Pricing Passion

So you’ve decided to follow your passion… for many here on Substack if you ask them what their passion is what do you think they’ll say?

• Writing?

• Community building?

• Attention?

Passion is a loaded word, there’s a bit of danger a bit of chaos and definitely risk involved with passion. Some dismiss passion as causing blindness to rational thought… personally I think those who do limit themselves to boring, cardboard tasting lives.

Without passion there is no dance, there is no music that lifts your soul, there is no aspiration to go to the moon, to the mountains, to the depths of the sea, to save the whales, to save each other. Without passion we have no salt in ourselves…

Life and love without passion is bland and ordinary, like a dull book of facts about ordinary lives.

It’s true that passion can destroy us… it is like an accelerant (which interestingly Substack doesn’t recognize as a word - how bland of it) and as David Bowie sang - “I’ve been putting out the fire… with gasoline.” Bowie’s octave leap on the word “gasoline” has been called “a magnificent moment” and “among the most thrilling moments he ever committed to tape” (Now there’s a passionate quote from Wikipedia)

There are crimes of passion - which are quite different from crimes of boredom.

Passionate people have caused havoc to society, and yet somehow they still get labelled as ‘The Great’ despite their crimes.

Passion has been described as needing to be tamed, to be controlled as in the expression “unbridled passion”. Which taints passion in the same gene pool as jealousy and greed - though I’m sure those with a writer’s touch might use passion as an extra flavour to greed or jealousy… they were greedy with a passion or passionate jealousy… sounds a bit Mills and Boonish to me.

Personally I think passion is a driving desire within us to achieve something that is extraordinary.

Without passion we can give up when it gets hard.

Without passion we need to rely on external motivation like earning a wage, or achieving an income stream from subscriptions…

Passion is something we can stir up - there is an old Greek word, zeal… and it literally means to bubble over… like a coffee pot boiling… though they didn’t have coffee so they used the word zeal instead of coffee.

In order for a jug to boil you have to plug it in or put it on a hot stove. Passion needs energy and that is why passionate people can be so fun to be around as they exude energy.

The gym is full of passionate people, a great place to get energy and develop your own passion… well if that’s where your passion lies.

My passion is in art… and I’ve just finished exhibiting in our annual district’s arts trail.

Here’s the thing about passion… there’s a price to pay for it.

You have to give up something to pursue another thing and if you really are chasing it you have to give up a lot.

Although Bob Ross was happy painting every day its a different experience for the average artist to make a living out of painting every day.

Most working artists would probably say every day is a good day when you sell a painting.

So here’s how the arts trail went for me…

First weekend

• 69 visitors

• 3 original paintings sold

• 1 framed print sold

Second weekend

• 52 visitors

• No sales

Cost of setting up for the arts trail

1. Entry fee - $230

2. Mobile payment machine - $250

3. Paper for prints - $100

4. Ink for prints - $50

5. Frames - $600

I broke even and made a small profit

There were over 120 places for people to visit so a lot of competition - most people visited on average 7-10 places in a day. To be included on someone’s visit list was a pretty special thing and the majority of people who came had especially wanted to see my work so that was extra special.

Given that the majority of visitors came as pairs or in car groups of the 121 who arrived I was actually getting more like 55 unique visits.

If I do the math the sales ratio to that small number was terrific.

I had 9 original paintings on display and 33% sold on the first day.

3 A3 framed prints on display and 1 sold = 33% sales rate.

No unframed prints sold.

The general word coming round was that numbers of visitors to the larger community sites were down and sales were very soft compared to last year - the cost of living is crunching hard here in NZ.

There were a lot of favourable comments by visitors - however, as we all know, likes don’t pay the bills. I said to my wife, Helen (who did a terrific support job for me), maybe I shouldn’t give up my day job… we both laughed ironically at that.

But here’s the thing about passion… it is as Greeks saw… something that fires up inside us… and what is said about watching pots… while untrue as they do boil, it does feel like a long time before they get to the boil.

I’m delighted with the sales I had for the arts trail.

As a first event I had no idea what to expect… now I know my success rate is actually very good… what I need is a bigger audience for the art.

Many of the visitors asked me for a business card and website… both of which I don’t have. That was a good learning, people need time to absorb your passion and make it theirs.

Here on Substack that can mean for writers to not worry if subs are not happening fast, people may just need time to get to know you via notes and posts before the commit to your program. Notes can be little lights that lead to your work.

And without passion we can’t light our audience’s fire.

They won’t believe if we don’t believe with a brightness that shines out like a beacon.

My passion for art is a work in progress… but is it the art that is the passion or is it a passion for making others feel something inside… I suspect that the art is just a vehicle for something else and maybe if you are a writer then perhaps your writing is a vehicle for chasing a deeper passion.

Whatever your passion I hope you do more than break even… that you fill your soul with meaning and become more than ordinary.

Have a great week and thanks for following the journey

PS: This was the image that pulled people into the studio and the one they all wanted to see - it was painted with a passion 🤗☕ and lots of coffee.