This isn't work. This is my hobby.

You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘find a job you enjoy and you’ll never work a day in your life’. Well, I was lucky enough to do just that. When someone asks me if I enjoy what I do I tell them, ‘it’s like getting paid to do your hobby’. I always enjoyed writing, constructing cogent arguments and coming up with ideas, so advertising and branding has been the perfect world in which to live. Of course there are nightmare, stressful days. But the good always outweighs the bad.

But just recently, this whole ‘hobby’ thing has moved up a notch.

I’ve been lucky enough to work on projects that encompass my actual interests and pursuits. I relished my involvement, as a freelance copywriter, in shaping the brand behind rugby’s Guinness Premiership; writing ads for Miura, the world’s finest golf club maker; creating promotions for Jameson whiskey and this year, helping the branding agency Heavenly with their work on the Ryder Cup. In case you hadn’t guessed already, I’m a booze and sport man.

Which is why, when you take a look at the Fleming Steele client list, you’ll see sport and booze, front and centre. When Jaime and I set our company up a few months ago, we took the decision to only take on projects and clients that we have an affinity with.

That’s why you’ll see three French wine clients on our list. As well as a Welsh beer brand, two Irish online drinks merchants, a golf professional, an F1 race team and a couple of Barclays Premier League footballers. And that’s just the start of it. Booze and sport are where we intend to carve our niche. They are, after all two of the world’s most enduring and exciting sectors.

This isn’t work. This, as ad legend Jerry Della Femina said, ‘is the most fun you can have with your clothes on’.

Do you have a passion or a hobby that you could use your professional skills to get involved with, and in turn become part of a world you previously only admired from afar? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Mike