Marry Your Passion and Divorce The Rest
Last night I met up some fellow young entrepreneurs for drinks and chat here in NYC. Ryan Allis, Adam Gilbert, and Rich were all present and we had some great conversations about business, life, and the world.
Adam, who runs the successful and newly launched My Body Tutor, said something that left an impression on me: “I married my passion with entrepreneurship.”
For years Adam has had a passion for body, health, and fitness and he finally tied that passion together with entrepreneurship. I was ecstatic to hear how well he was doing with his new venture and even happier to know that he is finally doing what he truly loves in life.
We all, as young entrepreneurs, have to marry our passions. Starting a business around something that you truly don’t love is akin to cheating on your girlfriend behind her back – not good.
Simply put, it’s betrayal. You are betraying yourself by not following your true passions and desires. You need to find that special “something” that makes you infinitely happy, and marry it for life.
When you find yourself creating and running a company that you truly aren’t passion about, you need to get a divorce. Hopefully you’ll find out sooner than later, so you may be able to get a nice and clean annulment.
But, if you let it go on for too long, you are going to suffer even more. And, like in real-life divorces, not only you will suffer, but so will others. Your customers will suffer.
Think about it: if you spend a few years building a business around something that you truly aren’t passionate about and then all of a sudden decide to get with the program and start something you really love…guess who will suffer? All the clients that you amassed over the course of the business.
Now all of a sudden, you either end up shutting down the company or selling it to someone else — either way, your clients will be affected in some capacity, and most likely not to their benefit.
So the lesson is: before you start a business, before you go to bed with an idea, make sure that it’s something that you really love — something that you can see yourself pursuing for a lifetime. And if you currently don’t feel that with the company you are running, then it’s time for a divorce. Period.
9 Comments
Dame
April 13th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
“I married my passion with entrepreneurship.” Is also one of the best quotes I’ve heard also, but being a entrepreneur.
Ryan Allis
April 14th, 2007 at 4:55 am
Thanks for coming out tonight Dave. It was great!
Michael M @ freshome
April 14th, 2007 at 6:51 am
I’ve already did that.
I wanted to left a comment with something I’ve found today, about passion and dreams.See what’s about here ..
http://necromanc.blogspot.com/2007/04/passion-and-dreams-one-armed-basketball.html
Girish
April 14th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Nice video Michael.
Yes there is a magic in a person persistently following his/her passion for some purpose.
Great going guys, make sure you always remain loyal to your married partner
Adam Gilbert
April 16th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Dave,
As always it was a pleasure seeing you and hanging out!
Keep it going my man. I’m really excited for the future of MP!
Adam
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog » Young Entrepreneur links for 2007-04-16
April 16th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
[...] Marry Your Passion and Divorce The Rest - Adam, who runs the successful and newly launched My Body Tutor, said something that left an impression on me: “I married my passion with entrepreneurship.” [...]
Evan Carmichael
April 16th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Another great post Dave - it made the Young Entrepreneur Links of the Day!
Cheers!
Evan.
Adam Gilbert
April 17th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Dave,
Thanks again for the really kind words!
Adam
robyn collins
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:49 am
I have been duly impressed with both Adam Gilbert and Ryan Allis and the way they have implemented concepts that have brought them crazy success - and their willingness to share their knowledge with others. Wish I could’ve been there to absorb.
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