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When Passion and Reality Collide
Over the years, I have connected with thousands of people who intend to become independent health advocates and care managers, and 99.9% of them have one thing in common: their choice of health advocacy as a career is a result of their passion for helping others. They are caring individuals with skills for navigating some aspect of the healthcare system. They are empathetic, and those they will help recognize their empathy right away.They aren’t looking to make a fortune in business. Instead, their rewards will come from knowing they have helped to improve the quality of other people’s lives. They probably don’t even realize that their passion can make a huge contribution to their success! Research results released by Ernst and Young show that companies that operated with a clear and driving sense of purpose, beyond the goal of just making money, outperformed the S&P 500 by a factor of 10 between 1996 and 2011. That’s the good news. That for those who establish health advocacy / care management practices, their focused passion may increase their chances of success and increased income. But let’s dwell for a moment on that word “may.” For some, but not all, their passion will become the foundation to their success as private advocates. Unfortunately, the “but not all” represents the great majority of these wonderfully passionate and empathetic people. Further, and sadly, the “but not all” people will end up feeling burned, possibly bitter, frustrated and sometimes,will cause them to go broke. That’s the point where passion – and reality – have collided. And no one – NO ONE – who has so much goodness in his or her heart should ever end up burned, bitter or broke. It’s just not right or fair. But I see it over and over again. Wouldn’t It Be Nice? Remember when you were a teenager in puppy love? Oh! You couldn’t stand to be away from the new person in your life! You knew you would love each other forever – and it was the rest of the world that was getting in the way of that…