Perhaps this seems obvious, but if you don't have passion for what your business is about, you should get out… yesterday.
Often the problem is that the founder has too much passion, which doesn't always translate to business success - more on that later and how to de-tangle yourself from day-to-day operations. Lets first look at why passion is a necessity.
As a founder or entrepreneur of a business, you better have more passion than the people who are buying from you. What's passion? One of my most favorite restaurants is called The Playground DTSA (Down Town Santa Ana), CA. Started by the team of people behind The Lime Truck from the Great Food Truck Race, Jason Quinn and his team are so passionate about the culinary journey that they are on together that a lot of them share tattoos that epitomize the passion, views and branding of The Playground and their second restaurant 2.0.
How many of your team would be passionate enough to tattoo your brand on them?
Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th century British Prime Minister, once said, "Man is only great when he acts from passion."
It has to be true that inspiring leaders are obsessed with what they do. First find your passion.
If you don't know what your passion is, then you don't have one. That said, you may want to test if you are acting on your passion or think with a little help you might be able to discover you passion. In which case, there are three (if not more) things that you can consider.
Firstly, most passions resonate with people at an early age. While there are a lot of people that are clever, if you find a student at a university that is studying their passion, you'll find a successful student. Think back to what resonated with you earlier in your life.
Secondly, think about putting together a 'vision board'. What is a vision board? A group of pictures that means something to you. OK, I'm guessing you're not the scrap-book kind. Not to worry, this is easily (and quick) on Pinterest.com.
Third idea. Look around at the people (alive or dead) that you know or know of - and take interest in the ones that empower you to take action. Do you have a dream?
Don't let your obsession die; it could be your passion.
Of course, as every sensible businessperson will tell you, passion alone is NOT going to make a successful business.
Once you know your passion… we need to capture that allusive being as a vision so you can live it, and as values, so others in your organization can live by your vision.