Why ‘Do What You Love’ Is Good But Misleadingly Incomplete Advice

You have probably heard the saying ‘do what you love and the money will follow’.

This advice is usually passed around by those who either take pride in being a starving artist, or those who inadvertently do not tell the full story.

Unfortunately, this axiom happens to be a half-truth because for money to flow to you, you have to be able to create, communicate and exchange value.

Doing what you love does not automatically translate into income.

The comfort and security of a well-paying job can be very misleading; all until the rug is pulled under you whether through illness, retirement or redundancy.

The first thing people who find themselves in this situation do (irrespective of whether they hated their jobs) is to ask what they can do to create a profitable business.

Conventional wisdom forces them to start by identifying what they love to do and focus on doing those specific activities until the money shows up.

If you love to eat or sleep all day, I do not see how money will follow those activities no matter how long you keep doing them.

That does not mean that you should hate what you do or else you certainly won’t be motivated to stick around long enough to realize any financial benefits from a potential business idea.

Monetizing your passion is usually a better approach to starting a business than just doing what you love.

Discovering how to monetize your passion need not be as complicated as looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack.

A successful business hinges on a delicate combination of:

1. Passion
2. A skill set that can give you a competitive advantage and comes easy to you as the business owner (usually as a result of experience), and;
3. A product or service that serves the need of a hungry market that has the financial resources to take advantage of your offer.

If you have watched any episode of ABC show Shark Tank or BBC show Dragon’s Den, you will notice how the investors are carefully looking out to see how the three aspects mentioned above are articulated by the business owner seeking funding.

This is in addition to whether they can trust the entrepreneur to give them a good return on their investment.

There are various aspects of a business you have to do whether you are passionate about them or not.

You may love the entire business, but certain activities may be a bane for you. It could be administrative work, payroll management, taxes, or even selling.

You will always be tempted to focus on the fun activities but if they do not directly bring money into your business, you may end up having a very expensive hobby, and an acute shortage of cash.

In the start-up phase of your business, you will probably find yourself wearing multiple hats just to get your business off the ground.

You will invariably be the first to arrive and the last person to leave at the end of the day.

Determine the kind of lifestyle you want first, and then structure your business around that lifestyle.

If you do not like waking up early in the morning, going against the tide by starting a business that requires you to get up early in the morning will wear you out very quickly.

If you are not comfortable with collecting bad debts, do not offer your products or services on credit terms.

If you want to spend all your weekends with your family, avoid businesses that require you to be away on the weekends.

As you can see, there is more to money following you than simply doing what you love.

Once you focus on operating your business the right way from the onset, you will avoid some of the common mistakes that will save you time, money and a lot of aggravation.