Tuesday 17 February 2015

Following Your Passion-Really ?

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Some motivational speakers and some business leaders will tell you that you need to follow your passion in order to be successful. 

According to them success will follow if you are passionate about something, I agree but to a certain extend only.

I see myself as a realistic and fair person. Yes, I know everyone see themselves in that way but I have learned in business that one must assess situations realistically. 

For example:

a. I don't believe that the client is always right.
b. I do believe that you get stupid questions.

I see a lot of businesses that promote "The client is always right" which is not true but that is a topic for another blog.

Following your passion.

Which brings me to my point for discussion, following your passion. 

I am passionate about a lot of things; business, economy, scuba diving, outdoor life to name a few. I actually have a passion for my industry and can honestly say that there is no better satisfaction to see a happy and satisfied customer. But on the other end I would much rather prefer having a dive operation in Knysna, for example.

Picture this, I have a large boat filled with overseas tourists. It is a beautiful summer's day and we dive on a reef with 20m visibility, afterwards I enjoy sun downers with my overseas clients, THAT is my passion. But O dear the next day.......It's another morning and my boat is fully chartered with Japanese tourists, I don't understand a word, its cold, windy, swells of over 6m and visibility of 3-5m...where is my passion now ?

The media, motivational speakers and some business leaders often create an Utopia of passion and a lot of people actually decide to follow their passion without considering the possible pitfalls of their passion, because let's face it even passion will have some pitfalls. Just look at any Idol competition during the first round of auditions, a lot of those participants have a passion for singing but within one minute their passion is shattered when Simon Cowell tells them and I quote "Do you have a singing teacher? Get a lawyer and sue her"...bye bye passion.

To conclude:

Yes, we need to follow our passion, but if you are considering going into business with your 'Passion' make sure you fully understand the responsibilities and challenges that comes with that, because leaving your day job and starting a business is not childs play. You need to thoroughly investigate a number of avenues to start a business and and most importantly profit from the business in the long term.

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