Should You Have Passion for Your Business?
In this video, Matt reacts to the idea that you shouldn’t start a business on something you are passionate about. Watch to see if he agrees with this business advice tip.
There are tons of people out on social media giving business advice. Some of it is good advice, but most of it isn’t good. In this new series watch CapForge’s owner react to different advice videos. He’s an expert in all things business and has 20+ years of experience under his belt. Some of the things he reacts to might even surprise you!
Video Transcript:
Business Advice Video:
Do not follow your passion. Follow your passion will get you with the wrong people. I guarantee you end up broke. You don’t have money just cause you hang with me. That’s true. I have money. That’s right. I’m rich you’re broke. It’s selfish to be passionate oh but go follow the thing that I love. I love art. I love horses. I love this. I love that. You’re not even entitled to do that in the beginning. Follow a path that you can later become passionate about. Pay the price today so you can pay any price tomorrow.
Matt’s Reaction:
What? Okay yes, there is something to be said that not every passion you have can be turned into a successful business. That is true, right? I really enjoy scuba diving, I have no interest in opening a scuba diving business. Why? Because the part of scuba diving that I like is being in the ocean underwater, seeing all the cool underwater animals and plant life and rock formations and coral everything else. Not sitting in a shop, selling tanks and BCDs to somebody who happens to walk in and trying to scratch a living out of a scuba shop. So in that case following my passion but wouldn’t really lead me to the business anyway cause the the part I like is the being underwater part and doing the activity. Not running a business around it. So yes, following my passion in that case wouldn’t leave me to a good business, but that doesn’t mean that you should do something you hate or do something that just as you think gonna generate the most money, if that’s something you have zero interest in, right?
If somebody told me that needlepoint websites were the real place to make money, would I go out and start a needlepoint website? No I have no interest in needlepoint. I couldn’t talk about it. I couldn’t blog about it. I couldn’t make videos about needlepoint. I don’t care about needlepoint. So even if that is the place where a lot of people are making money, if it doesn’t interest me at all then it’s not a good fit for me. So I think you need to find an intersection between something you can enjoy and something that is a good business. And not everything you enjoy is gonna be a good business but not every business is something that you hate either. So find the intersectio,n find where those two things can combine. Figure out a way to play to your strengths. So things that you’re interested in and craft your business around something that fits somewhere in there.
If you hate going to work every day, whether you’re the owner or not, you’re not gonna do well. You’re gonna be looking for ways to come late and leave early and take a long lunch, right? If you enjoy what you do that’s gonna come across to your customers, to your employees, to the people that you work with. They’re gonna see your interest in the business. You’re gonna be thinking about it. How can I make it better? How can I make it bigger? If you hate it you’re not gonna be thinking any of that.
So yes, there are some dues to pay in the beginning. You’re probably not gonna have employees. You’re gonna have to take out your own trash. You’re gonna have to do the grunt work and the admin stuff in addition to the stuff that you enjoy. But over time you’re gonna hopefully get to do more and more of what you enjoy and that’s gonna make it a great business. But if you just do something because somebody told you that’s the way to make the most money then you probably won’t do that well because you’re gonna hate it the whole time. And even if you do make a lot of money, if you hate what you do all day long and the only reason you do it is for money I guarantee you’re still not gonna be a happy person, cause money by itself doesn’t make you happy. And making a lot of money if you hate what you’re doing to get there is not a very fulfilling life, in my opinion. That’s not the way to go about it. So I don’t particularly agree with that advice. I don’t think every passion of yours makes a great business but I also don’t think you should go into something that you hate just because you think it can make you some money.
