Turning your passion into a business: is it a good idea?
In my case, my passion was personal development, which led me to train as a Life & Business Coach and then start my own business.
Starting a business has become a huge trend in the past ten years and it looks like it’s not going to fade away any soon. More people are jumping on the wagon, especially women and quite successfully too.
There are various reasons why this may be happening, starting from the never ending global economy crisis, to the deep innate longing for purpose that we all have. Starting your own business, especially if it is passion related, definitely brings more purpose and fulfillment to your life.
This said, turning your passion into a business may not be for everyone.
Let’s see when it’s most certainly a good idea and when it’s probably not, so I get to answer the question.
Turning your passion into a business: is it a good idea?
You had this hobby/interest for a very long time
If you’ve been passionate about something for as long as you can remember, you’re probably very good at it, or very knowledgeable.
This means you can teach others, or you can create high quality products or services.
Either way, it’s almost a pity not to share your experience with the rest of the world.
You are extremely dissatisfied with your current job
Maybe you’re in the wrong career, or you just don’t like your job anymore, or the company you work for is financially unstable and your position feels uncertain.
Whatever the case, this is a very good reason to start working on a side business.
Once things start rolling you may decide to quit that draining job for good or hit the road before executives decide it’s time to downsize.
You love working on your own
If you love the idea of being your own boss, then go for it!
Keep in mind that being your own boss isn’t all fun and games. Yes, you do get to decide what to focus on, whom to work with or not and when you get a day off, but there are downsides too and you should consider them carefully.
The biggest downside is that the responsibility is all on your shoulders, the success of your business depends solely on you and unless you work hard (and smart too) there’s no sure paycheck at the end of the month.
If you’re okay with all that, then you’ve got what it takes to be an entrepreneur.
Now let’s consider when it may not be such a good idea!
It’s not a good idea if:
It’s a fairly recent hobby/ interest
This happens all the time!
Roughly, this is how the story goes: you discover a new interest (let’s say yoga), become very passionate about it, practice it for a few months and then decide it’s your call, you must become a yoga teacher!
Then you start hitting one roadblock after the other, because you hadn’t considered you needed a certification and that’s so much work, right!?;because there are people who have been doing that for decades, so competition is fierce; because you enjoyed it until it was a hobby and you could choose when to do it, but now that it is your job it’s not so fun anymore; or because now that you’re a professional you need to deal with sales, marketing and clients!
And guess what? That’s not easy at all!
So, before you go ahead and turn your latest crush into a forever business, take a moment to think about all that and wait at least a couple of years to see if you’re still into it.
It’s more about you than about your passion
You may not want to hear this, but I would do you a disservice if I didn’t mention it.
If you’re thinking of starting your business for one of the following reasons, please don’t.
You want to be famous, popular or successful (whatever that means to you); you want to be the expert or “guru”, you desire praise, recognition or attention; you’re looking for a come back after a failure; you want to copy or one up a successful friend or peer.
If you’re still here reading, it means you’re a reasonable person (whoever left after reading this paragraph probably needed to read it and shouldn’t start a business anyway), so I hope you’ll reflect on the reason(s) why you want to go from amateur to professional.
Remember that your business should be about your passion, the service or product you offer and not about you.
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