Rant: The career coach who told me to 'follow my passion' and how it backfired hard

Three years ago, I paid a career coach named Kevin in Chicago $400 for a session. His main advice was to quit my stable accounting job to become a freelance photographer since I love taking pictures. I did it, and after 18 months of chasing weddings and portraits, I made about $12,000 total while my old coworkers got raises and bonuses. Now I'm back in an office job but way behind on retirement savings. Was his advice just bad, or did I take it too literally without a backup plan?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_simon3d ago

Hold on, I'm going to disagree a bit here. Kevin's advice was honest because he told you to go after something you cared about, and that kind of drive can push people to work harder and smarter than they would in a safe job. The real problem wasn't the passion advice, it was jumping in without any financial cushion or a solid plan for how to actually make money before you quit.

spencer_coleman1d agoTop Commenter

Same here, three months of ramen and I still can't look at a packet the same way.

mark4363d ago

Exactly. Passion is great fuel but it won't pay the rent when the tank runs dry. Learned that one the hard way myself, ended up eating ramen for three months straight. Planning probably would have saved me some sodium at least.