The Business of Self-Publishing

The Business of Self-Publishing


3 Questions to Help You Decide if Your Passion Can Become a Profitable Business

October 31, 2016

Synopsis
Turning your passion, or passions, into a profitable business takes planning, research, commitment, an honest assessment of your life and your abilities, and a realistic assessment of what the market needs and wants - and is willing to pay for. Here is a discussion of three questions that you might be struggling with if you are trying to decide how to create a profitable business from your passion.

What You Will Learn
1. You will learn how to decide if your passion can become a profitable business.
2. You will learn what questions you must start to ask yourself that will help you discover your passion.
3. You will learn why you need to understand where your passions, your talents, and the market’s needs intersect.

Introduction
Deciding how to create a profitable business based on your passions is not a silly, time-wasting, money-wasting, pie-in-the-sky project. But, it’s also more than dreaming about what you love to do, or simply chasing after any passion that you have, or turning your hobby into a business, or figuring out what job you would do for free.

Turning your passion, or passions, into a profitable business takes planning, research, commitment, an honest assessment of your life and your abilities, and a realistic assessment of what the market needs and wants - and is willing to pay for.

Here are three questions that you might be struggling with if you're trying to decide how to create a profitable business from your passion:

Question # 1. What If Someone Else Is Already Doing It?
“But, if someone else is doing the same thing, then I can’t do it!” Wrong. If they’re making a living at it, then it’s a proven concept that makes money. They paved the way for you. This is a good thing. And why should you care whether someone else is already doing the same thing?

It’s your passion, one in which you bring your own personality, abilities, and experiences into. In contrast, if no one’s doing it, then there’s the possibility that there’s no serious money to be made in it.

Question # 2. What If My Passion Is In Something That Is Very Obscure?
The more niche something is, the better you must be at it, and the better you must understand that particular audience - especially if you want to make a good living at it. If a particular niche is extremely small, this most likely means that very few people are interested in it.

But, if those few people are wealthy, for example, and they see you as the expert in that tiny niche, maybe there is money to be made. But, who’s to say that you can’t pursue more than one passion or niche, that all together form one or more businesses?

Question # 3. How Does My Passion Align With My Talent?
In order to make a profit with your passion, your passion must align with your talent. But how does your passion align with your talent? Don’t make this more difficult on yourself than it really needs to be.

This isn’t rocket science. You are just so close to the subject that it seems more difficult than it really is. So, with that said, you should already have a good idea of what you are passionate about in life.

And hopefully you’ve done an honest assessment of what your talents are. Now would be a good time to reach out to your family and friends around you and ask for their unbiased help. Ask for their honest advice and guidance.

They can also act as a sounding board for your thoughts. Maybe one of them has already gone through this process successfully. At the very least, you will find someone to confide in that is also going through the same process.

Conclusion
You’re never going to have the perfect plan. Start taking steps in the right direction and do your research, talk to others about it, write about it, and read about it. This journey is not linear, but up and down, fast and slow. Look at this process as a learning experience - a journey of self-discovery.

And don’t forget that there are some things you won’t know if y...