live what you love by naomi simson - chapter sampler

LIVE WHAT YOU

LOVEN AOM I S IMSON

Every attempt has been made to contact copyright holders and request permission for use. If you would like to contact us, please use the address below.

First published March 2015 by Harlequin NonfictionAn imprint of Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Pty Ltd.Level 4, 132 Arthur StreetNORTH SYDNEY NSW 2060AUSTRALIA

ISBN 978 1743569917

LIVE WHAT YOU LOVE© NAOMI SIMSON 2015

Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilisation of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permission of the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior con-sent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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 CommitteeCover photography by Stuart ScottInternal design by Ali Freile, Tango MediaPrinted and bound in Australia by Griffin Press, South Australia

Passion | 7

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

8 | Live What You Love

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

Passion | 9

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.


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 aboutFI’m passionate about great workplaces where people

get to do their best work.

FI’m passionate about people sharing good times with

the people who are important to them.

FI’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.

FI’m passionate about having strong, authentic and

transparent role models who demonstrate diversity

and balance.

FI’m passionate about colour (particularly bright

colour) — I am still a hobby painter.

Passion | 11

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!


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

Passion | 13

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


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 STYLE

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:

•Howdoyoudressforwork?Forcomfort,accordingto

what everyone else wears, or to stand out?

•Howdoyourcustomers,colleaguesandpeersdress?Do

you reflect that?

•Doyoudressforthepositionyouwouldliketohave,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!)

Passion | 15

•Whatimpressiondoyouwanttoleavepeoplewith?

•Whatistheoccasionorcircumstanceyouaredressingfor?

•Whatsortofdressdoyoufeelcomfortablein?

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 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.

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 | 17

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


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

Passion | 19

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.


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’.

Passion | 21

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


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 failureNikki 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

Passion | 23

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,


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 FEARSGrab 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?

Passion | 25

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

• 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.


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

Passion | 27

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 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.

Passion | 29

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

SELL YOURSELFWhat 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?


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.

live what you love by naomi simson - chapter sampler

Documents