“Do You Love What You Do?”
Do you love what you do? I’ve been asked this question many times over the years and I believe there are two critical factors in both the pursuit of success and in loving what you do. One is an unequivocal passion for whatever it is that you do, and secondly is, you believe you are among the best in your area at what you do, no compromise. I can shamelessly say, without any hesitation, that I am in love with what I do, and that I’m in the top 1% in my field globally. From an experience standpoint, nearly 20 years doing what I’m doing.
From an online expenditure standpoint, I’ve managed over $600 million in digital projects and online marketing campaigns.
And even from an earning standpoint, the ability to leverage those previous two points to maximize my rates today. If you can’t say that you have a burning passion for your work, frankly you need to find another field. Or, you need to take something that you do love and find a way to monetize it so that it becomes your primary job or source of income. You will be 10 times happier in every aspect of your day-to-day when you love what you do. As an aside, it is now becoming so much easier to be able to earn money doing what you love than ever before.
Twitch and streaming services have even made video gaming a full time job for literally thousands of creators and streamers. YouTube alone has made it more attainable than ever to get paid for literally anything. There are videos with millions of views of nothing more than a guy feeding an outdoor fire pit for six hours straight, or kids recording themselves unboxing and opening new toys. There are creators who play paintball and airsoft for a full time living, because they wear GoPro’s, record themselves doing so, and then post the videos online.
Mechanics that do the very same jobs they would be doing anyway, simply record themselves working and post it online as an educational video, for someone trying to change their oil, or their battery, or taillights at home.
The mindset that if you post how you do it, you will cannibalize your business, is very much dead. As now you would appeal to a global audience, vehicles you never could have practically serviced anyway, and you can become an authority in that field, and score limitless views an ad revenue on your videos. There are camping and bushcraft videos where people just go into the wilderness, Survivorman-style, and they like Big Brother up a bunch of cameras around their campsite.
Simply set up camp, build a fire, go fishing, cook their catch, and again just post a video online make enough advertising revenue to quit a 9-5, and go full time YouTubing themselves doing something they love. As for believing that you are the best, it doesn’t have to be the things that I highlighted and say I’ve accomplished this in my career, I’ve worked for these companies, I’ve held these positions, or I’ve led a team of like X many people worldwide.
It can simply be that if you want a job done, and done right, you won’t find anyone better to do it than, you. You will do it right the first time, on time, on budget, set expectations out of the gate, have constant communication, no surprises, and follow up ensuring satisfaction after the job is completed and paid for, and you stand by your work. Amazing! I don’t care what line of work you’re in, if that describes you and your work ethic, I would use your product or services in an instant.
What more could somebody want? That is what I mean with being the best. When your heart isn’t behind your work it shows. You’re lacking that drive that, whatever-it-takes attitude. We’ve all worked with people who are looking forward to 5:00 PM every day or say, “Good morning, is it Friday yet?”, that person who says, “They aren’t paying me enough to do that”, or, “That’s not my job.” If you are the best, truly the best, everything is your job. Nothing is beneath you, and inversely nothing is out of your reach. For example, I worked for Four Seasons as the head of global ecommerce marketing.
I worked in the corporate office and my responsibilities were the success of each property’s online initiatives and marketing campaigns worldwide. In my role, I visited properties all over the world. During one of my site visits, I went into the washroom and the men’s washroom counter, an immediate floor area, was soaking wet from dripping hands of previous guests and several of the towel napkins had missed the can, and were scattered about the floor. Highly uncharacteristic for a Four Seasons restroom. I could have just as easily walked out and brought it to someone else’s attention, as nothing whatsoever in my job description stated that it was my job. But it was my responsibility.
Everything that anybody experienced at any Four Seasons property, was my responsibility. Why? Well because Four Seasons was the best, I loved my job, and I was the best at it. In 90 seconds, I had taken new napkins, wiped the counters dry, tidied and dried the floor myself, and just like that, back to what guests at Four Seasons can expect to see, a spotless restroom. There is a direct and indirect argument to why it was my responsibility, my job. Directly, I represented the brand and everything it stood for. I could not turn a blind eye and walk out of the washroom and leave it in its current state.
I should be leaving it in better condition than when I found it, always. Indirectly, let’s say another patron walked in after me and I had done nothing to clean this washroom. Now he is seeing what I just saw. Everybody today is armed with a cell phone, a camera in every pocket, connected to the rest of the world immediately via social media.
He could have taken a picture of a wet countertop, and a messy floor, messy bathroom, posted it on any one of a dozen social media channels or TripAdvisor or travel blog or Google Reviews – and now it’s my direct problem, because of bad reviews online, highlighting something that I could have just cleaned up in 30 seconds. Mitigating something like that after the fact consumes much more time, effort and money, than having the right ethics instilled in the minds of every one of the 50,000 employees working for Four Seasons at the time.
Everything is your problem. That’s how you make a positive impact with every guest. A million little things done exceptionally well. Whether you have a physical presence with a retail store, and it is simply shoveling some snow off the walkway, sweeping leaves away from the entrance, ensuring your sign has all working light bulbs, or taking a minute to ensure your restroom facilities are as they should be – everything is your job if you love what you do and you are the best at it.
It’s a few minutes a day, once you’re into a routine, to make everything presentable or to quickly correct something, as you go, once you discover it, and that sticks in the minds of customers when they experience an immaculately clean parking lot, storefront, foyer, display case, washrooms, what have you. Do the little things. They do get noticed. They do add up. And that is how exceptional businesses and experiences are created.
