Everybody is searching for get-rich secrets or the key ingredient for success, but the answer isn’t a hidden secret and won’t be found in any business book. The one thing that successful people have managed to do that those stuck in the nine ‘til five cycle have overlooked, is they have found a way to make a business from their passion. Not one of the heroes we admire found their successes in something they were not immensely excited about.
Warren Buffett says he tap dances to work as he loves what he does and the people he works with. Steve Jobs put it in a way that as an entrepreneur I’ve learnt to understand when he said: “People say you have to have a lot of passion for what you’re doing and it’s totally true. And the reason is because it’s so hard that if you don’t, any rational person would give up. It’s really hard. And you have to do it over a sustained period of time. So if you don’t love it, if you’re not having fun doing it, you don’t really love it, you’re going to give up. And that’s what happens to most people, actually.”
I’ve questioned this quote in the past when I was able to work flat out because I loved the prospect of making money and the idea of growing a business, even if the actual underlying business didn’t particularly excite me. With humility I can say Jobs was right because when times are good and making money is easy, it’s no problem putting in 100 per cent. The part that matters though is when things are not going well and continue to not go well, that’s when only passion for what you are doing will drive you through.
When entrepreneurs start a business, they all have a glamorous dream of the success that comes with it, the prestige and glory of doing well. The hard reality is that for most people the journey is far more rocky, having to deal with situations that you didn’t subscribe for in this glamorous dream – being taken to court, firing people, being chased for debts and payments or being shamed for bad decisions. It’s getting through these times and coming out the other side that determines success from failure and it’s only possible if you have a passion for the underlying mission.
This is easy for Mr Buffett and Jobs to say as they found what they love as teenagers and continued it throughout their life. But what about the rest of us who may not have discovered what we are really passionate about? Let me comfort you by saying that you are in the same boat as most.
In my first month of university, I found it interesting but awakening when I asked people what subjects they were studying. They’d reply proudly with firm answers, such as “I’m studying medicine”. I’d follow up with: “So what do you want to do when you finish?” to which there was always a confused and directionless: “I’m not sure yet”. Why would someone commit to a five-year course without having yet discovered what their passion was? I always found this the biggest flaw of higher education as people generally hadn’t lived enough outside the institutional atmosphere to have grasped their passions.
Before we can make a business from our passions we have to first identify what those passions are, and for most they don’t know where to start. My advice is get out there and do anything, and by a process of elimination of at least understanding what you aren’t interested in, you will start to be pointed in some direction. For young people in their teens and twenties, gaining perspective by trying different things will only make this easier to find. People will tell you to stick with one company and not move around, I disagree.
The second step is making a business out of your passion, and this requires some creativity and self-belief. Most people don’t realise that the fun things they do may also be fun for others who might even pay for that if it were a service. So be creative and believe that you’re not the only one to have that enthusiasm and there will be a market for it.
To widen the perspective on this career topic we always have to align ourselves with the bigger question which is how do we find happiness? Following your passion is a clear step towards this, after all we spend most of our life at work, it makes sense we should love it.
Paris Norriss is an entrepreneur and partner in Coba Education, which provides educators to schools and institutes
business@thenational.ae
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