Have you noticed that a lot of people are selling online right now? It seems that a great deal of people turned to online selling as a way to survive this economic crisis. Whether it is simply just a craze or it is something that is going to be part of the new normal, one thing is for sure, only a few will emerge successful after some time. If you are an online seller, do you want to know what your key to success is? Passion is your key to success.
What Not To Pursue
A craze is something that became extremely popular but for a limited period of time. The common mistake of people is that everybody wants to join the craze. They want to make it big, and they think that joining the bandwagon is the answer. However, just because your friend was successful in pursuing the craze, it does not mean you will too. Don’t just follow what everyone else is doing.
What To Pursue
While dreams, discipline, hard work, intelligence, luck and persistence may be factors to success; they are not the key ingredient. The most important factor to success is passion. Do you want to be successful in your career or your business? Find your passion. Do you want to be successful as an online seller? Then, sell something that is related to your passion. For example, if you enjoy baking, then sell baked products.
What is Passion
Passion is a strong feeling of enthusiasm for something. Several studies suggest that rich people became rich because they follow their passion. According to Thomas C. Corley, best-selling author of the book Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals:
- 96% of the poor or average people don’t like what they are doing while
- 86% of the rich like what they are doing.
The point is if you love what you are doing, you will spend more time doing it. Enthusiasm is very powerful. Even if you encounter lots of obstacles ahead of you, you will still continue doing it because you love doing it. The more you do it, the more you will be better at it. The better you are at your work, the better you will get paid for it.
Malcolm Gladwell on his book Outliers: The Story of Success states that highly successful individuals spent at least 10,000 hours honing their craft. Imagine spending 10,000 hours doing something that you don’t like? That will be very difficult if not impossible. It is a totally different story if it is your passion.
In the Forbes list of billionaires, majority of them got to where they are right now by doing what they love.
Bill Gates loved computer programming since the age of 13. He excelled in Math and Science. Although he enrolled in Harvard University, he had a hard time keeping up with school work because he spend most of his time in his computer than in class. He eventually dropped out of school, pursued his passion and ended up building the world’s largest software business, Microsoft.
Elon Musk is so passionate about rockets and space exploration. He became an engineer, an industrial designer and technology entrepreneur. He is now working to revolutionize transportation both here on earth and space through his companies, Tesla and SpaceX.
Warren Buffet started investing in the stock market at a very young age. When asked in a recent interview what is the secret to his success, he answered, “I found what I love to do very early…when I was seven or eight years old I knew that his particular game really, really intrigued me.” He pursued his love for investment from then on which lead him to where he is today.
Amancio Ortega started his life in poverty. He left school to work as delivery boy at a shirt maker in their town at the age of 14. He then worked his way up to become an assistant to the tailor then later a designer. Mr. Ortega pursued his passion until he was able to buy his own factory. Today, his high street clothes Zara is world famous.
Do something you are very passionate about and don’t try to chase what is kind of the hot passion for the day.
– Jeff Bezos
The road to success is never easy. Having dreams alone is not enough. You will fail many times over before you can get it right. To make it easier, your goals should always be in line with your passion.
If your dream is to become rich for example, you will never become rich just by dreaming alone. Little steps are needed to lead you closer to your dream one step at a time. Just because a person became successful in a specific field does not necessarily mean you will also become successful in the same path. Always remember that your key to success if your passion. Do something that you love. Your passion or interests will keep you going and ultimately will lead you to your dream.
Updated version. First published in Pinoy Smart Living on 04.12.2019
Feature Image by Gloria Williams from Pixabay Images.