Whitney Washington is a student attending Full Sail University, studying Entertainment Business.   She started her company, Puzzle Piece Promotions,  4 months ago for a project for school, and is talented videographer. 

Check out her archived radio interview with us on Wednesday, March 31st, 5pm PST.

Thanks Whitney, and Happy Passioneering!

Our April nominees for Passioneer of the Month are now posted and we’re accepting your votes for your favorite.  So far, we have the following nominees, and are welcoming new nominations until March 21st:

• Aimee Gallo, Founder of Vibrance Nutrition
• Harun Merdzanic, Fashionista and Teen Renegade CEO
• Ryan Ray, Founder of WakeUp! TV and Radio Program
• Leigh Shambo, Founder of Human-Equine Alliances for Learning (HEAL)

Here’s the link to our online April Passioneer Poll:

http://apps.facebook.com/polldaddy-polls/?view=poll&id=2824998

During each month, we accept nominations for the Passioneer of the Month award, for individuals who have met the following criteria:

(1) Have leaped fully into making the world a better place,

(2) Are living vibrantly and in balance,

(3) Are committed to supporting others in reaching their highest potential,

(4) Are not related to or working for anyone affiliated with The Passions and Possibilities Project.

Nominations for each month close by the 21st of the prior month.  Our judges then select our Passioneer of the Month, based upon a variety of passioneering qualities.   The Passioneer of the Month will be featured on the home page of our blog for the following month.  We will also make a special donation to the Soles4Souls Foundation on his/her behalf.

Please go to our nomination page to submit your candidate.    Thanks for sharing your story with us.

And if you would like to be on our judges’ panel for one or more months, please let us know!

Happy Passioneering, Sue

Jordan Mallah of Steadfast Freedom Yoga is a native New Yorker who has studied and taught yoga since 1996 both in the US and internationally. As a Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher, his uplifting and inspiring teaching style inspires students of all ages and levels of experience to live fully from their heart and celebrate life each day. Jordan specializes in helping people heal their minds and bodies by freeing themselves from the limitations of pain, drawing upon precise postural alignment and therapeutic biomechanics. Jordan’s myriad life experiences range from working as a corporate consultant with the global management consulting firm Accenture, to volunteering with the Peace Corps in Peru, where his primary focus was on helping indigenous Andean villagers curb their rate of malnutrition by creating sustainable, community.

Below is our recent interview with him on Blog Talk Radio, The Passions and Possibilities Project:

Thank you Jordan and Happy Passioneering!

Brian Peters is a respected and well-known travel blogger who keeps
travelers informed about the least expensive ways to travel around the
world.  He is the author of the e-book, No Debt World Travel: The Ultimate Guide to Traveling Around the World – Even in an Economic Downturn. Peters’ blog, NoDebtWorldTravel.com, was recently recognized by BootsNAll Travel as one of the “Best Round-the-World Travel Blogs”
for 2009.  We interviewed him earlier this month: check out what he has to say about expressing his Passions!

SO: What’s your definition of “passion”?  

Passion is what you THINK about day and night, an idea or concept that drives you forward, inspires you, gives you hope.

 Passion is when you would do ANYTHING to have a particular action or objective achieved.

 SO: What are your biggest passions for serving others, and how are you expressing them (also include hobbies and volunteering)?  

After losing my job, I decided to travel around the world. When I got back I had so many questions from friends and family about how to do it, I decided to put it into an e-book. Then I decided to add audio and video to help those who learn in different ways.

 Guest blogging, conducting interviews and other ways of getting the message out that travel does not have to be expensive and it is not just for ‘other people.’ People sometimes have such a inferior feeling of themselves compared to other people. We need to help each other break out of our mostly self imposed PRISONS by encouraging others and showing our successes to prove it can be done.

SO: Your biggest challenge(s) in leaping into your passions for serving others, and how you have addressed them?  

The biggest problem is passion may not immediately show a way to translate into putting food in your mouth and keeping a roof over your head. Pursuing your passion often means you need to leave a large organization to focus specifically on your passion.

 Let’s be clear. There is no security when you’re working for someone else, whether it is a large corporation or a private family run business.

 Everyone wonders, “How can I make money doing this?” Because as much as we love our passions, you’ve got to eat. The ideal life situation would be to make money from what we love.

SO: Your experience of “prosperity,” as you define it, in making the leap? 

The prosperity of time and opportunity. I lost my job and received a severance package. As opposed to picking up the want ads, I decided to pick up a plane ticket. I didn’t know when I would get another chance like this.

 At that moment that was prosperity. I felt like the richest man in the world. I had the time AND the opportunity to fulfill a life long dream.

 SO: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in making the leap?

That it is not as scary as it appears. You’ll plan but at some point you need to make a leap and have faith in yourself and your abilities to make your dreams come true. I always felt that if someone else did it, I can do it too.

 The other thing is that when you make a leap, other opportunities appear. Because you are stretching yourself, meeting new people, taking on new skills and projects, a whole new universe of OPTIONS becomes yours. Now you can be proactive, choosing what you want, as opposed to being reactive and letting the world exert its force on you.

SO: What’s your support system look like; how did you create it?

First my family is my most immediate support system. Without their love and encouragement I could have never done any of this.

 The other important support system are the other travel bloggers and entrepreneurs doing the same things I am doing. Having that in common with other people keeps me motivated and encourages me to move forward. Writing a book and being a blogger means I work by myself. But I can connect with people anytime and all over the world with the use of the Internet. Technology like Twitter, Facebook, email and Skype mean I don’t have to be alone unless I want to be alone.

 Communities of like-minded people are online everywhere, can encourage, support and keep you accountable. I searched out these groups and became a contributing member. What I contributed I have received in turn.

SO: What wisdom do you have for someone who’s scared/discouraged about their own leap?

Every day you are dying!

Every day you are dying!

It’s morbid, but it is the truth. Every day we are all approaching the end of our lives. What will you regret? What will you wished you had done? Most people never said, “I wish I had worked in the office more.”

Understand that for anything we want to do or learn, there is a website, magazine, book, e-book, blog, podcast, online class or school for whatever we want to learn. The only thing that holds us back is our own fears. Our personal prisons, as I like to call them.

 SO: What’s your next big milestone?

 My next big milestone is releasing my own e-book package on round the world travel. After that, creating income so that I can travel indefinitely or live anywhere I want in the world without being tied to a particular location

 Thanks and Happy Passioneering Brian!

Making a Difference: The Role of Realism, Perseverance and Requiring Less

By Donna W. Hill

http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885

Song written by Donna about Passions (Click here)

Making a difference means challenging assumptions and expectations. To endure while bucking the tide requires Realism, perseverance and the ability to thrive with less support than others require.

Realism is embracing the negative and the positive. If we wear rose-colored glasses, we miss the things that are calling out for change, the places where we can truly make a difference. If we only see those places of lack, we miss the foundations upon which change can and must be made.

My quest is to challenge assumptions about what it means to be blind. Decades of technological innovation have enabled some blind people to excel in careers never dreamed possible like engineering, chemistry and auto mechanics. Nonetheless, unemployment remains stuck at seventy percent, Braille literacy has fallen to ten percent and society seems comfortable supporting most blind adults through government programs.

My weapon in the struggle is my ability to write about the people in the trenches who are slugging it out against low expectations and apathy. I challenge myself to be a better writer and a better editor.

The odds are against making much progress. Nonetheless, I proceed, because I know that there are many talented blind Americans who want to contribute to society and are turned away before being given a fair chance or an equal education.

I also know that Braille has inestimable value. I was one of those legally blind kids who was supposed to act sighted, even though it meant I read so slowly, that, had I wanted to finish my homework, I would have had time for nothing else., I had constant headaches from having to get so close to the book. Audio learning, which I began in college, is not literacy. Listening was what humans did before the written word. It took decades to repair the holes in my education.

When I began this journey several years ago, I would have never dreamed that the New York Times would feature a blind Wall Street executive calling for Braille’s abolishment! Nonetheless, it happened. Who am I to argue with someone who has achieved so much using no Braille whatsoever? Her secret is that she has assistants to read to her and to take her dictations and put them into English. Most of us don’t have funding for such luxuries, and many who do bristle at the thought of being so dependent. Nonetheless, that article was a springboard for discussions among blind people as well as for me to use in my writing.

If I don’t stay grounded in reality, I could easily fall into the trap of believing that my efforts are pointless. In order to persevere, to continue to be an advocate at the highest level of my abilities, I must set aside my need for immediate gratification. Certainly, things happen that encourage me, and people express their appreciation. I admit that I need that. I know, however, that I am capable of proceeding with a lower than average amount of re enforcement

If you or someone you know would like weekly passioneering inspirations, based upon the wisdom of hundreds of Passioneers™ around the world, please let us know at passioneers@yahoo.com.  No cost. No spams. Below is our first Passioneering Tip for 2010, and we’ll be sharing these every week to subscribers on Tuesday mornings.  Happy Passioneering!

Weekly Passioneering Tips for Those in Vibrant Service

******************

Passioneering Tip #1

If you want to serve even more vibrantly and prosperously in the world, then dream a bigger dream. Passioneers dwell in the world of infinite possibilities!

 Quote

“The starting point of great success and achievement has always been the same. It is for you to dream big dreams. There is nothing more important, and nothing that works faster than to cast off your own limitations and to begin dreaming and fantasizing about the wonderful things that you can become, have, and do.” (Brian Tracy)

Affirmation

Today I boldly unleash a bigger life in service to others, easily and gracefully, without worrying about the “how”. My courage and willingness are more than enough.

 ******************

Thank you for being in service and for sharing the message of infinite possibilities.  

Happy Passioneering,

Sue Oliver, The Passions and Possibilities Project

We interviewed Rocky Reichman, founder of LiteraryMagic.com, on our Blog Talk Radio show, on January 6, 2010.  He’s a brilliant young man, Renegade CEO (thanks to Shonika Proctor)  who’s received many accolades in the literary community, including from William Safire!

His interview follows below:

SO: What’s Your Definition of “Passion”?

Passion is something that’s more than just an interest. It’s something that fuels you and makes you willing to dedicate hours of effort, a day or even your entire life to.

SO: What Passions Are You Expressing?

My biggest passion is writing.  I first started to express that by writing novels. When I was 12, I wrote my first novel, when I read the Magician’s Apprentice.  That took about three years.  …My second book took three days.  One January vacation, for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, I sat down from 8am to 11 at night and just wrote, wrote, and wrote, and got that book out.  I decided to publish my own online literary magazine, Literary Magic.  I also got into etymology, which is the study of the roots and history of words. 

SO: So Has This Been in Your Heart and Your Skill Set?

Through Literary Magic, I’ve really come into contact with amazing people.  Writers and editors around the world.  I’ve not only learned about these people, but also how to interact:  customer service, marketing.   I’ve written some short stories, some columns on literary sites.  Once I discovered Twitter and everything, I met Shonika Prcotr, who has been very helpful to me.  William Safire contacted me, and he called me a “word maven”.  A few months after that, McCraw Hill contacted me for an internship.  That gave me even more opportunities to learn about entrepreneurship and the world of business.

SO: What Are the Challenges that You Have Face and How Have You Move Through Them?

With Literary Magic, it’s been the business model, and building readership.  As a writer, writers love their works, and put all of this effort into their creation.  So if an editor wants to make a change, sometimes that writer is not always open to that change.  So definitely phrasing, giving, learning to give criticism in as positive a manner as possible, that’s always been a challenge.  In my personal life, when I had some family losses, that was definitely a challenge; however they’ve led me to build up resilence and create new projects from that.  When my father passed…he used to tell us these stories.   …So one day we decided to type them up, and we now have it in the published version.

SO: What Else Would You Say to Somebody Who Is Making the Leap?

No matter what, you have to get it out.  Don’t let anyone tell you that what you have to say isn’t worth anything.  It’s always worth anything.  First of all, to you it’s worth something.  And also to your friends and family.  And likely the information or advice or even just the message that you have to share can radiate and help people anywhere.

SO: What Would You Say to Someone Who Doesn’t Know What Their Passion Is?

I think you have to try different thing out.  Read a lot of fiction, even if you don’t want to be a writer, because fiction isn’t just entertaining.  It teaches us about life.  A lot of people think “I’m a non-fiction person, I only read to get information.”  Fiction can open us up to different worlds and possibilities.  Another idea is to go to a college website and look at all of the different subjects, and you really get a feel for what you can do.  Whether it’s writing or biology or if you want to be a doctor or a scientist or law enforcement.  There are so many possibilities.  I was lucky enough to once I read that book Magician’s Apprentice, I knew I wanted to write and kept doing it.  Never wall yourself in.  Of course you want to focus, but never say “I have my passion, and this is all I want to do.”  Always be open to new experiences.  Try something that you normally wouldn’t be exposed to. And then see what happens.

SO: How Have You Stayed Focused?

I like to write a lot of stuff down, write plans, and goals.  I always make sure that on one day, if there’s only time to do one thing, then I get that thing done.  And then I have a task list…if I end up having surplus space then I can do this or that, but I always have one thing that I know must get done that day.   Another thing, which isn’t totally going off focus, but if something comes in, like a quick email…something under 4 minutes, I will try to do it right then.  Otherwise those things just pile up.  Then it can ruin your schedule later in the week. 

I didn’t read Getting Things Done, but I did read an article by the same article that shared the same topic.  I learned a lot about productivity and time management from there.

SO:   When I Say “Do What You Love and the Rest Follows,” Would You Agree?

For everyone I have interviewed, this has been one of the underlying tips that they have all advised:  “That you have to find a way to do what you love and get paid for it.”  If you first don’t succeed, you can always try again.  You can even have a job and make sure that you do your passion on the side.  Like if you’re a lawyer or doctor, then you still have time to write novels on the side.  I know some people at McGraw Hill that works crazy hours and are writing fantasy novels on the side.

SO:  What About Prosperity, the Money Aspect of Doing What You Love?

I think doing what you love, you don’t need to make money at it.  You’re doing it because you like it.  You’re not doing it because you want to make money.  Of course, one of your end goals might be to make money from it.  If you can, then that will ultimately give you more time to focus on your passion, and not to worry about other ways to make money or retirement or college savings. 

Don’t think that in order to be an author to have a chance you have to quit your job and dedicate your entire to writing.  Even if you do get your work published, there are lots of writers out there.  For all the ones that are best-sellers that can take off the day, there are many more writers that have to have other jobs, who might not want to sit writing all day.  You can get a job, pay the bills and work on the side. Plan it out.  Write an hour a day.  Write five pages a day.  If you do the calculations, it won’t take too long to get your book out, maybe a few months.

Write or brainstorm some of it now.  Right after this interview ends.  If you want to write a book and haven’t had the time to do it.  Stop what you’re doing and take five minutes to brainstorm what it is. Maybe even write a sample paragraph or a log line – a line about what your book will cover. Just jump right into it.

Thanks Rocky and Happy Passioneering!

Beverly Flaxington is an accomplished sales and marketing business consultant, hypnotherapist, personal and career coach, author of “Understanding Other People: The Five Secrets to Human Behavior”, college professor, corporate trainer, facilitator, behavioral expert, entrepreneur and mom to 3 children and 8 rescued animals.  Below is her interview with us in December 2009.  You can reach her at www.understandingotherpeople.com.

SO: What’s your definition of “passion”?

Doing something that you love, and loving what you’re doing when you’re doing it!

SO: What are your biggest passions for serving others, and how are you expressing them (also include hobbies and volunteering)?

I love my role as consultant, coach, hypnotherapist and trainer because it allows me to see people make personal progress, i.e. get better at something be it self-improvement, having an “ah-hah” or figuring out how to improve.  I love teaching – when the students say they want to take all of my classes because they enjoy learning with me, it’s a thrill. I love to rescue and care for animals – volunteering at the rescue group, walking my own 4 rescue dogs and taking care of my cats. I love finding an activity that my children love and thrive in and seeing their smiles and excitement. I love volunteering at their school and being involved in their learning environment.

SO: Your biggest challenge(s) in leaping into your passions for serving others, and how you have addressed them?

My only challenge is too many things that I love to do and not enough time to do them all! I’ve addressed this by becoming exceptional at managing my personal goals, time and priorities and being very clear about what I want (my passions) and what I can say “no” to.

SO: What qualities/characteristics/talents did you bring to your passion, and which ones did you hone during your journey?

The qualities I was naturally gifted with, and brought to my passions included curiosity, a willingness to admit “I don’t know” and a genuine interest in other people. They also included the ability to listen well and focus on others. The ones I honed through the journey include presenting well and speaking with confidence, understanding other people especially with regard to behavioral and communication style and using persuasive skills effectively to explain my position on something.  And, I am still learning as the journey continues!

SO: Your experience of “prosperity,” as you define it, in making the leap?

Having enough to happily and willingly give to those less fortunate. Prosperity is meeting all of my own needs and taking care of my family, but having ample money left over to give away to needy people and animals.

SO: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in making the leap?

I can do anything I set my mind to and life is filled with lots of opportunities to learn and grow. There’s no reason to be stuck doing something you don’t love!

SO: What’s your support system look like; how did you create it?

Internal calm and confidence (my relationship with God), fabulous and supportive friends, a wonderful mom and dad who are always willing to pitch in and help and my spouse.

SO: What wisdom do you have for someone who’s scared/discouraged about their own leap?

The worst thing that can happen is that you don’t get what you are hoping for – but SO many times that means there is something better waiting around the corner. Stay focused, but stay open!

SO: What’s your next big milestone?

I just published two books this year – which had been a dream of mine. Next I want to create a series of training programs and books with my sales expertise.

Thanks So Much for Sharing Your Gifts, and Happy Passioneering!

We interviewed Chappale Burton recently on the Blog Talk Radio show, The Passions and Possibilities Project.  Hear his inspiring story in archive!

At a very young age Chappale Linn Burton witnessed the tragic murder of his stepfather and biological mother while playing on the play ground in his birthplace of Chicago, Ill. He has not only forgiven the assailant, but has now dedicated his life to sharing tools and techniques that he used to overcome the would be negative effects this could have had on his life. He is also the author of How to Choose Happiness…Most of the Time: 30 ways in 30 days.

During this year, we have interviewed over 200 bold, talented individuals who have leaped fully into what they love, as they serve others in the world – we call them Passioneers ™.  Our intention is to inspire those who are feeling scared or discouraged about their own leap into service.  Based upon our inteviews so far, we have synthesized the following passioneering tips, and will be blogging on them, and many others, each week in 2010.   If you  have any tips or know of any Passioneers who would like to share their story in our blog, please send us their contact information.

Be A Visionary.

• Dream big.  To create a bigger life, you must have bigger dreams.  Without a vision, the people perish.  (Proverbs 29:18)
• Cordon off at least one focused, quiet hour, each month, for the visioning process.  If you Google “life visioning tools,” you’ll see lots of great visioning tools.   We highly recommend using Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith’s approach. 
• Share your life’s vision with those you trust, and watch how much faster that it grows!
• Keep your vision front and center, where it can inspire you everyday.  A vision journal or vision board is a great tool for this purpose. Check out vision journaling workshops by Robbi Firestone. 

If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail.

• Create a business plan, even if it’s on the back of a napkin.  Richard Gabel’s tips on this: http://bit.ly/2102E
• What gets written down gets done.  Plain, simple, if not easy.  Journaling is a great tool for this.  Or try writing down the top three things you must get done each day  on an index card; let that be your day’s focus.
• As with your vision, share your business plan with others for input, ideas, and support.
• Try our complimentary PowerLeaps LLC Express Business Plan.

If You Believe, You’re Halfway There.

• Napoleon Hill said “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” (more quotes from Napoleon Hill).
• If you don’t believe in your vision, very few others will.
• Even on those days when you really don’t believe in your vision,  try faking it until you make it.  It’s amazing how contagious “acting as if” can be!
• Faith grows over time, one demonstration at a time – kind of like a stairway that you climb, with each step being a small success.  Rome was certainly not built in one day.

Just Do It!

• My good friend Pete DiSantis says, “Do is half of done.“  Talk is cheap, and analysis can cause paralysis!  The boldest, most successful Passioneers move forward regardless of their circumstances.
• Take baby steps, no matter how small they are.  In the midst of feeling overwhelmed and stuck, your taking even ONE small step forward will jump start your inspiration and momentum.  A great article on this approach.
• There is no right or wrong way to express your passions, so avoid comparing yourself to others, especially Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, celebrities, your next door neighbor, etc., etc.  You get the point…
• Explore and experiment.  Take some risks and try on different approaches.  Most importantly, have FUN!!

 Happy Passioneering!

Mark Horvath is the creator of InvisiblePeople.tv (www.invisiblepeople.tv), a video-blog, in which he shares stores of the homeless.  Currently he is traveling across the nation in order to help bring understanding and knowledge to the growing homeless crisis.  You can find out more about InvisiblePeople.tv Road Trip U.S.A. by visiting http://invisiblepeople.info. Below are some excerpts from our recent interviews with him.

What is your definition of passion?

Mark:  “I don’t know that I’m driven by passion. I don’t see any other choice in what I do. I really don’t.  I help homeless people. I didn’t wake up one day and say “this is my career move…” It just happened.   I once had a great career in television and I ended up homeless on Hollywood Boulevard…I did everything both good and bad a person can do in Los Angeles. When I first hit the streets homeless I didn’t know how I was going to survive.  I had a 6-foot iguana…I was sitting on the wall (by the Chinese theater), with my head in the lap…and asking “How am I going to live?”  Some tourists pull up and they get out of the bus and ask “Can I take a picture of your iguana?”  I said “for a dollar,” and they all started handing me dollars.  That’s how I became the lizard man of Hollywood – that’s how I survived.

I got kicked out of shelters three or four times.  The last time I got kicked out, I found the Los Angeles International Dream Center (www.dreamcenter.org), a faith-based church that truly is a model of compassion others should follow..  It’s an amazing place.  That’s where I started rebuilding  my life.  Fast-forward a few years and once again I have a successful executive career, three bedroom house with two car garage and pool. Then I lost my job right after having ten inches of my colon removed. I lived off my credit cards for 9 months. Wish I knew back then I was going to lose the house. Now I have a foreclose and huge dept. I accepted a job In Los Angeles for $80k. in LaLa Land money that is peanuts and it was a huge cut in pay for me. I didn’t know how I was going to make it on ONLY $80k. I laugh now because I don’t have a job or income. For the most part I’ve been out of fulltime work for 20 months now! The job in LA only lasted 3 months. They had to layoff a mess of people. I don’t know what to do.  Honestly I was very scared! But I took an insane action: With $45, a laptop and a little camera I started something I’d always wanted to do:  InvisiblePeople.Tv.  I use media to give people with little influence and face and a voice.

Part of it started 10 years ago after I got off the streets when I was working as a nonprofit TV producer, I was doing a lot of homeless stories.  Put they all had an agenda. They were the truth, but they were never the persons story. Out of frustration, I went to Santa Monica with a camera and was going to produce a raw documentary of life on the streets from the homeless perspective.  I remember I interviewed these little punk rock kids.  I call them “gutter punks.”  One was a young runway girl and just looking at her your heart breaks.  I turned around and there was a homeless lady from Cambodia with no arms.  She said “those kids are spoiled. WHAT! So I rolled tape and she said, “even being homeless in America with no arms, is better than being in Cambodia.”  Right there and then I realized the power of the media. Depending if I cut this lady in or out I could make you love or hate these kids!

When I originally started doing this InvisiblePeople.tv I couldn’t edit the videos, so I had no choice but to upload raw unedited footage. It’s real life in your face raw! To my shock people started to watch. Now I can edit the videos, but I won’t because you need to see the good and the bad.  Life is that way.

Over the winter I found a 3 month temp job helping a homeless shelter but the grant ran out so I was laid off (again) this past March 15^th.  I currently live without an income, I am borderline homeless myself.  I don’t know where rent is going to come from, I don’t have any health insurance, I don’t eat right, just like many I often sit in my crisis.  But I have a choice: I can lay in my bed which I call “blanket time” and cry, or I can get up and take action and help someone else. And that’s what I choose to do.  And in doing that, I’ve been flown to New York and Seattle; I’ve been to Phoenix, to Sacramento. And I’m a guy that doesn’t have an income!  If you do the math, this shouldn’t be happening!  I do look for work. I haven’t given up. In the meantime, I scream real loud about homelessness and poverty. During this trip housing programs have been started, feeding programs, kids who don’t have shoes to go to school now have NEW shoes. It’s been amazing.  And the road trip is still only half way done!

We’re all too busy.  We don’t stop and get the neighbor’s story.  In Los Angeles, we have a saying that you don’t get to know your neighbor until there’s an earthquake…..We don’t notice our neighbor.  So when you see the guy at the exit sign with his cardboard sign, you don’t stop and talk to him. You just roll up your window or maybe you give him a quarter or dollar out of guilt.  You don’t engage.  Some of the greatest feedback that I got was on America’s Next Top Model:  there was a blog post on their forum of some girl that said ‘I used to hate the homeless and think they were bums,’ and then I went to InvisblePeople.tv and now I know that they’re regular people like you and me.

I bet you know someone who is going through foreclosure; you know someone that’s been laid off. They don’t raise their hand.  Now you might not be able to pay their mortgage, but you can take them out of their crisis.  People in poverty sit in their crisis because they don’t have money to distract. Take them to the movies, take them out to dinner.

Twice in my life I chased money and both times I failed.  When I focus on helping people, I can’t help but succeed.  …I can sit here and look at my problems or I can get out and help people.  It’s almost like a selfish act…In helping other people, I don’t think about my problems.  I’m grateful.  I meet people every day who are homeless and I have an apartment. Now, because of the economy a few of my sponsors were not able to keep their commitment so I do not have enough money to get back to LA. But I am counting on you all to not leave me homeless in the Midwest. PLEASE! Honest, I run out of money very soon. But I’ve made it across the country helping others along the way and that alone for an unemployed guy who lost everything is a miracle.

That’s going on in the world is crazy.  …it’s almost paralyzing. I can’t help the people in NY or in Florida, but I can help the people right in front of me.  I think what’s happening in the economy is a good thing. Because we’re going to have to wake up. My hope is that we start taking care of each other.

Maybe homelessness isn’t your thing.  Maybe its AIDs or human trafficking.  Pick something. Find something.  By changing your world – the world directly around you, we will change the world.  It’s about helping people…It’s about compassion.

What I do is not really about the homeless people. It’s about us.  It’s about the people who can change things.  It’s about the people walking by the homeless and not looking.  I’m trying to not change homelessness as much as I am trying to change people who aren’t homeless…so they actually do something about it.”

Thank you Mark for your time and awesome story!

So what’s the perfect timing to leap fully into your passions? After interviewing nearly 100 bold, talented individuals who made the leap (aka “Passioneers”), I have the definitive answer: “It all depends”. Some Passioneers transformed their passion into a full-time venture over several years, while others make the leap in one fell swoop (e.g., after being laid off of their full-time job). Still other Passioneers have so many passions that they don’t want to fully commit to only one!

Below are 5 tips for timing your leap, based upon 5 months of research and 25 years of common sense:

1. There’s NEVER a Perfect Time, So Just Do It! If you’re waiting for the moons to align and the prosperity gods to agree, then you may as well turn in your Passioneers climbing harness and go home right now. THERE IS NO PERFECT TIME, and once you finally get that, you’ll get over yourself and move forward. So, whatever your passion, simply take ONE step forward NOW! Yes, right now.  Even if you commit to spending one-hour a week exploring your passions, that’s an awesome start! Baby steps, one at a time. Examples? Research what you love on the internet for an hour. Conduct an info interview with an expert who’s doing what you love. Or write down the benefits of unleashing your passions.
2. Eliminate “Either/Or” Thinking. Many individuals believe that they have to wait until they can spend 60+ hours a week expressing their passions before they should make the leap. That they must sacrifice everything else to pursue their passions. NOT SO! For some ridiculous reason, an entrepreneurial myth of rugged individualism and self-sacrifice has perpetuated over the years. It’s time to STOP the insanity now.  What if…you could continue to earn a living in your current dead-end job AND move close to your dream life each week? What if being a successful entrepreneur requires LESS than 40 hours a week (witness the Ferris’ book, The 4-Hour Work Week.) Even one hour a week being and doing what you love moves you closer to your dream (via baby steps). Through many baby steps, you can make HUGE progress without even realizing it. What does this require? Patience and persistence.  Neither was Rome built in one day, nor was a car eaten by Dick Miller in one sitting.  Ask me about this later. 
3. Don’t Leave Your Day Job (at least not right away). Transitioning into your passions full-time, OVER time, is a great idea. Many Passioneers gather the skills and experience they need to make the leap, while being employed in a full-time job that’s not really their passion. Well guess what? Whatever full-time job you’ve had so far is providing you with the PERFECT skills and experience for what’s next.  Every Passioneer I’ve interviewed confessed that they couldn’t have created their dream profession without having had their prior jobs, which brought them just the right insights, skills and experience.  Don’t believe me? Call me in 5 years and we’ll compare notes.  The next time you want to complain about your current job, think again!
4. Feel the Fear and Keep Moving Anway. It’s inevitable. There will be days and even weeks, when your knees are shaking and you have no idea why you decided to pursue your passions. Maybe you have a fear of failure, a fear of success, or even a fear of not deserving to shine in your passions. Who cares? The definition of courage? To feel the fear and do it anyway. Get moving!
5. Learn to Live Within a Budget AND Prosper. Most Passioneers I’ve interviewed have noted that their prosperity quotient (PQ) rose significantly after making the leap into their passions. A PQ considers much more than your annual net income, including your happiness, health, and overall satisifaction: Being your own boss, making your own schedule, spending more time with family and friends, etc., etc. Without exception, Passioneers who made the leap from high-paying jobs indicated that they now have a higher PQ then before they made the leap…and absolutely NO regrets in making the leap.

So, in one sentence: Just DO it now, even if it’s slowly by taking baby steps, by being smart, courageous, and by having a clear idea of prosperity. Good luck and happy Passioneering!