Matching Your Passion to Your Business

If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.
RAY KROC, founder, McDonald’s

Make no mistake about it; running your own business is hard. The hours are long, staff unreliable, and customers fickle. The road to success is fraught with red tape, setbacks, and disappointment. That’s why you HAVE to have passion for your business. If you are simply interested in a business because you think it might make money but have little real interest in the product or service you provide, you are on a risky path.

You will need all the passion and motivation you can find to deal with the normal roadblocks and stay motivated in the face of adversity. It is very hard to do this in an industry for which you have no passion. Indeed, when I personally lost interest in the martial arts business it immediately started to go downhill, even though I had a staff of twenty people. My lack of passion quickly filtered down.

The more passionate and knowledgeable you are about your product, the more chance you have of success. People can feel passion and enthusiasm in your voice and mannerisms. This goes a long way to helping you attract customers and make sales.

• Look at your hobbies — which hobby would make a…