Do You or Don’t You? By Carmin Wharton, e-BlackWomenNetwork.com

Do you or don’t you have passion for your business?  So what is this thing called passion?  Merriam-Webster defines ‘passion’ as “intense, driving or overmastering feeling or conviction.” 

Is your desire to succeed in this business so intense that you think about it when you first awake in the morning?  Do you lie awake because creative ideas about the business are popping left and right in your brain?  Does this business drive you to take action every single day toward the manifestation of your dream of a successful business?  Do you take positive action with conviction?  If you’ve answered “yes” to these questions, then you have more than sufficient passion for your business.  But guess what?  Even if you have this type of driving passion, your business still may not succeed unles it is tied to your purpose.

What is “Purpose?”

Your purpose is a business which will enable you to use your God-given talents, gifts, skills and abilities serving others – fulfilling a specific need for others.  Purpose is not about making a boatload of money, however, if you are on purpose, the money will come – lots of it but that should not be the goal of getting on purpose and staying on purpose.  You need to get on purpose and stay there because you were sent here on earth at this time to fill a specific need.  Even if others are fulfilling this need through a business, no one, not one single other human being can fulfill the need exactly as you can.

When you channel the purpose God instilled into the fiber of your being into a business, the universe will support you and send every resource you need to make it a reality.  There is something that can stop you dead in your tracks from achieving living your purpose – lack of faith in God and yourself (the latter being what most of us are guilty of).  Here’s what lack of faith in yourself looks like:

You can’t believe that God would give YOU this mission to fulfill – whatever your purpose is.  So, because you don’t have faith in yourself – that you are well-equipped – to peform the mission, you talk about it, you plan, you gather information but you never take those concrete steps that will bring you into full manifestation of the actual business.  You hesitate to build your website.  You keep scouring the internet looking for more information.  You check your email dozens of time each day rather than actually sitting down and planning the business, setting goals and assigning dates by which those goals will be completed.

One way to get around this lack of faith into yourself is to know what you intend.  What is your intent?  Intention will lead you down the path to your purpose.  Your intentions motivate and make you take concrete action toward achieving your goal.  Your intention equals what you expect to accomplish; what you expect to accomplish for your business every single day that you get up.  Your expectations will always equal the results that you see.  In this life, we get what we expect not what we say we want.  In your heart of hearts what are you really expecting?

So, if your intention is do what you love for a living through a fulfilling business, the Spirit will bombard you with ideas, present you with opportunities and chance meetings with people who can help you start and grow your business.  But it all starts with your intention.

Now be mindful, your purpose may be hidden from view because you are in some type of struggle – it could be a job or relationship you have no business being in.   Your purpose may be hidden because you are settling for less and living a mediocre live or it could be that you belive in lack and limitation – that there isn’t enough to go around.

There are three factors that will help you determine your passion or if this is the time to pursue your passion as a business:

Factor One:  Know You.  Do you.  Rather than looking outside of yourself for a business in which your bestfriend is doing well or a business that is all the rage right now, look inside yourself to find out what motivates you – what get’s your creative juices to flowing.  Know what you want and don’t be afraid to go for it.  It tends to be easier knowing what and loudly vocalizing what we don’t want. Flip it over; look at what you don’t want and then vocalize and take action steps toward what you do want.

Factor Two:  Know your strengths and weaknesses.  There are some things as a business owner that you have to do.   There are some things that you don’t have to do yourself and that you are either not that good at or simply don’t like to do.  If a large part of the business you are considering requires a significant amount of things that you don’t like to do, find another business to go into.

Factor Three:  Know your reality.  Starting and running a business will be hardest job you ever hold.  It will take a lot of energy and time.  At this time, does your reality allow you the time, energy and money to start and manage a home-based business?  Do you have very young children and work outside of the home?  This may not be the time unless you have a reliable and strong support system.  Is your relationship in shambles and the two of you haven’t decided if you should go your separate ways.  This may not be the time to pursue your passion.  Get your relationship passion straightened out first.

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Carmin Wharton is the founder of e-BlackWomenNetwork.com, a membership community designed to take businesses owned by women of color from start up to prosperity. Carmin's mission is to help women earn what they're worth and make it big in their home-based business on their own terms.