“99.9% of people have amazing ideas, plans, and dreams… but they don’t follow through on what they really love. They get started and then they encounter challenges and think, ‘Oh well I’ve hit a few roadblocks, time to find something else’ when really, it’s just around that corner.”
— Reka Kaponay
Welcome back to the Steve Show! Today we’re wrapping up our 3 part series with the Kaponay family, this time looking at the journey through the kids’ eyes. At age 10 they embarked on an 8 year journey being homeschooled by their parents as they traveled the world, and became successful budding entrepreneurs in the process.
Reka and Lalika’s journey into discovering and monetizing their passions provide valuable insight for entrepreneurs of any age. Ready your pen, because their words of wisdom (and the included journal prompts) are going to help you get clear on choosing your life!
Lalika: Trust That Your Passion Has Value
Starting at age 13, Lalika was already thinking about honing in on his passions and how to profit from them. Inspired by his love of helping others and planning the family’s travels, he began helping friends organize their own trips. It turned into a viable business idea that his whole family helped to create by lending their special skills.
What resulted was his own travel concierge service, Destinator Travel, that has been thriving for two years and counting. Lalika recounts how surprised he was when his first client paid him $300 for just a few hours of his time at age 16. It helped him learn the value of his talents and passions, and he now has the opportunity to manage the travel experience of 6000 study abroad students at a time!
His best advice? “There’s so much more that is possible – you CAN turn your passion into something that is financially viable. You don’t have to look down the road of 9-5’s accepting it as the thing you have to do for the rest of your life.”
- Write a list of your passions.
- Next to each, write a list of potential ways to monetize them. Check to see if there is any crossover in skills and opportunities among your passions. Combine these ideas for more potent, integrated plans for turning your passions into profit!
Reka: Passion Without Self-Discipline Is Futile
Reka discovered a passion for writing when she began composing multi-page emails to family and friends describing her family’s travels. By age 12, she was chronicling her adventures on her own travel blog. Her ‘choose your life’ moment came a year later when she found herself inspired to write her own fantasy fiction adventure novel after meeting an author in Spain.
Instead of telling herself that she was too young for such an endeavor, Reka spent 9 months pouring herself into writing each day. What resulted was her 350 page book, The Dawn Of The Guardian, that the Kaponay family self-published. Her efforts led to an 18 month book tour, then a deal with a Hungarian company to publish a translated version – all by the time she was 15! Her story proves that, while age brings experience, immersing yourself in your passions can create incredible growth and accomplishment in just a few years. Take the leap now!
Her best advice? “If there’s something you’re really passionate about it, have the self discipline to follow through. Don’t stop when you encounter roadblocks along the way.”
- Write a realistic list of the hard work it will take to achieve your big life goals.
- On the next page, write a letter to yourself for the times when pursuing your goals gets difficult and you’re feeling defeated. Save it for the moments you need a dose of strength and resolve!
Have you enjoyed our series with the Kaponay family? Let us know in the comments what you’ve learned and discovered through the journal exercises. Have you become more committed to choosing your life and the way forward? Don’t forget to drop your biggest questions about choosing your life below – I read and respond to every comment!
As always, until we meet again…
Choose Gratitude Create Freedom
Steve Napolitan
