Show Notes

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• Nothing here just yet.

Transcription

Okay now, let's get into all this "passion vs money" stuff. There are many, many myths, misunderstandings, and untruths in business...and a big one is, to just "do what you love."

I absolutely hate this myth because it confuses and throws off so many people. In fact, I was mislead by this myth for many, many years too.

And here's the biggest, hairiest problem with this myth: It boils down to understanding the fundamentals of an economic transaction -- which is exactly what happens when a business sells their product to a customer.

On one side of the transaction is someone who's doing what they love. On the other side of the transaction is the customer.

So if you ran a small online business that sold needlepoint portraits of puppies and kittens, and I happened to cross your path...and then you went on and on about how much you love needlepoint...and how you've dreamed of one day starting a business where you'd be able to quit your stuffy corporate job and do this full time...and how ever since you were a kid you've loved portraits of puppies and kittens and...

...I mean, do I care about any of this? I'm a nice guy so I'm gonna be polite about it...

"Oh, that's so cool! Good stuff! ...Well, see ya!"

I mean, I'm never gonna buy a puppy portrait because I'm just not interested! And see, that's the big, huge problem with this whole "do what you love" thing...

When you do what you love, who's problem, primarily, are you solving, yours or your customer's? Who's needs are getting filled FIRST, yours or your customer's?

And see, if you're in business to fill your own needs first, then you aren't in business. What you have is a hobby that you're taking very seriously!

Because -- and back to the fundamentals of an economic transaction for a sec -- customers only buy things THEY want...not what we business owners want to sell them.

I mean, isn't that true for you? Do you buy things out of guilt or to support someone else's dream? Maybe once in a while...but 99% of the time, we buy things we need...things that will fix problems we're having...things that we wanna buy, right?

So does this mean we should forget about all the things we love and instead just start a business to make as much money as possible?

Absolutely not. I mean, some people do this...and many of them wind up miserable. Many of them wind up despising their business and their work and feel totally unfilfilled.

So how do we rectify all this? How do you, on the one hand "do what you love," or "do what you enjoy doing"...that's fulfilling for you...

...while on the other hand "doing what others want" and making a great income?

Well the first step is to recognize that "do what you love" is only the first half of the equation.

...and by the way, you can substitute that for "do work you enjoy" or "do what's fulfilling"...use any language you want.

So, "do what you love" is only the first part...and many, many people never figure out the second part.

The second part is, "...that's valuable for other people."

Does that make sense? This is something I call "The Fulfillment Equation," which I detail in my short book, Online Business Building Blocks, which you can check out if you're interested.

But the gist is, if you do what you love, very likely no one's going to buy from you because you're solving your needs first.

But if you only work for money, then you'll be missing the first part of the equation, which is all about fulfillment and doing work you enjoy.

So it's a balancing act: We have to do work that we enjoy doing, that fulfills us...that's also valuable and helpful for others.

Are your needlepoint puppy portraits valuable to others? I dunno...who knows, maybe there's a rabid market of buyers here...you'd have to go and find that out.

Or what about starting a business where you know you can make a ton of money...should you do that? I dunno either -- is this work you enjoy, that you look forward to doing, or is it a slog? Only you can answer that.