Why Should (or shouldn't) you Start a Business?

Ask yourself this question- “Why did I start my business?”

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A lot of people start a business because they didn’t enjoy their last job, which is definitely a good reason. But digging deeper than that, why didn’t you like your job?

If your answer is “because I worked too many hours”, or “I want to make more money”, a business probably isn’t right for you. Running a successful business requires hard work, LONG hours, and a lot of dedication and perseverance. On top of that, you can’t control how much money you make, and very likely will make a lot less than if you had a job, for a very long time.

On the flip-side, if your answer was “I wanted to spend my time on something I care about”, you’re on the right path. Every single thing you do while you’re working revolves around your mindset, and why you’re doing what you’re doing. Like I said, running a business requires a lot of hard work, time, and dedication, often with little to no money to fill your own pockets with.

For that reason, business owners who are constantly working thinking about “How can I make more money”, are not going to win. If you go a long time without making a lot of money, chances are you’ll throw in the towel and go back to working at a similar job, right back at square 1. 

Now, a business owner who’s constantly thinking about the subject matter of their business, is destined to succeed. The only thing that will drive a mentality like this is actually caring about what you do.

Think about this. Let’s say you love fishing, and you’ve spent a lot of time doing it, learning more about it, and it actually excites you to talk about fishing.

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If you start a business with the intention of making more money, you’ll probably go into a niche that seems like it has a lot of potential, let’s say, selling eco-friendly beauty products through e-commerce. You may be excited to make more money at the start, but after a few months of working hard every day on this new business, if you’re not raking in the big bucks, your excitement will probably start to dwindle. You’ll stop putting in as many hours, and just do what’s necessary to keep your business alive, until you eventually quit. Doesn’t sound like such a great idea now, does it?

Now, if you’re that same fishing-loving person, and you start a business because you want to spend your time doing something you care about, it’ll be centered around, you guessed it, fishing. You’ll spend countless hours creating fishing related content, because it’s what you love to do. Your excitement for fishing will never go away, as you’ve seen throughout your life, so regardless of the money coming in, you’ll continue to work hard.

Consumers love passion, and there’s a market for *almost* everything. After a few months of creating passionate, expert fishing content, you’ll begin to develop an audience. Regardless of if you’ve figured out how to monetize it yet, you’ll have the most valuable thing possible when it comes to making money- an audience. Monetization comes later, but because you’re doing what you love, you’ll have the patience to stick it out. A few years later, you’ll be making good money doing what you genuinely love, every single day. 

Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? Now replace fishing with whatever the hell gets you going, and get to work!

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