Is passion a necessity?

That has to be one of the all-time best lines I've ever seen about people wanting to start their own business.

I grew up in a household where my parents ran a very successful business from home (in strata management, would you believe). They did a good job and did well out of it financially, but it stressed my mother out to about 11 out of 10. She hated it, but they kept doing it because, well, it was good money.

People say they don't get along with being told what to do by others, then they get into their own business, and realise it's like a job they hate, with ten times the aggro. You think you don't like a boss telling you what to do, wait until you have a stream of customers with petty (or not so petty) complaints, all of whom need to be approached carefully to resolve the issue (and who will still badmouth you to all and sundry), staff with issues, and a business loan needing payment, while trying to keep the business itself up and running....Okay, maybe I need some therapy to get over my childhood, but trust me, running a business as your primary source of income is the best way to insomnia that I can think of. And that's if everything goes well.

 

Perhaps it's all in the definition. For me passion is something all consuming and I can't see that applying to all business ventures. If everyone followed their passion, we'd have a lot of people trying to make a living reading books, eating or travelling, clearly not an option but for a lucky few. But I certainly have reasons as Jim says it. You said it yourself in you other post - failure was not an option. Did you really have passion for your businesses, or was it that you had to make it work no matter what because your family depended on you? For me, it wouldn't matter which. You did what you had to do, and that's enough.

As an aside, I think money is actually a pretty good motivator. A number of polls put the % of people unhappy or disengaged from their jobs at anywhere from >50% to ~90%. I'd wager that if you stopped paying them, they'd stop working.

Very true. It's the last thing I would want. To clarify, I am certainly interested in the business, I just know myself and I don't have a good track record of staying interested in one thing long term. That's my only hesitation, what if I lose interest? I also know that once I get started I won't have time to ponder that question, so maybe I need to stop thinking and start doing.

 

Seriously. I ve met a few squillioniares and they are passion about money/success/ego but couldnt give a stuff about the industry they are in or their business is

So i guess, yes you need a passion in something or else youd just roll over and die

 

I laugh at those people that say "i want to run my own business because im sick of working for some one. ......... oh will i get sick pay or can i take a few days off per week?"

 

I don't want to work for someone else! But those who think they can run a business and have sickies etc are clearly delusional. They like the idea of running a business.

 

My investment partner runs his business 3 or 4 days a week for the first two weeks of the month. For the rest of the month he does web development. That's the kind of flexibility you can have when you run your own business, if you don't need a high income

 

Or if you have a very succesfful business

 

Exactly! You cant have your cake and eat it

Well you can have your cake and eat it. Just dont expect to lose weight

 

Or

"What do you mean i might have to work weekends!?!?!?!?!?!?"

"I have to pick up the kids ar 3pm everyday. I have yoga at 7 on mondays. Family commitments on weekends. Plus i want to take 3 weeks off to go for a holiday....... (dead silence)"

 

Hahahaha holidays!!!! I remember my parents, even when we were on 'holidays', were always still contactable by mobile phone. They had to be, if some disaster happened (eg. one unit had water leaking through its ceiling, because the people above had gone away but their pipes had burst), Mum had to deal with it. No such thing as a holiday when you run your own business.

 

Fair enough Steven, I don't think that sentence sunk in the first time, till just now. So my take from all the great advice so far is this:

Passion is what will get you through the lows, what will motivate you to keep getting out of bed in the morning when things get tough and it all just seems too hard. Passion will "make you do the things the other guy won't".
I personally prefer the term reason to passion - a reason to do what you do. And that can take different forms for different people - passion for:

• the product/service you provide
• people / solving problems for your customers
• making money
• building something from nothing
• providing for your family (ie failure of business is not an option)
• and yes - even just a really strong desire to not be an employee
• plus probably many other reasons.

I probably defined passion as being almost exclusively related to the first point, and it's a relief to realise that it can be so much more. Had my blinkers on I think!

 

Passion sounds too mindset-like for me, which is something I'm not a fan of. It's too much like religion. Having reasons sounds a bit more scientific.

I agree heavily with your list though and those are some of my reasons too. I'd say its a mix of multiple for most people.

 

Rediscovering this as I am doing a set number of hours per week for an outsourcer. Paid as a contractor, but may as well be an employee.

Miserable doesn't even begin to come close to describing where I'm at right at the moment. Not cut out to work for anyone else anymore.

 

well to be fair, passion for me is not quantifable or even categorizable

I know old ladies that have a passion for life!

I know people that are succesfful in what they do because they have a passion in money or success or image but no passion in the product or service they offer

I know people who are very passionate at what they do but live below the poverty line literally

this is "it depends" question for me

 

I have to strongly disagree with this.

I went on i think 7 or 8 trips last year, granted more than normal but majority were pure holidays. This year ive been to malaysia twice and melb once, got another trip before end of the year.

In the shared office space/hub we work out of 80% are business owners and of those thr vast majority go on holiday regularly.

2 are in amsterdam and london atm and 1 in phuket.

The notion that if you run your own businessyou are chained to it is a completely outdated one. Sure, that may be the case with some types of businesses, dont get into them then, star somethijg more conducive to a work life balance.

A friend of mine started a business 4/5 years ago that is now worth 8 figures and makes well into the millions in profit, he just got back from 2 weeks holiday.

It can and in fact should be done by business owners, whats the point in the financial risk, occasional long hours etc if you cant even enjoy your life?

 

On the off chance you know what I'm talking about, are you an INTP?

Starving artist comes to mind. Cash doesn't always follow passion.

Yes, otherwise it's not a business, you've just bought yourself a job. @sanj maybe I should do a separate thread on this, but I'm curious whether you do detailed business plans for each of your ventures? Do the other business owners that you share an office with? Would you do it if it wasn't necessary for finance?
The level of information to include is quite detailed, especially on your competitors and since none of my potential competitors are public companies, I'm finding it hard to know where to get the information/figures from.

 

No, INTJ. Not that I put much stock in those personality test things.

Famous INTJ's include Vladimir Putin and Arnie, so I'll take it .

 

Close enough And yes, not to be taken as gospel although the few INTJs I know seem to have come out of the same mould, they're eerily alike.

 

Apparently only 2% of people classify as INTJ. Which is a good thing, since I wouldn't want too many me's getting around, heh.