How Do I Get Paid for the Thing I Actually Love Doing?
Let’s talk about it the way we actually would over dinner, not in some Pinterest quote kind of way.
1. Your “passion” is not the product
You love cooking? Cool.
You don’t get paid for loving cooking.
You get paid for:
Meal prep services
A niche cooking class (busy moms, postpartum meals, cultural dishes)
Content that builds an audience → brand deals → digital products
Same with:
Fitness
Writing
Organizing
Styling
Helping people feel seen
The passion is the starting point.
The product is what someone else can clearly understand and buy.
If someone can’t explain what you do in one sentence… you don’t have a business yet.
2. Stop asking “what do I love?” and start asking:
“What problem do I solve with what I love?”
This is the shift.
Because people don’t pay for your joy.
They pay for:
Convenience
Results
Relief
Transformation
Examples:
“I love talking” → I help women feel less alone through honest conversations (podcast, speaking, community)
“I love aesthetics” → I help women feel confident in their homes/bodies/brands
“I love planning” → I remove stress from people’s lives
If you can tie what you love to a real, felt need, you’re in business.
3. You need proof before you need perfection
This is where a lot of moms get stuck.
“I just need to build the website first.”
“I need the branding.”
“I need to figure it all out.”
No. You don’t.
You need:
3 people who say yes
1 offer that works
Real feedback
Start messy:
Offer it to your network
Post about it
Test pricing
See what people actually respond to
Your business will evolve after people start paying you.
Not before.
4. You are allowed to make money before you feel ready
This one is big.
Especially for moms.
Because somewhere along the way, we were taught:
It has to be perfect
It has to be selfless
It has to be “worth it” to charge
Meanwhile, men are out here charging for half-baked ideas and figuring it out later.
You can:
Charge while you’re learning
Adjust as you go
Grow into it
You don’t need permission to monetize something you’re good at.
5. Your life has to support it
This is the part no one glamorizes.
If you want to get paid for what you love, your life has to create space for it.
That might look like:
Waking up earlier (temporarily)
Investing in childcare
Saying no to things that drain you
Treating it like something real, not a hobby
Because if you keep fitting your dreams into the leftover cracks of your day…
they will stay small.
6. Get in rooms where this is normal
This is where everything changes.
Because when you’re surrounded by people who:
Charge for their work
Talk about money openly
Collaborate
Refer each other
You stop second-guessing yourself.
You start thinking bigger.
You realize:
“Oh… this isn’t crazy. I’m just late.”
And this is exactly why I built The Mami Collective Dinner Series.
Because every time I sit at that table, I’m reminded:
Every single woman has a story
Every single woman is building something
And most of them are one connection away from their next step
I’ve watched women:
Meet clients
Get speaking opportunities
Start collaborations they didn’t even know were possible
Not because they were the most “qualified”—
but because they showed up in the right room.
There is something powerful about being in a space where:
you don’t have to explain your ambition.
The bottom line
You don’t need a completely new idea.
You need to:
Take what you already love
Make it useful to someone else
Package it clearly
Put it in front of people
And be willing to get paid for it before it feels perfect
That’s it.
It’s not sexy.
It’s not overnight.
But it’s real.
And if you’re reading this thinking,
“Okay… but I actually think I could do this…”
You’re probably right.