Do you dream of creating your own business? Of turning something, you love, into a way to make money? It can be terrifying to start a brand or company in the world we live in. What if it fails? What if I lose money? What if?
A lack of business skills, bad financial and business plans, lack of motivation; these are all things that can ruin a business. However, without passion, everything goes down the drain. In fact, it is the lack of passion that turns businesses into money-guzzling machines that are destined to fail. With the new perspective on small businesses, it is relatively easy to come up with an idea nowadays, but without passion, a company becomes just another drop in the sea of mediocrity.
Transforming a business into your passion is almost impossible, but if you’re passionate about something, you can easily make it profitable; in fact, passion is often a good enough motivator to get things going.
Hobby vs. Passion
Let’s start off with a random example.
Meet Dave and Jessica: they are both equally passionate about miniature figurines. However, Dave likes painting his miniature figurines in his free time. It provides him with much-needed relaxation that he can’t get from his regular job. Dave doesn’t hate his day job, but he wouldn’t be able to function without his favorite hobby.
Jessica, on the other hand, hates the fact that she can’t paint her miniature figurines 10 hours a day. She doesn’t necessarily hate her day job but is conflicted with the fact that it prevents her from doing what she truly loves.
Dave and Jessica are the epitomes of hobby vs. passion. Hobby is something that you like doing in your spare time and, as such, doesn’t represent good grounds for business. Passion, on the other hand, is something that you are crazy about and would, if possible, dedicate an entire day to. Being able to distinguish between a hobby and passion is the pillar of learning how to transform a passion into a business.
Be Ready For Sacrifices
A terrifying thing about turning your passion into a business is that you have to be prepared to lose something for it. This doesn’t necessarily have to occur, but it is a possibility. While your passion used to be only passion, with business in mind, it becomes a lot of other things. Think of it as a cup that is half-filled with your favorite beverage. This is your passion. In order to have a full cup, you’re going to have to add water. The water, in this basic example, is stuff such as filing taxes, paying attention to competition, hitting targets, tracking sales and cash flow, etc. Essentially, a business made out of your passion may require some watering down by tedious things to work.
Build A Brand With Your Passion
Whatever it is that you do, you always need to keep in mind that you’re passionate about it. This will keep your business afloat. People can spot passion from miles away, and you should use this for marketing purposes. Make a video of you doing whatever it is that you’re passionate about, edit it, and advertise it on social media. People will start falling in love with what you do, and it will quickly begin to turn into a brand – something of vast importance in the world of business.
Offer A Solution To A Problem
The sad truth of it all is that no one can guarantee that you’ll be able to monetize your passion. Sometimes, energy and dedication aren’t enough for turning passion into a business. No matter how original you think your idea is, you can rest assured the chances are that such a product/service already exists on the market. Either find a new problem to solve, or find a way to improve the solution. For example, a portable media player wasn’t discovered by Apple. These devices existed for full three years before iPod came out. But iPod offered something no mp3 player had: a huge amount of space, extremely long battery life and an incredible quality, all in one! Let this serve as a perfect example of an improvement that became mainstream.
If you’re lucky enough to be passionate about something, there is nothing as fulfilling as turning it into a business. Beware, though, sacrifices will have to be made. Keep your eyes on the prize and make sure that you remain passionate through-and-through. This is the best way to build your brand. Finally, keep in mind that no matter how passionate you are about something, the essence of the business world is still in either finding a solution to the problem or improving someone else’s solution.
I hope that my tips can inspire you to go out and start pursuing your passion today!
Emma Miller is a digital marketer from Sydney. Works as a blogger, Senior Editor for Bizzmark blog and a guest lecturer at Melbourne University. Interested in digital marketing, social media, start-ups and latest trends.
