It's good to be passionate about your business, but don't let it kill you.
It's good to be passionate about your business, but don't let it kill you.
Most businesses are born out of a passion for something. You're pursuing something that you love, something you're interested in, and you see it—a need in the world. Suddenly, you see a way to build a business to meet that need. Your idea is born! Congratulations! The future's looking bright. Imagine being able to do what you love every day for the rest of your life while making people's lives better in the process. There's only one problem: Passion doesn't always make a great business.
More often than not, businesses that are built on someone's passion alone fail to be great. And unfortunately, in the long run, that usually means shutting down. Suddenly, doing what you love every day doesn't sound so great. I call this problem the passion trap. Here are three things to remember to keep you out of the passion trap as you start a business.
Businesses run on money. The purpose of a business is to make money. And my favorite one-liner that just about broke my heart years ago when a mentor shared it with me is, "if you're not making money, it's just a hobby." Your priority as a founder is to implement a business model that generates revenue. Suppose you're faced with decisions where you have to choose between something that you're passionate about or something that helps your business drive revenue. In that case, you usually have to go with the revenue option. It sounds boring, and sometimes is, but in the long run, this type of thinking will create the time, space, and opportunity for you actually to do what you love.
Side note: Many successful businesses are built around a founder's passion. Just remember that making money is the fundamental function of a business. If your passion can't consistently produce revenue, it's a hobby.
Starting and growing a business is not a self-gratifying process. You start the company to meet a need you see in the market, and you grow that company to meet the full extent of that need in the market. You keep running your company to continue to meet that need in the market as well as the growing needs of your employees, shareholders, and—of course—your family. Anyway, you look at it, the company that you're about to start will exist to meet the needs of others.
In the words of Simon Sinek, "There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it, or you can inspire it."
Believe it or not, that's true for you as well. Why are you starting a business? Is it for fun, to do something you love, or is there a more inspiring reason? If, from the very beginning of your business journey, you have a clear sense of why you're starting your business, every decision that you make moving forward will be deeply impacted by that core motivation. Starting a business is very hard, and when the going gets tough, you will need that underlying sense of "why" to take you through it. Later, we will dive into identifying your "why" and how to incorporate it into your business strategy.
John Walt
It's good to be passionate about your business, but don't let it kill you.
It's good to be passionate about your business, but don't let it kill you.
Most businesses are born out of a passion for something. You're pursuing something that you love, something you're interested in, and you see it—a need in the world. Suddenly, you see a way to build a business to meet that need. Your idea is born! Congratulations! The future's looking bright. Imagine being able to do what you love every day for the rest of your life while making people's lives better in the process. There's only one problem: Passion doesn't always make a great business.
More often than not, businesses that are built on someone's passion alone fail to be great. And unfortunately, in the long run, that usually means shutting down. Suddenly, doing what you love every day doesn't sound so great. I call this problem the passion trap. Here are three things to remember to keep you out of the passion trap as you start a business.
Businesses run on money. The purpose of a business is to make money. And my favorite one-liner that just about broke my heart years ago when a mentor shared it with me is, "if you're not making money, it's just a hobby." Your priority as a founder is to implement a business model that generates revenue. Suppose you're faced with decisions where you have to choose between something that you're passionate about or something that helps your business drive revenue. In that case, you usually have to go with the revenue option. It sounds boring, and sometimes is, but in the long run, this type of thinking will create the time, space, and opportunity for you actually to do what you love.
Side note: Many successful businesses are built around a founder's passion. Just remember that making money is the fundamental function of a business. If your passion can't consistently produce revenue, it's a hobby.
Starting and growing a business is not a self-gratifying process. You start the company to meet a need you see in the market, and you grow that company to meet the full extent of that need in the market. You keep running your company to continue to meet that need in the market as well as the growing needs of your employees, shareholders, and—of course—your family. Anyway, you look at it, the company that you're about to start will exist to meet the needs of others.
In the words of Simon Sinek, "There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it, or you can inspire it."
Believe it or not, that's true for you as well. Why are you starting a business? Is it for fun, to do something you love, or is there a more inspiring reason? If, from the very beginning of your business journey, you have a clear sense of why you're starting your business, every decision that you make moving forward will be deeply impacted by that core motivation. Starting a business is very hard, and when the going gets tough, you will need that underlying sense of "why" to take you through it. Later, we will dive into identifying your "why" and how to incorporate it into your business strategy.
John Walt
StacDek helps companies design strategies that drive long-term growth.
