Argument for Doing A Passion-Based Business?

[ZCP]

Prove it. Create a successful passion business.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Because writing everything off as "excuse" gives no hard data or advice.

But that's what you do! You have an rationalization for every situation, every answer, every truth. We live in the greatest time ever, unprecedented access to knowledge, information, resources (warm bed, computers, hot showers!) and it simply isn't enough.

There is something wrong with the car because the the transmission doesn't work.

You keep focusing on the car, your problem is as a driver.

Without passion, I hate process.

Bingo! You want six pack abs while eating pizza and ice cream. You want muscles while avoiding the gym.

Your struggle isn't with respect to the struggle, your struggle pertains to the everlasting search for the pain free and passionate shortcut.

As soon as you experience pain, or forecast pain, you're done.

As soon as your passionate endeavor finds extreme competition (because everyone else is doing it) and it's no longer fun (I can't compete because I hate marketing! I hate hiring! I hate this!) you're done.

You're the same as everyone else ...

Tell me how much pain you're willing to endure and I'll tell you how likely you are to succeed; which at this point, isn't very favorable.

Good luck sorting it out.

 

[ZCP]

Ok, you will need to talk to me in like 6 months or more to see if it pans out.

Less talk. More action. You can do this. Get rolling.

Put a calendar item in your phone for 90 days from now. DM me how you are doing and where i can help you.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Topic has been thoroughly discussed, and at ridiculous lengths.

Search Results

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GOLD! - HOT! - I have a problem with MJ DeMarco (Follow your passion gets a beatdown)

First of all I have read the Fastlane Millionaire every year for the past 3 years or so. I love the book. And yes I already order Unscripted I'm still waiting for it in the mail. I respect MJ DeMarco and his work but since the the first time I read his book I can't get over the fact that he...

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MINDSET - Mark Cuban on following your passion

Wanted to share this great article I came across. Billionaire Mark Cuban: 'Don't follow your passion' Don't follow your passion: Chances are, you've been advised to "follow your passion" or "do what you love" at one point in your life. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban says to ignore that...

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MINDSET - Mike Rowe for PragerU: DON'T Follow Your Passion (great video)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVEuPmVAb8o

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The "passion" argument is becoming about as redundant as the "go to college" trope.

From a probabilistic standpoint, "following your passion" is a bad bet.

Yes, it can be done and those that do succeed at it receive huge survivor bias treatment as it attracts clicks and young fools looking for and easy path playing video games for $250K/year. The odds are better in following value skew and allowing passion to sprout from your effort via the feedback loop. Passion and its relationship (and its necessity) to the entrepreneurial process is clearly explained in Unscripted so I refuse to rewrite it here, namely because this person didn't read/comprehend the work, two, his argument is already premised in a strawman fallacy, and three, user has extensive history of excuse making which has failed to deliver any change.

What happens if MJ wrote his books without passion?

Gotcha: I didn't write them with passion. And now you've just caught yourself in your own false premise which turns into a false conclusion.

I am passionate about changing lives, seeing my concepts and their ideas finished to completion. I am passionate about my finished product and reading that product years later. I am passionate hearing about people who say their lives have changed, their eyes opened, and that their business is a game-changer.

The actual grind of writing? Meh.

While I thought I'd be passionate about that "process" the reality is not so much, at least in the non-fiction realm. (I feel much more "passion" writing stories and fiction stuff, all of which to this point, is unreleased.) So to your argument, my writing non-fiction is hardly a passionate endeavor, at least in totality.

With respect to the two books I've written, both started as a passionate endeavor. However much to my dislike, that passion fades in weeks, if not days.

Then the grind hits.
The struggle.
The draw on discipline.
The writer's block.

Then I hate writing. Then I want to quit.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BasQqpQ5_k

Maybe. Perhaps were over analyzing this instead of doing work?

Unfortunately, that's what he does. He needs to work on his head and we've tried for months. Everything parlays into an excuse into why A) It won't work or B) It ain't worth the effort. Then next week we get a new thread with a new idea about why it can't be done; no passion, no money, no resources, no this, no that. He's a classic example of the 80/20 principle when it comes to business; 80% of the game is in your HEAD which morphs to the 20% in the form of correct execution. I wish him the best but myself (and the other folks here trying to help) only have so much patience.

 

[Rawseed]

Passion is definitely needed in entrepreneurship, because entrepreneurship is hard. Passion keeps you from giving up.

Just don't start with passion.

Instead, start with serving an unfulfilled need. Serving the need will lead to positive feedback from those you serve (money, positive reviews, positive testimonials, positive emails, positive word-of-mouth).

That positive feedback will make you want to continue serving the need. That positive feedback loop will lead to a profitable passion.

For a much better description of what I just said, read Chapter 28 of Unscripted .

 

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[biophase]

Everyone knows that when you start a business many things go wrong or unexpected. This is a given. You have to go through these obstacles to build the business. Most people give up on some ventures because of the obstacles.

But I realized they are considered obstacles only to a person that is NOT passionate.

Obstacle in business shows up
Non-passionate business person: “Ughhh...just gotta get through this. This sucks. Another problem another day.”
Passionate business person: “I would keep doing this even if I didn’t get paid. It is like I’m not even working. I am getting paid to do my hobby.”

The passionate person doesn’t even register these as problems, but part of his/her hobby. What I realize is that the non passionate person eventually gives up because these obstacles happen daily before they even make cash.

This is where I have had a change of thought, passion is mandatory for business contrary to popular belief of this forum

Money-Chasing is a Symptom Of No Passion in Business.
In my early days of entrepreneurship, I was a money-chaser. Could not stop thinking about it. When I looked to this forum, people kept blaming my mindset. But there was actually no hard reason why? It was just arbitrary advice “Change your mindset, your mindset sucks, etc.” I finally realize now. If you are money chasing, it is because you are running a business without passion. If money chasing causes 100% failure and is caused by lack of passion. It means passion is necessary for business.

TLDR;
1) Running a business without passion gives you the money chasing symptom which will cause you to ultimately fail.
2)Being forced to do your passion destroys passion, simply following passion does not.
3) You are on your way to success if you can say “I would still be doing this, even if I didn’t get paid. It is like I’m not even working”

Note: It was these false analysis of stories that contributed to my failures all these years. I have been denying my passion in every previous business and hating it.

It's not passion... it's part of working hard.

Is it passion or drive? Many people have passion but don't do anything with it. You can be passionate about saving animals, but all you do is complain about animal abuse on Facebook. Drive, will make you do something about it.

I really believe that you are now using passion as an excuse as to why you failed previously. Money chasing may be part of it, but it wasn't the reason.

You still sound off, but you may be getting closer.

 

[reedracer]

Well I'm screwed. I'm passionate about business.
I think passion can be in finding something there is a need for.

 

[MHP368]

Maybe. Perhaps were over analyzing this instead of doing work?

 

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[PizzaOnTheRoof]

You can follow you passion AND be a business owner.

If I handed you the keys to a $1 million per year business I’m 100% positive you would become passionate about it.

Also, just because you’re passionate about playing the guitar doesn’t mean you have to be a musician.

Instead, you can start a business that’s COMPLEMENTARY to your passion:

• Sell guitar strings instead of playing them
• Create a marketplace connecting teachers and students
• Sell custom guitar cases/picks
• Start an online guitar repair biz
• Etc...

Take your passion and get TECHNICAL with it. This is where needs are found.

Well I'm screwed. I'm passionate about business.
I think passion can be in finding something there is a need for.

There’s something to be said about being passionate about helping people.

@Andy Black

 

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[DeletedUser0287]

I know the general view on this forum is to not choose passion because passion does not mean having a market need. In a sense, choosing a passion based business is selfish.

But I have been thinking a lot about this and actually think passion is 100% necessary.

Everyone knows that when you start a business many things go wrong or unexpected. This is a given. You have to go through these obstacles to build the business. Most people give up on some ventures because of the obstacles.

But I realized they are considered obstacles only to a person that is NOT passionate.

Obstacle in business shows up
Non-passionate business person: “Ughhh...just gotta get through this. This sucks. Another problem another day.”
Passionate business person: “I would keep doing this even if I didn’t get paid. It is like I’m not even working. I am getting paid to do my hobby.”

The passionate person doesn’t even register these as problems, but part of his/her hobby. What I realize is that the non passionate person eventually gives up because these obstacles happen daily before they even make cash.

This is where I have had a change of thought, passion is mandatory for business contrary to popular belief of this forum

Money-Chasing is a Symptom Of No Passion in Business.
In my early days of entrepreneurship, I was a money-chaser. Could not stop thinking about it. When I looked to this forum, people kept blaming my mindset. But there was actually no hard reason why? It was just arbitrary advice “Change your mindset, your mindset sucks, etc.” I finally realize now. If you are money chasing, it is because you are running a business without passion. If money chasing causes 100% failure and is caused by lack of passion. It means passion is necessary for business.

Re Analysis of Dog Sh*t Story
The story about a guy making money with a business surrounding dog sh*t. The previous analysis of this story was that passion follows AFTER. That once someone starts winning, passion follows. I find this to be a false analysis. To the normal person a dog sh*t is very unappealing. They assume that no right person would ever be passionate about such an unattractive business model. That’s where they are wrong. My analysis is that the business owner is actually highly passionate about dog sh*t and that is how they became successful. Lots of weird people out there passionate about crazy stuff. Like I said above, although business comes with numerous obstacles and that is how they go through.

Reanalysis of the guy that got his dream job of driving super cars and then hated his passion.
Another past thread about why not to follow your passion. Guy gets his dream job and then later hated his passion later. It was driving super cars. He apparently now hates it. The conclusion made in this story was to not follow your passion, because it will contaminate your passion. This is a false analysis. The guy did not lose his passion because he followed it, but because he was FORCED to do it against his WILL. Force is the problem, not following passion. Only choose passion when you are going to work for yourself.

TLDR;
1) Running a business without passion gives you the money chasing symptom which will cause you to ultimately fail.
2)Being forced to do your passion destroys passion, simply following passion does not.
3) You are on your way to success if you can say “I would still be doing this, even if I didn’t get paid. It is like I’m not even working”

Note: It was these false analysis of stories that contributed to my failures all these years. I have been denying my passion in every previous business and hating it.

Garyvee is a huge advocate for choosing happiness. His intuition is very high, but that doesn’t mean he is always right.

Suggestion: Add a “P” to CENTS.

EDIT: Just had this new thought. It is not Chicken and Egg with passion and need. Both are required to be there when starting a business. Most say to only focus on market need, but like I explained that will also doom you to failure.

 

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[Rawseed]

Instead, you can start a business that’s COMPLEMENTARY to your passion:

• Sell guitar strings instead of playing them
• Create a marketplace connecting teachers and students
• Sell custom guitar cases/picks
• Start an online guitar repair biz
• Etc...

Take your passion and get TECHNICAL with it. This is where needs are found.

Great point @PizzaOnTheRoof.

Sounds like the crowdfeeding Demarco talks about in Unscripted . Or selling shovels to prospectors.

Instead of building a business around the passion, build a business around serving the people who share your passion.

Essentially, becoming passionate about making life easier, simpler, less painful, and more pleasurable for those who share your passion. Figure out how to increase their hopes and decrease their fears.

Being passionate about the activity should give you domain experience.

But, you need to become even more passionate about the people doing the activity than you are about the actual activity.

 

[Johnny boy]

My opinion:

Passion is often too narrow and shallow when people describe it in terms of a career.

“I have a passion for baseball”

Things like that. General, superficial things.

Me personally, I have a passion for using my brain to solve business problems. I love businesses. I love calling the shots. I can take that passion and apply it to a lot of different industries. I have a scattered brain that THRIVES on total uncertainty and a complete lack of constraints. I’m the type of guy who would cheat on tests not because I even wanted a high grade, but because my brain can’t help but to find a way to “get around” something. It’s what I’m addicted to. Coming up with solutions to problems with creativity and a little bit of charisma and the willingness to take on risk to do so. And nowhere else is it more fun than in business. The money is just the icing on the cake that makes me smile a little harder because it’s proof my idea worked.

People that have a lack of self awareness often come up with the bullshit “I have a passion for cupcakes so therefore I should start a cupcake shop”. Nope, that’s not your passion. You just like eating them. Maybe you like making them too. Do you like marketing your business, negotiating with suppliers, and testing ad campaigns to get people in the store? No? Then you’ll hate the cupcake biz.

Do I have a passion for lawn care?

Jesus F-ing Christ NO I do not.

But am I the happiest person in the world right now? You bet. At least top 50.

I’m the happiest person around because I love my life, how my brain works, where I am in life right now, the things I’ve done that got me here, where I’m going. It’s everything. It’s holistic. I’m just happy. And it’s very much because I have a passion for what I do. I solve business problems. That’s my passion. I do it mostly for myself but that’s not enough for me.

I can’t tell you how pumped I get when people ask me business questions. It’s my favorite hobby by far. If I sat in a room and talked about someone else’s business and how to solve their business problems, I would be excited and pumped full of energy for 12 hours straight and not want to leave. I do it for free but I sometimes charge for consulting in certain situations. (It’s a secret that I’d be doing it for free anyways) I can’t tell you how pumped I get when somebody messages me on here asking for advice on something and we get to talk business. Hell, I’ll even try to convince my own employees to quit and start their own business after they work for me for a couple months. Doesn’t even matter if it’s in lawn care, I know they can’t compete with me, but I’ll help them with any business just because I love solving the problems so much.

So yes, passion is real. I am growing a passion business. Not because I like mowing lawns, but I like the root actions that make up what a business owner actually does, which is solving problems with creativity and taking on risk and having a lack of constraints. Business is my art form. It’s more multidimensional than any other art form, because it consists of many more variables than any other art form. It is the purest reflection of the values of the people who make the decisions within that business. It is the most honest art form because it is ruled by the choices of the free market. It is competitive since everyone wants money, so it only rewards the best. There are millions of choices to make in a business, unlike a painting or sculpture, which exist with a limited number of variables and are judged subjectively. Business doesn’t live in a make believe world. It is the truth and cannot run away from it. It revolves around people since it takes a person to allocate resources and a person to decide to do business with that company. That’s why I love it so much. It’s real. It matters. It says “F*ck you” to excuses and delusions. It’s everything I believe in. And it’s something you can actually win. I love keeping score. I love winning. And I love not being able to win unless you really deserve it. I’m going to keep playing this game until I die. Because that’s all I’m ever doing, playing a fun game.

 

[Bourbons]

I find that when I start a business, it becomes a passion.. if that helps

 

[Rawseed]

As @MTEE1985 said, you definitely need an FTE.

Until the pain of your current life is larger than the pain of 'doing the work', you'll keep finding excuses such as "I haven't found my passion".

You'll find many passion-based businesses. Just like a broken clock is right twice a day.

But, most passion-based businesses fail. You just don't hear about them. Survivorship bias.

It's hard to engineer a passion-based business because customers buy solutions to their problems, not your passion.

 

[ChrisV]

HOT! - MINDSET - Ikigai: The Japanese Secret Of Finding Purpose In Life

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[ManlyMansNegator]

LOAN OFFER!!!
I am a private money lender and I offer all types of loans including personal loan, debt consolidation loan, real estate loan, rent loan, medical loan, business start-up loan, rehab loan, fix and flip loan etc. at 5% if interested in funding kindly get back to me for more info about my loan details Email: remaxpropertiesandloanfirm@gmail.com or thomaswalter1620@gmail.com

Are you passionate about loaning people money?

 

[Brian Suh]

I know the general view on this forum is to not choose passion because passion does not mean having a market need. In a sense, choosing a passion based business is selfish.

But I have been thinking a lot about this and actually think passion is 100% necessary.

Everyone knows that when you start a business many things go wrong or unexpected. This is a given. You have to go through these obstacles to build the business. Most people give up on some ventures because of the obstacles.

But I realized they are considered obstacles only to a person that is NOT passionate.

Obstacle in business shows up
Non-passionate business person: “Ughhh...just gotta get through this. This sucks. Another problem another day.”
Passionate business person: “I would keep doing this even if I didn’t get paid. It is like I’m not even working. I am getting paid to do my hobby.”

The passionate person doesn’t even register these as problems, but part of his/her hobby. What I realize is that the non passionate person eventually gives up because these obstacles happen daily before they even make cash.

This is where I have had a change of thought, passion is mandatory for business contrary to popular belief of this forum

Money-Chasing is a Symptom Of No Passion in Business.
In my early days of entrepreneurship, I was a money-chaser. Could not stop thinking about it. When I looked to this forum, people kept blaming my mindset. But there was actually no hard reason why? It was just arbitrary advice “Change your mindset, your mindset sucks, etc.” I finally realize now. If you are money chasing, it is because you are running a business without passion. If money chasing causes 100% failure and is caused by lack of passion. It means passion is necessary for business.

Re Analysis of Dog Sh*t Story
The story about a guy making money with a business surrounding dog sh*t. The previous analysis of this story was that passion follows AFTER. That once someone starts winning, passion follows. I find this to be a false analysis. To the normal person a dog sh*t is very unappealing. They assume that no right person would ever be passionate about such an unattractive business model. That’s where they are wrong. My analysis is that the business owner is actually highly passionate about dog sh*t and that is how they became successful. Lots of weird people out there passionate about crazy stuff. Like I said above, although business comes with numerous obstacles and that is how they go through.

Reanalysis of the guy that got his dream job of driving super cars and then hated his passion.
Another past thread about why not to follow your passion. Guy gets his dream job and then later hated his passion later. It was driving super cars. He apparently now hates it. The conclusion made in this story was to not follow your passion, because it will contaminate your passion. This is a false analysis. The guy did not lose his passion because he followed it, but because he was FORCED to do it against his WILL. Force is the problem, not following passion. Only choose passion when you are going to work for yourself.

TLDR;
1) Running a business without passion gives you the money chasing symptom which will cause you to ultimately fail.
2)Being forced to do your passion destroys passion, simply following passion does not.
3) You are on your way to success if you can say “I would still be doing this, even if I didn’t get paid. It is like I’m not even working”

Note: It was these false analysis of stories that contributed to my failures all these years. I have been denying my passion in every previous business and hating it.

Garyvee is a huge advocate for choosing happiness. His intuition is very high, but that doesn’t mean he is always right.

Suggestion: Add a “P” to CENTS.

EDIT: Just had this new thought. It is not Chicken and Egg with passion and need. Both are required to be there when starting a business. Most say to only focus on market need, but like I explained that will also doom you to failure.

Chase the pain. Passion and pain are one of the same. Anybody who is highly passionate is usually doing something painful to others. But he embraces that pain. Think of a highly successful sports athlete. The business man staying up a day or two straight to get something done. The drug dealer dealing with BS. I am highly passionate about fitness and will be willing to die in the gym, get up again and gladly go at it again.

The kid skateboarding falls over and over again. It’s painful. He’s broken legs and wrists. Check his knees and they are scruffier to all hell. But he loves it. Aim for pain not pleasure.

I find great pleasure in eating food that tastes terrible as I know it will give me great health while others aim for eating pleasurable food which will kill them in the end. I love that I spend my time working. While others are partying. While they aim for short term pleasure, I will be gunning for a life well lived and long term fulfillment.

 

[Kevin88660]

Trend and need come first.

I think passion matters that it is not something you hate. Don't do something you hate even there is a market for it. This is how I balance between the two schools of thoughts.

 

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[Matt Hunt]

I agree, and this is something I'm realizing now, too. When I don't enjoy what I'm doing, I avoid doing it. It's the reason my last business failed, and why I haven't gotten anywhere with my new business. I don't enjoy it, so I put off the work, and put it off, and eventually just stop altogether.

I think there are so many variables and everyone is so different. Some people may be able to push through when doing something they don't particularly enjoy, but I think most people will find they have a limit. They may be able to do so for a week, a month, maybe a year, but if they don't see results in that time, they give up.

For me, I think loving what I'm doing is an absolute necessity. I've tried so many things, not just businesses, but also jobs, that I didn't really enjoy, so I ultimately did not succeed at them. I have a YouTube channel which I enjoy a TON, and have no problem continuing to work on, even though it's just now starting to make a little money.

As far as that goes, there are several others in that niche who have reached full-time status with their YouTube channels, doing what they love. Is it going to be a multi-million dollar business that they can sell? No. But they're doing what they love and making a living at it.

YouTuber Graham Stephan, who talks about personal finance, investing, etc, just posted a video where he showed that he was making $100k/mo on ad revenue from his channel. And he started this channel for fun, he didn't even expect that he'd be making money from it, and now it's his biggest source of income.

You can absolutely fill a need. Education is a need. Heck, entertainment is a need. He won't have a business he can sell for $50 million, but imagine how quickly he's building his wealth by investing $100k/mo!

Anyway, I think the path to a successful and enjoyable life is to each his own. MJ talks about building your wealth first so you can pursue your passion project, but what if you can skip years and years building a business you aren't passionate about, and make a good living from your passion project in the first place? There ARE a lot of people out there doing just that.

 

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[DeletedUser0287]

I agree, and this is something I'm realizing now, too. When I don't enjoy what I'm doing, I avoid doing it. It's the reason my last business failed, and why I haven't gotten anywhere with my new business. I don't enjoy it, so I put off the work, and put it off, and eventually just stop altogether.

I think there are so many variables and everyone is so different. Some people may be able to push through when doing something they don't particularly enjoy, but I think most people will find they have a limit. They may be able to do so for a week, a month, maybe a year, but if they don't see results in that time, they give up.

For me, I think loving what I'm doing is an absolute necessity. I've tried so many things, not just businesses, but also jobs, that I didn't really enjoy, so I ultimately did not succeed at them. I have a YouTube channel which I enjoy a TON, and have no problem continuing to work on, even though it's just now starting to make a little money.

As far as that goes, there are several others in that niche who have reached full-time status with their YouTube channels, doing what they love. Is it going to be a multi-million dollar business that they can sell? No. But they're doing what they love and making a living at it.

YouTuber Graham Stephan, who talks about personal finance, investing, etc, just posted a video where he showed that he was making $100k/mo on ad revenue from his channel. And he started this channel for fun, he didn't even expect that he'd be making money from it, and now it's his biggest source of income.

You can absolutely fill a need. Education is a need. Heck, entertainment is a need. He won't have a business he can sell for $50 million, but imagine how quickly he's building his wealth by investing $100k/mo!

Anyway, I think the path to a successful and enjoyable life is to each his own. MJ talks about building your wealth first so you can pursue your passion project, but what if you can skip years and years building a business you aren't passionate about, and make a good living from your passion project in the first place? There ARE a lot of people out there doing just that.

Exactly my thoughts and experience now. I feel pretty much unstoppable now with passion. Never tired and eager to run this passion business. I pushed through negatively for 3 years. It just wasn't right.

I have studied more successes and it seems that the most successful business owners are the spitting image of their ideal customer. Aka, they are the ideal customer and with that emotional/passionate investment develop truly best products because it is for themselves as well. Although many see this emotional investment in products a bad thing.

Another popular view is that you don't have to be a customer of your own product to be successful. But, do you really think a guy without a beard developing beard products will actually produce a good product? From my experience, hell no.

It was Seth Godin's Purple Cow book that really changed my perspective in this. Majority of successful people are Pro Passion. Others that are not pro passion like MJ, include Mark Cuban.

What I've learned is to actually go straight to passionate project, but you must be grounded in reality.

Damnnnn, I watch Graham Stephen. Did not know he was pulling in that much from his channel. Yeah Youtube is pretty much people cashing out hard on their passions.

 

[luniac]

so long story short, we're all passionate here, passionate about freedom!

 

[100ToOne]

TLDR;
1) Running a business without passion gives you the money chasing symptom which will cause you to ultimately fail.
2)Being forced to do your passion destroys passion, simply following passion does not.
3) You are on your way to success if you can say “I would still be doing this, even if I didn’t get paid. It is like I’m not even working”

1) As MJ says if the business idea has market need and also includes your passion, then that's even more amazing. But the focus on having the passion factor as well as market need will cause a lot of problems in finding a business idea that will generate profit. In many cases.

2) Fair enough. But also from personal experience "follwing your passion" without any financial return (obviously if that's the main cause of your business) will make you eventually hate your passion.

If you don't care about money and have enough money to live whilst "working on passionate business" then that isn't really a business path that is viable to 99% of the world.

3) Again, if you need the money to provide food, you don't give a crap about doing anything you love until you bring food to the table for yourself and loved ones.


I would just like to ask you and to other members who are 25 years and older:
Are you still passionate about the same topics 10 years ago? 20 years ago? 40 years ago?
Most people's "passionate topics" changes as they grow older. So what will you do if you stop becoming passionate about cars in 5 years and find yourself "passionate" more about computers?

If you make your passion maybe a more general one like Time & Money Freedom, I don't see how you can have that passion changed as you grow older.

 

[MTEE1985]

If you’re passionate enough about being Unscripted then the process to get there won’t matter. Sounds like you haven’t had a FTE nor have a big enough “why”

GOLD! - MINDSET - Does It Hurt Bad Enough?

A traveling salesmen was passing thru a small country town and stopped at a mom and pop convenient store to pick up snacks and a drink. The place was an old building with old wooden floors and owned by a man well into his later years. As the salesman shopped he noticed a bloodhound laying in...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

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[MHP368]

Yet, I see a new influencer gaining traction every so often

"Every so often" seems like a terrible star to hitch your wagon to, my buddy streams (hasn't "made it" but has enough followers and subscribers and stuff to get paid something) , now that its "work" its less fun for him , he's "lost" some of the passion.

would find meaning in changing diapers in Alzheimer because it helps others live better.

Well yeh obviously they do, I did, it doesnt mean I was passionate about it - it was just less soul sucking than working at a call center. I didn't jump up every morning raring to go "hell yeh, booty duty!"

Guitarist add value with the music they produce. Creating feel good mood.

Yeh, and the monetary value of that is almost zero, because so many people like music and can play music. If you see someone performing an action on the streets for tip money, probably not something thats going to allow you to retire. Have you read the books? i'm not being snooty here - I just feel like we're having a weird disconnect on some of these definitions.

a person that a passionate person always creates a better product in their select niche than anyone else, assuming they are provided the adequate resources. Higher probability of remarkability which in turns becomes higher probability in success.

I would like to see evidence of that! , someone whos focused on "adding value" and not chasing money, now we can find examples, but passion? no. Marketing and market research. The thing with passion - other than the fact that you'll lose lots of it once the thing you love doing is being done for money is that it gives you tunnel vision. You think since you love it and you're friends love it, all the other people who are interested will love it, so maybe you get sloppy with market research and demand, maybe you start making a product that meets your needs but completely misses what the market actually wants.

The person who's emotionally not invested and just sees the opportunity for what it is will make more rational choices during research and development and likely wind up with a superior product.

 

[DeletedUser0287]

If you’re passionate enough about being Unscripted then the process to get there won’t matter. Sounds like you haven’t had a FTE nor have a big enough “why”

GOLD! - MINDSET - Does It Hurt Bad Enough?

A traveling salesmen was passing thru a small country town and stopped at a mom and pop convenient store to pick up snacks and a drink. The place was an old building with old wooden floors and owned by a man well into his later years. As the salesman shopped he noticed a bloodhound laying in...

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As @MTEE1985 said, you definitely need an FTE.

Until the pain of your current life is larger than the pain of 'doing the work', you'll keep finding excuses such as "I haven't found my passion".

You'll find many passion-based businesses. Just like a broken clock is right twice a day.

But, most passion-based businesses fail. You just don't hear about them. Survivorship bias.

It's hard to engineer a passion-based business because customers buy solutions to their problems, not your passion.

Had my FTE years ago, but put me in a terrible mindset. The bad thing about FTE is that it causes escaping mentality which contributed to my early failures. The only thing I cared about was escaping the situation that caused the FTE. My job. I was trying every business or anything that could make money outside of my job. Miserable as hell. Pretty much got suicidal at that point. The only thing echoing in my head "How can I quit my job quick? I need more money?" Obviously process takes a loooooonnnggg time. Did not match my "I need to get out now" expectations. Unmatched expectations --> Depressed.

FTE do drive you to work hard, but in constant stress and negativity. Really, not sustainable. Not good at all. I was a frantic mess years ago.

 

[DeletedUser0287]

Topic has been thoroughly discussed, and at ridiculous lengths.

Search Results

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GOLD! - HOT! - I have a problem with MJ DeMarco (Follow your passion gets a beatdown)

First of all I have read the Fastlane Millionaire every year for the past 3 years or so. I love the book. And yes I already order Unscripted I'm still waiting for it in the mail. I respect MJ DeMarco and his work but since the the first time I read his book I can't get over the fact that he...

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MINDSET - Mark Cuban on following your passion

Wanted to share this great article I came across. Billionaire Mark Cuban: 'Don't follow your passion' Don't follow your passion: Chances are, you've been advised to "follow your passion" or "do what you love" at one point in your life. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban says to ignore that...

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MINDSET - Mike Rowe for PragerU: DON'T Follow Your Passion (great video)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVEuPmVAb8o

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The "passion" argument is becoming about as redundant as the "go to college" trope.

From a probabilistic standpoint, "following your passion" is a bad bet.

Yes, it can be done and those that do succeed at it receive huge survivor bias treatment as it attracts clicks and young fools looking for and easy path playing video games for $250K/year. The odds are better in following value skew and allowing passion to sprout from your effort via the feedback loop. Passion and its relationship (and its necessity) to the entrepreneurial process is clearly explained in Unscripted so I refuse to rewrite it here, namely because this person didn't read/comprehend the work, two, his argument is already premised in a strawman fallacy, and three, user has extensive history of excuse making which has failed to deliver any change.

Gotcha: I didn't write them with passion. And now you've just caught yourself in your own false premise which turns into a false conclusion.

I am passionate about changing lives, seeing my concepts and their ideas finished to completion. I am passionate about my finished product and reading that product years later. I am passionate hearing about people who say their lives have changed, their eyes opened, and that their business is a game-changer.

The actual grind of writing? Meh.

While I thought I'd be passionate about that "process" the reality is not so much, at least in the non-fiction realm. (I feel much more "passion" writing stories and fiction stuff, all of which to this point, is unreleased.) So to your argument, my writing non-fiction is hardly a passionate endeavor, at least in totality.

With respect to the two books I've written, both started as a passionate endeavor. However much to my dislike, that passion fades in weeks, if not days.

Then the grind hits.
The struggle.
The draw on discipline.
The writer's block.

Then I hate writing. Then I want to quit.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BasQqpQ5_k

Looked at the previous thread and it seems that when people follow their passion it is assumed there is #1 market need and #2 they are good at it. My argument was that passion is needed as #3 in addition to #1 and #2. Without passion, I hate process. With passion, I like it and can grind endlessly. Part of the passion is built through outcome of developing my product.

For most people, they assume if they follow #3 that #1 and #2 follow. What I am getting at is that since many people wrongly make this assumption, the forum disregards #3 altogether as a necessity.

My passion is not the typical gamer, sports player, singer, etc. I am getting the impression that people don't realize that people can in fact have odd/weird/gross passions. Hence the reanalysis of the dog sh*t story. I am one of those people. I would be a person that would enjoy welding to be honest (from Mike Rowe Video).

I guess I lucked out then: I got the trifecta. I don't see how I would ever have made through it just having #1 and #2. Passion is needed to be at the start of business just like #1 and #2.

Unfortunately, that's what he does. He needs to work on his head and we've tried for months. Everything parlays into an excuse into why A) It won't work or B) It ain't worth the effort. Then next week we get a new thread with a new idea about why it can't be done; no passion, no money, no resources, no this, no that. He's a classic example of the 80/20 principle when it comes to business; 80% of the game is in your HEAD which morphs to the 20% in the form of correct execution. I wish him the best but myself (and the other folks here trying to help) only have so much patience.

It doesn't help if you write everything off as "excuse." These threads are to find the mental problem, by looking at each variable. Because writing everything off as "excuse" gives no hard data or advice.

Edit: There is a broken car. You say "Something is wrong with the car." Which doesn't help at all. Hard advice: There is something wrong with the car because the the transmission doesn't work.

 

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[ChrisV]

Bingo! You want six pack abs while eating pizza and ice cream. You want muscles while avoiding the gym.

Your struggle isn't with respect to the struggle, your struggle pertains to the everlasting search for the pain free and passionate shortcut.

As soon as you experience pain, or forecast pain, you're done.

As soon as your passionate endeavor finds extreme competition (because everyone else is doing it) and it's no longer fun (I can't compete because I hate marketing! I hate hiring! I hate this!) you're done.

I don't know.. I mean I love what I do. I think there's a balance between doing what you love and doing what the market wants (see my post above.) If you can simultaneously do those things, I think you can find a winning combo.

There were some studies that found that if a child loves drawing, then you pay that child to draw, they stop loving it. But I haven't experienced that whatsoever, and I'm wondering if there were some issues with those studies and if they've been replicated.

Re: 6-pack abs.. sure you can't eat pizza and ice cream, but you can find a bunch of healthy foods that you really like, and I think that method had a better rate of success than someone who's just eating food that tastes like cardboard to gain abs. And I think that metaphor extends to business... finding something you like doing, that's profitable.

But you're never going to find something that's stress-free. You don't want it to be stress-free. Pulling out your hair trying to solve a problem is part of the fun.

But I dont think there's some hard and fast rule that says you can't do something you like doing. Steve Jobs loved making cool tech. Elon Musk loves being a mad scientist and solving the worlds issues. And that passion helped them get through tough times. But again, they're doing things that benefit the world, which is key. They're not following their passion for knitting Toy Story 4 blankets (although there may be a market for that.) I think it's about finding balance.

 

[Andy Black]

You can follow you passion AND be a business owner.

If I handed you the keys to a $1 million per year business I’m 100% positive you would become passionate about it.

Also, just because you’re passionate about playing the guitar doesn’t mean you have to be a musician.

Instead, you can start a business that’s COMPLEMENTARY to your passion:

• Sell guitar strings instead of playing them
• Create a marketplace connecting teachers and students
• Sell custom guitar cases/picks
• Start an online guitar repair biz
• Etc...

Take your passion and get TECHNICAL with it. This is where needs are found.


There’s something to be said about being passionate about helping people.

@Andy Black

Yes. I get a buzz when a new client tells me they’ve got their first phone call, email enquiry, new client, or new customer. It never gets old.

 

[DeletedUser0287]

But that's what you do! You have an rationalization for every situation, every answer, every truth. We live in the greatest time ever, unprecedented access to knowledge, information, resources (warm bed, computers, hot showers!) and it simply isn't enough.

I agree with everything you are saying here being unprecedented access. I would rather have the cost of living like crap to bootstrap than to pay interest on a loan. That’s how people really screw up.

You keep focusing on the car, your problem is as a driver.

That’s not what I mean by analogy. What I meant was that just saying “your mindset is the problem” doesn’t help at all due to how general it is. Like I said above. My symptom that is now gone was “money chasing.” The cause of the symptom was focusing on non passionate business.

If a doctor, just says “You are sick” just like you say “your mindset is broken” it doesn’t do anything. After I hear this, “why am I sick?” “What is causing the sickness?”

Bingo! You want six pack abs while eating pizza and ice cream. You want muscles while avoiding the gym.

Your struggle isn't with respect to the struggle, your struggle pertains to the everlasting search for the pain free and passionate shortcut.

As soon as you experience pain, or forecast pain, you're done.

As soon as your passionate endeavor finds extreme competition (because everyone else is doing it) and it's no longer fun (I can't compete because I hate marketing! I hate hiring! I hate this!) you're done.

You're the same as everyone else ...

Tell me how much pain you're willing to endure and I'll tell you how likely you are to succeed; which at this point, isn't very favorable.

Good luck sorting it out.

Well the gym example I can relate to 100%. I am a loyal gym goer. I like the so-called “pain.” The stretch and the squeeze of the muscle feels good. Which is why I have lasted in the gym for idk 7 years now and will probably never stop. A person that enjoys process gets through all of it. Technically they are going through pain and struggle, but enjoy it. Same with my business right now.

Guess how many times, things went wrong with the product development? Too many times, I couldn’t even count. But I kept going at it and will never stop. Like I said in posts above, I did not view these as obstacles due to passion. A typical person that is not passionate, would not do what I was doing and give up. But there were a few times I did get frustrated, but still carried on because I wanted to see a finished product.

Me looking forward to this business, there is going to be 10x the number of problems (Forecasting Pain), even though I don’t view it that way. But guess what? I am still going to do it.

I am very curious on what you opinion is on Gary Vee then? His view on entrepreneurship is completely opposite of yours.

 

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[ManlyMansNegator]

I agree with everything you are saying here being unprecedented access. I would rather have the cost of living like crap to bootstrap than to pay interest on a loan. That’s how people really screw up.



That’s not what I mean by analogy. What I meant was that just saying “your mindset is the problem” doesn’t help at all due to how general it is. Like I said above. My symptom that is now gone was “money chasing.” The cause of the symptom was focusing on non passionate business.

If a doctor, just says “You are sick” just like you say “your mindset is broken” it doesn’t do anything. After I hear this, “why am I sick?” “What is causing the sickness?”



Well the gym example I can relate to 100%. I am a loyal gym goer. I like the so-called “pain.” The stretch and the squeeze of the muscle feels good. Which is why I have lasted in the gym for idk 7 years now and will probably never stop. A person that enjoys process gets through all of it. Technically they are going through pain and struggle, but enjoy it. Same with my business right now.

Guess how many times, things went wrong with the product development? Too many times, I couldn’t even count. But I kept going at it and will never stop. Like I said in posts above, I did not view these as obstacles due to passion. A typical person that is not passionate, would not do what I was doing and give up. But there were a few times I did get frustrated, but still carried on because I wanted to see a finished product.

Me looking forward to this business, there is going to be 10x the number of problems (Forecasting Pain), even though I don’t view it that way. But guess what? I am still going to do it.

I am very curious on what you opinion is on Gary Vee then? His view on entrepreneurship is completely opposite of yours.

Why not put your theory into test, create several businessess based on your passion. Then get a few other people and ask them to start a business based on their passion.

Also this thread is confusing , what is passion ? Is it just something you are seemingly obsessed with ?