A Passion Project and a Revenue Business Need Different Standards

What are you actually trying to get out of this?

I think that's one of the most important questions you can ask when somebody tells you they want to start a business.

And I don't mean what the business does.

I mean why they're building it.

Is this something you want to do because you enjoy it?

Is it a creative outlet?

Is it a way to develop a skill, connect with people, or work on something that matters to you?

Or do you need it to make money?

Because those are different objectives, and I think people get themselves into trouble when they refuse to distinguish between them.

I was talking with somebody who had come up with a business idea that combined several things she genuinely enjoyed doing.

She liked being creative.

She liked helping families create experiences together.

And she'd developed a concept around making that easier for people.

I liked the idea.

But before we got too far into discussing it, I asked her what the primary goal was.

Creativity?

Passion?

Revenue?

She said a little bit of everything.

Of course.

I understand that.

Ideally, you get all three.

But I wanted her to pick one.

Not because the others didn't matter, but because the answer would determine what we needed to do next.

If this is primarily a creative project, then the fact that you enjoy building it has value.

You're making something.

You're developing your abilities.

You're putting an idea into the world.

If it generates some income along the way, wonderful.

But if you need this business to meaningfully increase your household income, we have a different conversation.

Now I want to know what it costs to deliver the product.

I want to know what you're going to charge, what the margins look like, how you're going to find customers, and what happens to the economics if you have ten customers versus a hundred.

I want to know whether the numbers work.

Because liking an idea doesn't tell you whether it can support the financial outcome you're counting on.

And I think this distinction gets lost because people hear it as an argument against passion.

It's not.

I love coaching.

I enjoy the conversations, the problem-solving, and watching people make changes in their lives.

If I could spend more of my time doing that, I would.

But I also operate a business.

That means I have to pay attention to marketing.

I have to understand my revenue, my renewals, and the experience people are having.

I have to think about what will allow the business to continue growing.

The fact that I love the work doesn't eliminate any of those responsibilities.

If anything, it gives me a reason to take them seriously.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with having a business that exists primarily because it makes you happy, either.

Not everything you create has to become a revenue stream.

Sometimes you should write, build, make music, or pursue an idea because you want to.

That's enough.

The problem starts when you tell yourself something is a revenue business but continue making decisions as though commercial results are optional.

Or when you take something that was supposed to be enjoyable and turn it into a financial obligation it was never designed to carry.

Neither approach is particularly fair to you or to the thing you're trying to build.

So decide what you're asking this project to do.

You can change your mind later.

A creative project can become a business.

A business can evolve into something different from what you originally imagined.

But be clear about the objective you're pursuing now.

Because once you decide that revenue is the goal, you have to be willing to do the parts of building a business that aren't nearly as exciting as having the idea.