Do What You Love and See What Happens Next

We all face the same fears when we think of starting our own business. If this is such a good idea, why aren't lots of other people doing it? Am I the first one to think of this? Will I just be wasting my time and money?

Remember, though, that the opposite of fear is love. We can begin a new business because we love what we do, and we feel that we have something to offer that other people want or need. We can use our energy to create a new business because we want to be in charge of our own schedule and our own cash flow. We can start a new business because our creative impulse is urging us to express it.


Then once you get going, the challenge is getting the cash flow from your new business to be strong enough so that you can quit your day job. Sometimes you have to quit the day job and take the risk.


How do we know what is true? We have to account for variable factors. For example, someone else may have tried the same thing, but maybe they just were not that good at it. You might be able to do it better. Maybe your idea is just a different enough twist that you can get more people interested in it than previous efforts. Sometimes new ideas just are bold enough and new enough that we are the first ones to try it. Sometimes other people are making a living doing the same thing we are thinking about, but maybe they get all their business by referrals and in person meetings, and so we never see their ads in newspapers, magazines, radio or TV, and therefore, do not know that they exist.


Today, we also have the internet as a way for people to promote their businesses. This could mean spending many hours finding ways to get people to see your website or send out information through emails. There are other ways of using all this technology that I still have to explore myself. There are billions of websites out there, it is possible that other people are doing what we are thinking of doing, but we just have not seen their website to know about it. Others may contain ideas that will work for us too.

At some point, we just have to summon our courage and creativity and go for it.

The world of business is changing so rapidly that even if you have a job in a big company, you have no guarantee that you will have that same job or that same pay next year, much less for a career. And even if you do good work for them and get compliments on it, you have no guarantee that you will have any job with them down the road. These changes are prompting more people to think about creating their own business all the time.

Not everyone wants to own their own business, but some of us see this as our survival instinct kicking into gear, and others may just really need the feeling of freedom and creativity in order to blossom and become more of who they are, to realize more of their potential.

Courage requires that we proceed even in the face of doubt and fear. That is what makes it courage, because it takes a lot of heart. A sure thing requires no courage. If you do what you love, no matter how successful your business idea, at least you will have the satisfaction of knowing what it feels like to expand your potential, test your ideas, and explore more of your world. Do what you love and see what happens next.