Five things…you should know about turning a passion into a career

The Des Moines Register

Pete Jones started his popular blog, DesMoinesIsNotBoring.com, two years ago while working a day job in the financial industry. He’s now the business development executive at Catchfire Media in West Des Moines, where he combines his interest in new media with his business background.

1. Be patient

When Pete Jones began blogging, he wasn’t looking for a new job. But when he began to get the social media bug, Jones was patient when it came to switching careers. “Good things happen to those who wait,” he says.

2. Network

Making connections with those in your community is pivotal, Jones says. “Engaging on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook is one thing, but it wasn’t until I started connecting with my online connections in face-to-face engagements that I really started to see the blog grow,” he says.

3. Do the research

Research your interests. Jones learned the ins and outs of his hobby from online resources and specialists in the field. “I learned as I went,” Jones says.

4. Stay consistent

People notice reliability. “I had to develop a realistic schedule and post as regularly as I could so the readers knew when to expect a post,” Jones says.

5. Dream big

“No passion or project can come to fruition without a little bit of a pie-in-the-sky dream,” Jones says. “When I developed the dream to work for a company in Des Moines that worked with businesses to understand social media, I had to understand it may never come to fruition. I just kept that dream and, you know what, it came true.”