Passion

It has been said that if you are passionate about something, you won't work a day in your life. I have always been an advocate of pursuing your passion. I think passion is the drive inside of each of us to pursue an endeavor...whether it's creating, or selling, or just doing. And passion is very important in living a well-lived life. You can start living passionately at any age.

It was 1981, UGA. The Dawgs were headed into the season coming off an amazing, undefeated year. And I was entering my sophomore year at Georgia. I was registering for classes when the nice man asked, "Major?" I said, "music business!" He replied, "pick one, music OR business." The rest of the conversation was a blur, except the man behind the glass window told me to check out a school that offered that degree...Belmont College (now known as Belmont University).

I had been playing guitar and writing songs and reading about recording for about two years at that time. My dream was to produce concerts (I actually reached out to a concert promoter). I went to UGA because...well, that's what everyone was doing from my high school. And each day I would go to class and dread going through the motions.

I remember the day the Belmont Course Catalogue arrived in my mailbox at UGA. I opened it and started reading about courses I would LOVE to take...my hands actually shook as I read each page with passion. Recording engineering, physics of sound, music publishing, music theory, intro to music business, sound reinforcement... the classes were the type of classes that happens only in the movies...but I was now looking at it in black and white.

And then I told my parents. My folks were from the Greatest Generation. My dad had several different businesses while I was growing up. My mom stayed home and took care of us. My two older brothers had already finished college. One was a doctor and one was an engineer. My parents wanted me to go to a recognized school and pursue a career. The thought of sitting in an office somewhere gave me the sweats.

I convinced my parents to drive the 4 hours to Nashville and just "look" at the school. Belmont had about 1500 students and was a Christian based school...a different cry from the 36,000 plus students at UGA. My parents were concerned because I would be the only Jewish kid at a small Christian school that no one had ever heard of.

And then I sat down at the mixing board in the recording studio at Belmont. My eyes got big and wide. I was home. The thought of mixing music and creating made me feel something amazing inside...My mom turned to my father and said, "Jack, write the check!" And so began my pursuit of passion.

Right after college, while I was at Studio One, my dad had gotten ill and asked me to take over his business. I was not a big fan of the metal roofing business. And after 8 years, I left the metal roofing business to develop a business in video. I remember years later while my kids were in the car, my daughter asked me if I gave up my dream to be working in the music business to go into video. I told her that my dreams just took a little diversion. The key was to be passionate about whatever it is that you do.

Passion is a term that is near and dear to my heart. With every video I produced, I produced them with passion. My clients could see and sense that passion; and I believe that is what made me successful. And years later, I would become a teacher of video and film. My students could see and sense that passion I have to create and to engage my audience.

I have come a long way from those days at Belmont when I would sit for hours on end in the recording studio. I loved that feeling of creating back then. I still use many of the things I learned in recording each and every day. But the one thing I always use each day I work with students is passion for my work. Students react to passion...some adversely, but most students want to be passionate about something. And I want to be a role model for them to pursue passion.

I consider myself very very lucky to have found things that drive my passion...to feed my passion. And I find myself talking to colleagues about passion and finding your passion. Passion is there in us all. Some may try to squelch it, but it's always there. I am glad I listened to my inner voice to follow my passion. I may not be doing the exact thing I set out to do, but I do find passion in the work that I do.