Is a passion for business essential?

The world is rapidly changing. The opportunity to become a successful entrepreneur or business owner is better than it’s ever been. Around the world, people are looking for and developing their passion for business.[1]

Over 40% of working-age people are planning on making major life changes,[2] and the idea of starting a business is very exciting to you too. You do not want to miss out on the opportunity to change your life and pursue your passion!

But as we often tell our students, the freedom of working for yourself is necessarily limited by how much you want success in your life. The greater your need for success, the more options you can create for yourself.

While many people will tell the importance of a passion for business to achieve business success, is this really true? What happens if you can’t find your passion? And how is this related to the need for success?

Table of Contents

What you should consider before you start a business
Why your business will benefit from passionate leadership
3 Reasons how passion can help your business succeed
What does passionate mean
6 Tips for finding your passion
Conclusion
Further reading

What you should consider before you start a business

All entrepreneurs want to succeed. They want to use their true passion for building a business and make outstanding customer service an integral part of their overall business plan. So before you dive in you need to ask yourself some essential questions.

What are your business goals and what type of business appeals to you, maybe a freedom-based business or a potentially large business requiring venture funding? Do you have a clear understanding of what it takes to create a successful business? And do you have the right mindset?

What if starting a new business is more difficult than you initially thought. Are you willing to give up the things you enjoy to really focus on that business? What would happen when friends don’t support your business ideas, or your family is totally against it? What will carry you through when things get tough, as they sometimes do?

That is why passion is important. Your passion to create, your passion for success, and your passion for business become important factors to consider on your journey to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Why your business will benefit from passionate leadership

As entrepreneurs who’ve been doing this for a while now, we can’t begin to tell just how much goes into creating something new and different from anything else on the market. And when it all comes together, the feeling at that moment is like nothing else in the world.

Speaking with startup entrepreneurs and small business owners from around the world, the way they describe their experiences of growing a successful and sustainable business brings up images of a carefully choreographed dance that turns movement into a mesmerising journey with a grand and spectacular finale. But that’s only half the story.

Like choreography, entrepreneurship and growing a new business are emotional endeavours, going from high to low and back again. You’ll swing from being excited one minute, disappointed the next, stressed out and exhausted, and exuberant when everything goes right. And often all these emotions happen at the same time.

When dealing with such powerful emotions you need a strong vision and passionate leadership of yourself and the people around you. Think and repeat to yourself “I have the mind of a mastermind”. It is one of the key aspects that will successfully carry you through to ultimate success.

3 Reasons how passion can help your business succeed

Here are three reasons why your passion plays such an important role in starting and growing a successful business, and which are key to successful entrepreneurship.

#1. Overcome fear of failure

Self-awareness is a virtue and the sooner you realise that failure is an inevitable part of who we are, the sooner you are on your way towards becoming successful. And provided you make sure your failures are manageable, failure can be a very good thing. It often leads to creative thinking and coming up with new and better ideas.

Also, you cannot grow if you stay inside your comfort zone. Failure is proof that you are stepping outside of your comfort zone. It means you are growing as a person. And you learn what doesn’t work, bringing you one step closer to discovering what does.

However, one of our greatest weaknesses is to allow fear to determine when we should give up on something. Inevitably this means we give up far too early and we deny ourselves the chance of sweet success.

But why only have a fear of failure. Why not fear regret? That regret when you give up on your dreams, your aspirations, on … you!

It’s good to know that being passionate about your business will help you manage your fear of failure and focus your mind on achieving your goals.

#2. Motivation to keep going

Aspiring entrepreneurs must not forget that creating a successful business can take time. There are no shortcuts to success, which means you need to stay focused until you reach your goals.

Motivation will do that for you, but you cannot be motivated once you have lost your passion for your business. To maintain the motivation to keep going on an otherwise long journey ahead, we have found a few tricks which work well:

Remind yourself why your goals matter and what accomplishing your objectives looks like
Remember how hard things were before, reflect on where you are now, and imagine where you are going
Take time each day to remind yourself of the positive impact you can have on other people’s lives
Think of your BIG WHY, and your vision for achieving it

A great start to a day is when you wake up with the energy and drive necessary for achieving your goals. Sometimes it’s difficult, but by being conscious of what motivates people we can implement strategies that will keep our spirits high while reaching those milestones!

#3. Customer satisfaction

Your passion for your business is what drives your business. Other successful people want to be where they can feel something special. This means they’ll naturally gravitate towards businesses that have a purposeful vision, one that resonates on all levels: emotionally as well as professionally.

Your unique voice inspires a vision for success that attracts consumers who share similar passions. It creates an emotional connection and builds trust in your brand story as told through your company’s products or services.

It’s infectious and will naturally attract people to you. You’ll also find customer loyalty will naturally increase.

What does passionate mean

Passion is the energy that drives successful entrepreneurs to put 100% effort into something. It’s not just enthusiasm or excitement, it’s ambition translated into action so you’re putting your full heart, mind, body, and soul into what you do.

It is the result of the “feel-good” hormone Dopamine which is responsible for making you feel amazing and keep you striving for more. This impacts on how passionate we feel and it also has a positive effect on your memory, motor skills, and learning abilities.

There are many types of passions but generally, they fall into the following five main categories:

Business, Work and Service
Learning and Growing
Health and Wellbeing
Lifestyle and hobbies
Love and Relationships

6 Tips for finding your passion

If you don’t already know your passion, chances are you’re using the wrong tool for the job to find your passion – your mind.

Our minds are great at analysing and reasoning, but it can’t sense what really lights you up inside, that thing that makes your heart beat faster with excitement. Until you take action there’s no way of knowing what is really in your heart.

Here are 6 tips that can help you find your passion:

#1 Think less, do more
Start by thinking less, and stop trying to figure things out. Be firm in the knowledge that the answer is already waiting for you to discover
#2 Create opportunities
Actively explore your passions by fully engaging with life around you. It can be found in the most surprising places especially if you don’t know where to look
#3 Adopt the right Mindset
Remember to use a “half glass full” mindset as you explore all aspects of who we are as humans, our joys, sorrows, loves … you name it. Discover what makes life worth living for you, and see what unfolds
#4 Choose what feels right … to you!
Then spend more time on noticing when and where those moments naturally present themselves, something that feels right, good, or meaningful. Chances are you’ll have found your passion
#5 Freedom
Freedom isn’t just a word. It describes the concept of being able to do whatever you want. It’s what makes it possible for you to invest time in causes that matter to you most
#6 Impact
Impact is to have a positive impact on people’s lives. For them to be touched by something that came out of your passion creates empathy and understanding. It is also why they connect with your business and leads to them becoming customers

If you need help finding your passion, take a look at our Inner Entrepreneur course where we go into great depth on a broad range of topics with worksheets and quizzes. It gives you the best possible start to your entrepreneurial journey.

But if you can’t find your passion, don’t worry. Many people simply enjoy or love what they do – this can be more than enough for you to become a successful entrepreneur. It certainly worked for the late Steve Jobs the famous founder of Apple Computers.

While he is often misquoted about passion, “loving what you do” are the words Steve Jobs referred to in his Steve Jobs Commencement Address at Stanford University 2005:

“You’ve got to find what you love. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.
Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you will know when you find it”
Steve Jobs, 2005

Conclusion

Passion for business is the motivation that can power you to success. It’s not just a feeling, it’s an attitude of mind and body. A passionate leader who has found their “WHY” will lead with empathy and excitement for the work they do every day.

This fuels them personally, and this enthusiasm creates positive energy in both themselves and those around them. Overall the results are improved performance at all levels of the business.

And don’t worry if you can’t find your passion, simply enjoy and love what you do instead.