations I love merchandize/market better.
• Help guys who cuss and who have new babies to feel more comfortable in their own skin and make the most of it.
• Help fledglings achieve true homemade cocktailing prowess.
• Teach young men to understand the art of cigar, or, at least, to not get sick when they smoke some.

And then, what if I marketed these things not for “the close” but for the long-haul relationship and/or the good of the art of dadding, cocktails, cigars, un-douchbaggery or whatever it is?

The Problem: I have to make money. Right? Right. But, truth be told, I don’t have a lot of wisdom on this point. I just feel it, like neurosis, like nagging mild-anxiety.

Come to think of it, this “money anxiety” around these businesses is many-faceted. Revenue is a great tool to prove to my wife this thing is worthwhile. It’s good in more ways than that too: it lets me buy things.

But it’s also what causes all the stress. It’s what forces me into furrowing my brow and getting all grown-up serious when I think about these businesses. When in real life I do it better when I do it for the art of it… instead of doing it for the result. Just ask my wife.

So, this is the shape of my double-mindedness today. It looks like this: can I shift my focus to apply my love+skill to truly make others’ lives better?