You Need More Than Passion

425 followers

4 years ago

The great TV celebrity chef, Julia Child, is the author of the above quote. To say that she was a great success would be an incredible understatement. Few people would be able to match the brilliant passion she displayed for many years doing what she loved.

Wait a minute! Look at her quote again and notice she didn't say all that mattered to her was passion! No, she also credited her interest as one of the main foundations of her success.

This is exactly what I was talking about in a recent post. My point was that passion alone is NOT enough to guarantee you success as an internet/affiliate marketer or entrepreneur.

I'll give some reasons why I think is in the remainder of this post.

You will see it and hear it again and again. Professional affiliate and internet marketers who say to just "follow your passion" to achieve instant and massive success online. Sorry, but don't believe this belief or statement. Again, consider what Julia said above. I'm on her side and I'll tell you some reasons why.

There is nothing else in the world like passion when it comes to experiencing enthusiasm, eagerness, and excitement when doing something. I don't diagree with this belief at all! No, passion is great to consider when choosing your niche as an affiliate marketer. Possibly the best thing about having passion for a subject or activity is that it's almost always contagious!

Online or offline, your passion for what you know and do can have a tremedous positive effect on your audience. When we experience real passion, it is extremely hard not to be or become excited. The pleasure we feel can be like nothing else in the world.

So far, so good. Hold on, though.

Passion can get me off to a great start, but what about a year or two down the line? Is it possbile that my passion might have gone away or not be as strong? Of course it is. Just because you are passionate about something, doesn't mean everybody else in the world is!!

Does this mean you might have a very hard time attracting and doing business with some prospects? Absolutely. How would you feel (I know the feeling personally every day) investing a lot of time, effort, and money in a niche that didn't have enough profit potential right from the start?

Would you feel happy or depressed and frustrated? I think the latter.

I have just given you one reason why passion alone won't help, but actually hurt you when you choose your market niche. It is an excellent one that too few marketers consider.

Here's another reason. Passion and interest are not the same thing. Read that again. I said "not" and not are. Passion is usually experienced as an intensly pleasurable emotion. As I've already said, what happens when the experience doesn't create the same excitement and pleasure for you? Please don't think this doesn't or can't happen.

My answer is: "You better hope that your passion was based on some measure of interest." Interest, unlike passion, and Julia said (one last time), is based on curiousity. Something about a subject has caught your attention and you have the desire to learn more about it.

I firmly believe that curiosity is an even better or more powerful force leading to success as an affiliate marketer, or some other kind of internet marketer. Nobody, in any field, knows everything about their profession at birth. This includes, and always will, the most successful super-affiliate marketers.

In my life and for me, the desire to learn and not just experience joy will help me persevere every bit as much as raw passion.

Maybe, as I've seen expressed online, the best situation is to have both of these key factors helping you choose the proper niche. I can't see how this could not be true, when you combine intense enjoyment or excitement with a burning curiosity.

If you are unwilling or unable to learn everything you can about your niche and keep on learning on a daily basis, you will definitely deal a serious blow to your chances of success. The choice is up to you. I'll look for both when considering niches, thank you.

Time for one last major reason you don't want to try to succeed at any business where you relying on passion alone.

Is the niche you have chosen profitable enough? Is it even in the right market, in the first place?

A niche is helped greatly by being in a market with the right characteristics, in terms of factors like market growth and income potential. You may have convinced yourself that you have the greatest product/service in the world and everybody in the world will share your opinion.

Unfortunately, you may make a very costly mistake right at the start by entering a target market that is already saturated or wose, declining. Then what do you do to stay in business and earn enough profit? If the market isn't there in the first place when you choose your niche, failure is very likely instead of success.

As an affiliate marketer, you may find the right affiliate program to work with. You also might get stuck or stung because the program doesn't have nearly enough products for you to choose from.

What about the commissions a program pays you? If they are small, your chances of succeeding is once again badly hurt. The best affiliate marketer doesn't always have a great month. If you are depending entirely upon selling products/services that offer you very small commissions, you will probably become extremely disappointed and discouraged.

Like always, I hope this post proves useful for some readers/members.

Craig