“Successful entrepreneurs are those who have a passion for their business and the money to survive their mistakes. I’ve occasionally seen success happen without sufficient funding, but I’ve never once seen it happen without passion.” – Roy H. Williams, Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads

When I first read this I thought "Right on Roy!  Passion, yeah baby!"

But you know, it isn't enough.  The successful businesses I’ve started were the ones that I not only had a passion for, but fit my personality.

I used to believe that the business didn’t matter to me.  I felt I would be happy running any business because it was the process I loved; making things work, the down and dirty details.  I suspect I felt that way because I really do enjoy those things. But while you do have to like the business, maybe even love it, it has to "be you" – it has to fit your personality.

You may be a restaurateur, a baker, a consultant, or a writer.  Or maybe part of all of them.  But I doubt you are really great at more than one of them.  You may be smart and hard working, and maybe passionate about all of them but is your personality such that you can successfully build a business out of more than one of them?

Ryan and I started this business at the end of some serious soul searching about what we really wanted to do with the rest of our lives. It became clear to me when I thought about the some recent experiences giving talks to potential small business owners.  And talking with them afterward about their ideas and plans and giving them the benefit of my experience.

I've found that I love writing this blog.  I love sitting across the table from someone and showing them how they can do this and be more effective or that and save some money.  I walk out of most of those meetings nearly floating.  It is incredible!

I think I feel that way because I've found the one thing I'm really good at; better at by far than anything else I do.  Because it "fits".  People tell me "yeah, I can see how you'd be good at that."  They never said that about most of the businesses I've had in the past.