Two ingredients to success

So this seems pretty obvious at first glance but I think it is worth sharing.

This quote comes from one of the many podcasts I consume on a regular basis, Hack the Entrepreneur with Jon Nastor.

In episode 159, Bryan Cohen of the Sell More Books Podcast gave his advice for starting a business:

"Combine what you're strong at with what you're passionate about."

He goes into detail about this in the interview but the important part of that quote is the second half of it.

Not a single reader needs this blog post to tell them that they should pursue something they are good at. This is pretty obvious.

The reason that the passion is the important part of the above equation is that being an entrepreneur is really hard work. There have been times when hosting two regularly produced podcasts has not been at all convenient. If I wasn't passionate not only about making podcasts but also the subject matter that's being discussed there is no way I would still be doing them a year later.

If you need proof, check out how the iTunes store is riddled with podcasts that have anywhere from 5 to 20 episodes with the latest episode being over a year old.

That's because producing content like a podcast regularly is a pain in the backside. But so is anything else in life that provides value to people. If it's not a lot of effort, a whole bunch of people would already be doing it and it wouldn't be worth it for you to even start in the first place.

So for just about any endeavor, you don't need passion in the beginning but there always comes a point when that is the only thing that will keep you going.

So make sure you have both parts of that quote covered before you embark on anything.