If you struggle to identify what you want to make into a small business, you should default to something you love doing. There will come times when problems arise, revenue is low, and stress is high. At these moments, it becomes hard to sustain progress. When this happens, if you don’t have some illuminating reason to continue, you won’t.
One aspect that Stephen Covey emphasized when approaching anything is that recognized success follows unrecognized success. The lead time between obscurity and relevance dissuades many, but if what you’re doing isn’t dependent on success in a specific time-frame, you mitigate the anxiety of will I achieve.
When you want to build something, rather than thinking you want to start from ground zero, you should start by seeing things you already love, and add them together. For instance, I love to write. I’ve been writing competitively and professionally since high school. It’s no chip off my shoulder to belt out an essay, and if it gets zero views, so be it. I have no need to succeed in this as a venture, and while it would be nice to eventually make money from what I’m doing with this blog, it’s not the reason I’m doing something.
The other major advantage to doing a thing you love is that it becomes easier to justify doing more of it. Life happens, distractions come up. But, when you see what you’re doing presently as a priority, it can allow to see more clearly what belongs in your life.
A final note on doing things you love, people can smell authenticity and effort. It may take a while, but being passionate in something will drive your progress forward. The authentic joy of explaining things you find lovely to others is a gift, and people receive it as such. It’s ecstatic seeing people in their element, and by pursuing something you find intrinsically valuable, you can be one of those people who moves the world.
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