We all seem to be struggling with getting real direction right now - or at least most of us. Whenever I ask someone to envisage where they will be in a few years time, they struggle to get a picture. And a whole bunch of folk have asked me to help them to find out what they should be doing - hence this article on the subject.

Firstly, getting back to a recurring theme [and I know that I am getting boring on this] you need to take some time off to think this through. Unless you are Saul, the chances of a massive revelation happening while you're rushing off in seventeen simultaneous directions are pretty remote.

Secondly, what do you LIKE doing? What presses your buttons? If you have nothing else to do, what do you do - simply because, for you, it's fun?

Stephen King [in his book On Writing - about his development as a writer] tells a story about his son. Apparently the boy met a leading sax player, and decided that this was what he wanted to do with his life. He begged his dad to buy him a sax and let him do sax lessons. Stephen did this. He says that he knew, after a few months, that his son would never be a fulltime sax player - because his son stopped messing with the instrument. He started practicing only when he had to, and as soon as the lesson was over he would pack it away. But a person who was destined to be a career saxophonist would play - simply for the thrill of learning and creating and getting lost in the music/noise he was making.

And that's the best way I can possibly describe where your passion is. For me it's computers and writing. I am simply addicted to both. The computer side goes back 20 years. Since 1984, when I first saw an IBM Personal Computer - that magnificent desk sized, clunky 4.77mhz processor based, no hard drive, single 360KB floppy, 16KB ROM beast - I knew I had to have one. And since then I cannot stay out of a computer shop!

The writing side came a lot later - but I have been reading avidly since I was 5 years old. I can't pass a bookstore! My family laughs because I drag them into every single bookstore we see. Actually, it's a bit more like a collective groan.

If you can identify those things you do when you're bored; those things you constantly go back to because you find them fascinating - that's your passion. Don't worry about making money out of it - yet! I would write even if I wasn't being paid for it. Now that I think about it - that covers 90% of my writing over the past 5 years! If I had looked at the money side first, I would never have started.

So, step 1 is simply - what do you like doing - even if there is no money in it? And it's the most difficult step. After that, everything is much easier. Since this is a short working week - and so is next week - have a look at what you do over the weekend while you potter about - that's a clue.

Step 2 is quite simple as well. Answer the question - "How do I make money doing this thing I love doing?" For me the issue is one of focus. If you focus on the money, you cannot be successful. If you focus on the passion, you cannot help but be successful. This is borne out by virtually everything I have ever read or seen, as well as my own experience through some awfully interesting times.

Once you're looking carefully at your passion, you will begin to see places where you're dissatisfied with the way things currently are. These are all opportunities. Virtually everything useful ever invented or done was done by someone unhappy with the status quo - or pissed off because something they wanted wasn't available the way/colour/size/flavour/etc. So they did it themselves! And others liked it, and began to buy it.

Since we're looking at money, may I suggest a simplistic approach that I use, but which I find breaks down this terrifying task into easily digestible segments? Firstly, define how much money you want to earn each month. [Not necessarily how much you need to earn - but enough to cover the necessities with room to spare.] Then break this down into daily bits that you must earn. [Do this by dividing the monthly figure by 22 - the average number of working days in the month.] Then break this down into the amount you need to earn each hour. [That's the daily amount divided by 8.] For example - lets say I want to earn R10,000 each month. That's R455 each day. Which is R57 each hour. Hell, that isn't too difficult is it?

Or taking the same concept from a slightly different perspective, look at the number of clients you need. R10,000 month means you need to find 1 client prepared to pay you R10,000/month, Or 2 clients at R5,000/month. Or 4 at R2,500 per month. Or 100 at R100 per month. And so on...

So what's stopping you, Tiger? This business thing is supposed to be fun AND profitable. The fun part comes from following your passion. The profitable part takes a bit more thinking - but is it really so difficult?

© Peter Carruthers, www.petesweekly.co.za

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