Lesson #2: The Path to Success is to Pursue Your Passion
Lesson #2: The Path to Success is to Pursue Your Passion
From the time he was a young boy, Omidyar knew that his future lied in computers. He didn’t know in what capacity, but when other boys were out playing baseball, Omidyar was busy teaching himself Basic. To have denied himself a career in what was obviously his passion would have been to deny himself the success of eBay.
“I always wanted to be involved with computers,” recalls Omidyar. His original career choice was computer engineering, but enrollment in Tufts quickly changed that decision. He had been accepted into a rigorous electrical engineering and computer engineering program, but by his own admission, it proved a little too rigorous for Omidyar.
Forced to take a chemistry class in his freshman year, Omidyar had little interest in chemistry and struggled to make it through. “I worked so hard for that class trying to understand what was going on and study for the test and everything, and did so poorly,” says Omidyar. “I remember for the mid-term I had studied harder than I had for anything else and got 25 out of 100 on the test. And it was at that point I said, ‘You know what, this is kind of ridiculous.’”
Omidyar was struggling but he didn’t completely turn away from his passion. Instead, he redirected it towards a more appropriate avenue. He transferred out of the engineering college, enrolled in liberal arts and focused on pure computer science. Despite achieving poor grades in chemistry, Omidyar knew that if he worked through his passion long enough, he would find a way to succeed at it. And indeed, he did.
“Like most software people, it is very much passion more than anything else,” says Omidyar. “The ability to create software that could have a benefit or an impact on people that used it was what was driving me.” Once he made the switch to computer science, he began to refine his focus, teaching himself C, and from there, how to program a Macintosh. “I was just very excited about learning everything I could about it,” he says.
It was this passion of his that landed him his first job – programming Macs for a software company in California – and fueled his further success. To those entrepreneurs who tell Omidyar they want to follow exactly in his footsteps, Omidyar says don’t. “You should pursue your passion,” he urges. “If you’re passionate about something and you work hard, then I think you will be successful.” On the other hand, Omidyar suggests that if you start a business motivated by money, success will be hard to attain.
“You have to really believe in what you’re doing, be passionate enough about it so that you will put in the hours and hard work that it takes to actually succeed there, and then you’ll be successful,” he says.
What would have happened without eBay? What if Omidyar had not followed his passion? “I wouldn’t be having as much fun,” he says. “That’s for sure.”
Lesson 2 The Path to Success is to Pursue Your Passion
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“I was just pursuing what I enjoyed doing. I mean, I was pursuing my passion,” says Omidyar. “It is not really work if you are having fun…that was the case with me.”
From the time he was a young boy, Omidyar knew that his future lied in computers. He didn’t know in what capacity, but when other boys were out playing baseball, Omidyar was busy teaching himself Basic. To have denied himself a career in what was obviously his passion would have been to deny himself the success of eBay.
“I always wanted to be involved with computers,” recalls Omidyar. His original career choice was computer engineering, but enrollment in Tufts quickly changed that decision. He had been accepted into a rigorous electrical engineering and computer engineering program, but by his own admission, it proved a little too rigorous for Omidyar.
Forced to take a chemistry class in his freshman year, Omidyar had little interest in chemistry and struggled to make it through. “I worked so hard for that class trying to understand what was going on and study for the test and everything, and did so poorly,” says Omidyar. “I remember for the mid-term I had studied harder than I had for anything else and got 25 out of 100 on the test. And it was at that point I said, ‘You know what, this is kind of ridiculous.’”
Omidyar was struggling but he didn’t completely turn away from his passion. Instead, he redirected it towards a more appropriate avenue. He transferred out of the engineering college, enrolled in liberal arts and focused on pure computer science. Despite achieving poor grades in chemistry, Omidyar knew that if he worked through his passion long enough, he would find a way to succeed at it. And indeed, he did.
“Like most software people, it is very much passion more than anything else,” says Omidyar. “The ability to create software that could have a benefit or an impact on people that used it was what was driving me.” Once he made the switch to computer science, he began to refine his focus, teaching himself C, and from there, how to program a Macintosh. “I was just very excited about learning everything I could about it,” he says.
It was this passion of his that landed him his first job – programming Macs for a software company in California – and fueled his further success. To those entrepreneurs who tell Omidyar they want to follow exactly in his footsteps, Omidyar says don’t. “You should pursue your passion,” he urges. “If you’re passionate about something and you work hard, then I think you will be successful.” On the other hand, Omidyar suggests that if you start a business motivated by money, success will be hard to attain.
“You have to really believe in what you’re doing, be passionate enough about it so that you will put in the hours and hard work that it takes to actually succeed there, and then you’ll be successful,” he says.
What would have happened without eBay? What if Omidyar had not followed his passion? “I wouldn’t be having as much fun,” he says. “That’s for sure.”
Lesson 2 The Path to Success is to Pursue Your Passion
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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