How to figure out your passion

- And build your business around it.

Maybe you want to change the world,

or maybe you just want to do something fun! Either way you want to build a business that pays the bills and provides for the lifestyle you value.

The first thing you have to figure out is: what is the subject of your business? You have to choose what you are going to focus on, start with one thing first - there's time to add more. Right now you need to become an expert on one thing and you need to own it.

Question number one: What do you love to learn?

What are you interested in? What do you google? What are you learning right now? What are you reading about? That is your passion.

Question number two: What do you do really well?

What do you do better than other people? Do you have a special talent? This is what you can already do better than others.

Question number three: What do you love to talk about?

What is your most common message to people? What matters to you? These are your values.

Question number four: What would you like to do to make money? Do you want to teach something? What do you see yourself doing? What would you like to share with the world? What would you like to be known for? This is what your dreams are made of.

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So consider this example:  
One: You are a foodie, you love eating and you love preparing pasta with different sauces.   
Two: You make a great pesto sauce and you can invent a sauce with whatever you find in the refrigerator.  
Three:  You end up talking about what you ate and how you cooked it.  You ask your friends what they cooked.  You offer to cook for your friends.  
Four:  You see yourself trying food in different places, maybe reviewing restaurants and writing about it or you'd love to teach your recipes or you like the idea of a food truck.  

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The next step is to put together your story - why do you love this? When did this interest or talent begin? Maybe you helped your dad cook as a kid, maybe you had no choice and had to cook for yourself, maybe you worked at a restaurant and learned about food there. Whatever your story, make it the explanation of why this is the subject you are passionate about. This story will carry you through your planning and it will help others to understand your love for your business and what you do. Your story explains who you are and how you are different.

Now, there are different ways of becoming the expert or the go-to person. Your ultimate goal is to become the best you can be in what you do. In our example, some of your options include becoming the best chef or interviewing the best chefs and compiling their best recipes. Either of those can establish you as an expert and give you credibility. For maximum credibility you strive to show: you've gotten results (you are an amazing chef), you've done your research (you know the subject very well), and you are a role model (someone to be admired for how well and why you do what you do).

Once you have your story well developed you need to put it in a form that your audience, customers, friends, can relate to. Help them to identify with you, find things in your story that other people have in common with you. You don't want to be preaching or showing superiority in any way.

Using our example you can relate to your audience by reminding them about cooking with their parents as a kid, how fun it was, how close you felt, how you wanted to show them you could do it. How now you realize that your dad wasn't such a good cook but he was a great perfomer in the kitchen. Look at the feelings in your story to lead you to the part that will be relatable to others.

Once you have your subject and story well established, that it feels like something you can stick to for a year or more, then move on to Strategies for Developing your Business. You will find that article in my blog.