Follow your passion! "Terms and conditions apply"

Whoever wrote: ‘follow your passion and success will follow' probably ran out of ink before adding 'terms & conditions apply' – By @Lizmania

'Follow your passion, and success will follow.'

That is by far one of the biggest lies I've ever heard from entrepreneurial interchanges! And yes, you heard me right, Lie! Lie! Lie! Now what exactly do I mean by that?

I for instance am passionate about music. I love music! I live music. I breathe music! Everywhere I go, I sing, in a sense my life is some sort of a musical and yes, this is to be taken in a literal sense! Now the problem is that every time I open my mouth to sing, the people around me appear to be experiencing some sort of discomfort. Their faces will disfigure, as if they are tortured. Others will excuse themselves to rather be somewhere else.

One thing is for sure, as much as I love and have the passion to sing, I do not have the ability to sing! If I were to decide to go into studio and start recording an album, the only person who would probably lay-buy my CD would be my ever so supportive mother no doubt.

It isn't always the case that when one follows their passion, the consequence is success. Failure could result too, if perhaps one's passion is not aligned with one's capability! You cannot blindly follow a passion that you clearly do not have the 'talent' or 'gift' that could back it up.

I feel that most entrepreneurial role models sell this passion dream more and tend to forget about yet another important aspect of entrepreneurship, which is opportunity! My take is, there are two ways to approach entrepreneurship, one could be going the 'passion route' or the 'opportunity route'.

Now the latter is mostly discouraged by the top dogs probably because when one is not passionate about something, they tend to not give it their all. That statement is not false at all! But what if I were to come forth and say, "I am passionate about entrepreneurship!"? Yup, that's right, you do get people that have no special attachment to anything in particular but are really passionate about entrepreneurship! Give them ANY kind of an opportunity and they will give it their all and NAIL it!

Going back to my sad story about my lack of vocal talent, let's forget about me for a second and talk about you. Say you are unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. You’re passionate about fashion design but no one can stand the sight of the clothes you make. But when you sing it makes the hairs on the backs of people stand up! You have a voice exactly like Whitney Houston, and as much as it's not your favourite thing in the world to do, when you do it- people listen and they love it! Now struggling as you are, trying to make ends meet, would you not be willing to explore this opportunity simply because you have no passion for it? Wouldn't you be motivated enough about making ends meet to a point where you'd be willing to consider it and subsequently do it with a passion?

Dr Dre is believed to have made more money selling music accessories than he ever made in his music career! Do you honestly think that Dr Dre is passionate about ear phones? I doubt! To me this sounds like a man who is passionate about hustling. We see this everyday, musician making more money out of endorsements than their music careers. Honestly, I doubt Rihanna is as passionate about Mac cosmetics as she is about being on stage!

Now please do not get me twisted here, I am NOT at all implying that passion is not important. All I'm saying is, in the business world, one shouldn’t be so obsessed with this passion concept that it blinds them of opportunities that come their way! Much as 'terms and conditions' apply to going the opportunity route, the same can be said of the passion route.  If you are good at something that you are passionate about, by all means follow your passion. And if you are not, it doesn't mean you can't be a successful business owner.

 

PS: Just because I can't sing, it doesn't mean I can't go into the music business and explore other musical avenues  ;-)    

Pic credit: Google

I have a dream

By @Liz2mania

When I first laid eyes on this pic, I couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably. Somewhere in my laughter though, I stopped and had an epiphany! This person has a dream.

I realized that there were so many lessons that one could derive from this picture. See, this person has a dream and she knows she has to start somewhere. In fact she values her dream so much that, despite the fact that the other piece is still missing, she lays her bed still! (Well in this case, the floor, lol).

We all have dreams. Everybody has a dream! But what is it that you have done that has inched you closer to your ultimate goal? What steps have you taken that show how seriously you value your dreams? We might all have dreams but in all honesty, some people don't display any diligence. Having a dream but not doing anything about it is like going to someone saying you are short of R10 and need them to give you R10 for you to be sorted.

Unacceptable isn't it? A person who is short of R10 should have at least something on hand to show that they have done something worthy of being helped. See that is the thing about investors. They look at what you have done so far and then step in. If all you have is but a dream, that doesn't make you stand out because everybody has a dream.

Often we see people, saying they need funding for this and that but when you check what it is that they have done to earn that funding you get so disappointed. Start somewhere! For instance, if you are a writer who is looking to get a book deal, start by writing a blog. If you want to run a big retail store like Pick n Pay one day, you might want to start by running a spaza shop. That will make investors see how committed you are to your dream. Don't go to investors with nothing - saying you have a dream because...well, let's just say if that man who is short of R10 came to you and asked you for R10 would you help him out? Or would you be willing to help him out if he already had R5 and said he was short of another R5?

Is entrepreneurship of pressing importance to you?

By @Liz2mania

While lying comfortably in bed one morning, a sharp pain sears through your chest making it hard for you to breath.  You feel your chest tighten as your body temperature rises. The room seems to be spinning. Instantly, it hits you! You’re having the exact same symptoms your father experienced before this illness paralysed him. The doctor had said if he had taken GG in time, he would have survived. Horrified by the turn of events, you hop into your car and heed straight to the hospital, doing 260 on the road. You disobey every road sign and traffic light.  A sense of relief fills your heart when you finally reach the hospital. Rushing to the first nurse you see, you mutter your symptoms. Without even looking up at you, the nurse interjects, handing you a file with the instruction ‘Sit down and fill this out’.  You tell her it’s an emergency and for the first time she looks up at you, pointing to your left, her tone lacking emotion ‘There is the emergency queue’.  The queue could just as well be a four car Gautrain. By now your chest feels like steel, your mouth is dry and you know it’s only a matter of seconds before you take your father’s route. You look around and on your right you see a room where medication is stored.  One container stands out- GG it reads! Your heart beats faster and with your last energy you rush into the room and gulp down a dose of GG. Somewhere in the air you hear the nurse shouting ‘Hey! You can’t go in there! Only now do you see the ‘Authorized personnel only ‘sign.

No doubt, if you were to trade places with the man in our illustration you would have acted exactly as he did! The truth is, when it comes to life and death matters- we apply all desperate measures to save our lives, because we value our lives that much!  When it comes to life and death matters, we ignore all sorts of rules because it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.  As an entrepreneur, ask yourself this question, ‘how much do I value my dreams?’  The reality is nobody is ever going to bring opportunities to you. You have got to be brave enough and go grab them yourself!  The world around you might not have the same sense of urgency as yourself, but that should not at all deter you if you know what you want.

Notice what the man in our illustration does:

1.       He doesn't wait for the ambulance to come fetch him. He knows time is a luxury he does not have.

Don’t waste time waiting for that tender. Create your own opportunities. The world will catch up!

2.       The nurse’s attitude is the least of his concerns.

You have no business complaining about the world’s attitude towards what you strongly believe in!

3.       Even though the queue on the left side seemed long, he looked to his right.

Entrepreneurship is a bumpy road, do NOT give up. Keep seeking for solutions.

4.       When he caught sight of that GG, he did not for a second hesitate!

When you catch sight of your GG… Act! Act! Act! Start somewhere; someone is bound to take note of your action. 

Pic: Google