So you've found your love...

So when I began this blog, not to long ago I shared with you a bit of what it will be about.  Triathlons and training and how I got into the sport and I think, most important, where I want my life to go in the sport and in the community of triathletes. 
When I was working in design I loved it.  I still love it.  It was never a job for me, especially when I was really busy and immersed in the design, space planning and full creation of a project.  I could 'work' for hours and hours and never wonder what time it was or even worry about stopping for food or drink.  I was lucky enough to be very young and know what I was good at and was able to put effort into pursuing a career in that.  But after almost 20 years working in design and architecture I have learned that as much as I love it, the profession and the powers that be, i.e. the bosses of the companies I have worked for, are not as loyal to their employees as the employees are loyal to the industry, and in my case, a profession and a 'job' that I loved doing.  So I have had to take a long hard look, at my bank account, scary sight sometimes,  and at how I want to move forward in being able to sustain myself.  What do I want to do now that jobs in design are hard to find for people with experience, as I have found, more jobs for the 'interns' than those who don't need hand holding.  I am working trying to find my own clients but have realized that this love of triathlons could be more than how I stay in shape and keep my sanity while working in my chosen profession.  Maybe I can create a sustainable living doing something with the triathlon industry.  This is what I realized about a year ago and when I read a book, applied what I learned and built a website of triathlon specific products for other triathletes like myself, who had a hard time finding tri-gear at your typical sports store.  This idea became Triathleta.com.

It is a website where you can find everything you need to compete in your 1st to your 100th triathlon.  It is a growing site, there are a stack of catalogs on my desk of the companies I have built relationships with that I want to add to the site but it takes having a larger bank account than I currently have so it is a work in progress.  It's a love and passion in progress too.  As much as I am predominately a 'right brain' type person, I am diligently working to increase my 'left brain' side and learn about business, finances, marketing, e-marketing specifically, which is like taking a crash college course.  It's a bit overwhelming at times.  I know enough to know that I don't know much, but know enough to ask for help!  Internet marketing, SEO, email lists etc...is not complicated, you just have to have a few good tips/teachers showing you how and if you're tenacious, as I am, you have to put what you've learned to use and work it.   I have a ton of ideas, most of which I have been told by business professionals are great ideas, now it's just getting them implemented to really get the website more visible, more traffic, more sales and then in the final 'goal' to build a brick and mortar store. 
Triathlon for me when I started in 1993 was so much fun.  It was my social life, it was part of my relationship as the guy who introduced me to it was my boyfriend at the time.  I was new to the city where I lived at the time so it was a way of making new friends, becoming a part of a community, it was pretty much Everything to me.  So even though I worked at becoming a triathlete, it was never work, I loved every minute of the sweat, the muscle aches, the heart pounding rides and runs I did with my friends.  It is, by far, the best thing that ever happened to me.  It changed my life, allowed me to do and see things I would have never seen had I not been introduced to the sport.  Quite honestly, more than anything, I want to rub off all this passion and excitement off on other people and the best way I know how to do that is to make my idea into a reality, build a store that becomes part of the triathlon/running/cycling community where I live and let it resonate with everyone who participates so that they can then pass on that passion to those in their lives.  It is the ultimate, 'Pay it Forward' concept for me.  I swear I get so emotional about it, I want to change the world with my little, silly triathlon community ideas.  But what better way to keep us all moving, keep us healthy and happy than to participate in an activity that we love, we can share with our spouses/significant others, our kids, our grand-kids.  Make it a part of your church.  Do a triathlon with members of your congregation.  Company teams, police/fireman teams, doctor/nurse teams, literally whatever you can think of, it can touch all of us.  Our society has become too sedentary.  I don't want to go into that whole subject on this post, but in a nut shell, we have to get moving again, we have to learn about how to be healthy, how to eat healthy or we are going to be in big trouble.  I love this sport, I love what it does to the people who get involved in it.  People become so proud of themselves to say they are a 'triathlete'.  It's an accomplishment, it's hard work, it's time consuming, it takes dedication, you can't cross the finish line without doing the work, no one but yourself is going to get you there, there is no 'free lunch', you've got to do the work.  But oh how fun the work is! 
So I've found my love...come join me.  Stop by my site, sign up for the email newsletter, send me an email and let me know what you want if it's not there.  If you're a club, a race director, a magazine please contact me about working together.  I want and need to get the word out more about my site and I need your help, your knowledge and your passion about triathlons to help me do that.  I know this is a shameless plug, but I am part of the growing entrepreneurs in America who have passions and ideas about how they want to participate and contribute to the society in which we live.  If our previous jobs have become obsolete or we are just having a heck of a time finding a good job then we are trying to do something outside of our usual box and in turn help ourselves as we help others.  So help me pay it forward, send me your thoughts.  Like I said, I am a work in progress and am open to tips on the work and the progress.
Triathleta

 p.s.  I get Fast Company emails every day and I saw this article today that I want to attach.  It actually gave me my idea for today's post.  I know we all have passions we all have jobs.  But are they congruent? 
http://www.fastcompany.com/3002168/8-signs-youve-found-your-lifes-work 
Maybe this will help you figure out if you are doing what you love.  Enjoy!