Passion crushes fear and worry

You will sail much farther in the sea of business success if you begin by discovering first what your needs are. What is it that you love and feel passionate about? Then, find out what market needs you can satisfy by supplying the product/service aligned with your life's love and passion. 

The key to success as an entrepreneur is to find your passion, not just an unfulfilled need. The good news is that it's really not that difficult to find a match when you know what you really want. But do you really know? Many people assume that it is money they really want. Trust me, it is not money or anything like it!

Every single passion can be translated into a moneymaking business. H.J. Heinz translated his passion for gardening and making pickles into a huge enterprise that eventually became Heinz Ketchup. Henry Ford started the entire industrial revolution as a result of his passion. And Bill Gates put us all in front of computers. 

Then there is The Gap, Federal Express, Domino's Pizza, Netscape, Yahoo, Wal-Mart, Apple computer, and every successful software company. The list could go on, but you get the picture. Every successful business is a success for the same reason; passion is at its core. 

Of course, it takes a bit more than a passion to succeed---organization, innovation, good marketing and other ingredients, but it all begins with passion. None of these great concepts were built with "Let's see what the need is and fill that need so we can make a lot of money." No! Every venture that exists mainly to generate income is heading for troubles---big time troubles sooner or later! 

But, I'm sure some of you are muttering to yourself, Ya, but I don't have a degree! . . . That sort of talk is just lies from the ego and is pure nonsense, here are facts: The average net worth in 2006 of Forbes 400 members without a college degree was $5.96 billion; those with a degree averaged $3.14 billion. Four of the five richest Americans -- Bill Gates, casino owner Sheldon Adelson, Oracle's Larry Ellison, and Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen are all college dropouts.

Do what you love, and the money will follow. Your love will be your drive and your magnificent obsession that will cause you to never stop learning and innovating. If by choosing the right choices, you will choose to work with people who also are passionate (it is fun to be around those who share our passion). As a result, you will become not only good at what you do, but also passionate about whom you serve. Your business will thrive! 

With passion comes enthusiasm. Enthusiasm means there is deep enjoyment in what you do plus the added element of a goal or a vision that you work toward. When you add a goal to the enjoyment of what you do, the energy-field or vibrational frequency changes. A certain degree of what we might call structural tension is now added to enjoyment, and so it turns into enthusiasm. At the height of creative activity fueled by enthusiasm, there will be enormous intensity and energy behind what you do. You will feel like an arrow that is moving toward the target---and enjoying the journey.

Sustained enthusiasm brings into existence a wave of creative energy, and all you have to do then is "ride the wave." Enthusiasm brings an enormous empowerment into what you do, so that all those who have not accessed that power would look upon "your" achievements in awe and may equate them with who you are. When enthusiasm encounters obstacles in the form of adverse situations or uncooperative people, it never attacks but walks around them or by yielding or embracing turns the opposing energy into a helpful one, the foe into a friend. Enthusiasm and the ego cannot coexist. One implies the absence of the other.

Enthusiasm knows where it is going, but at the same time, it is deeply at one with the present moment, the source of its aliveness, its joy, and its power. Enthusiasm "wants" nothing because it lacks nothing. It is at one with life and no matter how dynamic the enthusiasm-inspired activities are, you don't lose yourself in them.