Tim Cheung, known in the online world as @bayarea.foodies, is a 28 year old San Jose native who, given his visceral love for food, decided to go ALL IN and transform his passion into a paying career. Life is too short to be spent doing a job you don’t have a calling for. And life is too beautiful to wake up unhappy. We are all born with passions and talents but how many can say to be lucky enough to be paid doing what they love ? Very few are this blessed, unfortunately.
It’s always the same old dilemma. Should we chase money or express our passions and talents? The ideal solution, but not always feasible, is to combine the two.
Living a life where you are paid to fully express yourself, deeply live your passion and showcase your talent is a life of wonder and worth living.
We are blessed to live in an era where the digital revolution has given birth to hundreds of new jobs and professions, many of them based on passions and hobbies we all have.
Imagine how impossible it was, even just 10 years ago, to be able to support oneself financially as a “tourist” or a “photographers” or a “bodybuilder”. Today it is very much possible thanks to influencer marketing and brand sponsorships that are literally revolutionizing the way brands around the world invest in marketing to sell their products or services.
Tim Cheung has transformed a passion that many have into a job that allows him to travel, get to know different people and cultures, taste innovative foods and cooking styles and on top of it, get paid. If it is not a dream that comes true, it’s pretty close to it.
Are you wondering what are your chances to do the same ? In this era of ours, we all have fair chances to start over, listen to our inner self and find opportunities to chase. I have plenty of friends living their best life blogging as an expat from Florence, or giving online yoga lessons from her studio in Sydney, or taking professional underwater photographs from remote islands we all dream of.
Internet has brought up many concerns and challenges when it comes to education, violence, image awareness but it also gifted us with unlimited resources to be our best self and live our best life. We won’t become millionaires, probably. But we will wake up with a smile on our face every morning.
I asked Tim what was the turning point, the key aspect of his transition and what motivated him to pursue his dream and this is what he answered:
“The most important thing is to develop the right mindset and carve your determination, little by little, piece by piece. You will face many objections, even from your loved ones – knowing how to be proactive and be consistent and keep the focus on your goal is key. I worked closely with a mentor in the beginning and that is how I learned how to stick to my plan and always believe in the path I took. It is important to dream big but it is even more important to know how to reach those goals. Even if you don’t get the results out of it as soon as you expected, if you firmly believe that what you are doing is the right thing for you, you will keep going. Consistency is key. Living the life of your dream has this price to pay. I think it’s totally worth paying this little price. I thought of giving up few times in the first year pursuing this “passion career” but in the end, inside of myself, I knew It would have been a terrible mistake I would regret forever and so I kept going, I kept learning, I kept having an optimistic outlook and in the end It all worked out. I’m now waking up every morning being aware that this is what I was born to do.”
Tim Cheung
I think this is a valuable lesson and reminder that life is short and it’s worth living it the way we feel in our core, in our inner self. Feel free to follow Tim on instagram at: @bayarea.foodies