What if you could turn what you are passionate about into an extra way to earn money each month?
Now imagine if it was a business that you could run form anywhere in the world. One where your income wasn’t tied to your hours.
It is our belief that everyone has an inner small business owner just waiting to be released.
In my accounting firm, all too often we see people who jump into a starting a business but who don’t stop to think about whether they are actually starting the right business. So before jumping in boots and all, you need to be confident that self employment will work for you.
Just because you have a passion for it doesn’t necessarily mean you can make money out of an idea.
If you have the skills then you are more likely to succeed and if you have the passion then you’ll be more motivated to stay the course. There is an enormous opportunity for you to take your passion, your hobbies and your skills – apply a business model and then turn it into a money making business.
Step 1 Prepare Yourself
To start a business means you must know more about who you are. There is no such thing as a business idea that exists outside of who you are … especially when you are just starting out.
While it is easy to jump straight into the tactics of how to get a new business set up (and we do that with our Guide on How to Start a Small Business in Australia) the reality is that there is prep work that you need to do on YOU in order to make sure that being in business is right for you.
Free Passions to Profits Webinar
Do you know what drives you? Come and join us for this 40 minute session where we ask you to challenge your motivations for starting a business.
Not sure what we mean? Well here’s a couple of questions taken from the first chapter of that Guide to help you get started:
What are you most passionate about?
Understanding your deeper motivations for wanting to be in business is a great place to start understanding your key drivers. Being in business can be hard. You need to know that you will be able to keep going when the going gets tough, or when hard decisions need to be made. You can make those decisions from a place of conviction knowing that you are working towards your definition of success.
If you aren’t sure of your passion, your motivation, or your drivers for business – yeah you might end up making money. But the overall quality of your life will suffer. I mean you’ve heard of that saying – “Money can’t buy happiness”.
And it is also important to recognise that you are not your business. Your business is meant to support your lifestyle and serve the purpose of enhancing your life.
Download our 17 Ways to Discover Your Passion Cheat Sheet
Do you have a clear vision of what being in business will mean for you?
Just what does being in small business mean for you? What will having a small business allow you to do or achieve?
Being clear on your personal goals and values is essential as the path to small business ownership begins by looking inwards – at yourself.
Your business should reflect your life purpose. That means that one of the most important things that you can do right from the start is to be clear on that purpose.
Do you have clear and measurable outcomes about what you want to achieve from owning and operating a small business?
Starting and running a small business is a major life event and for it to be sustainable it needs to meet both your business and personal objectives. Remember, this is work-life integrated. Your business should exist to serve you.
Step 2 Find a Fit
We all have something that we are passionate about, but how do you turn that into a business?
Finding a fit is about understanding the connection between what you love doing and what the market needs and will pay for.
To know if the business is a fit for you, you need to deeply understand what drives you – your passions, your hobbies, experiences and skills.
Why does this matter? It’s because you don’t want to start a business around something you don’t like doing or it isn’t a match with your experience and skills.
Passion will only get you so far. Having passions means that you can inspire those around you and deep dive into the topic. However, the problem with having a passion doesn’t mean that you are actually good at it or can deliver an outcome.
Step 3 Know what you want (and what you don’t want)
It always pays to start with the end in mind. Ask yourself to imagine where you want to see both yourself and your business or project in the longer term?
Be clear, write it all down. Build out some measurable outcomes with some hard data attached to your goals. This way you’ll know whether you are on track to achievement.
Don’t be an accidental business owner by jumping in boots and all without taking a moment to know what you expect out of the business. If you don’t start or grow your business with intent then it could result in a business that you begin to resent because it isn’t meeting your objectives, even if you didn’t really specify them at the start.
We aren’t saying all of this to put you off. We know that if you are here, you are already fairly committed to starting a new business and nothing will stop you. This should just be a confirmation of what you already know.
Starting a small business, or any business, can be hard. You will need to overcome any number of challenges to push forward. This requires grit, determination, and persistence.
You need to have confidence that you know what you want from life and just how a business will help you get that.
We’re not going to sugar coat, being in business is challenging – so you need to know that you’ll stick at it when you hit a tough spot. You won’t stick at something you don’t really like doing. So that makes it really important that your new business fits the market and you as well.
Bringing more of who you are to the business can actually be a major advantage. Combining your passion for the topic, your skills, experience and a business model can lead to small business success.
Sheree Cusack
