Chasing your passion

Ninety percent of the management consultants I have referred to have told me that before planning a business, one has to go into one's self and evaluate his or her stamina for business. Peter Drucker calls it "thinking and thinking through".

Almost all of the businessmen I have sought ideas on the best business to undertake at this point in time would ask me in return what my passion is before giving me a laundry list of possibilities.

Before one takes a risk in business, one has to examine what will sustain his interest. 'Starting a business is not enough. Unlike employment, when one begins a business one can not just resign from it." These words from my dear friend and outstanding entrepreneur Wilson Ng keep on ringing in my ears. They give credence to the need to find out what one would be willing to spend hours and lose money on at the onset. 

The rewards of good business may reap a good harvest and like any hefty yield one has to plough in a lot of hard work, time and resources into the endeavor and only a sustained and vehement passion can fire up the stamina to pursue what one really wants through the hurdles of many trials and errors. Staying the course has been the driving force that led Henry Ford to build his empire in the motor industry. He was undaunted by the many disappointments he initially had to go through in building his first car. The jeers and taunts of his friends did not dampen his fervor to succeed.

In starting a business, one can not just rely on what is the trend because trends like pop tunes reach a height and fizzle out without continuous research. 

Vicky Wallace of the renown Bee Farm in Bohol has made her delight for simple and healthy living the backbone of her business. Her heart to help her community has also made her develop other small livelihood activities like abaca and sinamay weaving that supplements her organic product packages and adds color to the quaint ambiance of her resort.

Along with the zest for the enterprise, focus or staying the course should be a discipline every entrepreneur should have. The temptation to succumb to initial luxuries over investments on research and further product development may come in like a festering ache. This nag must be quelled with sights centered on the foremost objective of growing the business to a stable end.

Continuous training and updating is part of the expression of passion. Education whether formal or informal is a must to nourish the business and the zeal that built it in the first place.