How to grow a business & not lose your mind (Part 3- Passion)

by Kim PG on June 29, 2010

in How to grow a business without losing your mind, Monday morning marketer, guest blogger, inspiration, lessons, mompreneur, solopreneur

I am thrilled to welcome guest blogger, Fawna Bews, to share insight into releasing passion… for passion is one of the 7 essential resources for part-time or small business entrepreneurs!. Fawna, a dear friend for 25 years, is a mom of 3, a cancer survivor, and has a Masters in Counselling, to name but one of many professional credentials. She recently wrote the e-book Your Cancer Companion to celebrate 10 years cancer-free. She is possibly one of the smartest, happiest, self-aware people on the planet. And she inspires & helps others to be the same. She has overcome adversity in her life by being passionately committed to happiness. 

Passion

When Kim invited me to be a guest blogger (thank you) my mind went to the thousands of articles, books and blogs on this topic- Finding Your Passion, What is my passion, etc.

My answer is- YOU are your passion, your passion IS you! You might ask “why don’t I know what I want to do then, how come I can’t see it?” or “Why doesn’t my work feel like a passion? It feels like work?”

Think of yourself as a river- a river that originates from endless headwaters. When you are a little girl- you are pure passion- joy in every box, every bug and every funny sound. But then in this world, from day one, you begin to add twigs.  Yet, you are still a girl that grows until the passion that is you is running as a stream.

Considering the fact that you are reading Kim’s blog- you must be hearing at least a trickle of your passion.  The trickle that says “start your own business,” or, “you are an entrepreneur” And the ONLY thing that could hold back this flow are the twigs!! 

So consider the title of the ebook that Kim has contributed to (shameless promotion) “Dump the Junk (and be happy)”.   If thinking about your passion as a flowing river, that is encumbered by twigs, is making any sense to you, you may be saying “Yeah, but what do I do?” to ditch those twigs and dump that junk?

There are two ways to approach this.  I invite you to play with both:

  1. The first is to remember the river- take the time to look back at what  you love to do.  What things would you do even if you were not paid?  Which things make you feel 5 years old again, meaning- lost in the activity- losing your sense of time and worry?  Consider the things that you loved to do before the age of 12 (puberty adds some good logs!). 
  2. The second “Dump the Junk”  effort is to  LOOK at the twigs.  Where did they come from?  Are they True- capital T- True?  Are they helping you or holding you back?

Have a good time with this, pull out your crayons, your fancy markers and your journal or a giant piece of paper.  Draw the river and the twigs and label them.   Then- notice how you feel- noticing is an amazing first step.

When you have cleared some twigs- your passion will become self evident- you will be “in the flow”.  Kim and I will be doing some workshops on finding your passion- I’m looking forward to connecting with some ‘raging rivers’. And in the meantime, try one of her classes. Her passion alone can help push some twigs away!

Love, Fawna

Kim’s Note: Thank you Fawna! I’d like to add, like water, passion ebbs and flows. But it is critical to constantly nourish because being a small business owner can have some really challenging days, when you might even feel like giving up the good fight. But if you always have your passion, you will always come back another day renewed and revived. The world needs entrepreneurs. We must help each other in the pursuit of our passions! Please take a moment and share yours in the comments. Shameless self-promotion is always invited here…

Previous article in this series is:
How to Grow a Business & Not Lose Your Mind (Part 2- Money)

Next article in this series will be:
How to Grow a Business & Not Lose Your Mind (Part 4- Technology)

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Jenn Champagne June 29, 2010 at 8:30 pm

Nice article Fawna! I am passionate about a lot of things: fitness, soccer, triathlons (this is a new one), my kids, my hubby, not in any particular order. one thing I know without a doubt is I am FAR too passionate about life to ever work for someone else again trading hours for dollars. I have WAY too many good ideas brewing to not act! My main pursuit right now is Bundles of Energy, a holistic company with a vision to make healthy, whole food choices not only obvious but simple! Your gentle shift to amazing health! Bundles of Energy helped me shift my eating habits and I know I can reach so many more people the same way. Check it out at http://www.bundlesofenergy.com
And thanks Kim for the opportunity to shamelessy self promote! still anxiously awaiting news on the marketing mapping course!

Lisa Marie Fletcher November 27, 2010 at 6:15 pm

I’m still trying to remember what my passion is – I’ve been living so long in a place of just letting life lead me. Lately I’ve been reminded that my passion is helping other people.
I love this article. I’m feeling so inspired! I’m glad I found your site!

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