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I think the better point to make is to not build a business doing something that you are absolutely in love with. It clouds your judgement and could drive you t

I think the better point to make is to not build a business doing something that you are absolutely in love with. It clouds your judgement and could drive you to build something people don't want. You can definitely love what you do. I love programming and marketing, and those are my businesses. But I don't let the love cloud my judgement (well, not anymore). Its like when we fall in love for the first time with a new person. They are perfect in our eyes, There is no way anything they do is seen as negative. But little by little, as time passes, we start seeing the real person and not the fantasy. Sometimes that makes the love grow stronger, and sometimes it drives us to break the relationship. Same with business. What you need to realize that the reason business failures hurt so much is because we fall in love with it. And then get our heart broken when it doesn't work. Don't fall in love with it.

ansgri 14y ago
I think this is the most important point (I remember coming to a similar conclusion some years ago), but now I think there are a couple of ways around this caveat (mostly applicable to business, but also of some use in personal relationships). So, the problem with loving your work passionately you stop caring about what other people think of it, what is its (monetary) value to them. First way: use your love as a hook to which all youd business is tied. E.g. you are eventually aiming at completing some big thing, and in reaching it you could make use of such-and-such services which a lot of people also would pay for. Second way (now I think it's just a variation of the above one): use your career as a carrier that carries you to your goal. E.g. use your job to accumulate wealth to finance your work later and as a learning experience (you don't want to fail your beloved project, better fail 'with the cats' and be prepared). Frankly, I have some experience strictly following these advice in personal relationships, the result is weird (unfinished story yet), so use at your own risk :) But in getting satisfaction from work, they do work.
- orangethirty 14y ago
  Great points. Though my post only applied to businesses. Personal relations are still voodoo to me. Its a miracle I got married, more so that I'm happily married. :)

ansgri 14y ago

I think this is the most important point (I remember coming to a similar conclusion some years ago), but now I think there are a couple of ways around this caveat (mostly applicable to business, but also of some use in personal relationships). So, the problem with loving your work passionately you stop caring about what other people think of it, what is its (monetary) value to them. First way: use your love as a hook to which all youd business is tied. E.g. you are eventually aiming at completing some big thing, and in reaching it you could make use of such-and-such services which a lot of people also would pay for. Second way (now I think it's just a variation of the above one): use your career as a carrier that carries you to your goal. E.g. use your job to accumulate wealth to finance your work later and as a learning experience (you don't want to fail your beloved project, better fail 'with the cats' and be prepared). Frankly, I have some experience strictly following these advice in personal relationships, the result is weird (unfinished story yet), so use at your own risk :) But in getting satisfaction from work, they do work.

orangethirty 14y ago
Great points. Though my post only applied to businesses. Personal relations are still voodoo to me. Its a miracle I got married, more so that I'm happily married. :)