Just as Don Quixote’s passion kept him from seeing that he was attacking windmills, your own passion can cloud your judgment.
The Christian Science Monitor considers the good and the bad that comes with a passionate business idea, and why you should not let your passion stop you form looking at the whole truth.
For example, I see many who want to translate their passion for healthier lifestyles into businesses. But when they are asked to objectively evaluate whether their passion for being healthy is matched by market demand, they become blinded by their strongly held vision. Rather than look for the trends and evidence that their passion will translate into a successful business, they view the start-up as a virtuous mission to change the world. They plan an attack of all of the wrongs in society that have created an unhealthy lifestyle, and translate their passion into a business start-up with little hope of success.
I call this Don Quixote Syndrome.
But this kind of passion does not always mean that they will have a ready market waiting to buy what they are selling. I am not saying that a business model based on passions such as healthier lifestyles are fatally flawed. Rather, when they present their rationale for their business model and the value proposition they are tackling, it is rarely based on a ready and eager market. It becomes a quest to change the way their intended markets think and behave.
While a noble goal, it is a time-consuming and expensive path to creating a successful venture.
Photo by Dominic Alves