How often have you seen someone quit their job, with an entrepreneurial dream of following their passion? How often have you seen such people fail? More often than not, people fail in their pursuit of financial stability by following what they are passionate about. They key mistake made by these entrepreneurs is that they fail to recognize the difference between their passion and what they are actually good at. Their judgment is hurried and clouded by the thoughts of making a career in something they are passionate about.
The Mistake We Make:
To make you understand my point in a better way, here is an example. Suppose that I am passionate about music, that doesn’t mean that I will be a successful singer, composer or a musician for that matter. There are several factors involved which need to be considered. So I will probably take on my passion and look to pursue a music career but eventually I will fail and lose hope. Understand the mistake?
Making Career Decisions:
Career choices are important decisions that are going to effect the how the rest of your life will shape out. These should never be made in a hurry, based on a single event, a temporary mood or state of mind. Proper detailed research before taking any step is imperative to secure yourself from any kind of loss in future. In a perfect world, we would all be pursuing whatever passion we have and earning big bucks effortlessly. But guess what? We don’t live in an ideal world. Our decisions have consequences, and should be made in view of these consequences.
Differentiating between Passion and Skill:
Your heart may tell you to follow your passion, though you should also consider that thing called brain and settle to pursue the skills you possess. Instead of taking on your passion, take on something you are good at or are already skilled to do.
Every person have a special skill set of their own. This makes them unique. You should use your skill set, practice it until you are perfect and then take on an entrepreneurial career to make wonders happen for yourself. The difference is simple, when you follow something you are actually good at you are already working on familiar territory and there won’t be many surprises for you.
Your passion for something can fade over time, and make you lose interest in what you are doing. However, doing something that you love to do, or are good at, will not make you lose any interest and you will stay motivated while running your business to new heights of success.
How to Choose your Skill?
In order to avoid failure in an entrepreneurial career, sit down and clear your mind of any passions you have. This can cloud your judgment and stop you from doing the right thing.
Once you have, take out a paper and write down everything you love to do in a column. Next, write all the things that you are skilled and are familiar with. You should be familiar with the scope of requirements, objectives etc. of these skills. You can match what you love doing with your skill set and work out a career path that you can pursue as an entrepreneur.
Most prospective entrepreneurs fail to become successful entrepreneurs because they mistake their hobbies for something they would want to make a career out of. They fail to comprehend the feasibility of the project, as they are focused on how “great” their idea is. Slowly and gradually, their passion fades away and they are left with a lot of unpaid hard work and debt so they have to quit on their careers. Substitute the urge of following your passion in to a career choice with something that interests you. A career that is known to pay well, so that you can be financially compensated. Pursue this skill to become an expert at it and the success will follow you wherever you go.
The Four Point Key to Entrepreneurial Success:
For all aspiring entrepreneurs, here is a four point guideline with the potential to lead you to a successful career.
1. Think a hundred times before you take a decision. Back your ideas with research and feasibility reports. However, once you have made the decision, stand by it as one man. Work hard on your entrepreneurial career, and never give up on the dream.
2. Make sure that you are good at whatever you choose to do. This is a key to a longstanding business. When you are good at doing something, you will do it with perfection and enjoy doing it. When you enjoy what you do, you can make wonderful things happen.
3. Passion is a feeling that can be very strong at one time but fade as the time passes by. When you choose to do something that you are good at and enjoy doing it, you will be able to become passionate about your work. Your passion will become your work, and that is the right kind of passion to have.
4. Take control of things. Be hardworking, evolve with the time and be flexible. Develop your skill set in to perfection and build your entrepreneurial business. You can thank me later!
Final Verdict:
To be honest, I have lost count of times that I heard someone saying, “I am going to follow my passion” or “I won’t quit, I am passionate about it” and the golden one “I will follow my passion everyday till I succeed”. Each time I have seen them take a different career path within a few days. This gave me a very important life lesson, which I resolved to share with you in this post. I am sure most of you can relate to it, and will find it beneficial. Feel free to share your thoughts with us, in the comments section below.