We talk a lot about passion in this business. What is your passion? It’s not any specific thing. There’s not just one thing you can be passionate about. It’s not about fate or birthrights or the alignment of the stars. What is your passion? I’ll tell you right now what your passion is. It’s whatever you want it to be.
Subject matter doesn’t matter. At the core of every industry, no matter how exciting or innocuous and boring that industry might be, are people making things and people buying things. What is the core of any business? People. That’s it.
You don’t need to be passionate about the product. You have to be passionate about the people who are passionate about the product.
At the core or every human need and want, no matter how mundane the subject matter, is a human being. Believe it or not, people buy sexy products like Stratocasters (best rock n roll guitar EVAR, don’t argue with me on this!) and vacations to the Bahamas for the SAME REASONS they buy life insurance or a higher grade fertilizer for their crops. People buy out of love, fear, greed, envy…the classic human triggers.
It doesn’t matter what your industry is, if you’re a passionate person, any industry can be your passion. If you’re not, you’ll never find your passion, because passion doesn’t come from out there, it comes from you.
Pick a business, any business, and make it yours.
Great post! “If you’re not, you’ll never find your passion, because passion doesn’t come from out there, it comes from you.”
If it wasn’t true, everyone would be passionate about the same product. Passionate people are passionate.
Great point!
Cheers,
Clinton Skakun
Thanks Clinton. I just honestly don’t think finding “your niche” is as elusive as many people make it out to be. Any business will do. So many of us work so hard on trying to find the “best” niche, with low competition, high return, etc. But you can make a killing selling anything. You can also lose your shirt selling anything. It’s not the product or the niche. It’s you
Twitter: revnyou
OH MY GOODNESS!! This rocks. So many people emphasize the importance of passion and I always tell people starting out to find something they LIKE… and when they start making money doing what they LIKE to do most people become pretty passionate about it. I am more passionate about teaching and writing than I am about real estate. But I really like real estate and the more money I make as a real estate investor and the more money other people I help and teach make as real estate investors the more passionate I become. PLUS I have found that I can write and teach about real estate investing!! So in the end, you’re right, I am able to pursue what I am passionate about within the industry I selected. AWESOME stuff.
Julie – thanks so much. I like the way you put it…just start with something you LIKE. No reason to over-think it. We make stuff too complicated
Can I be passionate about 3 things..Say my age and changes it brings, (sort of a “men of a certain age” discussion), construction marketing, and videos…
If I create a blog with three main topics have I diluted myself?..if you have one, even though I am passionate about it (say golf) don’t know if I could discuss long term.
I’m a passionate man, but my passions change (thank God) should I set up a different web site for each.?
Thanks for the post.
Joe
Great question Joe. I remember the first blog I ran never gained any traction for this reason. I tried to do too much. For me, all the ideas and content were highly related. however, you want to write from a reader’s perspective. It’s unlikely to find an audience who cares passionately about exact same range of things you care about.
There’s nothing wrong with running a personal blog…nothing at all. If you want, I encourage you to do it. the process taught me a lot. But if you want an engaged audience, it’s best to keep with a tight niche as much as possible. it simply helps you target relevant readers.
Take solace in the fact that all subjects relate. If you dig deep, I bet you can find a tight niche that encompasses everything you care about. Do a video blog about construction marketing for a male audience of a certain age for example
Don’t think a small niche can’t have a big audience. Many of the most successful blogs on the internet have a very small subject matter they cover.