Business for Love, or Business for Money?
17 July, 2007 - General Business - 13 Comments
Most business owners will say they are passionate about their business and about the product or service that they provide. Honestly, I don’t believe there’s a successful business owner out there who isn’t passionate about their business. As I’ve said before, a business is like a baby. You give birth to it after nine months of hard labour while you manage your 9-5 job around the effort of all the planning, and then once the baby is born, you leave your 9-5 job and become a full time mother or father. Without passion, it’s hard to get up in a morning and work. Without passion, it’s very hard to run a successful business.
I think we all accept that the feeling for a business after launch is one of passion, but I’m also interested in the emotion that drives the idea of a new business.
When you decided to start your business (whether it be a blog, a Web site development firm, or a store in your local town), was it a love for the industry that prompted you to start, or was it because you saw a financial opportunity? Did you even consider whether anybody would be interested in your product or service, or did you jump right in because you loved the work?
An Example
Let me give you an example from our own experience.
My main work is as a Web site developer, working alongside my two business partners with our company, Equentity LLC. I started developing Web sites in 2001, and back then it was a hobby of mine. It was a hobby that took up every spare hour of my day (and then some!) but it was a hobby none the less. A few years down the line, I took the step of becoming a freelancer. Not for one moment did I stop and ask whether anybody would need my service or want to give me money. All I knew was I loved developing Web sites and that was what I wanted to do as a job. So, that’s what I did. I setup my freelancing business because I loved what I did. I never even questioned how much money I would make or where it would come from. At the time, it didn’t matter. I was doing something I loved as a job, and that’s all that mattered. At the time, I would have still made Web sites for people even if I was doing it for free. That’s how passionate I was!
Did you form your business because you saw an opportunity for money, or did you start your business because doing so made you happy? Back when you started, could you say you would still do it if the money wasn’t there?
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Posted on 17 July, 2007 by Jamie Harrop
Filed Under General Business |
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I started my business because I saw a chance to make money at doing something I really enjoy. You have to be really passionate about it to be sitting up all hours of the day staring at a computer screen until your eyes want to fall out of your head. But I can also pop outside with my laptop and enjoy the nice summer weather when I feel like it, so it has it’s perks.
On a side note, I noticed my comment count was cut in half, was I a bad boy?
Thanks for the comment, Nick.
Yes, you were a bad boy. Denise called and said she caught you at *that* bar last week and I offered to punish you. Muwahahah.
Seriously… I changed the plugin so it displays the top posters for the current month. It makes it easier for new readers to get their name up there, and weeds out those who haven’t commented in a few months. I think it makes more sense than having it set to “all-time”.
Denise is only mad because I left her at home when I went.
That makes sense with the comments, going per month is a better idea.
I have my own business, and it was started for financial reasons, basically I realised I could make more money doing the exact same job, but working for myself, it has also given me more freedom to experiment with other projects that I am interested in.
I probably work a hell of a lot more now, than when I was working for someone else, but I dont mind this, as at the end of the day I have no one to answer to but myself.
I started blogging as a hobby (I have only been at it two months), and after reading your blog and other blogs, I quickly realised that there is money to be made from it if you do it right.
There are lots of people making a good living off their blogs, the only thing I wonder about is can they sustain that over a long period or do they need to look for other new projects to invest in so they can continue to make money when their blog dies down. It would be hard to sell a personal blog to a major coproration.
You say that, but Jane May just sold one of her blogs for $20k.
I think she sold it to the company who owns all the *Bored.com domains.
But yes, just how long it can carry on for is an interesting topic of debate. New blog post idea there… thanks Nick.
Yup, for most of last year I worked 80-100 hours a week. Of course, I love what I do so it didn’t seem like more than a few hours each week.
There is certainly a lot of money to be made with blogs. Just look at John Chow and Jane May. FWIW, I make very little from mine right now (I’m not trying to make any), but maybe in the future it will make enough to buy me a few donuts each day.
I think I did a littel bit of both. I always wanted to be a freelance writer and blogger, and at the same time I knew there was money to be had if I could become successful…
A little of both is always a good thing. That seems to be where most people stand, as opposed to being one or the other.
If you love doing it then it shouldn’t feel like work.
Amen to that!
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