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Passion! It’s all you need, right? Just follow your passion, down the Yellow Brick Road. Fame! Fortune! Success is guaranteed. Build that better mousetrap, prepare for the thundering herd to beat down your door.
Not quite.
Most* successful entrepreneurs will tell you success doesn’t quite happen that way.
Every marketer in the world will tell you: find the market, then build the business. If there’s no market, you have no business.
Let’s back up for a moment. This article has been brewing for months. Motivation started with Johnny B. Truant – You Can’t Do It.
Then, Lisis from Quest for Balance wrote Net Worth vs Self Worth: The Passion Paradox, where I left this little note promising Lisis an article. I started a rough draft containing some links and some ranting.
Right… “Hell is paved with good intentions.”
Then Zach Clayton beefed on @garyvee for selling illusions. I wrote something like this:
Thanks for being the first to publicly call some of this into question. My friend Irina has grumbled about it, but that doesn’t really count.
Mr. V could have as easily spent that year digging for dinosaurs in Durban. Or wherever dinosaurs come from. Without missing any sandwiches.I’ve got very mixed feelings about GV’s “formula” or “philosophy” or whatever you want to call it. Because passion isn’t enough. You have to have angle (an existing business to base it on) and a market (millions of wine drinkers).
Without an angle and a market, it’s just delusional.
Kelly Diels finally provoked me into action with her screed on love, sex and money.
Ok, fine, you asked for it, you got it. Here’s the deal:
Does that make you feel kind of dirty? If so, why?
Have you lost any respect for me? If so, why?
Personally, I don’t have a problem with it. I live in an obscenely expensive region, San Francisco Bay area. Opportunity here is vast, and education costs time and money. A lot of time and a lot of money.
But people rarely talk about money openly or honestly. So we have a “credit crunch.” We have full recourse student loans. We have people walking away from their responsibilities, breaking contracts for economic expediency.
If more people were honest about their money, perhaps the global economy wouldn’t be melting down in trillions of debt, debt that’s going to default sure as the sun rises in the East (it’s only a matter of when).
Because nobody will talk honestly – personally – about money.
But we all talk passionately about how to get more of it. If passion were all it took, I’d be a bazillionaire.
You need an angle and a market
Ben Lang nails it with this interview with Noah Alpert of Noah’s Bagels.
Mr. Alpert asserts “Follow your passion but don’t let it take over basic business rules.”
Exactly.
Basic business rules dictate you can pay the bills while you’re building your business.
That is, you need an angle.
Passion isn’t enough; success requires a market and an angle. The market is self-explanatory: you want to sell hamburgers to a starving crowd.
The notion of angle doesn’t get a lot of play, but it’s just as critical, and everyone’s angle is different.
Your angle is how you pay the rent, buy groceries, pay the bills and more or less get all the “Lesser Mortal Sh!t” (Hat tip Gary Halbert) handled while building your business.
Your angle could be your savings, it could be your full time job, your retirement check, you might be supported by your husband, your wife, your parents, or you might be investing profits from an existing business into this new venture.
Fact: without that angle, you don’t have a chance. The blogging business is brutal because the barrier to entry is very low. Anyone can get started almost for free. You have to be able to provide for yourself while your building your business.
What’s your angle?
Deacon is leveraging his day job for success in his print making art. Walter Yu is leveraging earnings from his day job to build – on his own time – a personal brand in his industry.
My savings are my angle.
Gary Vee’s angle? His family business. He ramped to $70M from a bit more than $20k/yr. And that’s cool. He’s leveraging what he’s got.
What’s your angle? How are you leveraging your angle?
Most importantly, the burning question everyone wants answered, am I “oversharing” here?
*A few dot com moguls may beg to disagree. I will not name names. I might want to pitch them next year. [back]
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{ 35 comments }
Interesting stuff, Dave.
I currently feel I have very little to leverage. That’s I feel compelled to leave China after seven years and move back to New Zealand to start a business and build it from the ground up. I want to then share how my experience of trying to build a business goes with my readers and even turn it into a case study where people can learn form what I did right and wrong.
I agree that passion isn’t enough. Some doors have many locks and I think the door to success is a door which needs many keys to be opened. Passion is only one of those keys.
Gordie´s last blog ..How Passionate Speaking Can Be Deceiving.
Gordie, this is going to be cool. You’ll have all your stories from China to draw from, and you will be creating new stories all along the way.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..MasterMind Power Part II: Napoleon Hill – Father of the MasterMind
This is a great addition to the passion discussion, particularly because of all the links. I really enjoyed reading Zach’s review of Crush It. Though I like Gary V. (find him entertaining and interesting), his story doesn’t have quite the same inspirational ring for me as, say, Oprah’s, since she started with less than nothing, and he started with a pretty substantial resource network in his back pocket.
That’s not to say he doesn’t work his ass off… I’m sure he does. It just begs the question of whether his model can be replicated by those of us who have a lot less to leverage.
Either way, I’ve come to the conclusion that money clearly does not magically follow from pursuing our passions. Money is the direct result of hard work (whether you love your craft or not). But money isn’t the only reward worth going after.
I was just reading about Garrett Lisi, the surfing theoretical physicist who shuns a lucrative career in academia because his freedom means more to him than the extra cash and prestige would. As a result, he lives in a place in Maui he rents with several other scientists and will probably never be rich… but who cares? He surfs, plays, and hangs out with people he likes all day. In some ways that makes him richer than people who have huge bank accounts but no spare time.
I think we just need to divorce the concepts of passion and profit, since they really are not related. If you can find a way to make money doing something you love, GREAT. If not, you’re still going to need money to pay the rent (aka: get a job), and you should still try to do the stuff you love as much as possible (aka: nurture your soul).
We spend too much time focused on the money side, and not nearly enough nurturing our souls… unless we think we can make money at it.
You want my honest, personal opinion about money? Yuck. It’s a necessary tool, but one that tends to distort our perceptions and priorities. In that sense, it’s kind of like the internet. As long as we remember that money and the Net are TOOLS, everything is fine. When they become the single most important thing in life, shit gets out of balance and all screwed up.
Yeah, I said “balance”. Get over it.
Haha! I probably get enough “balance,” at least once in a while. Maybe. Story for a different day.
I like Gary V too. And I don’t think he’s coming from a wrong place. But it’s pretty rare to go from 0 to $70M. You need to “round the bases” as it were. My next bases is getting ramen profitable. More on that later.
Lisi is interesting. That’s been my model since high school, but I don’t have quite that much talent. I’ll get somewhere close, sooner than later.
I don’t have a problem with money one way or another. As you say, it’s a tool, has no moral weight one way or another. It’s how we choose to use it that matters.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..MasterMind Power III: The 5 Ws Of a Successful Mastermind Group
You really do have to have more than just one GREAT thing in order to make all this stuff truly work the way the “experts” do it.
Blogging is huge and making money online is even bigger. It comes at a price and sadly, most people think spending money online to make money online is bad… Why?
Have a market, have a target and have passion and keep on learning for success.
Eric´s last blog ..Lets Help Each Other
Eric – that’s what makes this whole blogging thing so devastating to traditional and established media.
A successful blogger wear many, many hats. Gets things done. Beavers away night and day, while others are loafing or taking time off, or living their 9-5, successful bloggers are accelerating.
It’s going to be very interesting when the mainstream finally wakes up. Risley thinks there’s going to be a stampede our direction. I don’t think he’s far wrong.
Whether the mainstream can handle “Uh, we work about 60 hours a week, you gotta problem with that?” is going to be interesting.
Another interesting thing is dealing with people who won’t just “Get it done.” We don’t have a choice. We have to get it done. Nobody else will do it for us.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..MasterMind Power IV: Some MasterMind Examples
Amen, Doc. Every single time someone wants to talk to me about any sort of “how can I do it” or “how did you do it” topic, I get nervous because there is no formula. A hell of a lot of passionate people with good ideas and solid business sense are going to fail. That’s fact.
I think the only thing that essentially guarantees success is persistence. Try enough over time and eventually something is going to get traction. Most people fail once or twice and give up, and that’s not going to be a win, guaranteed.
Johnny B. Truant´s last blog ..Is this another rule I should break?
Yeah, people don’t understand the depth of commitment required to make it happen.
Having completed post-grad, I can assure you this entrepreneurial track is as tough – maybe tougher – than succeeding in grad school.
The difference being that a successful entrepreneur *alwasy* has options… while a freshly minted Phd… not so much.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Lego Manta Warriors? Pantyliner Ads? It’s gotta be the Week in Review
My thoughts:
- a pretty passionate treatise against passion
- “screed”?
- passion is just fuel. It is jet fuel, at times. But it requires an engine to produce anything.
- sometimes new bloggers (even newer than me; I’ve only been at this for 9 months) apologize to me for “still” being at their day jobs. I think day jobs are the best thing that could happen to a blogger, writer or an artist.
a) If you hate your job, and you’ve got a passion that needs expression, you will work your ass off to get out of the job;
b) Being broke sucks every creative thought I have away from my writing and straight into survival. My job keeps me from being broke, and therefore is essential to my art.
c) Passion + head-down effort is everything.
A week or two ago, I wrote a tiny, possibly indecipherable piece about the difference between hard and easy.
What I was thinking about when I wrote it was this:
For the last nine months, I worked 8 hours a day, commuted 2 hours a day, mothered two kids under the age of five, and wrote 2-3 hours a day five days a week, and all weekend every other weekend.
Yeah, that’s hard. And it is easy, too, because while writing can be hard, and the creative process exhausting, I really love it. It doesn’t (always) feel like work to me. It is my thing. It is easy.
Now, if you asked me to apply that kind of daily effort build a business selling hubcaps or jewelry, I would fail. I would absolutely not dedicate that kind of energy and focus to something unless I loved, passionately, the process and the outcome.
So I do think passion is important. It is what allows you to enjoy the mundane effort and amass the incremental small victories.
Now, don’t even get me started on sacrifice.
Damn. Busted.
Oh, I got your indecipherable post just fine, but your secret is safe with me.
Amen to everything you wrote there, Kelly. Particularly (b). Being broke does nothing for my creativity, my passion, OR my soul. For allowing me the luxury of creative freedom, thank you, day job. And truth be told, I work with some pretty cool people.
Holly Jahangiri´s last blog ..Meet Prunebutt, What’s Left of my Muse
Awesome post and excellent posts. For me, I’ve realized my angle has become the fact that I’m a connector of people. It’s hand downs one of my greatest strengths. Until I read the Tipping Point, I was doing it all unconsciously. But by realizing it, I’ve started to develop my business efforts around that angle. No doubt that you have to some place that gives you leverage. Hope you get some good waves this weekend. New swell has started to fill in here and I”m just waiting for the tide to come down
Srini, I’m the same way as a connector.
Some people like to build a web and sit in the center, like some poisonous spider… too much work for me.
I connect people up, then get out of their way.
Went out yesterday at Bolinas, a little disorganized and bumpy, but there was a lot of water moving. Caught some small, but good ones.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..DIY WordPress: Thesis Theme Custom Splash Page
DayJob certainly makes some things easier, I can drop a bill or two on art supplies without worry, and I can afford to live in the heart of the City.
All this passion/drive/balance/work stuff has a pretty convoluted relationship with itself.
Deacon´s last blog ..Free Art Friday, Eggs, and Marketing
DayJob allows a synergistic “pushback” for lack of a better word. One key to succeeding at self-employment is turning the work into a day job. More on this later. Probably sooner than later.
Am I the only one who was blown away by the nifty link ‘back’ ?! That was very clever Dave. I came back all excited because I worked out how to link back to a comment and you’ve gone and upped the anti again
As for my ‘angle’, I’m very fortunate to have a husband to pay the bills and a part time job as a supply teacher to keep him less stressed whilst he does so
Interesting post Dave. I’m far too much of a newbie to have an intelligent comment to add to the discussion. Just wanted to show my appreciation for the links.
Eleanor Edwards´s last blog ..When Charity Doesn’t Cost a Penny
Eleanor – I’ve had to give up a lot of commenting for a while… I have a couple of dozen of technically rich articles needing to be finished. Contrary to popular belief, these articles take a lot of time to write. Or maybe I’m just lame! Either way, I want to clear some drafts and I’ll be back around in a couple of weeks.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Happy Anniversary! Website In A Weekend is 1 Year Old
Hi Dave,
I don’t believe it’s lame to get the writing done as a first priority. Sounds very wise to me! I was just very impressed with the ‘back’ link. Clever. Now go get some work done
Eleanor Edwards´s last blog ..When Charity Doesn’t Cost a Penny
Great read Dave,
I just want to add that along with passion and business sense, it doesn’t hurt to insert some luck and timing!
I happen to fall into blogging to promote an existing business, and i never looked back. Yes, I spend countless hours in front of my computer, but likewise I can take off to go skiing or on a golf trip to Florida, and all I need is my laptop, blackberry, and an internet connection to make money while on vacation.
As far as the investments you have made, I don’t see anything wrong with it. The way I see it, your investment means you will stick it out through good and bad times, unlike millions of others looking to get rich quick!
Keith´s last blog ..Need-Information.com Is Moving
Keith, it’s still hard to wrap my head around the fact I own all this content. I’ve never owned content before. It’s always been work for hire, or I’ve had to assign copyright to huge organizations with flocks of lawyers on call.
Hi, Dave. I was a little confused, at first, by what you meant by “angle”. Did you mean one’s angle is the service or product one proposes to provide (hamburgers [angle] to a hungry crowd [market]), or did you mean angle as the way one finances one’s business (the means of support: day job, spouse, savings, investors, etc.). I think both are important.
Turns out, I have a passion for helping blogs and other web ventures succeed — “Blogmothering”, if you will (hence, my handle). This is my “propose to provide” angle… it includes everything from writing and editing, to WordPress tweaking and SEO, to social media. I enjoy it in a way I haven’t enjoyed my primary employment in quite some time.
As for the support angle… at the moment, I’m in transition (have a day job that’s likely to end in the near future), so there may be a time when my husband’s gainful employment can carry us while I figure out a way to pursue this. If I could earn an income at it, that would be ideal.
Quest for Balance, a personal development blog and joint venture w/ my friend, Lisis, has been a labor of love, a fantastic partnership, an opportunity to self-teach (and to learn from experts), and a great way to connect with people. If it could finance more than just ramen, as you say, that would be fantastic. If it can’t, I hope it will be a bridge to other ventures that can.
Alison | Quest for Balance´s last blog ..Reading Body Language: The Pure and Simple Truth
By “angle,” I mean a way to support oneself while figuring out how to grow profits.
We’re both going to earn an income at this, I’m sure of it. We don’t have a choice!
Paying your bills and personal responsibility, what a novel idea! Follow your passion just don’t do it on my dime. I surely don’t do it on yours.
Lisis is correct in divorcing passion and profit. Since when did money equate passion or vice versa? I have heard time and time again about those who follow their passion and make lots of money only to lose their passion once it becomes actual work. What is the fun in that? Pressure and deadlines and demanding persons are enough to douse the flames that once burned so hot. Then there are those like Michael Gill Gates who didn’t know what his true passion was until he lost everything.
Passion can equal drive if one is so inclined. Yet one can have drive without any passion for the item/service/what-not and be more driven by the challenge/money/success. So, there’s a thought. What about passion not for any ‘thing’ in particular, but for the getting to the success in general? Your angle is your persistence, then your track record, then your persistent track record. I’m going to have to look into this further.
Anne´s last blog ..Honor Thy Father ~ Forefathers, that is
You’re definitely on to something with this drive stuff.
Watch this space!
I agree with Kelly here “Passion + Head down effort…”
I suspect most people start their on line career with a belly full of passion. Where so many fail is in not taking action. Simply not doing enough to reach escape velocity.
Mike CJ´s last blog ..A guest post. On guest posting.
Mike, I’ve never reached escape velocity in my life. Always seem to run out of fuel!
This post will definitely serve as a wake-up call to upcoming bloggers who think there is easy money to be found here. Often, what these same bloggers confuse as “passion” is really just a strong desire for easy cash – they aren’t necessarily the same thing. Those who are truly passionate about what they do will find ways to make it lucrative, but it is easier said than done.
Steven | The Emotion Machine´s last blog ..How To Combat Work Overload
Definitely a thought-provoking post, and no, I don’t think you’re over-sharing here. I think the web could use more transparency like this, so kudos. I remember back when Steve Pavlina used to post his earnings on his site. Since he dropped Google Adsense last year (and I’m still convinced his real reason was that he just wanted to push himself harder and not feel complacent) he dropped about $100K a year in income. Which prompted a lot of… interesting responses as you can imagine.
Anne, I don’t see how having passion for success itself could be sustainable, at all. Time and again we’ve seen that living just for your own survival isn’t motivational enough to REALLY make an impact. You’ve got to have a higher purpose. That’s why it’s so useful to have an idea of your own life purpose first.
Byteful Traveller´s last blog ..Create with Passion or DIE
Who are you and what’s your name?
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..How To Rapidly Create Pillar Content For Your Blog
Nice post! I agree that you need the passion to keep you engaged and motivated. But you can’t pay for the mere mortal necessities without a day job.
I work in the web biz, so my own blog is a more of a playground/laboratory. I have no angle, per se. It’s not monetized. And since the advent of Twitter & Facebook, I don’t need it to publish my personal life. I see personal blogging dying out, except for the occasional inspired essay.
Benxamin´s last blog ..Firefox and the A IMG Combo
Interesting POV about personal blogging dying out.
Do you consider lifestyle or self-improvement blogs as personal? Those seem to be growing.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Romance & Misery, Your Blog is Calling (It’s that dang Week in Review)
I read something about this recently (I can’t remember where, though). The argument was that the younger generation is losing patience for blog reading.
Because of social media, texting, cell phones, vlogs (and their limited attention span and need for instant gratification – I added that part) the “hip” crowd is trending away from blogging and towards shorter and faster means of communication.
Kinda sad really. We went from books to blogs, and now even 1000-word posts are “too much reading”.
Hi Lisis. Thanks for stopping by.
I’m not worried about because my audience is mainly 35-55 years old, near as I can tell. So I’ll write for them, and not the younger crowd.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Romance & Misery, Your Blog is Calling (It’s that dang Week in Review)
That was basically what the article ended up saying: blog readers are an “older” audience (aka: people who still read). As long as that’s your target market anyway, you should be A-OK.
Crap! I guess that makes me part of the “older” audience!!
It’s ok. We still love you, Lisis.
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