Identifying Your Career

Don't fall into the false sense of security that because you have a passion for something you should make a career out of it. Believing it will turn into a money making career is folly. You need more than passion to make it work. Believing you only need passion builds up all the grandiose thoughts that justify putting in sums of money to get it up and running. You are betting against the odds thinking you are going to make a killing out of the business. You are working against the odds for success. What will happen is you will exhaust your savings and will be lucky not to go broke.  There is a solution. The old saying 'inch by inch, it's a cinch' is paramount here.This is what I have done and still do as an 'odds on' strategy. Keep your day job until the business's income outstrips the day jobs income. Don't stop there, keep your day job until you find it impossible to do both.  Research the venture that has grown from your desire. Test it, ask yourself are there any other like businesses? What are the chances of it succeeding?To explain what I mean when I say to research the venture, take a trip down the eBay business as if you were thinking of buying it. You can go into the business via the Internet and check out the products, the way they are sold and how the business relates to their customers. The key here is that you must research and investigate the passion not as a career but as a business.I know many passionate paupers. From bird watchers to teachers and even professionals like lawyers and solicitors. Their passions [that have the potential to make it as a business] have failed miserably and in a few cases they find it hard to feed themselves week to week. I've seen and heard people posing as expert business owners.  They say, follow your passion, do what you love, follow your dream. All good advice for part of the story, but it's not entirely true. They only say what you want to hear. Ask them how many hours a week they work. How much of their family and social life do they have to sacrifice? How many holidays do they have? How many untrustworthy friends lurking around every corner do they have? If they are honest, they will tell you it takes hard work and commitment to be successful. Also a major part of a successful business is timing and just plain good luck, all of which you can influence. You can put the odds in your favour if you know how. How do you decide which passion you should follow? Simple, some passions can be turned into a solid business that has the potential of earning oodles of cash. How do you identify a business opportunity and still have passion until it makes money? Many books have been written on that subject. I've simplified it here:

The best business in the world without question is the information business.

 * You don't have to hold stock * Publish on demand * Use the customer's money * Markup is 100 times cost  * There is no correlation between the cost and the selling price  * You don't need any employees * Run it from anywhere anytime anyhow * Runs on autopilot, makes money without you  * You can please yourself what and when you do it

I'm passionate about the principle of business and not passionate without the financial opportunity of making great money. That is the key in deciding what to do to follow your passion in life.

Anyway that is what I have done, I took the elements of a successful business, applied them to an idea and within 18 months had generated over $140 million starting from scratch. I hope it works for you. I hope you can at least use these ideas to generate some extra income.