Passion in Business Ownership

  Determine What Passion Is
When It Comes To Business Ownership

We all have things we love doing. For some its exercise, for some its sports, for some its cooking, and the lists of individual passions go on and on. My passion is reading books. I have been an avid reader since grade school. I have taken classes and am constantly with my iPad, reading eBooks now or browsing the internet on topics of interest. When I was unhappy about the long commute, the lack of a cohesive management team where I worked, the long days of work due to inadequate staffing due to recent cutbacks where everyone was doing so much more and no opportunity for real financial rewards correlated to my efforts, I began to wonder if I should not find something else. When I looked around at alternative lateral moves to another General Counsel position, I found more of the same. Many required that I relocate my family, which was not an option. Those in the area were limited and the commute was often even greater. The work was the same in nature. I enjoyed teaching at the university more than my job because I was giving back to others but it meant I was working from 7 until 11pm, at least 2 days a week. I also was involved with volunteer work on my professional board and charitable boards and committees but that time cut into personal time to exercise as well as family time. I really wanted work life balance. But how? I thought that maybe I could have it “all” by owning my own business. When thinking about my interests and passion, I thought about a bookstore. However, my research showed that books were now available direct over the internet. It seemed as though libraries consist more computers than rows of books. Even big book chains were closing stores. The current environment and business trends did not support a bookstore. I also was not certain whether I would have enjoyed all of the other things connected with a bookstore – managing employees, managing inventory and purchasing, etc. After much research, I realized that my interest and enjoyment of reading was more of a hobby – my escape to relax and rejuvenate and not really a passion that I could leverage to drive and grow a successful business over time. Consequently, I began to think about what really provided me passion, satisfaction and joy that was consistent over time in my life and in the work place. I analyzed my background and skill sets to determine transfer skills of what I was good at, what I had experience in and thought about my weaknesses (where I would need to hire employees or contractors to help me) and was able to find a business that I am truly passionate about owning.

How 2:  Find a business where you leverage your passions?

Just as I had instructed my mba students about how to launch businesses, beginning with determining their mission/vision, developing a plan and then implementing that plan, I decided to follow the same approach for my career and desires for business ownership.

I developed my mission statement: Making a difference in people’s lives, one life at a time. Even though I had developed my vision/mission, I had difficulty figuring out exactly what I wanted to do until I rank ordered the following in terms of importance: [My rankings are noted.]

• Having passion (loving what I do) [2]
• Making a great income (financial rewards and security) [3]
• Enjoying a quality of life [1]

What did “Enjoying Quality of Life” mean to me? That was easy for me, as I knew what I wanted and what I did not like from my current position. I knew I wanted time with family and time for personal interests. Moreover, for these interests, I needed to have a flexible work schedule so I could stay fit, enjoy friends, and take a class to learn more about a camera hobby. I wanted to work closer to home and to have a situation without micromanagement where I would be more in charge or the boss. In addition, I wanted to be able to have flexibility to share and give back to others.

What did “Passion” mean to me? I came to realize my interest and love of books and reading was just a hobby – relaxation and escape.

I read and went on the internet trying to figure out what Passion really meant to me. I found that there are many books and activities on the subject. The one definition I remembered reading during my research was something like, “Passion is the energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do.” Simply put, it is being who you are and doing what comes naturally. When what you do is in alignment with who you are, you get energy from doing it. It is like water flowing along its natural riverbed. It actually gains energy from the path it’s taking (compare that to what most people experience in their work, which is more like trying to force it up and over a mountain).

Another book, called Second Acts: suggested an exercise to discover your passion. Please consider taking time to complete the exercise as it has been very insightful. Write a list about what gave you joy or satisfaction over your lifetime.

I completed my list over a few days and my top five consisted of the following:

• Organizing a neighborhood carnival for the first time and giving money to CARE. 40 years later the neighborhood carnival continues, but with current neighborhood kids doing the planning and organizing.
• Developing and implementing a new method of integrating “special needs” children into classrooms in the school and being named “Teacher of the Year” after the program became a model for the school system.
• Launching a UK subsidiary as a key team member that would be the entry point into the European Market for a domestic corporation.  This was its first presence outside the US, which eventually contributed multimillion-dollar growth to the bottom line over the years.  (Why: new, first time, team, leadership, recognition, financial rewarded with great bonus, step for future growth and thus contributed to legacy of company)
• Restructuring the legal agreements for future growth and obtaining buy in from over 180 franchisees to improve both the franchisor and franchisees’ bottom lines.
• Working individually with hundreds of individuals to help them find their passion and for many, helping them launch their new businesses through franchising.

Then I took this list, and started analyzing it, asking, “Why did this give me joy or why was I proud.”  Below I have rewritten the list and noted the “Why” by each item on my list.

• Organizing a neighborhood carnival for the first time and giving money to CARE. 40 years later the neighborhood carnival is still going on but with the neighborhood kids of the next generation doing the planning and organizing. (Why: new, first time, leadership, team building, creativity, fun, gave back to others, recognition, legacy for future kids to develop their organizing, planning and leadership skills)
• Developing and implementing a new method of integrating “special needs” children into classrooms in the school and being named “Teacher of the Year” after the program became a model for the school system. (Why: new, first time, leadership, gave opportunity to others, recognition, organizing, analyzing, communication, implementation, legacy)
• Launching a UK subsidiary as a key team member that would be the entry point into the European Market for a domestic corporation, its first presence for a presence outside the US, which contributed multimillion-dollar growth to the bottom line over the years. (Why: new, first time, team, leadership, recognition, financial rewarded with great bonus, step for future growth and thus contributed to legacy of company)
• Restructuring the legal agreements for future growth and obtaining buy in from over 180 franchisees to improve both the franchisor and franchisee’s bottom line. (Why: analyzing and solved complex problem and contributed to growth of company and franchise system, negotiation, variety, recognition, leadership)
• Working individually with hundreds of individuals to help them find their passion and for many, helping them launch their new businesses through franchising. (Why: new, variety, problem solving, challenging, educating and sharing knowledge when guiding, helping others achieve their dreams or find solutions to their problems or reach their financial goals; leadership, recognition; giving back to others; legacy.)

Next, I went back through the characteristics (the whys) and compiled a list:

• Liked new, different, variety, problem solving, creativity, challenging, different people and projects and companies, giving back to others, organizing, planning, working with team of peers, working with others, leading, lasting, domino effect in their communities through job creation, sharing knowledge, constant learning.

I then looked at my background of education and experiences: I taught, I counseled, I guided, I advised, I problem solved, I negotiated and I had legal, business and education degrees and work experiences in several franchise areas and new business development. It became obvious to me that I needed to find something where I could combine my skills sets of helping by counseling and educating others with launching new franchise businesses. I wanted to keep my law license current as I had worked too hard to let it lapse yet was not convinced I wanted to continue as a fulltime General Counsel but wanted something related to franchise and the law impacting this area.

What did “a great income” mean to me? I realized that I wanted to keep my current income and was ok if it kept up with inflation or even if it was a little less some years as there were many tax benefits from being a small business owner so that my actual cash flow might be greater with even a little less income. I didn’t want a set mandatory retirement like in corporate America as I found enjoyment from meaningful work provided I had more flexibility to schedule my own work time and thus even if I earned a little less was ok as I planned to work longer.

Then I looked at a potential business and opportunities and my role as the owner to determine, “How well does this align with the underlying characteristics that make be satisfied and give me joy?”

My personal goal was to make a difference in people’s lives, one life at a time. I wanted to have time and flexibility for my family and me. I wanted to leave a legacy for others. Money was not the primary driver, but I wanted a secure retirement and to be able to leave some money for my grandkids’ educations. I wanted to enjoy my work and not have the long commute. I wanted to be energized by the people with whom I worked. I wanted to be involved with the entire process rather than just being a small part of the process so I could experience and be delighted by the results of my efforts. I wanted to control my time so I did not want set hours like retail. I did not have a lot of employees or staff reporting to me. Thus, I preferred to be an owner operator or let the business scale up.

With these criteria in mind, I started exploring and eventually found my own “Second Act”- a franchise consultant business. Through my company, eAdvantage4u, I provide some general counsel legal work to start up franchises as well as business but most of my work focuses on coaching and guiding other professionals and executives to find their own “second act” through business and franchise ownership. I cannot believe I get paid to do what I do! I have synergies and alignment, which is the passion that drives my satisfaction and fulfillment in what I do and what I have found to be the key to a joyful, satisfying career and life!

You can do the same exercise and process with any choice you make. Simply ask the question, “Will this bring me closer to alignment with what energizes me, or farther away?”

eAdvantage4u can help you find a meaningful “second act” aligned with a passion for your business.

Please contact lsturm@eAdvantage4u.com or 614-766-1999 to speak to your eAdvantage4u consultant.