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How to Turn Your Passion into a Career: 15 Tips for Aspergers Adults

Showing Aspies how to follow their passion is one of my favorite topics. Thus, I want to share these valuable and actionable tips on how to turn an activity that you love into a money-making proposition:

1. A bad attitude can be your worst enemy. It’s far too easy to feel defeated or depressed when things get difficult. You need to be your own biggest cheerleader, fire up your ambition to succeed and listen to your gut. If it’s telling you to get out of what you’re currently doing, or away from the path that you’re on now, listen carefully.

2. A good rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t quit your “boring” job unless you have at least 3 months worth of living expenses saved up.

3. Competition can be daunting. And in this economy, it can be even harder to break free from the pack. Whether you’re fully employed, trying to get recognized for bigger opportunities, struggling to find a job when everyone seems to be looking, or fighting every day to build more business, separate from the pack. Most people stick to small confined areas where they fight like mad to compete for the same pool opportunities or resources. The competition gets so fierce that it often gets bloody. However, the world is huge and vast and loaded with abundance. You just have to start looking where others are not – where no one else is or few others have ventured.

4. Even if your passion is obscure and not easily translatable into a job, being extremely good at it means that others will often invent services for you. For example, Kseniya Simonova’s passion is sand art. Despite it being an obscure field without many opportunities, she manages to earn a living because she’s so good at it, nobody can ignore her. Do your best to become great at what you love and it will be hard not to find work!

5. Find role models who are making money doing what you want to do – and unabashedly copy them! Try to work out the steps they took to get where they are. Did they get formal training? Where did they start off? When did they get their big break? How did they develop their skills? By copying what has worked before, you’ll have a path to follow.

6. Focus on slow and steady development of your business or career. Try to improve one thing about you or your business every day.

7. If you can put some element of your passion business or job online, do so – it will drastically increase your potential audience and client base.

8. If you’re not yet skilled in your passion, you may need to do an apprenticeship of sorts before you start thinking about earning money. This period will help to set you up for future successes. As an apprentice, aim to get your skills to the point where you are not making too many mistakes, even if your work lacks some polish and finesse. Depending on your passion, you may be entirely self-taught in this period, or decide to get some formal training. Whatever path you take, find someone – or a community of people – who can give feedback on your work.

9. In the beginning, experience is more valuable than money. While it shouldn’t be necessary to work for free, don’t worry if you start off earning or charging much less than you eventually hope to earn. Don’t expect your business or career path to be fully developed from the first day. The process of charging higher rates, making more sales, or earning a high salary will come with time, and you’ll be able to move closer to your goals as you get better at what you do. In the meantime, part of your “payment” is simply being able to practice your passion, and the happiness you get from that.

10. It’s important not to become overwhelmed in the early days. Focus on one thing at a time – whether that’s one client, one project, or a single product. Complete it to the best of your abilities, then move on to the next one. With each successful job, project or product completed, you’ll increase your chances of more coming in the future.

11. It's a lot easier to get an interview if someone within the company vouches for you, so get out there and meet people in your desired field. Scope out some local business networking events, grab your business cards, and start schmoozing. You can also set up an informational interview, where you chat with someone in the industry to get a feel for what you need to know. You'll gain valuable insight into your new career path, and, if you're lucky, you might even get yourself a job offer out of it. If your dream job involves working for yourself, networking is just as important. You need to build up that client base so you can afford to keep the lights on. It's also helpful to build up a support system of other local entrepreneurs, so that you have a network of people who you can bounce ideas off of or ask for help when you're stuck.

12. Opportunity comes in many forms. Not just jobs. Don’t get stuck on finding a job. Or starting a business for that matter. There are lots of opportunities in between that can enable you to turn your passion into your work. Sure, you can get a job doing X, but what about a project, a consulting opportunity, an internship, licensing a business, becoming a franchisee, partnering up with an organization, doing some temp work. Break away from the “get a job” mentality. There are lots of ways to make money doing just about anything …if you’re creative enough.

13. Start creating a (small) platform you can use to help yourself. This is a means to promote your eventual business, service or products. It might be a Facebook or Twitter account, a blog, a LinkedIn profile, or a stack of pamphlets for a letterbox drop. If you start work on this now, you’ll have less work to do when it’s time to start searching for clients, or a job, or a market for your products.

14. Talk to some people who are doing the job that you would like to do. There's often a big difference between the career you fantasize about and the day-to-day reality of turning a passion into a full-time job. For many individuals, it's worth sorting through the mundane details in order to do what you love, but make sure you don't take the plunge with stars in your eyes. Few careers are as fun in practice as they seem to an outsider, and getting a clear picture of your potential “new career” can help ensure that you don't end up disappointed.

15. What makes you different makes you special. You don’t necessarily need to be an expert in your area of passion. You don’t need to have years of experience under your belt to do something with it either. That can come. Take whatever it is that makes you different, unique, special, interesting, quirky or uncommon and turn that into a fascinating story of why you’re pursuing a particular passion.

If you’re not sure how to turn your passion into a job, research what others have done before. What kind of jobs exist around your passion? What kind of products? Good luck!

==> Living With Aspergers: Help for Couples

How to Make Your Spouse Happy: 7 Tips for Aspergers Husbands

You want to make your spouse happy? You want her to feel satisfied? Feel appreciated? Do you want your spouse to put you back on the top of her priority list? 

Below are 7 ways to make your spouse happy – starting today:

1. Make your spouse happy by cleaning anything. When you do any single chore that she doesn't have to do, she is less bogged down. As a mother and wife, her “to do” lists are never ending. While she might love to climb into bed with her husband and think only about love making, she usually can't do that easily. When her husband helps her and makes a serious effort to cut down on what she has to do, she feels thankful for his willingness to help and less overwhelmed by what still awaits her. If you already do a lot around the house, as you should, do one more thing a day and sit back and watch her reaction. Your spouse may not notice your new haircut, but she will always notice a chore that is off her list.

2. Make your spouse happy by complimenting her. You may think that she already knows that you think she is still beautiful, but she can never hear it enough. When you express kind words towards your spouse, she feels a renewed love and appreciation for not only you – but herself. She remembers, even for a brief second, that she is a lovely woman and that has a husband that loves her. What more could she want? She wants and needs to be reminded of how you feel about her.

3. Make your spouse happy by giving her small gifts. While buying her gifts is not nearly as important as your attitude and actions described in the other tips, gifts can play a role to please your spouse. If you can afford a nice little gift here and there, do it. Buy her something that she truly likes though. Think about something she liked way back in college that she hasn't had in a while. Did she like garlic pickles? If so, find a place that sells them and show up with one.

4. Make your spouse happy by having fun and playing with your kids. When a woman sees her husband playing with their children, it is a big turn on. When you think of an activity to do with the kids on your own and you execute that activity showing true interest in them, you might as well pull out the satin sheets, because you're getting lucky. Most women are very conscience of the fact that kids need attention and love from both parents for important emotional development. When a wife sees her husband giving his kids the time and energy that she thinks they deserve, she feels excited and appreciative.

5. Make your spouse happy by remembering special occasions. Remembering birthdays, anniversaries and special dates tells your spouse loud and clear that you truly care. But, when you think outside the box and remember dates that she hardly remembers, she will be totally impressed. She will not only feel special but will feel like you are thinking about her more than she thought. For example, tape a note to the coffee maker in the morning that says "Happy 5 Years Since We Met." Your spouse will be figure out instantly if you are right and then she will call her best friend to tell her that you remembered.

6. Make your spouse happy by showing her affection. Showing your spouse affection is another sign that you love and appreciate her. Hugs and kisses are obviously great ways to show your spouse love, but there are so many other ways to show affection in subtle ways that send a message of love. Why not hold her hand on her way to the laundry room? Put your arm around your spouse while watching TV, or rub her back as she makes dinner. Touch her back as she walks by, kiss the top of her head for no reason, and touch her whenever you can. Show her that you want to touch her in and out of the bedroom.

7. Make your spouse happy by spending as much time with the family as possible. When you are able to get away from work and spend time with your family, do it. The key though is to spend quality time. Turn off your cell phone and the computer and give yourself to your family. Let them see your complete abandon for time. Your spouse will again feel appreciated, and your kids will feel special too.

Making your spouse happy has a lot more to do with performing in everyday life and less about performing in the bedroom. Showing her that you love her every day by touching her, relieving her of some of her duties, showing love to the kids, and spending time with your family will surely make your spouse very happy. This will, in turn, make you happy!

==> Living With Aspergers: Help for Couples

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