You figure out you are an entrepreneur, that’s the life you want to lead and now you are looking to launch your own (first or next) business.
The “P” questions comes into play!
Do you have to be passionate about your business?
Or more specifically, do you have to be passionate about your market, product, business or all 3?
There is perhaps no other question that is more hotly debated amongst those who operate businesses or purport to be business coaches (oddly enough most of which have never run their own business by the way!)
Passion Is Necessary, But There’s More To It
Let me be very clear, if you ask anyone who has run a large, successful business that has grown steadily for at least 1-2 years you will get the same answer to this question…”OF COURSE” you have to be passionate about your business.
Being an entrepreneur is to be in battle, every minute of every day…you are pressing, over-achieving, leading, fighting fires (mostly this…), pivoting, testing, interacting with your market – you are LIVING your business 24-hours a day, 7-days a week.
Does that sound like something you would be willing (or even COULD) do if you didn’t have a passion around your business?
Absolutely not, and any true entrepreneur who has done it will tell you so.
The debate is mostly held by those that either have never built a full-time, long-term business or have had short-term success and have not yet met the true test of an entrepreneur which is to continue to grow their business and eventually take it to a successful exit (profit) for it’s owners and investors
Now, Let’s Look At “There’s More To It…” Part
One of the very early lessons I learned in business was that the statement “What Markets are passionate about is MORE important than what you are passionate about” is FALSE
What matters MORE is that you find your inner purpose, passion and drive that will allow the strength to listen, learn, influence and persist in your chosen business – and then you WILL find how to turn that passion into a business
Come at it the other way around and you haven’t got a chance to find your true inner strength and resolve (there is an off-chance of course that you find your passion along the way, but it’s very rare this would happen by chance)
If YOU are passionate about it then typically there are many others who are too…AND if you tap into your own passion that will come through and draw your market to you, allow you to take a longer-term view of your business and stick to that business through thick and thin.
I also have worked with people that had “passion” around different aspects of their business – for example:
- Some have a passion for serving their market (love to teach, share, help, etc…)
- Others have a passion for their role in their business (Ex some people love to sell, they could be selling many different things, but they just love the process and “game” of selling
- Still other people have had a passion for their craft (musicians, artists, fashion, etc…) and they figure out that they can grow their influence by learning marketing and business chops
- Then there are some who are just passionate about building a growing, thriving business and did not start off passionate about their market, but have grown that passion as they develop their business
So, to hopefully put this controversial question to rest (I know this will not be the final word), passion IS absolutely necessary to be successful as an entrepreneur. As you see above, there are multiple wells from which you can pull your passion however – as long as you find it in one of these places you stand a much better chance of building a highly successful and satisfying business
What is your opinion on this need to have a passion for your business?
