Comments on: Passion as a Competitive Advantage

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:43:29 +0000

It’s only been 9 months, but it’s tight as a drum. No problems.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:59:35 +0000

Yes. Go Fred! Good comparison to coding. How’s the roof doing so far?

By: Sue VanHattum

Sue VanHattum — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:10:41 +0000

I try to go through referrals, but even those don’t always pan out.

I hope that’s wrong about being able to recognize them easily, because I think I’ve found a good plumber, and I’d like to have him replace all my bad old plumbing. But I’ll double-check, see if the Berkeley Parents Network recommends him…

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:15:39 +0000

@Sue – There aren’t many passionate contractors; this is why it seems so hard to tell the difference. The truth is that 98 out of 100 are not passionate, thus it will seem like you can’t tell them apart. When in fact, you will be able to spot a passionate contractor quite easily when you see them.

BTW – I’ve heard about all of the best contractors I know through referrals – either from a small, local hardware store or from other contractors.

By: Sue VanHattum

Sue VanHattum — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:13:44 +0000

(oops. I didn’t mean to be anonymous…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:13:02 +0000

I sure wish I knew how to distinguish passion (plus competence) from the salestalk replica… I’ve had a lot of trouble finding good contractors for my house…

By: Dave Rau

Dave Rau — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:00:30 +0000

I have a few “flat roof” web sites on my plate right now, doing design and front-end clean-up on expensive, but shite backend code. Passion always gets the best of me and I put in lots of extra hours I don’t charge the client, because I want to do things the proper way and leave it better than I found it.

“People who put hot tar on roofs do not tend to talk about the passion they have for their trade.”

Rob this is so true. As a web designer I struggle to pull this passion out of people and turn that into writing/content for their site. Passionate people have strong reactions like your new roofer; poor work gets us down, but opportunities come along too and it’s easy to get excited about possibilities.

This article is a good challenge for me to bring more passion to my work and help support other people’s passions.

By: Weekend miscellany — The Endeavour

Weekend miscellany — The Endeavour — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:01:33 +0000

[...] Passion as a competitive advantage [...]

By: Jason Cohen

Jason Cohen — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:51:32 +0000

Agreed, but with a caveat: You also must have COMPETENCE.

What you’re describing is deep competence, not (just) passion.

I know lots of people who care a lot and work hard but just aren’t good at their job. Passion is NOT enough by itself.

By: Kathy Rees

Kathy Rees — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:59:02 +0000

If you want the cliff notes for Gary’s new book Crush It you can get them here http://cliffnotebooks.com/crush-gary-vaynerchuk-cliff-notes/

By: David Lowe

David Lowe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:44:04 +0000

Agreed. To add an anecdote of my own: the painter I have hired repeatedly earned my loyalty when, his first hour here to paint a bedroom, he begged for permission to fix some unrelated places in the living room: “I won’t be able to sleep tonight unless I can fix those edges,” he said.

By: Giancarlo Corzo

Giancarlo Corzo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:49:14 +0000

I think passion about your craft it’s a great sales tool only if the market is willing to pay more for a great work otherwise passion will matters only to yourself.

So choose a market that cares and will pay for a great service or product.

By: Kalpesh

Kalpesh — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:39:25 +0000

Professionalism?

Even if Fred is not passionate (in a developer view of word), he seems professional.