When it comes to building a business, it's not just the idea that counts. Your idea should be good of course, but it's far from everything. Even a great idea doesn't equal future success.
In my opinion execution is far more important, and there are really three core areas that determine your ability to execute on that idea: passion, action, and education.
Passion comes first. You have to believe in the idea and have that passion for it. You have to want it to succeed. Passion is the quality that drives people to do something "crazy" by others' standards.
Like leaving a six-figure job to start a new company and take $0 in salary for months to get things up and running, or like flying halfway around the world and setting up shop in a new city at the drop of a hat, because you feel like "I need to be here. For this. Right now."
As you can see passion drives action and nobody takes action for something they don't really believe in.
There can be little argument that passion is an important business asset. We see successful, passionate people in the media every day and there is no shortage of successful entrepreneurs that are described as passionate.
So what exactly is passion?
To answer this question I recently spoke with Benjamin Harvey, who is the founder of Authentic Education, the leading personal development training company in Australia helping people do what they love.
"Passion is the driving force that allows you to jump out of bed and be inspired to work without an immediate reward tied to it. Without passion, you simply won't persist in business long enough to reap the fruits of success.
How do you remain passionate on a day-to-day basis? Do work that's meaningful. There's nothing more meaningful than solving problems in the world... especially your OWN problems. That's the link between passion and entrepreneurship. Explains Benjamin,
Many successful entrepreneurs have found their deepest wounds and transmuted them into the greatest achievements on the planet. I myself struggled through four years of chronic depression, was dyslexic growing up, and couldn't get traction in my own business for a few years. So it's no wonder I now have an educational organization that teaches people how to create a heart-centred business doing what they love!
Passion and a love for the craft are what keeps entrepreneurs going all day every day! It's an energy that works with all feelings and emotions, it will get you up in the morning and help you stay up late at night.
That is why you need to be aware of it, use it consciously and use it to your advantage. Passion is one of the most effective motivators when it comes to launching a business - and often one of the strongest predictors of whether an idea will lead to success.
Whether you're about to start your business or perhaps you're in business already but haven't pinpointed exactly what you're most passionate about, below Benjamin shares four steps you can take immediately to not only discover your passion but infuse it into a business moving forward.
1) Date before committing
It's a common myth that you need to fall in love with something before you take action towards it and commit. Think about a relationship... do you fall in love and commit to getting married before the first date? Of course not!
So if you're looking around at different careers expecting to immediately fall in love with one of them, you're bound to fail. Just start dating a few ideas first.
2) Transmute pain into passion
Identify your past pains and experiences to fuel you to help others overcome similar challenges.
Throughout your life, you have significant events that shaped who you are today. Some of these events had negative emotions like fear, shame or anger associated with them.
But if you took the time to dig just a little deeper you would be able to find your true calling in life and a virtually infinite resource of inspired energy.
Just think about the lessons you learned and ask "how can I help others?". After all, business is just about solving other people's problems.
3) Package your highest service into your highest income
What is the biggest problem you can solve for someone? Chances are, you can't do it with a $50 product or one-hour session.
Rarely can you solve someone's problem instantly either. So create a path for them. Remember, people pay for a path.
This will involve a package of many products or services you offer. It's easier to find one client and solve many of their problems than to find many clients and solve one small problem for them.
4) Present Like A Pro
Learn the art of speaking to sell. That means selling your idea, your message or your products & services. In this day and age, people are drowning in information and dying for connection.
Everybody can throw up a website or create a Facebook ad. But your customers don't know who to trust. And nothing builds trust more than seeing someone present in person, webinar or video.