Many of the success stories we hear involve the “L word": love.
We often hear about plucky entrepreneurs who sink just a bit of money into some business centered around something they love, whether it be golf, video games, educating people on particular issues, making life easier for people in an area about which they feel passionate, etc.
Is it that the love of the thing is what causes success? Or is it just that doing what we love is the ideal, and that getting filthy rich while doing it is the icing on the cake? In either case, let’s take a look at how to have your love and get rich too—there’s no reason to sacrifice great monetary success to do something you love.
Among well-known entrepreneurs, the examples are far too numerous to ignore. Howard Schultz of Starbucks, Steve Jobs of Apple, and Warren Brown of CakeLove bakery, are just a few examples. Interviews with these successful businessmen all prominently feature the pure affection they have for their life’s work.
They have a love of the product itself and of the process of making only fine versions of it.
Propagating Value
Because you love something doesn’t mean that you alone love it. As intense as an entrepreneur’s passion for coffee beans or butter-cream icing may be, to be successful, it can’t be impotent passion, wasted on something obscure or ridiculously specific. One of the things entrepreneurs often love about their product is the good these things can do in the world.
That is, the way others may feel the product has helped their life (think of the i-Pod) fuels the love the entrepreneur has.
Don’t Stop Believin’
Howard Schultz has an enduring belief in treating his employees with repsect, providing them with healthcare, and setting an example of great customer service. This gives him something to love about his job—maintaining these principles—in addition to putting out great cups of coffee and a great atmosphere.
Another example is Amilya Antonetti, whose business success is predicated on safe, natural products. Upon finding that her household’s soap was damaging her son’s health, she developed a natural alternative and launched the company Soapworks.
After years of success with that startup, Antonetti started AMA Productions, which helps and inspires other entrepreneurs. One of the things that kept her going through all the struggles was the good her product was doing. During the course of running her business, she was able to connect with many people committed to the same principles she was, a fact that was often created under the circumstance of the childhood issues at stake.
The Marketing is Easy
One of the ways entrepreneurs succeed with concepts that light a fire within them is by reaching out and by creating great marketing campaigns. Out of sincerity comes engaging and disarming ad campaigns. Often, hard sells and gushing prose, sentimentality, the things people hate, come from a lack of sincerity.
Often, the confidence a principle-driven entrepreneur has in his or her product shines through very clearly in communication.
Just as it’s key to focus on all principles of business and not expect your own enthusiasm to carry the day alone, it’s important to attend to persistent marketing, advertising, and sales. Selling something you love just isn’t hard.
In the end, you get to define how rich is rich. You’re bound to feel that fulfillment is a sort of compensation. However, if the goal is to love all the way to the bank, that is a distinct possibility.