For many years I used to look at successful entrepreneurs as the ultimate champions in life…those who decided not to be controlled by someone else, not to follow but to take charge and build something new.
Admittedly, a part of this was the romantic “outsiders” view of the wealth and prosperity that comes along with operating a successful business not to mention the glory that setting your own schedule evokes in your mind.
But there always was an underlying admiration for the spirit of the entrepreneur who does not “settle” for helping someone else achieve dreams but to pursue and drive toward achieving their own dreams.
After all, we know what an incredible feeling it is to spend time doing something we love. Time flies, your expertise and enthusiasm seem unstoppable and the universe seems to fall into place when you do that which you love.
So it always struck me as the ultimate objective in life to spend your creativity, energy, time and effort doing something that you love doing rather than working for someone else, no matter how closely aligned their dream may be with your own.
I guess you could say I discovered the missing link early on…digging deeply into the psyche of successful entrepreneurs, understanding those that were wildly successful and those that were not.
First, let’s outline some of the obvious steps that an entrepreneur takes when starting and growing their own business:
- You first set some financial objectives – sometimes these are general, other times specific. Specific is always better
- Decide on a market – is it big enough, is it reachable, do you have a unique enough offering, is there enough potential
- Develop a product or service strategy – will you sell someone else’s products or will you create or license your own?
- Setup your online marketing, sales and distribution strategy – an art in itself
- Work your conversions – improve the performance of your marketing
- Leverage partners to reach wide market reach
- Continue to drive traffic, develop publicity and expand your market coverage to take more profit and add more value
I’m sure you will agree, even though you may have seen many of these before, this is a pretty valuable list in itself. In fact, this list makes up the majority of the training we provide within Information Marketer’s Zone Entrepreneur Kick-Start Program…but there is still a piece missing.
In fact, the missing piece is SO important that I know several people who have followed steps 1-7 religiously but have still miserably failed in their bid to become a successful entrepreneur.
What is it?
Passion and interest…what sets successful businesses apart from poorly performing businesses is that lack of leadership passion. As the entrepreneur that will start and grow your business, you need to have and pass that passion on down through your business.
If you don’t have passion or interest for your business then you won’t…
- Dedicate every waking hour to building and sharing your business with your marketplace
- Have the interest to get to know your market at a deeper level allowing you to serve them better and have an advantage on your competition
- Break through the boredom and setbacks that every entrepreneur faces…if you are passionate and interested in what you are doing (in your ultimate objectives and goals) then these setbacks and slow times are simply tiny speed bumps whereas if you lack this passion and interest they eventually become giant, impassible, stone walls that prevent you from achieving your goals
- You will have a hard time getting others fired up around you…partners, publicists, leads, customers will all sense that you are not “all-in” and be less convinced of you or your business.
Passion and interest can exist in many forms, for example…
- You may be passionate about the marketplace/customers you serve (like-minded, share your passion or make you feel good to serve them)
- You may have a passion for the product or service (gets better results, YOUR technology, evolves the marketplace, sets new trends)
- Your passion may exist around the function you perform (you love selling, so you build your business so that you have ultimate control over what you sell and who you sell to) In this case your product and market matter less than the type of business and role you play in that business make up.
Did you guess the missing link?
What are your thoughts about the link between passion and entrepreneurial success?
Leave us a comment – let us know.
