Are you following your passion at work? Or did you have to give that up when you decided to run your own AV business? 

Guess what? You can do both. 

If you feel the need to delegate the aspects of the job you love the most because you own your company, it’s time to restructure. 

What are the parts of work you enjoy the most? 

What are you good at? 

Passion matters. And if there’s a part of the AV business that you love, you should be doing it. 

I know this first-hand — and it’s why I became a consultant. 

How Passion Turns Into Career

I’ve had a couple of different careers. I owned my own business and I worked for a company for 15 years. Working for that company was fantastic. I loved being around my coworkers and I enjoyed my job. 

But there were certain things about my job I liked more than others. When I found out I could earn a living doing the things I really loved, making the switch was a no-brainer.

My passion is helping people. As the inside consultant at this organization, I liked figuring out the problem, coming up with a solution, and creating a process that delivered a better result. It may not have been the part of my job I was best at, but I really loved figuring out how to help people do things better. 

That became my consulting career. Now I help people work towards more effective solutions full-time. 

Your Passion, Your Company

Your passion is probably different. 

I meet business owners every day who have unique passions in their work. But since they started a company where they have to manage employees, products, and services, they don’t always get to do the things they really enjoy anymore. 

They have to run the company. 

They probably started their business because of a passion. They loved a niche in the industry, a service they provided, or a technique they mastered. Maybe they gravitated towards design, product info, sales, or finance. You can still do any of these things as the owner of a company. 

When I work with owners, I want to know what their passion is — and then I want to know why they’re not doing that in their business. Often, it’s because they feel like they have to do a lot of other things. 

For example, one of my clients is a great salesperson. He’s the best salesperson in his company — yet he’s very frustrated by the sales division of his company. The sales process is ineffective and the team is making tactical errors. 

When we started working together, we found that the other systems were working well. But he’s focusing so much on running these other systems in the company, that he’s not using his skill and passion where it’s needed most. 

When I first looked at the organization, he told me, “We need to hire a sales manager.” 

I said, “No, we don’t! We have you!” 

He protested, “I can’t do that and all these other things I have to do as an owner!” 

“What if I could convince you that wasn’t true?” 

Now he’s doing what he loves again. We still have goals to achieve and outcomes to reach, but since he’s doing what he loves, we’ll get there a lot quicker. 

My advice to you is to figure out what you like to do — then figure out how to do it. 

You’re the boss. It’s your company. Why shouldn’t you do the part of the job you really love?