How Do You Become an Entrepreneur Without a Passion
How to start a business without a passion and how you can find passion along the way
One of my most vivid childhood memories was biting into a Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookie and hearing the story of the housewife with a passion for baking cookies who created a national chain. The story resonated deeply with me and, from a young age, I’ve always associated passion with business success. Our society loves a passion to profit story and we pepper our lives with quotes from people like Meg Whitman. “Do what you love and success will follow. Passion is the fuel behind a successful career.” We are so crazy for passion that there’s now a whole economy devoted to it. Adam Davidson wrote a book about it called, “Passion Economy.” A quote of his that always stuck out to me,
“For most of them it was a long struggle, and it went in unexpected ways. You’re not born with passion — it’s not that on your twenty-first birthday, you either have it or you don’t, and then you’re done. In fact, I think working on understanding your passion is so valuable that it’s okay — and maybe even good — that it can take 10, 15, 20 years. When I talk to people, it’s not just, ‘Sit around waiting until you have your passion, and then you’re good to go.’ It’s, ‘This is your project. Figure this out and experiment, try things out, pay attention, listen to people.’”
The passion economy allows anyone to produce content that can be monetized by their audience via digital platforms. Now, entrepreneurship is attainable for anyone with a passionate point of view and a WIFI connection. It feels like anyone can make it happen, but what if you don’t necessarily have a passion project or honed skill to sell? Does that mean charting your own professional course is off limits?
As someone who’s built multiple businesses, I want to assure you that if you can’t find your passion, don’t panic. There are many avenues into successful entrepreneurship. Look, just because you’re selling shoes doesn’t mean you’re moonlighting as a cobbler on the weekends.
When my husband, Charles, founded his mens’ athleisure line, Willy, he was excited about the prospect of filling a need in the market for functional, yet fashionable clothes that could accommodate an eclectic schedule. A businessman with a plan, he was. A fashion designer he was not.
He possessed no real passion for fashion, but as fabrics were sourced and the first prototypes were developed, Charles’s initial interest succumbed to a passion… for details: the seam of a workout short, the aglet on the end of a hoodie string — nothing escaped his razor sharp eye. He studied every last woven or knitted stitch with the focus of an haute couture atelier, all in the name of a superior product. Sure, he didn’t have any experience or deep passion for fashion, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t approaching his DTC clothing brand with a fervor.
Charles’ experience is a great example of how you don’t need a passion to start a business, but it does become a necessary component to keep the business running. And, that passion can be directed at something other than something that looks cool or creative. For Charles, it was the details and a real desire to fill an empty space in the market.
Yes, my first business happened to be my passion. I loved to bake so much I built a cupcake empire. It is generally agreed that passion is helpful for any entrepreneur hoping for liftoff on their new business venture. In fact, many would say it’s critical to success. Certainly, my passion for baking was foundational in Sprinkles success. Passion makes any entrepreneur’s journey easier, as it provides an endless well of enthusiasm to counter the inevitable bumps in the road.
But, the problem with this focus on passion is that it tends to leave a lot of people out of the party. They watch from the sidelines, waiting for inspiration to strike and then feeling deflated when their passion doesn’t land. But, the reality is that passion can take many forms. Yes, my passion for baking was the most visible part of Sprinkles success, but if you scratch the surface of this Sprinkles story you will see that my passion lay even deeper than simply whipping up a batch of cupcakes. It was about delivering a tangible product that brought people together and injected delight into their day. I’ve always been deeply committed to sharing joy. In fact, I still am. Call it quaint, but this broader passion for helping people feel good is what allowed me to become a founder in many different types of ventures.
Besides, this whole idea of loving what you do and following a passion into business as the gold standard is a modern idea. Work used to be a grind, and hobbies used to be relaxing. Now the expectations for both are blurred. But, does this mean that generations of people who went to work in the past were devoid of joy because they weren’t creatively fulfilled? No! There are countless examples of people who took — and take -pride in delivering a great product and who feel passionate about the people they employ and the family they support through their efforts.
Like most things, there’s more than one way to get the job done. But don’t sit around waiting for passion to strike. No matter how you find your way into it, forward momentum is helpful for sparking ideas. You are more likely to discover passion in the action.
Here are some ideas to help get you to that place:
Problem/Solution
Find a problem and invent a solution. Better yet, don’t go looking for problems, wait for them to happen to you. How many times have you become frustrated by inadequacies of a product or service and wished there was something better? Or perhaps you even had an idea for a superior concept in the moment but let it fade away. Next time, don’t! That could be your big idea into your own business.
White Space
Another opportunity could be in something we call “white space.” That is to say, to launch a product or service that isn’t just a better competitor, but is the first on the scene. This might take quite a bit of research and time to invent something completely new. Along the way, you may discover what really fuels your motivation.
Disruption
If you’ve paid much attention to Silicon Valley, and the start up scene, you’ve likely heard of “disruption.” This simply means the launch of a product or service that disrupts a legacy industry with an entirely new business model. Think about how Casper disrupted the mattress industry, or how Netflix disrupted movie rentals, paving the way for subsequent streaming video on demand services. Do some research on industries who have been dominated by the same big brands for decades. Is there an opportunity for you to disrupt them with a better, newer way to conduct business and reach a new audience? That might be your path to working for yourself.
Bring International Success Home
And, lastly, consider products that have found success overseas but not yet found their way to your own home market. How can you spot an international opportunity and translate it for a different audience?
At the end of the day, perfect is the enemy of good. When so many are afraid to take that leap, not finding your passion can become one more reason not to embrace entrepreneurship and realize all its benefits. Don’t let passion be a gating factor; when you’ve got so many entrances to explore.
