Five Tips for Successfully Turning Your Passion Into a Business

Passion is often an important element in steering women toward opening their own enterprises. A woman who loves making jewelry, dreams about taking it from a hobby to a business; a brilliant cook wants to open a catering firm. While zeal is a terrific indicator of what we will do well, as solopreneurs and small business owners, it is easy to let our enthusiasm focus us in the wrong direction—toward what we want to give rather than what the market wants and needs to get. So how can we turn our passions into businesses that succeed?

• Be Clear About What Your Job Is…and Isn’t
Even though it was your love of cooking that got you into catering, once you open your own business, your primary position is running the business, not preparing the food. Of course, at the beginning, you will likely need to do both of those jobs and seventeen more, but ultimately, you can hire other people to handle those tasks. If, however, you don’t keep your eye on the big-picture issues—creating a vision, shaping product offerings, promoting the company, etc.—there won’t be a business down the line.

• Know What Business You’re In
Quite often, what you think you’re selling is not what the customer is actually buying. In addition to the concrete goods or services they may be looking for, customers are often seeking intangibles like lifestyle and experience and identification. While a caterer might think that she is selling grilled lamb chops, baby blue napkins and tables-for-ten, her customers may actually be in the market for a once-in-a-lifetime occasion.

• Don’t Try to Be All Things to All People
It’s hard for many small business owners to pick a specific group to market their products or services to, because they want to give it to everyone. In fact, concentrating on your most ideal customers will make the promotion, pricing and distribution of your services more cost-effective, more focused and
just plain easier.

• Have a Plan
I know, I know–you don’t have time to make a plan. The problem is, if you don’t know where you ultimately want to go, you will waste huge amounts of time moving in wrong directions, missing out on great opportunities. You simply can’t afford to have that happen.

• Show You the Money
Let’s face it, many women with businesses don’t pay enough attention to how the enterprise will actually make money. To succeed, you will need to make smart, deliberate decisions about how to profitably charge for your products or services. If you really just want to give something away, stay a hobbyist, because if you can’t make the numbers work, you won’t have a business for long.

Tags: business, businesswomen, entrepreneur, growing a business, passion, running a business, small business, solopreneur, starting a business, success, women