This morning I was chatting with a new client about her baking business. She makes mini cheesecakes and they are absolutely delicious. While discussing where she is in the development of this business, we began to also talk about her recent foray into culinary school. She has always had an affinity for baking but decided to make it a professional goal just recently. Last year, she enrolled into culinary school to expand her skills and to learn professional technique.

We chatted a lot but the one thing I wanted to know was: Do you still love it?

It’s one thing to have a hobby or to like doing something like baking and to be quite good at it naturally. It’s a completely different thing to decide to become a professional. Being a professional requires more than just being good for a weekend and giving your kid extra cookies because the baking bug bit. Being a professional requires being able to be good every single time you put on the apron. It requires listening to consumer demand while educating them on the flavor combinations you love. Being a professional means constantly learning, constantly growing, practicing the skills you have while seeking out new ones.

It’s not easy. It’s not easy being a professional baker. It’s not easy being a professional stationer. It is for that reason that I asked her after a year of school and a half-year of internships, if she still loved it. Her answer was yes, more than ever.  I often ask myself the same question. And for me, the answer is always yes as well. I still love it. After all these years, I still love it.

So my advice to you today is, if you don’t still love it, stop doing it. Take a break, get away from it all for a while. Perhaps you will rediscover what you did love. Perhaps you will discover a new love. The bottom line is that if you can’t put your passion and your love into your work and get as much joy from it as you put in, then try something else.

Ask yourself everyday: Do you still love it?