Sometimes a passion is better left your passion

‘Zuidas lawyer quits her job and becomes a furniture maker.’ ‘Economist is done with the corporate world and becomes a dance teacher.’ You hear it more and more: people who quit their permanent, well-paid job to follow their passion or dream.

Because what could be more beautiful than making a virtue of a necessity? To earn money from your passion? Then you are assured of happiness. However? Career coach Hanneke Zumker has her doubts. “Every day enthusiasm? Every day enthusiasm? Nonsense, that doesn’t exist. Making your passion your job is not a license to happiness. Above all, it’s just very hard work,” she sees with her clients.

Making passion your job is unjustly hyped, says Zumker. There are also people who come home from a cold fair and still have to look for a ‘normal’ job. Someone who had become a goatherd in the Ardennes, for example, but now spends his days in an office garden.

But, says Zumker, if you really want something, you should always try it. Just don’t be surprised if it turns out less rosy. “I am in drama class and the teachers are very passionate about their profession, but they are still home unemployed for periods. Or they work next door as office manager†

Money, prestige, pleasure

Making your passion your job may not be an easy path, but it is something to strive for, says Aukje Nauta, professor of organizational psychology at Leiden University. “If you work eight hours a day, it’s nice if you can do it with passion.” However, you will soon find that you have to make compromises, says Nauta. Your passion will not only be your passion, but will also become very much like, well, work. “Perhaps you would ideally like to make art all day long, but an entrepreneurship course is not an unnecessary luxury if you really want to earn a living with it.”

In addition, the chances that you can really make enough money from your passion are not great, so the feeling of failure is lurking, she says. Having to give up on your dream – in order to make a living from your paintings, for example – can be hard and embarrassing. “This shame occurs when who you are and who you want to be don’t match.”

Ideally, you might want to make art all day long, but an entrepreneurship course is not an unnecessary luxury if you really want to earn a living with it

Aukje Nauta organizational psychologist

This can also happen if you link your identity too strongly to your work. Instead of having to unite the ‘3 P’s’ in your work (money, prestige and pleasure), according to Nauta, you can better divide them over different facets of your life. You can have a receptionist job for money, occasionally selling art for prestige, and performing with your band for fun. “You can’t expect your passion to bring you everything. Just like you can’t expect that from your work.” Sometimes a passion ‘just’ has to remain a passion.

They turned their passion into their job, until it was time for a more ‘normal’ job.

Evelien de Jong (49), Amsterdam

From puppeteer to child wish coach

“When I ended up in the stand-up comedy final of the Amsterdam Kleinkunst Festival, everything became clear. I had to become a comedian.

“I was already thirty years old when I was accepted at the Koningstheater Academy. Unfortunately I was sent off in the third year. I wasn’t good enough. That rejection was a hard blow. My dream of becoming the next Claudia de Breij seemed to be falling apart.

“After a puppet theater training, I started my own business. I attended events, festivals and fairs with a walking information desk and a homemade doll. It was a lot of fun work, but I didn’t earn much.

“After a few years it dawned on me: my theater dream was not going to come true. I was already 36 years old and basically everything had failed. No house, no real job and no child.

“After a difficult time, I finally had a child when I was 40. My path to motherhood inspired me to help other women. I wasn’t ready to give up theater altogether.

Until corona struck and I had to. I’ve invested the entire Tozo in entrepreneurship courses. Now I call myself wholeheartedly a child wish coach. I speak about five crying women a week. It is beautiful work.

“I’ve often felt like a failure in my career, but having to give up on my dream doesn’t feel like a failure. At least I tried and had a lot of fun. However, I would like to give my younger self advice: it’s okay not to be successful, better dreams are coming.”

Bianca Vet (54), Hilversum

From horse caretaker to X-ray laboratory

“Working with horses has been my dream since I was little. I wanted nothing more than to make it my job. And that’s what I’m going to do. For twenty years I worked for rich people who had horses at home. I took care of the horses, rode them and went to competitions.

“I did this twenty hours a week and earned only 600 euros a month. I tried for a long time to live solely on horses – I also gave riding lessons – but it just didn’t work. That’s why I also worked as a veterinary assistant.

“When I turned 37, doubts started to set in. Is this what I should want until I retire? Turning every dime and always between the horses? I didn’t want to be a poor horsewoman.

“And then I fell off my horse. In the hospital I was very well helped by an X-ray technician. He was so nice and enthusiastic that I thought: I want this too.

“I now work thirty hours a week in the hospital and I like it very much. I now work at my own level of thinking and earn triple what I made as a horse caretaker. I can now often go on vacations and buy all the groceries I want.

“But what if I really had to choose and money wasn’t an issue? Then I choose the horses. They remain my greatest love.”

Lauralouise Hendrix (39), Amsterdam

From editor to teacher

“My parents were both teachers by profession. But I wanted something different. I wanted to be special and thought I was going to make it, like a lot of people think when they’re still young maybe. It became the art academy and later a master’s degree in art history.

“I ended up as a freelancer in the literature sector and had nice jobs as an editor and writer, but I still didn’t feel happy. I didn’t think I was good enough to really stand out. It also felt a bit like messing around in the margins. Many of my friends became ‘really’ successful. They did something creative, such as writing or making music.

“When I got pregnant, I started thinking. I was ready for more certainty. Moreover, that was no superfluous luxury. My husband is an independent graphic designer; two freelancers with a house to buy and two children is not ideal.

“I have been a teacher for almost a year now. Still following in the footsteps of my parents. It’s a wonderful profession. I have my own office and can use all my creativity in teaching.

“In addition, in my spare time I am much more creative now. I write and make clothes without pressure. I also like the stability. For the next thirty years I will earn enough to pay the mortgage.

“Yes, I now have a more normal life than I envisioned. And that’s fine. I am proud of the choice I have made. Still, there will probably always be something lurking. The desire to really make something. To be special.”

Timo Muller (30), Berlin

From musical actor to energy chewing gum brand

“Actually, it always went well for me. After studying Professional Dance and Musical Theater in London, I danced in various companies and shows on TV. But I wanted more than just dance. I moved to Germany to become a musical actor.

“And it worked. After one audition, I was immediately hired. I was never without a job after that. I played in musicals like Mama Mia and Chicago and earned 5,200 euros gross in the month.

“Then my mother had a serious skiing accident and they could no longer run their joint hotel in Austria. They sold the business, after which my father was looking for a new challenge.

“My father asked me to start a business together. And I did. First we had a sports app, now a caffeine gum company. I’m cold turkey stopped playing musicals.

“I didn’t have to do it for the money. I now have more certainty. I am no longer dependent on others, as in the musical profession. Now I may have been successful, but for everyone there will come a time when you are no longer in the market.

“I don’t miss the musical world, but I do miss dancing and singing. When I see my friends perform I have to swallow. But the fact that I am embarking on this new adventure with my father makes up for a lot.”