LIVE

WHAT YOU

LOVE
N AOM I S I MSON
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First published March 2015 by Harlequin Nonfiction

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ISBN 978 1743569917

LIVE WHAT YOU LOVE

© NAOMI SIMSON 2015

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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Creator: Simson, Naomi, author.

Title: Live what you love : when passion and purpose change your life / Naomi
Simson.
ISBN: 9781743569917
Subjects:Self-actualization (Psychology)
Change (Psychology)
Career development—Australia.
Success.
Dewey Number:158.1

Cover design by Josh Durham, Design by Committee

Cover photography by Stuart Scott
Internal design by Ali Freile, Tango Media
Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press, South Australia
 CHAPTER 1

WHAT’S PASSION GOT

TO DO WITH IT?

DRIVEN BY PASSION
Passion is a strong and barely controllable emotion, a compel-
ling enthusiasm or a desire for anything. I know passion when
I feel it because all of a sudden I simply cannot think about
anything else. It is as if something has taken over my life. The
first thing that pops into my busy brain when I open my eyes in
the morning will be connected to my passion — almost as if for
some hours my sleep took me away from my mad obsession.
You may have felt like this when you were working on a
school assignment that ignited your imagination, or maybe with
your first love, or a book that you could not put down. Passion
happens to us. It is not something that we can make up. You
can’t ‘fake it until you make it’. Passion is when your strengths,
insights and emotions align.

‘Passion is energy.
Feel the power that
comes from focusing on
what excites you.’
– Oprah Winfrey

Passion | 7
 How we operate has a massive impact on our experience of
life, whether we are available to our passions or whether we hide
them because we are fearful of ridicule or failure. But passion
is not a dirty word — it is truly exciting. Finding your passion
reveals the real you. You may already know what drives you but
your life’s true passion can be hidden from you. In fact, it might
take some exploration to discover what your passion truly is. And
maybe you have more than one. You might be a world cham-
pion poker player but also love working in a team. You might
be a great chef but are also deeply passionate about collecting
antique clocks.
I knew that I was passionate about working somewhere that I
felt valued, doing a job I could believe in. I did not want to waste
my life by giving the ‘best years’ to a cause I did not believe in or
working with people I did not respect (or like).
My work has always been important to me. I have always
been passionate about the contribution my work made. Yet when
I became a mother I was passionate about being ‘good’ at that too.
I knew, for instance, that being a great mum was about having
time to listen to my children, and if I was always racing because
my career was so important to me I would struggle to find the
time to be truly present and in my children’s worlds. How many
times do you find yourself where you wanted to be — at a party,
for instance, or a concert — and you still find yourself checking
your phone for ‘updates’? When you operate from your passion it
is very easy to be truly present.
It seems really crazy now in hindsight but I thought if I ran
my own business I would be able to spend much more time with
my children. I did go to sports days and do reading in the class-
rooms, but the reality is that my passion for the difference I was

8 | Live What You Love

making for the broader community meant that I had to make
really hard choices and work some really long hours. The rule I
had was this: even if I only got one hour a day with my children I
had to be truly present with them, listen deeply and understand
their world. So basically I had two great passions that could
coexist — parenting and my entrepreneurial endeavours.
I thought I was starting my business because I had a ‘pas-
sion’ for work–life balance. But I soon discovered this was not in
fact the reality. I am passionate about ‘playing full out’ — being
totally engrossed in whatever I’m doing and spurred on by the
feedback I get on the difference I am making. Creating a great
place to work, a business that could become world famous for
customer experience and technology innovation, was all con-
suming. But I was completely okay with that. There is always a
downside, there is always an opportunity cost. Of course other
things may have suffered. I know I cannot do it all (at once) but
I can enjoy and thrive on what I am doing.
I know I missed out on many things along the way but I also
know that life is merely a collection of choices — some we make
are better than others. But when you are driven by passion to
be the ‘world’s best’ then you know that there is a price to pay.
No world champion or Olympian got to achieve what he or she
did without consequence. The question to ask is: ‘What are you
prepared to sacrifice to live a life of passion?’ Think of the great
love stories. There is always sacrifice. So when asked ‘can you
have it all?’ the answer is simply ‘don’t be ridiculous’. No one has
it all! But what you can have is a life full of powerful choices
that follow your dream. And when you live a life of passion and
you share that joy with those around you, then you know you are
living the life you love.

Passion | 9
 When I started RedBalloon back in 2001 it never occurred to
me that all these years later I would still be driven by such a deep
passion to make a difference. Those days now seem like ancient
history. Life was a blur. I was always rushing; everything was
urgent. That urgency has not diminished with time. There is still
so much to do. This is how I know that I found my passion —
because I have never tired of it. This is not to say that at times
things aren’t exhausting or frustrating or very challenging. But
that is business. I’m sure if I had found my passion inside a cor-
poration I would have all those things in buckets.

What I’m passionate about

F I’m passionate about great workplaces where people
get to do their best work.
F I’m passionate about people sharing good times with
the people who are important to them.
F I’m passionate about reducing people’s experience of
isolation and exclusion, given that depression is on the
increase and deaths from suicide are twice the road
toll.
F I’m passionate about having strong, authentic and
transparent role models who demonstrate diversity
and balance.
F I’m passionate about colour (particularly bright
colour) — I am still a hobby painter.

10 | Live What You Love

WEARING RED
It is no coincidence that to celebrate my coming of age the
theme of the party was ‘bright’. My first attempt at entrepreneur-
ship was a consultancy business called ‘Bright Marketing’. My
home is filled with brightly coloured paintings and furnishings,
and I have always been attracted to wearing bright colours. My
childhood bedroom was the brightest sunflower yellow that you

The psychology of red

Colour can have a strong influence on mood. There has

been some substantial research into ‘colour psychology’
and it has shown that our moods, actions and the way
we see the world can be affected by colour. My colour,
red, even changes your physiology, hormone balance and
performance.
The studies suggest that when wearing red we seem
more attractive to the opposite sex. That study was con-
ducted in a laboratory with subjects judging photos, but
other research into online dating suggests that when
you wear red in your photo, you have a better hit rate.
Waitresses wearing red T shirts certainly get bigger tips.
So why does red, in particular, have such a strong
effect? The flush that comes to our face when we are
interested in someone or find them attractive could be
the reason!

Passion | 11
could imagine. For me, colour has always represented happiness,
vibrancy and vividness. Colour gives me energy and inspiration.
I named my business RedBalloon after a beautiful 1956
Oscar award-winning French children’s movie called The Red
Balloon, a beautiful tale of friendship and adventure. Balloons
are a symbol of ‘party time’ — and red is the most memorable,
the most evocative colour of all.
In the early days of RedBalloon I was at an event and just
happened to be wearing a red dress. I had only one or two back
then — not my whole wardrobe, as it is now. My colleague
Jemma Fastnedge had recently given me some pretty frank feed-
back about my dress sense. At the time the business was still
operating from the front room of our home and we had about
seven employees. ‘If you are going to call yourself the CEO,’
Jemma said to me, ‘I think you need to start dressing like one.’
Confronting? Yes! But she had a point. Sometimes I would rush
to my desk still in my gym gear. ‘You dress for others, not your-
self,’ Jemma lamented. ‘How do you want to come across?’
So at this event someone asked, ‘Do you always wear red?’
These two separate comments landed at about the same time.

If you listen beyond your initial

reflex action of defence there
can be gold in other people’s
feedback.
I asked myself if I wanted to be the brand ambassador for
RedBalloon. If I did, that job would be all the easier if I wore

12 | Live What You Love

red. Red is memorable. People might not remember me but they
will remember the colour I was wearing. In fact I have overheard
people talking about me as ‘the red lady’.
So the reason I started wearing red was not accidental. Red
is my public uniform — it helps identify what I stand for. The
colour is distinctive. Red is the most used colour in brands and
it’s memorable. People take nanoseconds to work out who you
really are. Is she who she says she is? Well, if you’re consistent,
that reinforces the trust factor: she is indeed who she says she
is. She is the woman in the red dress.
My wearing red also helps my audience relax. It doesn’t
matter if the audience is male or female; it’s human nature to
‘check each other out’. Malcolm Gladwell spoke of this suc-
cinctly in his book Blink. Once a person has you ‘worked out’
they are far more available to listen intently to what you have to
say. It is my job to help an audience feel comfortable.
For me, the red dress has been an important part of being
identified easily. But what is really great is that if I put on another
colour or wear jeans on the weekend people literally don’t see
me — not even people who know me. People are programmed
that if they see red it is me.
You too can be content in terms of your look, whatever it is.
Remember, you don’t have to look at yourself whenever you’re
out and about: you can’t see your own face, after all. But you do
need to look like the role you’re playing. I learned a long time
ago that we dress for others. Ask yourself: ‘What impression do I
want to leave with the people I meet?’
I watched with interest the controversy some time back
regarding Mark Zuckerberg’s continued wearing of hoodies
during the lead-up to the stock-market launch of Facebook — and

Passion | 13
the impact it had when he did not in the presence of the
American president. Steve Jobs only ever wore a black skivvy
and jeans for launches, and I’m sure it was so the press talked
more about the technology and less about him as a person.
I definitely don’t wear the red dress for me. I wear it to help
people identify me. I took Jemma’s point and have invested in
my uniform ever since. (Wearing red also makes it easy when I
go clothes shopping!)

Our appearance helps

others identify us,
our role, our position.
YOUR PERSONAL ST YLE
There’s a lot of information available to help you to consider
what is right for you. You will want to dress to create an image
that reflects your circumstances as well as your aspirations. Your
best party outfit is not your best outfit for work!
Ask yourself:

• How do you dress for work? For comfort, according to

what everyone else wears, or to stand out?
• How do your customers, colleagues and peers dress? Do
you reflect that?
• Do you dress for the position you would like to have, or
the one you have now? (I’m not saying dress in a suit and
tie if you one day want to be a CEO and are currently at
university!)

14 | Live What You Love

 • What impression do you want to leave people with?
• What is the occasion or circumstance you are dressing for?
• What sort of dress do you feel comfortable in?

You do want to be yourself. Don’t wear clothes that are

uncomfortable or don’t fit properly. (I have bought too many
shoes in the wrong size. I never wear them. There is nothing
worse than seeing someone almost crippled by shoes too small
or too high to walk powerfully in. And while I’m on the subject
of feet, I can tell a lot about a person by the state of the heels of
their shoes, no matter whether they’re male or female.)
Rather than developing your ‘personal brand’ — because
brand really relates to your reputation — at this point I would
like you to consider your personal style. By this I mean your
style in everything (which will reflect your passion). Start from
the top down — hairstyle (and men, also consider facial hair),
make-up and perfume.
Do not let what you wear be a distraction to the people you
are with. Even glittery jewellery can distract an audience if
they look at what’s around your neck or dangling from your ears
rather than listening to your content and being inspired by your
words. Don’t let your physical presentation get in the way of your
authentic self or dominate who you are. Don’t hide in a lack-
lustre colour (this goes for men too). Express yourself without
offending who you are.
Take the time to work out the appropriate ‘fit’ — for what you
do and who you want to be. How do you see yourself? How do
you want others to see you? You want people to hear your pas-
sion and remember you because your style matches that passion.

Passion | 15
 Simple dress sense?

More interesting than ‘simple dress sense’ on the part of

entrepreneurs may be the ‘dematerialisation’ and ‘demon-
etisation’ trends as discussed in the book Abundance by
Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler. I simply could not
put this book down. It is the sort of book I want to read
with my teenagers. I can highly recommend it.
The authors argue that the poorest people in the USA
now have more services than were available to the richest
person 100 years ago — and that we all have access
instantly to more information than the American president
did only a decade ago. Hence, we live in a time of abun-
dance. What this means is there is a massive shift in what
the ‘trappings of success’ look like. Many possessions are
becoming increasingly less important. The most precious
resource of all is time — no matter how rich you are you
only have the same 24 hours every day as everybody else.

Passion is infectious.
SHARING PASSION
I like to share my passion for making the world a better place,
for sharing what I have learned about happiness, customer expe-
rience and creating a successful enterprise. To do that means
allowing myself to make mistakes. People appreciate the human-
ness of my authenticity, even though I am not one to wear my
heart on my sleeve.

16 | Live What You Love

 I want to be effective. My commitment is to make a differ-
ence. If there are 200 or 500 people in the room, I don’t know
which ones I am going to impact and which ones I am not. I just
need to be ready, alert and aware that I am supporting the whole
audience, knowing that each person will be in a different place.
People come to a room not as one entity, but your job as speaker
is to unite them into feeling inspired or moved so that they go
away saying, ‘I got something that was worthwhile.’ Or maybe
they leave talking to their colleagues, asking, ‘What did you think
of that? Did that make you laugh/cry?’ It’s unbelievably fulfilling
that people can come to an event as individuals and leave with a
more unified, united sense of being with others in the audience.
I feel a great sense of accomplishment when someone lets
me know that because they heard me speak or read a post, they
put something into action and got an outcome.
People have said, ‘I don’t know how you can get up in front
of thousands of people over and over again and give so much of
yourself.’ They often admit that there is nothing that they would
hate more than to be speaking on stage in public. Yet I don’t
recall ever feeling nervous before a speaking engagement.
That’s not to say that I haven’t had ‘disastrous’ things happen.
I’ve had plenty of beyond embarrassing moments in front of audi-
ences. On one such occasion I was speaking to a large group in a
conference centre in Queensland. I often start my presentation
from the back of the room, so I can walk through the participants
and ‘get to know them’ on my way to the stage. The room is often
dark and the stage bright, and my eyesight is not the best.
At this event, as I started speaking from the back, I had this
sudden worry that no one had ever heard of RedBalloon. ‘Has
anyone not heard of RedBalloon?’ I asked. No hands went up. I

Passion | 17
then asked, ‘Has anyone heard of RedBalloon?’ Again, no hands
went up. I thought to myself, ‘Oh my, I am in for a ride here.’ At
that moment a person with grey curly hair suddenly appeared
in front of me. I thought I would be funny and act as if I were
a school teacher. ‘And where do you think you’re going, young
man?’ I queried. The person promptly responded, ‘Last time I
looked I was a woman.’
I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me. There were
500 people in the room — I was there to speak on ‘Customer
Happiness’ — and I had just made the biggest error and insulted
the customer to boot. There was complete silence as I found my
way to the stage. It was a painful and humbling lesson.
I learned long ago that most people in an audience are just
glad — indeed grateful — that they’re not on stage. If people see
you stumble or make a gaffe they will feel pity for you, quickly
followed by relief that it is not them. To make an error is human –
we are not perfect — and most audiences are respectful of the
fact that you are just the same as them. It is about being our
authentic self.

Presenting with passion

Imagine your audience. Check out the actual room, if you

can. Try to meet a few people from the audience beforehand.
Then you will have ‘friends’ listening to you. When you are
speaking, look for these people in the audience and talk to
them as if it was just you and them chatting as you did when
you met them.
Remember a presentation is never ever about you, or what
you want to say — it is always always always about how you want
to leave the audience. Your content is only interesting if it adds

18 | Live What You Love

value to those present. Deliver it in a fashion that is most likely
to appeal to that group on the day. For example, I use different
language if I am speaking to accountants versus travel agents.
My aim is always to leave them ‘touched’ (interested enough
to stay listening deeply — and you know they are when no one
is fidgeting), ‘moved’ (feeling an emotion, be it joy or sadness)
and ‘inspired’ (a call to action, to make some change as a result
of what I’ve delivered).
If you have a presentation or speaking engagement coming
up, ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Is it likely?
Probably not!

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
Many people feel a calling to entrepreneurship — to ‘run their
own show’. They think that they would thrive in that world.
Many people have approached me, sharing their idea for cre-
ating a great enterprise. Their passion is barely containable — it
is physically infectious. I love hearing stories from start-up
founders about how they see the world and where the idea for
their business came from. Their passion energises me — and I
want to be a part of that excitement too.
Outsized entrepreneurs are lionised daily. We hear their names
again and again, people (mainly men, too few women if you ask
me — but that is a personal bias) who founded a business, a move-
ment or a cause. People like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and
Larry Page and Sergey Brin. These names can be both inspiring
and alienating (they’re ‘special’ or super human in some way) at
the same time. But every one of these people started at ground
level and had to face setbacks, obstacles, challenges and defeat.

Passion | 19
 Very early in my start-up online business I was tackling the
reality of doing business when no one had ever heard of us. One
day I received a phone call from a potential customer querying,
‘How do I know you’re real and not just a fake business front?
How do I know you’re not the janitor rather than who you say
you are?’ As troubling as these questions were, I realised pretty
quickly that what was missing was trust. This was early in the
online selling days and there was good reason to mistrust the
internet. Unless you were dealing with a big, well-known com-
pany, there was mistrust.
I had no brand or name that was recognisable. Of course the
caller was justified in asking whether we were really a business.
How to build trust is a real challenge for any start-up but back
in 2001 internet marketing and online sales were still very early
in their evolution.
The brand needed to live, so I needed to get out from behind
my website and be accessible. Reputation is everything. I knew
that advertising could not build relationships with potential
customers. The community is smart and discerning. When busi-
nesses pay for advertising it stands to reason they are going to
speak well of themselves. And advertising is often met with con-
sumer cynicism.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS NOT FOR EVERYONE

For me, life as a start-up was all about taking one careful step after
another, with a consistent smile, confidence and resilience (and
all the while being the brand and wearing red). I was juggling a lot
while focusing on a distant vision. This life is not for everyone. You
have to be a little bit crazy and have a very thick skin. Be prepared
to live from hand to mouth and give your life to the ‘cause’.

20 | Live What You Love

 I spoke recently at a company directors lunch — as the key-
note speaker I find that people will approach me tentatively
either before or after the presentation curious to discover if I am
somehow ‘different’ or ‘not normal’. I have never pretended to be
something I am not — I am very transparent about the things
that are not going well as well as the things that are. I have good
days and bad days. Some days I wonder why I do it ... and others
I am walking on cloud nine. Everyone has ups and downs but as
an entrepreneur it is your financial security that is at risk, rather
than someone else’s.
Why are entrepreneurs so revered? Is it this resilience in the
face of defeat? Journalists clamour to break the story of the ‘next
big start-up’, ‘the overnight success story’. But the reality is far
from this.
Most start-ups remain small businesses. Only a handful truly
scale and solve the problems of that world. Yet the public has a
fascination with ‘rags to riches’ stories and founders as demi-
gods. Maybe it is because people understand the precarious
nature of what we do.
People often ask me about success and want me to define
‘the one thing that created success’ for me. My answer — hard
work — is not that interesting for most people. There are no
short cuts. There are no guarantees. I could have just as easily
fallen from the tight rope, but I haven’t.
If there is one thing that I want for you from reading this
book it is for you to make powerful choices about your own
life — living with passion every day. But passion alone is not
the recipe. In life there is failure and without it we don’t know
success. It is important to know, however, that failure does not
mean the ‘end of the world’; it just means that that course of

Passion | 21
action has ceased. How many failures did Thomas Edison have
in discovering the light bulb?
We talk about failure in academic terms — but, if and when
it happens, it is deeply confronting and harrowing, no matter
what. Failure needs to be grieved too. The notion of what was
possible has changed.

Experiencing failure
Nikki Durkin, the founder of tech start-up 99dresses,
vividly shared her experience of failure. She wrote for
News.com:

Over 90 per cent of tech start-ups fail, but I never

thought my baby, 99dresses, would be one of them.
If there is one thing that doing a start-up has
taught me, it’s that I am much more resilient than
I could have ever imagined …
Since then I’ve survived being stabbed in the
back by co-founders, investment rounds falling
through, massive technology f**kups that brought
sales to a halt, visa problems, lack of money, lack
of traction, lack of a team, hiring the wrong people,
firing people I didn’t want to fire, lack of product-
market fit, and everything else in between …

The start-up press glorifies hardship. It glorifies the

Airbnbs who sold breakfast cereal to survive, and then

22 | Live What You Love

 turned their idea into a multi-billion dollar business. You
rarely hear the raw stories of start-ups that persevered
but ultimately failed — the emotional rollercoaster of the
founders, and why their start-ups didn’t work out.

DEALING WITH OBSTACLES

I learnt about obstacles and the way they can get in the way of fol-
lowing your passion early in life. At kindergarten I loved painting,
and I always wanted to play with the other kids. I remember
going to the home-maker corner and asking if I could play with
the other girls. They looked at me and frowned. ‘No.’ Then I went
to the sandpit and asked the boys if I could play. ‘No, it’s a boys’
game.’ Then I would go to the swings and ask if I could play with
those kids. ‘No, there is no room.’ In the end I learned that if I
painted a picture, when my mum picked me up she would say,
‘What a lovely picture.’ We would take it home and she would
hang it on the fridge. Somehow I felt validated. I had made a little
accomplishment. It made me feel good about myself.
I didn’t ever really fit in with the other kids. At primary school
I was never picked for the sporting teams, so I did cross country,
because I could do that on my own.
It may seem incongruous that for someone who has been
espousing the virtues of teams, and the power of diversity and
inclusion, teams were not a natural and easy thing. My modus
operandi, even at such a young age, was: ‘If they don’t want me
I will do it myself.’ But from the age of five I knew what it felt
like to be excluded. Who knows why — it is just the way those
kids were. But secretly, while I did get on and do things myself,

Passion | 23
if someone had said, ‘Do you want to play with us?’ I would have
jumped at the chance. I wanted to be a part of the group — I just
found I got better results on my own.
In these recollections I can see how my passion — and my
worldview — was developing. Even as a young child, the obsta-
cles I faced only set my personal compass to ‘I’ll show them’.

FACE YOUR FEARS

Grab a notebook.
Be straight with yourself and tell the truth — the harder
you look at yourself, the better the outcome of doing this
work.
Take the time to consider what makes you fearful, what
you are scared of and what you feel.
Are you afraid of some places? People?
Circumstances? Events?
If you feel a bit emotional as you ‘fess up to these fears
then you know that you are on the right track.
Review your list. What is that secret fear that you have
left off the list? (It is okay to admit it.)
How would you feel if you could ‘disappear’ those
fears? What if you could reduce them at least?
Now that you’ve taken the time to write them down, do
your fears look smaller or more real?
Look at your list of fears and ask yourself:

• How many are because circumstances are stopping

you?

24 | Live What You Love

 • How many are because of other people?
• How many are because of a lack of resources (or
finances)?
• How many are because of a lack of time?
• How many are because you forgot — or just did not
get around to doing them?

Work out the percentage of external factors that stopped

you versus you stopping you. Put an I (for internal) or an E
(for external) next to each item on your list.
Keep this list nearby. Let’s see if this book can help you
put your fears in context. The real value in writing this list
is not whether you feel good or bad about it. It is about
being conscious of it. With focus, things get done. The first
step is knowing where your energy goes.
Now I want you to consider this question: if you were
not scared by each of these items what could you do — or
even better, what would you do? Write down your answer
if you are able to do so.

PROMOTING YOUR PASSION

Some time ago I found myself seated next to a thirty-something
mother and her young pre-schooler on an intercity flight. The
child reads aloud from his book, the mother flicks through the
in-flight magazine. She stops her son reading and she says,
‘Look at this.’ She starts flicking through the magazine. ‘Ad, ad,
ad, ad, ad,’ she announces to her four-year-old. ‘What do you
mean, Mummy?’ he inquires. ‘Well,’ she explains, ‘companies

Passion | 25
pay money to put these pictures in the magazine to try to get us
to buy, buy, buy the product.’ She goes on to complain, ‘It takes
12 pages before there is anything to read.’ The child looks at her
quizzically. He has just received his first lesson in how to tune
out to promotional messages. The mother did not tell her son
that if there were no commercial messages in the publication
then there would, in fact, not be a magazine at all. But she made
her point well. People are overwhelmed with commercial mes-
sages and they want to filter them out. It has been a very long
time since a business could launch a product on Sunday night
television and have everybody talking about it the next day.
Apparently we are bombarded by around 3000 promotional
messages every day. There are logos and banner ads on every-
thing. You cannot even have a cup of takeaway coffee without
finding some message on the cup. We live with it — and we tune
out. We are taught that ‘it’s just advertising’. This is why we value
our friends’ opinions so much. If someone tells us that a product
is good then it must be.

Our passion multiplies the

more vividly we share it.
I hate to say it but the only time that I try new, fast-moving
consumer goods is when a friend has either brought it to my
home or told me it’s great. I am completely lost in a sea of colour
in a supermarket; I am a bare minimum sort of a shopper — and
I’m a marketer!
So with all this noise how on earth does someone get the
message across? How was I going to get any traction for my new

26 | Live What You Love

business? My challenge was not simply to get people to ‘know
us’ and feel something about us but also to tell someone else
about us.
It was David Ogilvy (founder of global agency Ogilvy and
Mather) who said, ‘I’ve never seen a landscape improved by a
billboard.’ Now we don’t even notice that the billboard is there;
it has just become part of the never-ending commercial message
landscape.
I went through a long process of looking at how I could get
other people to talk about us favourably. Of course there were
customer reviews, but in the early days without any customers it
was very hard to get depth of message. Besides, people believed
that we would only publish the ‘good’ reviews.
So I had to get other people talking about us — good and
bad, but at least authentically. My job was to give them some-
thing worth saying. It was this deep commitment to what I was
doing that saw me take to the stage, to write and to have opinions
that the media might think were interesting. The brand needed a
personality — and the easiest and best way was to do this myself.

Share your passion with

whoever is interested
in your story.
I trained for months (years really) to speak in front of large
audiences with ease, grace and a sense of humour. I learned to
tell a story and to be vivid in all that I did, including putting on
the red dress (my uniform).
I did not do this for me — I did it for the cause.

Passion | 27
 Passion is vivid. Vivid stories bring passion to life. Being able
to re-live and re-tell tales which touch, move and inspire others
gives life to your passion. When you tell a story vividly you impact
on your audience’s senses, bringing them with you on the journey
so they feel something: joy, fear, sadness, whatever. Our ability to
feel our passion for our chosen cause is amplified when we share
it. Our passion is solidified. Choose your words with care.

The power of positive

The words we choose greatly affects our experience

of reality. In a research paper by Adam A Augustine,
Matthias R Mehl and Randy J Larsen called ‘A Positivity
Bias in Written and Spoken English’, the authors write:

The human tendency to use positive words (‘ador-

able’) more often than negative words (‘dreadful’)
is called the linguistic positivity bias … People, in
general, and some people more than others, tend
to talk about the brighter side of life.

Advertisers have known for years to talk in positive language

to attract potential customers, but at our very core the words we
choose to use can either add or detract from the delivery of our
message.
As our teenagers text in a language that I don’t understand,
and as Twitter teaches us to express our deepest thoughts in 140
characters or less, I say ‘vote one’ for sharing a vivid story.

28 | Live What You Love

 SELL YOURSELF
What positive words would accurately promote you or
your business and pitch what you can do and what you
stand for?
Write an ad for yourself. Make sure it is not just ‘spin’.
Ask a friend or colleague to read your ad and give you
some feedback.
What have you neglected to say about yourself? Is it
an accurate sell?

At the very beginning of our education, there were wonderful

stories (not essays!), vividly told stories of adventure, daring,
challenge and love. The older we got the less emotive the lan-
guage in our books — and the less colour and creativity on the
walls of the classroom. I cannot recall one anecdote from my
economics textbooks at university and I can assure you there
was nothing but grey walls to look at.
In our haste we are forgetting how to tell a story and how to
use positive language. As a result we are doing ourselves a dis-
service when it comes to happiness.
Passion is about having a positive outlook.

BRANDING YOUR PASSION

Your passion needs words to describe it; words that resonate
with others. Reality lives in language. The words you put to your
passion will either ‘click’ with others so that they cannot help
but share it — or the words will stop with them. Practise these

Passion | 29
words. They may be so vibrant that in fact they attach them-
selves to your passion — like branding it.
When I started up, I consistently used the same words over
and over again to anyone who would listen. In time, this cre-
ated a ‘brand’ for my passion. ‘I imagine people seeing any red
balloon,’ I would say, ‘and smiling as they remembered the first
RedBalloon that they either gave or were given.’ The red balloon
is a vivid reminder of my passion — and once in the neuro-
pathway of the listener, it is difficult to dislodge.
I came not so suddenly to the realisation that the red balloon
was my brand. How I talked about it — the positive, powerful,
passionate words I used to describe my cause — took practice,
time and patience. And it took being respectful. One thing that
I cannot abide is the unprepared speaker. There is no excuse.
No one arrives to deliver a TED talk without hours and hours
of preparation. Why are other audiences not honoured in the
same way?
Have you ever found yourself at a seminar or conference,
doing your absolute best to listen to the speaker on the podium,
but your mind wanders? You have spent time and money getting
there, you know that the topic is relevant and of value to you, but
you struggle to listen — simply because the speaker is getting
in the way of the content. The room is dark, you begin to doze,
you feel ripped off. It is the rudest, most self-serving thing for
a speaker to abuse the position they have been given and take
people’s most precious resource, time.
Being unprepared and not respecting your audience does
impact on your reputation. And it is hard to share your passion if
you are reading from a PowerPoint stack.

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