Getting paid for things you love doing

Don’t you sometimes envy other people’s professions? But at the same time are you also not grateful that there are some jobs you didn’t get into? Sometimes I feel so envious of people who have been able to turn their favourite hobby into a full-time profession.

For example, like at this very moment, I am so envious of the European-NASA team’s latest projects involving our Sun. Although they can’t physically go to the Sun, the probe they are planning to send will give them the first really close up images of the Sun’s surface. This probe is equipped with an animal bone heat shield that will enable it to get closer than other probes have been able to so the images will be clearer and more accurate.

Recent videos show that the whole of the Sun’s surface comprises what look like moving cells. To me that is far more exciting than a mission to the Moon or even Mars. Both bodies are simply giant rocks with nothing exciting happening on them and quite honestly, both could quite easily be duplicated on earth; and they have been in countless movies.

But the Sun is unique and fascinating and here’s a fun fact I discovered about it. How many Earths do you think it would take to fill our Sun? It would take just over 1.3 million earths! So that’s one profession that would be so exciting. Going to work every day would be so much fun. Imagine such a hobby paying you full time?

Now when I say ‘hobby’ I mean a real hobby like writing short stories in your spare time. Or star gazing into which falls the Euro-NASA project. Or baking cakes, breads and pastries. Or sewing stuff. Or perfecting the art of hair and makeup. Or even painting and drawing.

I think writers who manage to successfully publish a book with a real publisher, and not with a ‘vanity publishing’ house, are so lucky. They love what they do and get paid for it. Plus they become famous. But turning something you love to do in your pastime into a financial success is not always possible. Sometimes you never get anywhere. No matter how hard you try you hit a wall and that desire eventually turns into a pipedream. It is then that you accept that you really need to get a real job to put food on the table.

Many years ago, I met a woman who decided the business she wanted to get into was making unique and fancy cushions. Her husband managed to set up a small stall for her in a market in Dubai. I don’t think it went very far because, unfortunately, her cushions were more every-day in appearance. Plus, at the time, there were only so many cushions people might have wanted to purchase.

Back in England I worked in copyright law. Of course it wasn’t a hobby but I enjoyed the profession all the same. Then in Dubai I worked in Quality Assurance and Health & Safety. Again, it wasn’t a hobby but it was interesting and fairly fulfilling — most of the time. Although it would be nice to still be in it now and then I would, nonetheless, love to be able to do something, anything, with my art too. There’s a UK-based artist whose work I love. He is very talented and if I were still living in the UK I would have signed up for one of his many courses to improve my skills.

But the point I’m making is that this artist is actually earning enough money to be able to afford a beautiful estate, a car and to be able to entertain himself when he is free. But he is rarely free. He not only has an online art shop selling his own brand of art supplies and running online courses for paid members, but he also does art demonstrations across the entire country on behalf of famous art supply manufacturers who put him up in decent hotels. He also teaches art workshops across the UK. So many people have signed up for his courses and workshops. Plus on top of all that, no sooner has he finished a painting than it is sold. He is currently working on Christmas card commissions for December 2020 and it’s only February!

I really like this artist; he is so friendly and helpful. He and I follow each other on Twitter and whenever I have a query about mixing colours, brush sizes, etc. he always responds with sincerity. But I so wish I had a quarter of the work he has, or even less than a quarter. I would find that so fulfilling.