Is This The Worst Crap We Have Ever Been Taught?

15 years ago

I think this is the second post of this kind this week.

Seth Godin adamantly disagrees with you.

In fact, if you don't have passion, you aren't going to be genuine in your efforts to build a tribe. You cannot successfully market in this day and age without your tribe, who can smell BS a mile away. Your tribe will carry your message where you cannot, and multiply your message beyond your capital to directly promote your mission on a 1:1 basis.

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David McKee

15 years ago

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

I think this is the second post of this kind this week.

Seth Godin adamantly disagrees with you.

In fact, if you don't have passion, you aren't going to be genuine in your efforts to build a tribe. You cannot successfully market in this day and age without your tribe, who can smell BS a mile away. Your tribe will carry your message where you cannot, and multiply your message beyond your capital to directly promote your mission on a 1:1 basis.

That is, of course, if everything that Seth Godin says is true...

Now, I think what the original point here is that there are things we are Passionate about with a capital 'P' and is the thing we would do for free, and the old adage is that if you can get paid for what you would do for free, that is ideal. I guess the original authors point was that he did not want the business aspect to kill his passion for the sport of Soccer. So he pursued a business where he had a passion with a little 'p' so-to-speak. I think that passion is still genuine, but if he had forced himself to do the Feng shui which he hated, that would have been obvious to those whom he wants to carry the message.

It's the old adage about the guy who loves coffee and decides to open a coffee shop - well, you better learn to love accounting, inventory, taxes, hiring and firing, labor law, regulation and Osha requirements, etc. because that is all part of owning a profit making coffee shop.

-DTM

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MichaelHiles

15 years ago

Originally Posted by David McKee

That is, of course, if everything that Seth Godin says is true...

Now, I think what the original point here is that there are things we are Passionate about with a capital 'P' and is the thing we would do for free, and the old adage is that if you can get paid for what you would do for free, that is ideal. I guess the original authors point was that he did not want the business aspect to kill his passion for the sport of Soccer. So he pursued a business where he had a passion with a little 'p' so-to-speak. I think that passion is still genuine, but if he had forced himself to do the Feng shui which he hated, that would have been obvious to those whom he wants to carry the message.

It's the old adage about the guy who loves coffee and decides to open a coffee shop - well, you better learn to love accounting, inventory, taxes, hiring and firing, labor law, regulation and Osha requirements, etc. because that is all part of owning a profit making coffee shop.

-DTM

I understand the points. But I am not sure that I agree that someone can be wholly, and sustainably successful without the pure passion.

How many entrepreneurs that started major companies and went on to hit grand slam homeruns weren't passionate about what they did?

They just sort of liked things, but not that much.

It's the passion that drives you at 3am.

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phoenixx9000

15 years ago

I dont think you neccessarily have to be passionate about something in order to sell it - do you think your milk man is passionate about milk? Is a a guy who works in an appliance store passionate about fridges and cookers? No but he knows a lot about them and I think this is the major difference.
If you dont know jack about something I think - no matter how hard you try it will come accross as "I dont know anything about this I just want you to buy the product".

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MichaelHiles

15 years ago

Originally Posted by phoenixx9000

I dont think you neccessarily have to be passionate about something in order to sell it - do you think your milk man is passionate about milk? Is a a guy who works in an appliance store passionate about fridges and cookers? No but he knows a lot about them and I think this is the major difference.
If you dont know jack about something I think - no matter how hard you try it will come accross as "I dont know anything about this I just want you to buy the product".

A milkman isn't selling milk. He's delivering a commodity product as an order taker.

Big difference.

And yes, the guy who is passionate about what he's selling is a more successful salesperson.

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Steven Carl Kelly 15 years ago

How many times have you heard a great business success story begin with "It started out as a hobby..."

There's a reason for that.
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- Alminc 15 years ago
  
  Passionate or not, you can still build totally non-personal SEO-ed niche
  sites and make money either as an affiliate or by selling your own ebooks
  written by a ghostwriter who may be passionate about that niche, or not.
  
  Farthermore, you may be passionate about SEO and be able to get your
  sites onto 1st page in google, or you can outsource it to a SEO expert
  who is passionate about SEO
  
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  No links :)
  
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  sam12six 15 years ago
  
  I feel like the advice to go with your passion is mainly aimed at new people coming into online business because their attention span for the marketing aspect of things is usually short and having a real interest in the subject matter can make it feel less like work.
  
  Once you understand how to do business, you can look at the potential profitability of the niche first, then worry about whether you're truly interested in that particular niche. Even if you aren't, outsourcing the "niche" part and doing the marketing yourself is feasible.
  
  Let's face facts - If your one and only passion is catching your neighbor's cat, shaving it naked, then laughing your ass off, you're going to have trouble monetizing it (not to mention getting sued/arrested). The simple truth is that some niches have more/easier money than others.
  
  I find the best methodology to choose a general niche is brainstorm a list of niches I think will be profitable, then choose the 1 I'm most interested in among those. I look at it as a business. If I choose a profitable niche to work, it'll produce more money and time for me to pursue my hobbies. If my hobbies coincide with the niche, great, otherwise I'd rather choose profitable over interesting if the choice were forced on me...
  
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phoenixx9000

15 years ago

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

A milkman isn't selling milk. He's delivering a commodity product as an order taker.

Big difference.

And yes, the guy who is passionate about what he's selling is a more successful salesperson.

No difference - milk is marketed just like anything else - ads on the telly telling you to drink it etc. A lot of milk men are self employed - they gotta sell the stuff. IM products are delivered as an "order taken" also.

I dont think the sales guy is really passionate about fridges etc (like he dreamed of being a fridge sales guy when he was a kid) however, the best sales guy will be the one who appears the most passionate. Selling online is no different - a sales page is all about tugging at emotions and persuasion, The person who can do this the best doesn't neccessarily have to be passionate about the product. Do you think guys whp write sales copy for a living are passionate about the product they are writing the copy for?

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MichaelHiles

15 years ago

Originally Posted by phoenixx9000

No difference - milk is marketed just like anything else - ads on the telly telling you to drink it etc. A lot of milk men are self employed - they gotta sell the stuff. IM products are delivered as an "order taken" also.

I dont think the sales guy is really passionate about fridges etc (like he dreamed of being a fridge sales guy when he was a kid) however, the best sales guy will be the one who appears the most passionate. Selling online is no different - a sales page is all about tugging at emotions and persuasion, The person who can do this the best doesn't neccessarily have to be passionate about the product. Do you think guys whp write sales copy for a living are passionate about the product they are writing the copy for?

There's also a big difference between the salesman down at the local appliance store and the founder of the appliance company.

Choose your path and it's rewards.

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Black Hat Cat

Banned 15 years ago

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

How many entrepreneurs that started major companies and went on to hit grand slam homeruns weren't passionate about what they did?

How many entrepreneurs who were passionate about what they did went on to strike out anyway? I suspect the answer to both is "a lot".

Success can be your passion. The market itself doesn't have to be.

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da1fitz

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Black Hat Cat

How many entrepreneurs who were passionate about what they did went on to strike out anyway? I suspect the answer to both is "a lot".

Success can be your passion. The market itself doesn't have to be.

Hmmm in some ways I would say fair comment to your last update, but being quite passionate about my own niches - You still need to be mentally joined to the niche group to be ultra successful otherwise your only half way there, if that ...

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nimcus38318

15 years ago

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

I understand the points. But I am not sure that I agree that someone can be wholly, and sustainably successful without the pure passion.

How many entrepreneurs that started major companies and went on to hit grand slam homeruns weren't passionate about what they did?

They just sort of liked things, but not that much.

It's the passion that drives you at 3am.

I think that it is the passion to earn the money and run your business that drives you at 3 a.m., not passion for the subject matter. I think that you have to have SOME interest in the subject or you won't do anything with it, but I don't think you have to take your favorite things and make them unfavorite when they are driving you crazy at 3 a.m.

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bgmacaw 15 years ago

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

Seth Godin adamantly disagrees with you.

And he's wrong.
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Russell Hall

15 years ago

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

I think this is the second post of this kind this week.

Seth Godin adamantly disagrees with you.

In fact, if you don't have passion, you aren't going to be genuine in your efforts to build a tribe. You cannot successfully market in this day and age without your tribe, who can smell BS a mile away. Your tribe will carry your message where you cannot, and multiply your message beyond your capital to directly promote your mission on a 1:1 basis.

Couldn't disagree more with this.

This whole issue about "passion" has been taken to extremes. This is one of the big problems with newbie marketers in that many of them go with something they love. They create a wonderful website or blog (some of them) and then wonder why they're getting no sales or low traffic and no comment interactivity, and the reason is that they were so "passionate" about their product or service that they forgot to check demand and competition first. The first error in business is to fall in love with a product or service that you offer,- the reason for that is that you lose objectivity and can spend way too much time and money on your coveted product or service before you realize that your market has shrunk, shifted or been taken over by some monolith that loved it as much as you did.
Don't get me wrong,.. I like Seth and think he is quite the marketing wizzard,.. but let's not burden him with the label of "God" and expect that everything he propounds will be perfect,.. or everything he propounds will be correctly interpreted and applied intelligently and effectively in each and every circumstance.
Let's as a side example take young George Brown with his Google Sniper technique,.. which is quite brilliant in its simplicity and has proven results. He is not going per-se with products that he is passionate about,.. only where the keyword rich opportunities are. He's looking at it entirely from a business perspective and with dispassionate indifference.
Ultimately, it depends on whether you're building a niche site, an authority site or a web2.0 hub. The niche site requires zero passion (if there's knowledge and interest all the better..but passion is probably best left out of it). If it's an authority site then granted,- passion is probably going to be very beneficial provided that you can keep it in perspective. And the "hub".. no passion required... just pure business smarts and resources will do the job.

Footnote about "Passion".... ask 10 people you know "what are you really passionate about?" and you'll be amazed that the majority can't tell you!
In fact, I used to sell seminar seats at very expensive personal development training seminars and that was one of the questions we were trained to ask,.. I spent 9 months in that job and was astounded at the range of professions from cleaner to Barrister that could not answer it decisively

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Mike Newton

15 years ago

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

I think this is the second post of this kind this week.

Seth Godin adamantly disagrees with you.

In fact, if you don't have passion, you aren't going to be genuine in your efforts to build a tribe. You cannot successfully market in this day and age without your tribe, who can smell BS a mile away. Your tribe will carry your message where you cannot, and multiply your message beyond your capital to directly promote your mission on a 1:1 basis.

Seth Godin is undoubtedly an expert in his field. However, like all of us, he is not always 100% correct. Period.

I do concede that having passion about an endeavor, IM or otherwise, is a key ingredient. However, it is not necessary to have passion about every niche entered to achieve financial success. Neither does it necessarily equate to not being genuine or require any BS to 'the tribe'.

There are different levels of passion, it is subjective and dependent upon the individual's goal.

Originally Posted by Louise Evans

I don't think you need passion in a niche, I mean it helps, but it's not required to make money from it.

A good business mind is all it takes to provide good value for money.

I agree. For example, if money is the goal, then just because I am passionate about the 'Mating Habits of the Antarctic Worm', it doesn't necessarily follow that this is a lucrative niche.

On the other hand, there are those who happen to be passionate about a profitable niche, enter it and make money. In either case, it is all relative and there are countless marketers online and offline, who are not passionate about, but enter many niches. They are still sincere, provide good value for money, are successful and don't BS anyone to do it.

Mike

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BIG Mike

Banned 15 years ago

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A Bary

15 years ago

Originally Posted by BIG Mike

So what? Seth Godin has never contributed anything at all to my own success in business and yet despite disagreeing with me, I still succeed - go figure. :rolleyes:

Incidentally, that's not a jab at Seth - just reality. I'm sure on any given day any number of well known marketers may disagree with me, but the fact remains that their opinions have zero impact on what I do just as my own opinions are meaningless to them.

Just because they say it, doesn't mean it's true or factual.

Moving right along....

In my opinion, passion about something is probably the worst reason to pursue something as a business activity. There is no room in business for emotionally driven actions and passion, being an emotion can actually be detrimental to succeeding.

I have seen numerous people fail over the years because they poured their heart and soul into something they were passionate about and couldn't let go because they lost all perspective along the way as to why they were doing it.

I'm not suggesting that having an interest in a given niche is always a bad thing, but you've got to be careful that it not blind you to reality either. And there are miles of difference between an "Interest" and "Passion".

One of my own passions is building furniture (woodworking) - back in the states my large basement workshop contained tens of thousands of dollars of professional tools and equipment that I used to build things for family and friends.

I was damn good at it too - spending years developing my skills and techniques because it was a truly enjoyable hobby for me. And it's something I could never do for a living or have an interest in promoting. My slow, meticulous work in creating something would bankrupt me in no time

My wife, who is utterly passionate about teaching, and myself (I'm not passionate about teaching at all) own a private EFL school here in Greece. For years it lost money, because my wife, whom I love dearly, cannot approach the business operations of the school objectively.

Because I am passionate about my wife,

I got involved and took over the business end of things. I turned it around, put it in profit and established a not-for-profit foundation related to education for her. Despite it's ongoing success, her passion still interferes with the business operation itself.

Another thing many of you have probably seen right here in this forum are the folks who come in at what is more or less the opposite reason for making money online - desperation. They're about to lose their home, car, whatever, and they're ready to do anything to get by.

Invariably, their desperation blinds them to doing what they need to do to launch a sustainable business online (or off for that matter).

That said, I think that if you are passionate about something you want to monetize in some way, you may want to consider waiting until your other business activities are at a point that they will sustain your pursuing it. By taking that approach, you're putting everything on the line.

Just saying...

WOW!
You expressed my ideas better than I did

You are scary BigMike

And , what in your post I can argue about?

Agree for every single word

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Keith Boisvert 15 years ago

Passion is an objective word used too loosely.

I think some break it down way to far like they are drilling down for long tail keywords.

Passion is inside of you, regardless of what "niche" you pick. I am passionate about being successful and providing the best life I can for myself and family. I don't care if I am selling anal cream or hammers, or the two together, its the passion of success that drives me to do well.

And I don't let "passion" interfere with my decisions, so I try to leave "emotion" out of my business decisions. There are things I simply am fanatical about that I would love to do as a business, but don't because the smart side of me realizes that it isn't something that will be profitable. And on the other hand, there are things I don't really care for that are great businesses that I go forward with.

I guess I have built my business portfolio on common sense...so that I have the means to enjoy the things in life I am passionate about...if that makes any sense.

Now where's that cream?

keith
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Kevin Riley

15 years ago

And I adamantly agree with Seth Godin.

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

I think this is the second post of this kind this week.

Seth Godin adamantly disagrees with you.

In fact, if you don't have passion, you aren't going to be genuine in your efforts to build a tribe. You cannot successfully market in this day and age without your tribe, who can smell BS a mile away. Your tribe will carry your message where you cannot, and multiply your message beyond your capital to directly promote your mission on a 1:1 basis.

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The 13th Warrior

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Scott Million

WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU! All this cookie cutter IM solution stuff is the problem (and the fact that people don't want to work, the REAL problem) - nothing applies to everyone

A rule is only a rule until someone proves they can get profitable returns in the short and long haul by breaking the rule, then the guy is considered a genius, trailblazer,guru or maverick.

Simply because he went where others did not tread or dared to go AND consistently made it profitable.

How many folklores have been broken up to this point?

Maybe passion is the wrong word. Perhaps its cousin , sincerity is a better word.

I am sure a good librarian that brings you just the right books or reference material, or a customer service representative at a retail store or something, who gives you excellent guidance or points you in the right direction is not necessarily "passionate" about your particular needs.

How many people are good at certain things, do it too well without thinking, but hate what they do and would like an alternative way to make a living?

How many people have you seen are very, very good at what they do, but either HATE what they do or pretty hum ho about it, would rather be doing something else, would rather BE somewhere else not having ANYTHING to do what they are currently "good" at?

If one is passionate about a subject whose world wide appeal is less than 12 people, should a person pursue that as an internet marketing niche?

Also, exceptions to the rule don't necessarily make the rule.

If someone happen to make money at selling , say, collections of various lint one finds on the carpet simply because he is passionate about such a curiosity and find a few others like him, is that now the rule or simply the exception........ and what is the criterion to know the difference, AND know if its for you?

Passionate, sincerity or not, the first staple before anything is done is to verify if there IS a market, quantifying and qualifying the market, because if people are passionate about a certain niche, but don't have money to spend and usually don't spend anything worth mentioning or enough over cost to be profitable, who cares about that market and the passion of the people in it and the passion that goes along with it?

Passionately engaged and passionately unprofitable.

Maybe there is someone out there that is passionate about the worst selling product in history, but he loved it, should he start the marketing machine?

The 13 th Warrior

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mandylee216

15 years ago

Originally Posted by The 13th Warrior

Maybe there is someone out there that is passionate about the worst selling product in history, but he loved it, should he start the marketing machine?

The 13 th Warrior

I was about to agree that we should have a niche we are passionate about. I think it is better to have a niche that we know a lot about so that we will be able to promote it in a productive way

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MichaelHiles 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Kevin Riley

And I adamantly agree with Seth Godin.

I think it comes down to product creators having a very different perspective than say, affiliate marketers or article marketing bloggers.
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discrat

15 years ago

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

I think this is the second post of this kind this week.

Seth Godin adamantly disagrees with you.

In fact, if you don't have passion, you aren't going to be genuine in your efforts to build a tribe. You cannot successfully market in this day and age without your tribe, who can smell BS a mile away. Your tribe will carry your message where you cannot, and multiply your message beyond your capital to directly promote your mission on a 1:1 basis.

Ehhh...wrong answer !!

First of all, the OP didnt say to not have Passion in what you are doing. He said it shouldn't be Passion directed toward a particular Niche. A BIG difference here. Because you can still have Passion in the actual process of building a successful business and doing the necessary things to be successful and NOT have Passion about that particular Niche you are promotng. Believe my friend you can !! You can also be Passionate about the relationships you foster within that particular Niche although deep down down you are not really interested in the Product itself.

That bieng said , I found out long ago that what the OP makes total sense and that is too NEVER try to make Money or make a business out of something you truly have incredible Passion for (as far as a partuclar product or niche)
I think this can be a recipe for disaster. Once you start bringing money into the equation then it takes away part of the altruism of it being a really True Passion. Money can have a habit of distorting things. Metaphorically speaking have you ever heard of the saying " NEVER mix business with pleasure " ?? Or "NEVER do business with friends of family "?? The same can be said when you mix your true Passions with making Money. It can go sour and when it is all said and done your Passion may well have died off. Money can do that.

And I am talking about the kind of Passion that CANT BE BOUGHT OR SOLD. Case and Point, remember this commecial : "two tickets to a Mets game $100, the smile of your sons face when he catches a fouls Ball, PRICELESS !!

Nuff said

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Louise Green

15 years ago

I don't think you need passion in a niche, I mean it helps, but it's not required to make money from it.

A good business mind is all it takes to provide good value for money.

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Memory C 15 years ago

I agree. Passion is important but sometimes the best niches are ones that you are not passionate about. What you need to do is learn all there is to know about that particular niche and give good value to your customers. Passion alone does not mean your content is good or up-to-date. There may be other people who have have more knowledge and information about your niche even though they would not call it a passion of theirs so learn from them as much as you can. To be successful in this industry, you have to be open minded.

I know a few happily married people who have not been in the dating scene for several decades that have made a fortune in dating niches.
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TLTheLiberator

15 years ago

If you are not sincere in writing for any market you're operating in, it very well could seep into your writing.

Of course it's a lot more fun to operate in niches that you are passionate about but it's not necessary to made good money.

TL

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George Wright

15 years ago

Hi,

Some people do this to make money. Anything they find that makes them money becomes their passion.

Ooops did I say that.

George Wright

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Eric Lorence 15 years ago

I guess if your passion just happens to be Forex - you'll make loads of cash ...

Decorative Snow Globes ... Not so much ...
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- Bryan Zimmerman 15 years ago
  
  It works really simple in that what ever puts money in your pocket, your going to learn to be pasionate about it. Even if you never set out to be
  
  I've always thought the "start with something that your passionate about" sentence was off base. You can learn enough in reading for about an hour to get started on anything you want. Unless of course your talking about how to configure lasers or something.
  
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wantselltrade

15 years ago

Personally, I feel you must be passionate to truely enjoy it. Also the added benefit is that you have the knowlege of the niche or product at hand. This can save you money. Does this mean you always have to follow this, NO. Other niches in a lot of cases are more profitible in the short and long run. BUT this does mean you have to work your butt off to learn learn and learn if you truely want to maximize your profit potential.

Just my 2 cents

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Steven Carl Kelly

15 years ago

First, the general idea of passion is correct. If you have passion for a subject you are more likely to sustain your interest in making it a success, even through the rougher periods.

Second, it isn't an absolute MUST to be passionate about your the subject of your business, but I'd wager that more people are successful WITH passion than are without it.

Third, all of my undertakings for which I began with passion are generally more successful than those I started without. If I am passionate about something I spend more time on it, I enjoy doing it more, I consider it less of a chore, and I always look forward to dealing with it, whether I have to deal with something positive or negative. Why? Because I have passion for that subject.

So yeah, passion may not always be necessary, but I'll stack someone with a passion for a subject up against someone who has very little interest in it and I'm pretty sure the former will outperform the latter in most cases.

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madison_avenue

15 years ago

A large part of the passion, possibly most of it has to be about the business of business, about the marketing of business. Otherwise we are really talking about a hobby not a business. I have many hobbies but I am aware that most of them will never be businesses.

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Daniel E Taylor

15 years ago

Some people are passionate about marketing
and selling. So they will be successful selling
in almost any niche.

But if you aren't passionate about marketing which means
spending most of yoru time learning, devouring, and reading
about marketing, then it would be best to find something
you are passionate about and sell that.

It worked for me.

2 things you said were incorrect.

1. IF you have passion about something you are already
an expert at it.

That's totally false. There are things I'm passionate about,
but I haven't gotten around to learning them inside and out.

2. You can be passionate about more than 1 thing in life.
Geez.

The thing is once you start seeing success in business you realize
there some passion somewhere about something or you wouldn't
have made through the tough times.

Some people have a passion for just selling and marketing and making money, so they
can get into any niche. But again there must be a passion and a true urge
to learn marketing. And that's only a few people.

Moral of the story:

Sense you have not yet made it in business you probably aren't the
best person people should be getting their advice from.

Daniel

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Asher

15 years ago

Napolean Hill stated...
"Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire.
(There is no such reality as "something for nothing.)"

Doing something for business that you have a passion in
offers you sustainability. As Steven Carl Kelly stated,
"How many times have you heard a great business success
story begin with 'It started out as a hobby...'"

(Honestly, I don't hear it a lot, or at least not that I can
think of... but I get the point of it)

It doesn't guarantee success - but what on this earth, does?
Having a passion merely tips the odds in your favour.

And who ever said that a business has to be about building
a site? Building a site is merely just another POSSIBILITY of
marketing what you love to do.

If you were paid to give a talk about the history of soccer,
would you do it? Given that you can talk about the history
of soccer to its most minute detail... I think you might take
up the offer.

That, in itself, could be a business. It just hasn't taken on
a form of a corporation or sorts.

Wikipedia states...

The etymology of "business" relates to the state of being busy either as an individual or society as a whole, doing commercially viable and profitable work.

While Wikipedia isn't the defining term of what business
is (as it states later that the definition of business is still
a matter of debate), it gives us a fine idea of what it
generally is.

So... is this the worst crap we have ever been taught?

I tend to disagree.

It's just whether you've found the right niche and angle to
start making it a profitable one for you... being a perfect
alchemy mix between fun, profit and the exchange of value.

Asher

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Matt Bard

15 years ago

How about being passionate about doing a good job, passionate about doing the best you can do?

I have had jobs where I had to answer to somebody else and was only there to earn rent and food money but that didn't stop me from trying to do the best job I could do.

I was very passionate about doing my best because there is another important element that gets left out of these threads and conversations.

That is personal pride.

If I find a profitable niche that I know nothing about I will go learn as much as I can about that subject because I want to do the best that I can and it's not always about making money.

Would I like to make a lot of money in a niche? Yes of course but more importantly to me is if I am doing the best I can do and if it is quality work.

I have done many jobs where the money was not there or not good but that does not stop me from trying to do the best that I can.

If you are passionate about doing a good job then you are a success.

Now find the job, niche, business...that will bring in the money.

Matt

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Fun to Write

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Matt M

How about being passionate about doing a good job, passionate about doing the best you can do?

I have had jobs where I had to answer to somebody else and was only there to earn rent and food money but that didn't stop me from trying to do the best job I could do.

I was very passionate about doing my best because there is another important element that gets left out of these threads and conversations.

That is personal pride.

I strongly believe in this too.

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Fun to Write

15 years ago

I believe that it helps to be interested in some way with a niche you're committed to building a business with. You'll be able to churn out the work that's needed a lot easier than a niche that you become bored with quickly.

Ex: how many people are really interested in Insurance or Mortgage?

Who will make more money in the Insurance and Mortgage categories?

The person who throws up some rehashed content, or a person who creates an authority site based on having worked years in the business?

I'll go with #2.

Of course, having said that, it's possible to outsource the production of content in these two niches and come up with some type of quality products, without being actually much interested in it.

One business model is based on true knowledge, the other is based on deep pockets.

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SurviveUnemployment

15 years ago

Can you make money without passion? Sure, but is that the life you want?

The other thing is this: You'll be more motivated if you're passionate. I don't mind staying up 'til the crack of dawn writing about things that interest me.

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John Hixson

15 years ago

Just to miss the point spectacularly a moment

The OP - if your passion is football don't rule out setting up in it. i run a blog in the sport I am passionate about but set it up without intention of making a living from it (I still dont). But it has provided a lot of GREAT stuff for me as I am passionate about it.

I make about $15 a day off of adsense on the blog and about $2 or 3 off of Amazon which is nice. Faaaar more important to me, as it is my passion, is what it has enabled me. I now have connected with a lot of the top bloggers in the industry. I have got to go to events with my heroes, sit with them at meals, interview them for the blog etc. I have been given press passes and advance merchandise to review.

If you have the passion for something and talk about it nonstop even without paying - why not set up something? I talk about my sport on about 3 different forums, why not also write my opinion on something that will also make me a little money?

Missing the point of what you are getting at but don't dismiss doing a football blog because it is your passion - so long as you dont approach it as a proper IM business but some fun that might make you money it wont lose its sparkle but can gain you an awful lot.

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Steven Fullman

15 years ago

Interesting discussion.

"Passion"

There's an emotive word.

I might replace it with these phrases: "vaguely interested in" or "not completely stupid at"...or to distil it down to the actual point: "I understand what these people want".

Folks don't buy stuff (normally) because the VENDOR is "passionate" about something. They buy because THEY are passionate about it.

You are the conduit. You're not their damned soul-mate.

Of course, if you ARE passionate about a niche with proven buyers...go hog-wild! You've just struck gold.

Note to OP...football being one of them. (btw, I refuse to call football "soccer"...just a pet peeve of mine

)

Steve

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A Bary 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Steven Fullman

Interesting discussion.

Note to OP...football being one of them. (btw, I refuse to call football "soccer"...just a pet peeve of mine)

Steve

Just for fellow Americans to know what I am talking about

Football is one thing in the whole world and just another in the states...

I hate the "soccer" term as well and find it cheesy...
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GarryMSayer

15 years ago

This is a great topic for a thread and an engaging and interesting read.

You must always go for niches you are passionate about.

How many times have we heard this??

I agree with it in principle, let's say you do some brainstorming and research and you discover 3 - 5 niches you think would be really good, then MAYBE in that instance then yes it would be best to go for the one that you find the most interesting or have the most experience with.

It certainly helps with writing content and thinking up product ideas etc. at first. Problems arise when you might be so used to this niche that you struggle to think up the kind of fresh ideas that someone with less knowledge of the 'rules' of that niche might be able to come up with.

Plus - if all the niches you are passionate about don't look like good, profitable niches, then it is just not worth the effort! Give me a good niche any day over one that I like but can't make good money with.

Heck, you can outsource the creation of a product, you don't need to be 'in' the niche, just marketing to it, and marketing principles remain much the same from niche to niche.

From my experience you should not fall into this trap, go for the best niche you can find that you can stomach working in. Go back to your passions later when you have experience and capital to reinvest.

Garry.

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francof

15 years ago

I don't see why you still can't make what you're passionate about profitable. It's like you're saying that doing business in that niche will somehow ruin your personal enjoyment of it. I don't see how that would be the case. Even if you don't want to somehow compromise your commitment as a fan by giving precedence over SEO / business aspect and just contribute 100% from the perspective of a fan of the game, I bet you'd probably get better SEO out of it because you'd be writing stuff that other fans will actually find interesting and not writing for search engines. Which in turn will get your regular traffic, natural back links etc.

Sometimes we get the best result in something by not thinking about it so much and just focusing on doing what do and what we love.

That's the beauty of doing business in a niche you're so passionate about IMO, you don't even have to treat it like a business for it to make money, just do like John Hixson says above, to start just stick some adsense and other affiliate programs on the site. You might just be surprise how successful in becomes if you're writing for the fans and not with any motive to satisfy the search engines and without a primary goal of making money.

Then if it becomes successful and still cant' stand the thought of treating it like a fully-fledged business, you could always sell it and stay on as a paid contributor or hire someone to take care of the business aspect of it (revenue share or something like that).

So to sum up, I fail to see how it would ruin your personal enjoyment of something by being in business in that niche.

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A Bary

15 years ago

Originally Posted by francof

I don't see why you still can't make what you're passionate about profitable. It's like you're saying that doing business in that niche will somehow ruin your personal enjoyment of it. I don't see how that would be the case. Even if you don't want to somehow compromise your commitment as a fan by giving precedence over SEO / business aspect and just contribute 100% from the perspective of a fan of the game, I bet you'd probably get better SEO out of it because you'd be writing stuff that other fans will actually find interesting and not writing for search engines. Which in turn will get your regular traffic, natural back links etc.

Sometimes we get the best result in something by not thinking about it so much and just focusing on doing what do and what we love.

That's the beauty of doing business in a niche you're so passionate about IMO, you don't even have to treat it like a business for it to make money, just do like John Hixson says above, to start just stick some adsense and other affiliate programs on the site. You might just be surprise how successful in becomes if you're writing for the fans and not with any motive to satisfy the search engines and without a primary goal of making money.

Then if it becomes successful and still cant' stand the thought of treating it like a fully-fledged business, you could always sell it and stay on as a paid contributor or hire someone to take care of the business aspect of it (revenue share or something like that).

So to sum up, I fail to see how it would ruin your personal enjoyment of something by being in business in that niche.

Great ideas!

Yet, we are humans, and when something just turns to a biz (at least for me), it loses it's personal and fun touch

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Raydal

15 years ago

The advice of finding a niche you are passionate about
has to do with creating your first product, not general
to making money online. That's where I find this
discussion is off.

Some people enjoy creating, some selling/marketing. If
you are involved in the creative side you must be passionate
about what you do to survive. If you are just selling to
make money then you can always choose to sell anything.

-Ray Edwards

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A Bary

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Raydal

The advice of finding a niche you are passionate about
has to do with creating your first product, not general
to making money online. That's where I find this
discussion is off.

Some people enjoy creating, some selling/marketing. If
you are involved in the creative side you must be passionate
about what you do to survive. If you are just selling to
make money then you can always choose to sell anything.

-Ray Edwards

Thanks Ray..
A Valid point...
But the problem is, some so called gurus are generalizing the concept that is ideal for the product creation area to the whole online business practice.

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Steven Fullman

15 years ago

So don't listen to them. Make your own mind up

I should explain: you really ought to have a healthy disregard for so-called "wisdom".

It's often little more than folklore and/or unsubstantiated nonsense.

Find out for yourself what works FOR YOU.

Steve

Originally Posted by goldmind123

Thanks Ray..
A Valid point...
But the problem is, some so called gurus are generalizing the concept that is ideal for the product creation area to the whole online business practice.

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actionplanbiz

15 years ago

You got to Have Passions, Desire, and a Nose to smell Crap!

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kimiroger

Banned 15 years ago

[DELETED]

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DogScout

15 years ago

Originally Posted by kimiroger

I don't think you necessarily have to have knowledge or even be passionate about your niche. I think all that's needed is for some way you can provide value to the customers in that niche. As long as you find some way to provide the value, you will have a long term business model.

I agree, that is to say, it is OK to be passionate about the niche and that passion has it's own sets of pluses and minuses
(It is easier to stay motivated, research time is reduced, the passion you feel comes out in your writing easier, etc, etc; some minuses can be preconceived notions you won't let go of that interfere with general consensus and sales, not knowing when to 'drop it' when it doesn't produce as much income to compensate for the time it takes, etc etc etc)

On the other hand, A niche you do not know well, can motivate you to do BETTER research, take a more objective and sales oriented view, etc etc; on the other hand, it MAY make you less motivated and feel like it is 'work' more than a passionate subject, you may not know enough to realize you got a hold of bad information before passing it on to your 'herd' (which let's them know right away, you don't know your poop), etc etc etc

So my thing would be to go where the money is, take whatever steps necessary to guard against whatever disadvantages that niche has (due to being either passionate about it or not).

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da1fitz

15 years ago

Although it is easy to research a niche and come across as an expert in that area, eg trainspotters,radio hams,footy/rugby fans etc,those people will know if you really understand their questions and have genuine passionate answers or not, and if you just write reworded stuff that you have read somewhere they will know straight away - just searching eg clickbank for a top selling product related to this niche will probably sell OK to persons new to that niche but seasoned "target nichers" will see through you immediately and you will probably lose lots of sales based on this translucence - Subject Passion is a must!! Full stop - QED

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Loren Woirhaye 15 years ago

I wrote and produced a 20-minute video about this topic
recently. I won't tell you you must make a product about
soccer - don't if you don't want to - but DO be passionate
about helping people in some way.

If you are going to be a publisher there is lots of room
for finding product ideas that are commercially viable
and which hold your interests. They don't have to be
your key passions, because, frankly, those are often
not the best commercial things to make products about.

Here's the video:

Viddler.com - info-product creation strategies: How to win with your first information product, ebook, video course, or software
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GrantFreeman

15 years ago

"But, will I build a soccer site someday?

NEVER!!

Why?

Because IT'S MY PASSION..."

Um.. errr....uhhhh.....ehhh...What!?

That's the weakest reasoning I've read in a long time.

See a trend or a need/product that will make people happy? Then give it to them and stop worrying about all this "crap" that doesn't matter.

If you're not passionate about giving me quality, I'll be even more passionate about returning it.

G

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timpears

15 years ago

I personally think that it comes down to my passion is to make money so I can feed my family. I have always had a bit of skepticism for the "you got to have passion" for your niche bs. Over the last couple of months I have had communication with a couple of Warriors that do pretty well. One has 285 sites according to what he saidd, and made around $35K in a month. Do you think that was all in one niche of his passion, or was it from many niches that he is probably not all that passionate about? My guess is that he is passionate about his business model, and the niches are secondary. He finds stuff that he can make money with and goes with that.

Another fellow told me that he makes about $200 a day from Adsense, so I got to assume that he has multiple sites, and I would also guess that he isn't passionate about all of those niches either.

I don't know these things to be facts, but I think it is fairly obvious that those two people are not passionate about all of the niches that they have sites based on. But what do I know, just my two cents.

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Kevin_Hutto

15 years ago

The Jobification of your passion can be the ticket to Hating your life.

One of the most damaging myths perpetuated by our society is . . .
The Myth that if You Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow

There is this insane myth in our culture that if you do what you love, the money will naturally follow. It's one of those deceptive half truths that often leads to humiliation.

The reality, however, is much more like this: if you're dedicated, disciplined, and smart, and willing to make short-term sacrifices for long term gains, AND you fundamentally understand how money is made (i.e. and the ins and outs of successful business models and the business models of your competitors), then there's a good probability that, if you're selective about what you do, you can turn your passion into a money making venture. Whew.

This isn't always the case, but it usually is.

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billionareHuman

15 years ago

you don't need to have a passion to promote something however if you do your going to be able to do so much more for other people, people can tell if you know what you are talking about or not, like someone else said 'smell your BS' a mile away, and make so much more money and have fun along the way

if I started trying to sell you Soccer stuff which I know nothing about you would be able to tell straight away, people are not stupid!

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TelegramSam

15 years ago

It is important to realise in all this, that a person is able to choose what they do.

No one forces anyone to enter a niche they don't want to be in. Yes, sometimes circumstances mean a niche almost seems to choose itself or one "just seems to fall into" a certain niche.

It's time to step back for a minute.

We all have the power of choice to enter any niche we want to.

It is then up to us to decide whether to go into one or not.

Just realising that you can enter any niche in the world that you want to is quite therapeutic actually.

Life is all about choices.

If you make some bad ones along the way, don't beat yourself up about it forever. Just learn from it and move on.

So what is your choice going to be?

Sam

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Kevin Marshall

15 years ago

What if your passion is Internet Marketing? If you are passionate about Internet Marketing, does that mean you'll be successful at it??!!!

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Marian Berghes

15 years ago

To some extent I agree with the OP...I think that you should have a passion for "business" if you want to make a business...I don't think that you having passion for a certain niche but not knowing "business" will make you any money, get my point?

You can have all the passion in the world, but without business knowledge, without business passion to drive you...you wont make it too far.

It depends on your passion as well...if your passionate about SEO good, if your passionate about collectible red riding hoods.........

Ill give you a perfect example of a man who has alot of success yet he doesn't have a passion at all for the industry: the current CEO of Activision, the game publishing company.....he brings that company hundreads of millions of dollars profit per year, and look at what he said to some news-sites/papers: "I want to take the fun out of gaming", "I only played 2 games in my life", "I look at the numbers, not at the kids screaming" and so on...he is clearly not a big gamer/gaming fan as you would expect, and yet he totally "sells out" almost every game that "his" company is trowing out there.

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Paxton 15 years ago

Included in my network of sites is one about my own "passion" which I've been actively involved in for over 35 years.

Luckily for me it's one of the big online segments, so I've been able to monetize my prior knowledge and experience.

Biggest plus: I can sit down and write a couple of thousand words of content without having to do any research and with a noticeable absence of hair pulling and actually enjoy the process.

The content I write on this particular topic will be a much better seller as my potential customers can relate to the overall tone of the content. I've got 35 years of stored experiences to draw on after all. It makes it much easier to weave the story.
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Andyhenry 15 years ago

This is simple.

Your confusion comes from the fact that you're drawing a line between business and pleasure.

When you realise that you can create income from doing what you love - you don't need to keep enjoyable things separate from work - you just don't think of it as work because you love it.
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edhan 15 years ago

Yes. There will always be 2 sides of a coin.

You can do business without passion but to me, it will definitely be boring. Also, you can do it with passion but choosing the right type of business otherwise you may not earn money.

Choose the right business that you are passionate about and it will not only help you to earn money as you will be looking forward each day to put your effort to do it better.

Of course you can choose a business that can make alot of money that you may not have passion and life still goes on.

It is just a matter of life where you want to be ...

This is my personal opinion and experience.
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JohnPark 15 years ago

I don't mind learning about something as long as it doesn't cross the line into boredom. Sometimes if you have a passion about something that you enjoy and decide to turn it into a business, you could cause a burn out on your passion and wind up hating it. You would then lose everything. I guess one should think ahead about what the outcome maybe before turning a niche into a business that you are not going to want to touch after you build it.
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nimcus38318

15 years ago

Originally Posted by goldmind123

Hello Warriors,

Well, This is where CRAP starts for me.

Let's explain ...

I'm passionate about "soccer", actually I'm CRAZY about this sport, I know everything a fan can know about it, I watch every single match I come by, I know every single detail about big teams and top players all around the world, I know by heart the history of the world cup since 1930 to every small detail.

If there's a contest about anything related to soccer, I'll definitely be the winner.

But, will I build a soccer site someday?

NEVER!!

Why?

Because IT'S MY PASSION...

It's a hobby for me, I enjoy soccer, I love when I come across soccer sites as a regular fan, without thinking about checking their ranking or backlinks, or analyzing their onpage SEO factors...blah..blah..

I just enjoying being there as a fan, not a business man!

That's why I found the advice of "Doing business in what you're passionate about" a total crap...

If I do business in what I'm passionate about, what I'll keep for my own, personal, life joy?

My passions are things to enjoy, to feel the taste of life through, not to be hooked with in a business circle...

I absolutely agree. If you take all of the things that give you joy and try to figure out all of the ins and outs of the internet marketing aspect of this subject, you WILL lose a lot of the fun involved. Unless, of course, your fun comes from figuring this stuff out.

I'd hate to lose my "fandom" or my passion for anything by overanalyzing it and trying to find out what the next big "thing" is going to be within my favorite thing.

I like the idea of pursuing business on subjects that you like and subjects that you are truly interested in learning more about. It makes the business learning curve and the subject learning curve more palatable...at least to me.

BUT....I'm not as successful as Seth Godin is either, so make your own decision!!

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Troy_Phillips

15 years ago

Passion is mostly an emotional attachment .

The reason most newbies fail online is they have an emotional attachment to something others are not passionate about .

If you are passionate about something I am slightly interested in..... you might eventually win me over . This is if you can hold my attention long enough.

On the flip side... find something I am passionate about and I could care less if you are interested in what you have to sell. You just need to know enough about it to present the product to me in a somewhat logical manner .

If I am passionate enough about it you might not even need to be all that logical.

The question is .... do you want to tackle a subject you are passionate about and hope to win me over or through selective search terms ... let me find you ... already passionate and ready to buy?

Quiet simple . Take your passion and do the research . If you are not finding large groups that share your passion, and more importantly are willing to pay for your passion, better find something else to be passionate about .

Course that's just my back asswards view of it .

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Scott Million

15 years ago

I save my passion for niches where I want to get involved with my visitors. These are where I'll use my real name and have a blog and build a list.

For the 98% of the rest of my niche websites, it's all about making money, and that's enough to keep me motivated.

WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU! All this cookie cutter IM solution stuff is the problem (and the fact that people don't want to work, the REAL problem) - nothing applies to everyone and everything in this business requires work.

"HELP ME!!!" - Help yourself. There's a reason why 1% of the affiliate marketers on clickbank work full time in IM. It's not from expert ebook reading.

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Rory Wilkinson

15 years ago

I think it depends on whether you are looking to become an expert in the niche or whether you are just trying to earn a couple hundred extra bucks a month from it.

If you just want to earn some extra money from a couple of basic sites then it really doesn't matter if your interested in the niche or not (as long as they are profitable). But if you want to attract followers and create a proper business around one niche then it is vital that you are passionate and actually know your stuff.

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Floyd Fisher

15 years ago

It's way easier to be flat out fired up about something you're passionate about then something you're not.

It's also what separates a great product from a good one, great sales copy from good sales copy, and great customer service from good customer service.

Basically, it separates great businessman from good ones.

That is why they give you that advice, and why you should take it and run with it.

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Mike Newton

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher

It's way easier to be flat out fired up about something you're passionate about then something you're not.

It's also what separates a great product from a good one, great sales copy from good sales copy, and great customer service from good customer service.

Basically, it separates great businessman from good ones.

That is why they give you that advice, and why you should take it and run with it.

So true. However it is possible to still be passionate and fired up about the endeavor as a whole, in this case IM, be successful and provide the ingredients that you mention, without being passionate about every niche entered.

I may be wrong, but I believe that the OP was referring to entering niches that the OP was passionate about, but not profitable. As opposed to entering known, lucrative niches for the purpose of making money.

Mike

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Floyd Fisher

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Mike Newton

So true. However it is possible to still be passionate and fired up about the endeavor as a whole, in this case IM, be successful and provide the ingredients that you mention, without being passionate about every niche entered.

I may be wrong, but I believe that the OP was referring to entering niches that the OP was passionate about, but not profitable. As opposed to entering known, lucrative niches for the purpose of making money.

Mike

Mike:

You would be surprised at what you could make money off of in almost any niche.

Let's take his love for soccer. Well, what do soccer fans love almost as much? Beer.

So make a soccer themed beer mug, and sell that.

Think you could do something similar in any other niches out there?

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Mike Newton

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher

Mike:

You would be surprised at what you could make money off of in almost any niche.

Let's take his love for soccer. Well, what do soccer fans love almost as much? Beer.

So make a soccer themed beer mug, and sell that.

Think you could do something similar in any other niches out there?

Floyd,

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised at all. Despite the low WF post count, I have been earning a full-time income through online/offline marketing and consulting in Japan and other locations, for some time and have entered many non-IM niches.

I'm not debating whether Soccer or any niche/sub-niche wouldn't be/couldn't be profitable.

I am referring to passion. While I am passionate about owning businesses as a whole, I don't agree that it is necessary to be passionate or rigidly glued/attached to any particular niche or business model, in order to be successful.

In fact, from a business perspective and depending upon the individual's mindset, I believe that too much passion and emotion, is detrimental and can lead to bad judgment/decisions and the execution of bad strategies.

So, bottom line? I am passionate about my work but, I approach any niche/project/business with a good business mind, a methodical, logical process including an exit strategy and without emotion.

For myself, this approach works repeatedly and I am looking for, among other factors, profitability, not overly indulging in my personal likes/dislikes.

But hey, to each their own...

Mike

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seobro

15 years ago

Truth be told, people can't become pros at anything by reading a few articles and by working at it just a few hours a week. It requires hard work. Most people who think that IM is fun are not willing to do the heavy lifting necessary to gain success.

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TheNightOwl

15 years ago

Tons of GREAT comments in this thread!

Troy_Phillips makes some great points - VERY nice contribution to the discussion. Read his comment here.

So too does RussRave. Read it here.

I like Kevin_Hutto's comment, too. Here.

And Black-Hat-Cat weighs in with a corker! Here.

I actually started responding to this thread and it turned into this gargantuan response that I think is probably too long for a forum post. So I put it on my WarriorForumBlog if you're interested.

The thrust of it is as follows:

* passion-schmassion! I'm so totally over that pile of old cobblers and I can't believe I fell for it in the first place. Find out why and a proposed model for anyone with a BIG idea who's still spinning their wheels in their "Passion" niche (like me! Ha!). Read it here...

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P.Sharma

15 years ago

my passion is internet marketing. nothing less, I can kill any niche as long as I want to

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mdunn123

15 years ago

It depends on the type of person...entirely!

I don't for a second believe or buy any BS that says that YOU HAVE to be passionate, or that you HAVE to just go where the money is and so on.

I personally know (and worked for in the past) entrepreneurs and investors that have zero passion what so ever for the exact piece of software, service or product that their bringing to market...BUT they're knowledge and passion lays in business itself. And these guys are guys with net worth's...well lets just say the smallest one is more than $100 Million. Boy am I glad to be around those guys...anyway...

Then there are those that can be brilliant within the business realm, but only if it's something they feel attached to, connected to, and feel that would be willing to do whatever it takes...not to mention the whole product and customer thing. I know these people too. Very smart and great people. Great understanding of how things work. But no matter what they try and do, unless they have some sort of drive or passion towards something in particular they'll simply lose interest, produce crap, or just drop everything all together long before anything even gets started.

Personally, I can be a bit of both. I'm honestly in it for the money. I go where the money is. And I can do a damn good job at it if I say so myself. I love building and adding to business models, I like the numbers, I like the growth etc. BUT I do have my limits as to what I can enter...not for ethical reasons (although I have those too

) but because if I'm moving into a market where I can't even keep awake when I put together a product or service, or sales copy etc...than forget it.

It's a very stupid thing in my opinion to tell a newbie marketer....go with your passion. Then they think..."Oh I LOVE (fill in the blank with something that has no value and chance of making money)."

I say...always say...go for where the money is...within limits...and learn how to build a business...learn the foundations of business...and well you get the idea...

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James Clark

15 years ago

I have a passion for smoking cigars, but would I open up a cigar store? No, because I truly believe it would affect my thought process. Most of us come from a wage earner past.

When you are trying to build a business, the thought process is different.

You are looking for a gap in the market that will generate a six figure income for you. Now, it makes sense to accomplish that first and follow your passion after you get money in the bank.

Just my two cents.

Jimmy.

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Floyd Fisher

15 years ago

Originally Posted by James Clark

I have a passion for smoking cigars, but would I open up a cigar store? No, because I truly believe it would affect my thought process. Most of us come from a wage earner past.

When you are trying to build a business, the thought process is different.

You are looking for a gap in the market that will generate a six figure income for you. Now, it makes sense to accomplish that first and follow your passion after you get money in the bank.

Just my two cents.

Jimmy.

So find something else to sell to cigar lovers instead.

Don't they need lighters and ashtrays? Do they drink too? How about some fine crystal?

Or run a dating service devoted to cigar lovers. Heaven knows they could use some help in that department with all the demonization of smokers going on right now.

Heck, I just read about a guy making bank, and his main website is a blog where he posts silly pictures of cats. If you can monetize that, it's proof almost anything can be monetized if you use your head.

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JonMills

15 years ago

I think you might be looking at it from a perspective which of what you think you will lose

It comes down to longevity, Dan brown is passionate about writing hence the reason he keeps pumping out books

If your spend all your time in business which your not passionate about, you will run out of steam fast.

It depends what you want to get out of business that you do. Money comes, money goes.. so use your time wisely and focus on a topic you enjoy and mix it up with a few things that you dont, but dont give all your time to those, unless your goal is the end result.. i.e having someone else run those while you focus on what you love to do

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satrap

15 years ago

you know i am not an expert nor am i a successful business man as i am just getting started, but while i agree that having passion might help you in some ways, i don't believe its a must in order to succeed. i think if your passionate about your niche, it makes it a lot easier for you to get thorough rough times, because your enjoying it no matter what, but that doesn't mean because of your passion your going to succeed. on the other hand a person who is no passionate about the niche but is in it strictly for business may have harder time to go trough the ups and downs, but not being passionate doesn't prevent him/her to succeed. and i don't believe just because you like your niche you are going to be honest and genuine about what you present to your readers/buyers. honesty doesn't come with you liking or not liking a subject.
i wish our world was valued more on honesty, but unfortunately i have to say people who are doing it the right way( money wise) are the one who are successful(at least in money making), and most of the time they are lying and cheating to get there.

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troy23

15 years ago

I disagree......sure you can make a bit of money from something you know little about, but in the long term it is not a viable business model. Google is now aware of this...hence the reason it and so many of its related sites are now tightening up. The days of making a quick buck on Clickbank are now coming to an end.

I'm all for making money on the net, but really that's not the reason the net is there.

Unless people are prepared to buid content rich websites then they can expect their pages to be pulled or no longer indexed. In order to build content rich websites and write say 5 articles a day you have to be passionate about your niche and know what you are talking about.

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bgmacaw 15 years ago

Originally Posted by troy23

Unless people are prepared to buid content rich websites then they can expect their pages to be pulled or no longer indexed.

And just how are they going to do this?

The last time I checked Google hasn't developed an all-knowing, all-seeing, AI to review every site, every page, in their index. In fact, they're no where close to this.

They do hire humans at a few bucks per hour to do cursory reviews of statistical sampling new sites. These 'reviewers' spend less than 30 seconds on a site, only look at the index page and are mainly looking for non-Adsense ads being predominately displayed along with little other content. But, make your ads slightly discrete, use a pretty template and use a poorly spun PLR article and you pass.

Passion may be the game you have to play to sell to an email list but in the SEO world, it simply doesn't matter a whole lot.
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Roger Santos

15 years ago

I see your point about not going into something you're passionate about, because what you love will then become work, and who wants that?

Work is what gets money in your bank.

What your passionate about is what you do when you don't have to worry about work.

As long as there is a market and you can make lots of money and solve problems and help people out in that market at the same time, I see no reason not to pursue it just because you know nothing about it.

In today's market, you don't have to be a total expert, just have to know more than your audience.

Also, you can always hire ghostwriters to create the bulk of your products.

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Jay Rhome

15 years ago

Originally Posted by goldmind123

I'm passionate about "soccer", actually I'm CRAZY about this sport, I know everything a fan can know about it, I watch every single match I come by, I know every single detail about big teams and top players all around the world, I know by heart the history of the world cup since 1930 to every small detail.

But, will I build a soccer site someday?

NEVER!!

Why?

Because IT'S MY PASSION...

It's a hobby for me, I enjoy soccer, I love when I come across soccer sites as a regular fan, without thinking about checking their ranking or backlinks, or analyzing their onpage SEO factors...blah..blah..

I just enjoying being there as a fan, not a business man!

That's why I found the advice of "Doing business in what you're passionate about" a total crap...

If I do business in what I'm passionate about, what I'll keep for my own, personal, life joy?

My passions are things to enjoy, to feel the taste of life through, not to be hooked with in a business circle...

I strongly agree with this. I tend to favor my "secondary passions" or things I have a slight interest in. I want to keep my main passions "pure".

Yet it's easy to see many successful marketers and salesmen, online or offline, are passionate about... money and sales! There's NOTHING wrong with that. It's just an observation. In fact I realize I need more of that attitude.

I fully understand your point as I feel the same. I just wonder if it's a wise strategy. Sometimes "my way" is the major stumbling block to success...

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Kevin AKA Hubcap

15 years ago

This is the way I see it.

Why are people saying you have to do "A", "B", or "C" to be successful? There are many paths to follow. Your job is to find the one that's right for you.

If that's going into a niche your passionate about--fine

If that's going into a niche you hold little passion for--that's fine too

At the end of the day, a business is about making profits and IMO that's is where you're greatest passion should lie.

Balance sheets don't care about how much passion you have for a particular subject. They only care about the cold, hard, facts and hopefully when everything is said and done you'll be in the black.

To me having passion about a particular niche is great to have but definitely not required.

Kevin

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bgmacaw

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Kevin AKA Hubcap

Balance sheets don't care about how much passion you have for a particular subject. They only care about the cold, hard, facts and hopefully when everything is said and done you'll be in the black.

It may also involve where a person comes down on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test. Some people, like me (INTJ), are more "balance sheet" oriented while others are passionate (those pesky 'F' folks).

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pink sapphire 15 years ago

I've spent a lot of time going back and forth on this issue. When I first started a few years ago, I was adamant that I'd only work in niches that I was passionate about. Then later on I became disillusioned with my progress, and decided to chase the money, regardless of whether I liked the niche or not. I made money, but was miserable and felt like I wasn't being true to my real values. These days I've come back to focusing only on a few niches I really care about, and am both happier and doing better than ever.

There's no right answer, & I do think it's a personality thing, since it's obviously possible to make money in niches you're not really interested in. But for me personally - I realised that life's just too short. I don't want to spend years working for money and only fully focus on my passions when I've made enough to stop working. I could be dead by then! To me, enjoying the journey is just as important as reaching the destination, and I don't enjoy marketing and business enough for them to be ends in themselves - I need to like the topic I'm researching, writing about and promoting too.

I haven't found that making my passion into a business is negatively affecting my enthusiasm for it, although I was wary of that happening in the beginning, and can totally understand how it could be a problem for others. I'm also lucky in that my passion is shared by many other people, and they spend money on it - it would be a different story if there wasn't a market for it. But as it is, I'm continuing to expand and develop my own knowledge in this area that I love, while getting paid to do so. Plus going this route means I enjoy what I'm doing each day, and it doesn't feel like work - and that's priceless.
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Shana_Adam

15 years ago

When the end goal becomes monetary gain unfortunately it can become a bit of a passion killer.

It can depend upon a persons personality some people live and breathe their websites. In that they have a warmer engaging and more responsive readership.

When doing so solely for monetary gain you will end up thinking more about revenue than engaging your passion. Helps if you are making plenty though.

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butters

15 years ago

For me, if I am to go into a niche I would go with number 2, its means I am completely un bias to the niche and if it works, it works, if it fails I can let it go and move on. Thats my feelings anyway.

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VilPietersen@

15 years ago

I thought I'd just drop my thoughts in on this already populated post. I think it's not necessarily the passion you have for the niche that will make you sucessful, it's more the passion you have for the work you put into the niche.

Imagine you started promoting two projects at the same time, and you had limited interest in both niches. If you started making more money in one of the niches, you would definately be more "passionate" about spending more time working on that niche.

I don't think it's the niche that you have to be passionate about, I think it's the potential income from the niche that should concern us!!

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scrofford

15 years ago

I don't think you need to be passionate about your niche necessarily. For instance, I used to be a salesman for various things. A lot of the things I sold I didn't necessarily have a passion about but I did well. The key was that I had a passion for sales itself. I love to sell!

So I think you need to have a passion about IM itself and then it won't matter what niche you are in. In fact I am starting to work in a niche that isn't really a "passion" for me. Yes it interests me, but I am not going "bonkers" over it. I know though I will do well because of my passion for IM.

That's my 2 cents worth.

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whawk57

15 years ago

How about enjoying life while you work? To have a purpose? Passion? There must be passion somewhere, either if its the money or the topic or both.

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