Quote: (10-01-2016 10:58 PM)GeneralMacDaddy Wrote:
Quote: (10-01-2016 06:14 PM)iron93 Wrote:
Find out what your passions are and build a community, brand or ecommenrce around it.
Wow way to bump a 2 year old thread with some one-liner like "follow your passion".
Normally I would just ignore this, but it really is BAD advice, and here is why:
People who follow their passion, usually end up broke and back working for the man, and on top of that they are burnt out and maybe have ruined a hobby or interest that they used to be passionate about. Passion is a lousy thing to follow, how do you know if your passion is profitable or not?
Afterall, building a business is ultimately about making money. If your business doesn't make money, its not a business but a tax write-off.
Following your passion is a very emotional kind of thing. Passions change just like emotions, they come and go, etc. Now some people have created successful business in a field in which they are very passionate. But correlation is not equal to causation.
To really get started in business, start small. Don't do anything that requires VC or angel funding. Just do something you can hack yourself, with Credit card or friends / family money.
Research a lot, but start doing something (anything!). Make a minimum viable product / prototype and get ready to pivot and change once you get a few customers. Can't get any customers, change it up and work it more or go to a different niche or business model.
Eventually, you will find a niche that can make money. It may take quite a few tries but in each one, you will learn something new and hopefully grow. Or maybe you will give up and go back to that cushy job with all those nice benefits.
Be passionate about making money and making your business work. Passion should not be the main factor on WHICH kind business to start though.
Completely disagree. I followed my passion and run a photography business that seems so easy (and lucrative) that sometimes I feel guilty about being able to live such an easy professional life.
The problem is that when it comes to follwoing your passion, people get identified with it and follow a linear path blindly. So let's take my example. I loved doing photography as a hobby but HATED it when I did it commercially.
Now the problem with stupid people is that they will think of their "passion" as a linear path and follow the same old broken pathway.
In my case, the wrong thing I could have done was to follow the beaten path that most photographers take and keep on doing shoots commerically (something I hate and something that doesn't come naturally to me) and then HOPE that one day I will see the light at the end of the tunnel.
But what's wrong with such a prcoess:
1. I'm not doing something that is congruent with my nature.
2. I will not be doing something with great excellence since I'm always hating the actual activity invloved.
3. Most likely, I will give up.
And then what will I do? Become all pessimistic and spread the agenda of PASSION not working.
Instead, I was wise enough to not fall for this trap.
What you have to do is to identify your passion and then combine it with your NATURAL STRENGTH.
My natural strength was always teaching and inter personal communication.
So what did I do?
I did not become a professional photographer. Instead, I became a photography teacher and started the business of teaching photography to beginners.
And I focused more on learning marketing and advertising than I did on photography.
Within the first two months of starting this business, I was making more money than my MBA peers did in their corporate jobs and I was only working around 2-3 hours for 3-4 days a week.
So the moral is to follow your passion but follow it in such a way that you are doing something that is EASY to you, not hard.
I just wish I could describe the feeling I get on a monday morning or in fact every morning. I am always raring to just start working because I love it so much.
Don't every deny yourself that beautiful feeling because there is nothing quite like it.
When you follow your passion and live for something you believe in and love to do, your WHOLE life changes.
It supersedes every other fleeting pleasure like sex and instead makes it even more enjoyable.
So don't listen to people who tell you not to follow your passion. It's the only path that works and even if you get rich by doing what you hate, what good will it do to you?
Live your purpose. Love what you do.