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Passion is a powerful thing, and can drive success or - in rare occasions - tank it completely. Sometimes it is not enough to have passion, you have to have the skills and the ability to guide your passion in the direction of a successful venture/career. There are people who have the passion to work with charities, so they go and create a business built around helping those in need. They used their passion to start, but could not figure out how to properly apply their passion to the industry. They may not have had the business sense to make their charity project work. This applies for every type of venture. If you do not have the knowledge to make it work, it will not work. You cannot just jump into something simply based off of passion, you have to do your research, look at the market, and - most importantly - be honest with yourself about it all. If you do all the market research, put the numbers together, take a step back and simply think that it's difficult, don't try it anyway. Seek guidance and opinions from those you trust. Be honest about whether or not it is something you can afford to do, both in the financial sense and in the sense of your ability.
Thanks for the question sidrah and great answer Shaikha Ali. I'd like to add that passion without talent is like a turbo engine in a car without a driving wheel. In order to win a car race, you need both: a strong engine (passion) and a skilled driver (talent). If talent is missing and you have loads of passion, you won't be able to win the race of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs are often told that they should follow their passion. They hear this advice from friends. They read it in articles and blog posts. They see famous people advocating that following their passion was the secret to their success.
As far as advice goes, it is safe. No one will ever get into trouble for suggesting that you follow your passion. But just because it’s a safe piece of advice to give to others does not mean it’s a good idea.
Far from it.
Let’s be practical for a second. If you are like most entrepreneurs, you want to grow a business because it gives you two types of rewards. First, there are the financial rewards. Entrepreneurs often dream of the big payday or exit that will make them rich. There are also the personal rewards. Many business owners like the sense of freedom and satisfaction they get from owning a company.
Following this logic, evaluate every business you look into based on two variables:
If it meets those variables, it’s a good idea. If it doesn’t, it’s not. Obviously, I am oversimplifying. But for purposes of this article, this this approach is good enough. We are going to evaluate whether you should follow your passion in business by determining how well it fulfills these two criteria.
Let’s start with a simple question: can your passion make money? This is the first question you should ask yourself if you plan to follow your passion.
Certain passions lend themselves to making lots of money. For example, someone who is passionate about software design will probably do well. You can easily monetize that skill. However, this is not the case for every passion.
Case in point – I love going to the movies. No, I don’t like the film industry, per se, nor do I want to become (or could I become) an actor or producer. I just like going to the movies.
Unfortunately, going to the movies doesn’t pay well. Actually, it does not pay at all. In fact, I have to pay movie theaters for the privilege of watching movies.
I also love fine dining. Unfortunately, that falls under the same category as my previous example. I have to pay to enjoy fine dining.
In my experience, most passions cost money rather than make money. And if you can’t make money, you can’t turn your passion into a business.
Just because you are passionate about something doesn’t mean you are any good at it. Passion and expertise are two separate things.
If you want to turn your passion into a business, you must be able to perform at a professional level. You must be really good at it – good enough that people will be willing to pay you for it. If you are not good at your passion, there is no chance you will be able to make money from it.
This last question is usually the final nail in the coffin of the “follow your passion” argument. Could you run it like a business? Most people underestimate what this takes.
Let’s say that you are a good cook – actually, an awesome cook – the sort of cook that everyone raves about. Certainly there is some money in being a good cook (ask these guys). And cooking is your passion, right? So what can go wrong?
Just remember that being a good cook doesn’t make you a good business person. Those are two separate skills.
Could you perform all the business activities necessary to capitalize on your cooking passion? Selecting locations; opening restaurants; managing vendors; dealing with demanding clients; working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Oh, and when you have the time, getting to actually cook under demanding conditions.
I suspect few cooks would find any satisfaction in this. They just like to cook.
This is often the problem of turning your passion into a business – it sucks away the satisfaction that you get. Your passion stops being a passion and becomes a job.
In most cases, following your passion and turning it into a business is a bad idea. You won’t make money and you won’t get satisfaction.
But is there a different strategy?
There is. Instead of following your passion, examine and invest in your skills. But not just any skills. Invest in those skills that will generate high returns.
Evaluate your skills and determine what you are good at. As I said before, I love movies and fine dining. But there is no way I could make a living out of that.
However, I do have some skills in other areas. My career started in technology and telecommunications. I was not passionate about prepaid wireless billing systems, but I had the skills to work in that industry and make good money. Actually, that job helped me fund my startup. After that, I transitioned to my business. I worked at developing another set of skills.
When evaluating skills, also consider their market value. Develop those skills that you have the most potential to be great at and also have a high market value.
Although I did not know it at the time – it is what I ended up doing myself. I first followed my skills in technology and ended up in a job that paid well. And then I moved to finance, which also pays well.
This path will be different for everyone. But every person has a set of skills that can be monetized.
Does following this advice mean that you will be condemned to a life devoid of joy – or passion? After all, I am suggesting that you don’t do what you are passionate about.
First, I wouldn’t say “condemned” – you have a choice. I would certainly never suggest that you do something you hate. You can also disregard what I am saying.
Just keep in mind that there is joy in becoming good at something. In some cases, people can develop a passion for something after they become good at it. This experience is very common.
Do you know who Michael Rowe is? He is the host of Dirty Jobs. It’s a great TV show where Mike goes and performs the dirtiest jobs he can find – basically, the jobs that allow us to lead civilized lives.
In his line of work, Mike has met a lot of people who were not following their passion. Frankly, there are few people who are passionate about cleaning septic tanks and doing similar things. But he found that many of these folks have pride in their work. They found satisfaction and often good money as well. He puts it very eloquently in this letter.
by make it motivation them to success
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