Much of the startup advice out there claims that entrepreneurs absolutely must have a passion for their business idea in order to succeed.
They tell would-be entrepreneurs to look at their hobbies and experience for the right startup idea, asserting that you will lose interest in your business if you aren't selling something you love.
Unfortunately, these pundits are ignoring a critical fact - entrepreneurship is the business of business...
no matter what operations you choose.
Passion-driven ideas absolutely have their benefits.
If you choose a business that is something you really love to do, you will get to spend every day doing just that.
You are less likely to get bored with your job, and you will be the ultimate marketing piece for your business.
If you are starting your own business because there is a certain job you want to create for yourself, then the passion-driven startup is definitely for you.
However, the majority of these ideas tend to make a living, not create wealth.
That is, the role you play in this type of startup is generally within operations, rather than acting as CEO, so your income is limited by the amount you can produce yourself.
If your goal for launching your own business is to become rich, it is unlikely that your passion-driven idea will get you there.
Passion-driven startups are like the ultimate hobby.
You get to do the work you love while making money.
Unfortunately, your business's profitability will be limited by your willingness to hand off the operations.
That is, if you are starting a bakery because you love to bake, growth will be limited by the number of hours you can commit to baking.
If you want to grow into a bigger company, you would likely have to hire a staff to handle operations because you would be busy managing the business! Even those entrepreneurs who launch a passion-driven business with the intention of growing the company tend to run into trouble.
Often, they have a hard time letting go of their personal connection to the product or service, the actual operations, and the customer contact.
So when it's time to let go and move into more of a management position, they remain too focused on the details of the company to the detriment of the bottom line.
If you are launching a company with the sole intention of making lots of money, the operations side really doesn't matter that much.
The business of entrepreneurship is business, and the best entrepreneurs can effectively run a company in any industry.
Some ideas are just more potentially profitable than others, and it's easy to become passionate about any idea that's going to make you rich!