Passion – The Beating Heart Of Every Business And How To Get More Of It

Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am. Parker Palmer

There’s really only one thing you need in order to be successful – it doesn’t matter whether you’re an electrician, a CEO or a surgeon. It’s one thing that all successful business people around the world all have in common and one thing that’s absolutely essential if you’re planning on starting (or currently run) your own business. In fact, I believe it’s something that enables you to not only succeed at work, but also in life – you can probably guess what I’m talking about…..

PASSION!

You might think it’s a bit ‘new age’ of me to focus on a topic like passion for my blog – the sole purpose of which is to help SME owners like you, grow their business and profits. However, the thing is, without passion, no business would ever be started (or last), no partnership would ever form (or sustain) and little would ever be achieved without someone, somewhere, finding whatever it is they’re doing, fulfilling and satisfying.

So what drives you? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What gives you that buzz that makes you forget the time, forget what else is happening in your life and sometimes be so engrossed with what you’re doing that you even forget to eat?!

You don’t have something like that in your life, or your business, you say?

Well – now’s the time to find it. Now’s the time to find your passion.

You see, as a business owner and leader of your company, you can’t expect your employees to get excited about where your business is heading if your passion, vision and direction isn’t alive, kicking and rubbing off on them.

Passion is what transforms your ‘work’, into a labour of love (for both you AND your staff). It’s what separates those just content to bring in a paycheck, from entrepreneurs who take a risk and create opportunities for themselves that are worth (on average) twice to five times as much as the regular ‘salaried’ worker.

Now, don’t get me wrong, passion alone won’t make you rich, but it IS the vital ingredient that all businesses need to keep going, keep growing and inspiring those in your immediate sphere of influence to achieve great things along side you.

I love helping small business owners tap into their latent potential. I spend many hours reading books on the topic of small business growth and speaking with clients on how to affect positive change in their business’ financial state – I’m PASSIONATE about business – I always have been and always will be.

Quite often the business owners I coach aren’t short on passion. They’ve had a great idea in a field that pushes their buttons. So much so that they jump out of bed in the morning, eager to greet whatever a new day in their business throws at them. However, there are some business owners out there who feel ‘flat’, lack enthusiasm for what their business is creating, or are just plain going through the motions of life. Get up, go to work, come home, sleep. Get up, go to work, and so on and so on.

Wouldn’t you like your business and your LIFE to have more ‘zip’ than that? If so, you need to get back in touch with your passion. Maybe it might be that what had you start your business in the first place, isn’t the same thing you’re passionate about now. That’s ok, but what’s IMPERATIVE is that you REDISCOVER or UNCOVER whatever’s going to put the ‘zing’ back into your business, because ultimately, this is what’s going to help make it (and keep it), successful and profitable.

So here are some of my tips for finding and staying in touch with your passion:

 

  1. What subject can you talk for hours and hours about?
  2. What concerns/topics occupy your mind while you’re busy doing other tasks?
  3. What do you enjoy doing most for other people?
  4. Who do you admire most in life and why?
  5. If money was no object, what would you really love to do for a career?
  6. Pretend you’re at the end of your life – what would you like to say that you’ve done and what kind of person would you like to say you’ve been?
  7. Now – write down about 4 or 5 experiences in life that have given you a real sense of fulfillment – take note of who they included, the tasks involved and what it was specifically that made you feel happy/fulfilled.

Now go through your answers and look for patterns, underlying themes or commonalities to the various answers you gave. Did you find that you most enjoyed situations in life where you were being creative? Teaching someone? Working with your hands? Working in a team/alone? Giving to others?

Once you’ve identified some patterns that will point towards your passion, you need to give it further direction. If you find that you love being creative in a way that serves others, think of how you can integrate more of that into your life. Look for opportunities in your business to get involved in activities that are in line with your passion.

For example, are there opportunities in the marketing side of your business where you could use your creativity, engaging yourself in tasks that will simultaneously increase the profits of the company?

Certainly, passion alone won’t make you the next Bill Gates, but it WILL give you the momentum and inspiration to make your business a mirror for whatever fulfills you. What’s more, it’ll give you a solid foundation for success. Why? Because all of a sudden you’ll be PASSIONATE about what you’re doing. What you’re doing will suddenly MATTER. You won’t MIND having to stay an extra hour or two to brainstorm improvements to your customer retention strategy or your lead generation methods – you’ll want to, because you’ll be in touch with your passion.

Good luck and let me know via the comments section below, what YOUR passion is and how its had a positive impact on your business.