Why Passion Keeps You Broke (And What to Focus on Instead)
If passion hasn’t worked for you, this is why—and how to fix it.
You’ve been told to follow your passion. But if that worked, you wouldn’t feel stuck. What if the path to freedom isn’t about chasing what you love—but discovering how to sell what you’re great at?
🔧 CEO Life OS Principle: Leverage Before Passion
It’s taken me a long time to come to this realization, but here it is: there’s a lie that’s been baked into our culture:
“Follow your passion, and the money will come.”
It’s catchy. It’s comforting. And it’s dead wrong.
If you’ve been chasing passion and still feel stuck, anxious, or broke—it’s not your fault. You’ve been operating on a faulty belief system.
Inside the CEO Life OS, we replace that belief with something stronger:
Don’t follow passion. Build leverage.
What Passion Won’t Tell You
🚫🔥 Passion alone won’t pay the bills
Let’s unpack the truth:
Passion is vague. Most people can’t define their passion in a way that creates clarity or traction.
Passion is emotional. It’s tied to how you feel in the moment—not to what creates results.
Passion is a luxury. You get to chase it after you’ve earned space and stability, not before.
This doesn’t mean passion is bad. It just means it’s not a strategy.
CEOs Think of Leverage
💼📈 Think like a business, not a dreamer
If your life were a business (spoiler: it is), you wouldn’t run it based on gut feelings. You’d make decisions based on:
Capabilities
Demand
Market fit
That’s where skills come in.
Skills are practical. Skills solve real problems. Skills create income.
And income = leverage.
That leverage is what buys you time, confidence, and yes—eventually the freedom to explore your passion with zero desperation.
Your Leverage Plan (Start Here)
🛠️🧩 Build your income engine step-by-step
Here’s a 3-step diagnostic to help you pivot:
Inventory your skills.
What do people already ask you for help with?
What feels easy to you but hard to others?
Package your value.
How can that skill solve a specific problem?
Could you turn it into a service, offer, or coaching model?
Monetize, then scale.
Sell it. Refine it. Deliver results.
Use that income to buy back time and energy.
Once you’ve built that leverage, then—and only then—do you have the space to ask:
What would I love to do now that I’m not worried about money?
The CEO Life OS Reframe
🧠💡 Rewire your mindset for real freedom
Passion isn’t the spark that starts the fire. It’s the flame you protect once the fire is built.
Stop trying to monetize what you love. Start learning how to sell what you’re already great at.
That’s how you earn your freedom. That’s how you become the CEO of your life.
Warren
P.S. 💬
🚀👣 Ready to act? Take the next step
I’ve taken my own advice and started leaning into the skills that create the most traction. If you’re a solo consultant or expert advisor trying to grow without chaos—I can help. I’ll clarify your offer, ghostwrite your weekly emails to keep you visible and run a simple dashboard that keeps your business focused. No fluff. No overwhelm. Just momentum.
Reply with “clarity” and I’ll show you how it works.
clarity