In the past week, another large U.S. company announced their plans to lay off at least 12,000 people.  The layoff was due to not making their estimated quarterly financial goals.  When the CEO was interviewed he alluded to the possibility that the company would hire back the laid off people if the numbers were better at the end of the year.  Maybe.

Being laid off is a huge challenge for people.  Their lives are disrupted and their challenge becomes one of what to do now.  Many of these people will decide to start their own business.  I know I did when it happened to me.  It was my reaction to the shock of being laid off.  I decided that I wanted to be in charge of my own work fate, and not to depend on the decisions of others.

Before, we go any further, I want you to know this isn’t a diatribe about unfairness of being laid off.  Instead it is about the most important trait you must have, a quality that will insure that your choice of going to work for yourself is not made solely in reaction to something, but is made instead with some deliberate thought about what work you will do.  And it’s not about skills; instead it’s about who you are being.

In order to have your new business be a success, you must first and foremost love what your business is.  Not sort of love it, or hope that you will learn to love it but love it from the get go.  You need the sort of enthusiasm that has you excited about your new business and wanting to be in it no matter what.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a service business or a product business.  Choosing a business that you love means that you have the willingness to do it whether or not you get paid for it.  It is sometimes referred to as your hobby or extracurricular activity—yes that one—that thing that interests you so much that you already study it, read about it, and talk about it in groups or online forums.

If you do not have a love (some call it passion) for what you are doing, you will fail.  People will know it and they will run away from your business quickly.  And you will want to quit working too, not because you can’t make money, but because you can’t stand being inauthentic.  I know you have been in a store where you just knew that the owner would love to be any place but there.  It’s a real downer just to be in there; it’s the kind of place you want to escape from, not stay to buy something.

Think of the last time you were in a business where the owner loved what he/she was doing.  You felt welcome and taken care of; it’s the kind of place you refer your friends to, and that is the kind of business you want to build!

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