Passion can be Poison in Business

Statistics say that 9% of businesses fail due to lack of passion. It goes without saying that Passion is like fuel to entrepreneurship, but the question still dawns on the growing entrepreneurs - Is Passion enough to steer a business to its destination? The answer is - No.

In one of my recent interactions, I spoke about how entrepreneurship is a growing fad where everyone feels – it is ‘cool’ to be an entrepreneur.

Disclaimer: I am all for entrepreneurship. I love being an entrepreneur and I believe that every human should explore entrepreneurship purely from the point of view that it is the best personal development experience to undergo and also the most efficient vehicle to create massive wealth for yourself and people around you.

Having said that, I am not for a school of entrepreneurship where people pretend to sacrifice themselves and pursue delusional entrepreneurship like martyrs who are giving their lives to a larger purpose whereas in reality, the challenge is that they are not competent enough to build a successful scalable business which is adding value to their customers and team members thereby making them financially and emotionally successful.

P.S. Read the above paragraph again and again and again till you understand what I mean.

Are you a delusional entrepreneur?

According to a renowned research source, 50 percent of new businesses survive five years or more, with 33 percent surviving 10 years or more.

To the delusional entrepreneurs, these statistics might be intimidating, but for a pragmatic visionary, this is a challenge to be faced with a smart approach.

The reason I come down strongly on this model of ‘delusional entrepreneurship’ is because many people find virtue in this. They feel like a hero or a martyr in their ‘sorry world’. In reality, there is no virtue in being broke. There is no virtue in feeling like a martyr. If you are not making money, then there is a flaw which needs to be addressed. If your business is not taking off, it means you need to learn and make changes rather than living a lie that you are living your passion. To turn your passion into success, you need to dive into the deepest bottoms of reality and swim through it.

Passion + Plan x 3 = Success

Around 17% of start-ups admit to not having a consistent business plan to back their "passion". In fact, let me tell you one thing that I know after coaching over 5000 business owners - Passion can be Poison in business.

Most people absolve themselves of the responsibility of growing their business and making it financially worthier for themselves and their teams by feeding them self with the garb that they are passionate about what they are doing. This self-hypnosis of convincing yourself that your business is your passion and therefore even though you are not able to grow the business, it is fine, is dangerous. If you are truly passionate, then you have to be relentless about learning and doing whatever it takes to scale the business and make your passion profitable. While if you are living in your comfort zone or the state of helplessness and going nowhere with your business yet doing it in the name of passion, that right there is poison. When your passion is flaming , it's easy to forget the details. Support your passion with a plan.

Challenge the Present

Open your mind, challenge yourself and challenge status quo by working towards creating a business which adds value to your customers, your team and to yourself. That is a business worth being passionate about. The joy of creating something that adds value to everyone is any day more fulfilling than a false notion of living your passion while it is not adding value to you to begin with. Build a business which you love doing, build a business which adds value to your customers so that they are willing to spend their money and make it scalable enough to change lives of many people. Imagine the joy and fulfilment of that.

If you have something to say or add on this subject, feel free to share your thoughts by writing to me with your opinions, challenges and questions. I will be happy to help or hear your side of the story and engage in a conversation.