Follow Your Passion And Watch The PayPal Balance Soar…
Not Exactly!
Another way to say this is “Do What You Love And The Money Will Follow”. I’m not sure where this “advice” came from, but I’ve been hearing it since I could remember.
On the surface it sounds like sage advice. But there is a fatal flaw with this advice, and it is this…
Do What You Love And You Could Find Yourself Bankrupt!
How could I say that?
So many people tout the ‘follow your passion and the money will follow’ it must be true. After all there are television shows, magazine articles, books, movies showing people following their passion to millions.
Yes, there are plenty of examples of people following their passion to millions, but one key element is left out. This one element is the reason you are going to make money or go broke with your ‘passion’. And unfortunately many want to gloss over this key element.
It’s popular for authors, speakers and gurus to wax philosophic about this subject. They want to talk about how awesome it is to find your passion, embrace it and run out there sell it to the world. It’s warm and fuzzy, and that’s makes it a popular topic.
But the cold hard reality is this…
If your ‘passion’ is not a something people are willing to pay for, then you just have a hobby… not a business. You have to have a passion that people are willing to give you money for something you have to offer.
Think about this… how many times have you run across someone with a “great” idea for a business? They are passionate about this idea. They eagerly tell anyone who will listen about this ‘great’ million-dollar idea. And they go on and on about this business.
Why are they only one in the room who doesn’t recognize that this idea is a dog? And if you try to point out any flaws in their idea… they get incredulous. All you did was try to point out that there’s no market for this idea… but they accuse you of being a dream stealer.
Here’s a silly example…
I like to joke about a new service that I want to start. It’s for people who are high achievers, and just too busy to do this activity for themselves. I would take this problem off their hands, and give them one less thing to worry about doing everyday. In a way they would be outsourcing this to me, and I would gladly do this for them everyday.
My service is a nap taking service.
After all I love to take naps… I take them every chance I get. And I would be thrilled to take naps for other people.
The only problem so far is I can’t find anyone willing to pay for this service.
It’s great to follow your passion, and build a business around it. You have to do your research, and make sure there is a market willing to pay money for solutions to their problems.
Remember to first find a market… then find out their problems… Then make a product or service that solves the problem…
And make sure they are willing to give you money to solve this problem.
So true, Keith. Unless there is money being spent in that market it’s just a hobby circle.
~Marcus
Marcus Hochstadt
16 May 08 at 12:19 pm
Thank you Keith for telling it like it is. Too many people need to learn to use their common sense.
However, all other things being equal, passion ought to be worth something.
So… How about this?
Look for a profitable niche, and develop a passion for making money.
Larry
Larry Brauner
16 May 08 at 12:35 pm
My target are those in direct sales and it seems to be the #1 catch phrase…I can’t even begin to tell you how often I hear it on the forums I frequent.
Dennis Edell
17 May 08 at 1:15 pm
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17 May 08 at 5:24 pm
OK Keith, I wasn’t aware you were competing with me on the nap taking niche. I’ll have to sharpen my marketing strategies to outsell you
Seriously, you are right on that, it’s impossible to make money selling something nobody wants to buy. On the other hand, without going so far as your “nap taking” example, IMHO Internet has the power to leverage small niches earnings.
For instance, if your passion is something that only a handful of people shares in your town making it not profitable, chances are that you can make it profitable by using Internet to reach other small groups of people sharing the same interest (and willing to spend money on it) all over the world.
Anthony
19 May 08 at 11:04 pm
@Larry - You are right, passion should be worth something. The best way is to find a subject you are passionate about… find out if money is being spent to solve any problems. Then you create solutions to these problems and sell your solutions.
@Dennis - Yep, “Follow your passion and the money will follow” should really be “Follow your profitable passion and the money will follow.”
@Anthony - I’ll keep my eye on you & see if you ever figure out the “nap taking” niche!
You are right about the internet opening up the potential of the long tail. And also about finding people willing to spent money on it.
Keith Goodrum
21 May 08 at 10:30 am