Many people confuse excitement and passion, especially in terms to do with their business.
I think of excitement a bit more like a match. You strike the match and you get a flame, but eventually and fairly quickly you will run out of fuel to keep the flame burning as it burns down the match and then the flame will die.
Passion is more like the coals of a fire. Sometimes the coals die down, but all it takes is a little bit of oxygen to stir them up and they can again create fire. They don’t go out, the flame is there whenever we need it. They are always producing that heat in a slow release way.
Many people in business are looking for passion and they get side tracked or confused by excitement, mistaking this excitement for passion. When people come to me with new business ideas, I always suggest they ‘sleep on it’ or even leave it for a week and see how they feel about it in a weeks time. If they are truly passionate, then that burn will still be present in a week. If they are only excited, then they will not be in a week generally.
This is an especially important principle for Franchisors to understand. When they have a new franchisee come on board, that first week or two of training can be exciting. Even their first few months of business can be exciting, but that excitement will die, just as the flame on a match will go out. In business, in a franchise, this is when things get a bit hard and work is required to keep moving through.
It is important for Franchisors to get the coals burning in that franchisee. In still a passion for the business, for the brand in them. Don’t just get them excited, get them passionate about what they are doing in their business, what the franchise stands for. Don’t make it all hype and excitement, get them to be passionate.
Coals in a fire can last through all sorts of conditions and still keep burning or it doesn’t take much effort to get them alive and burning again. Once a match is burnt out, it is burnt out forever.
To have passion in your business is to know that it won’t be all easy. it is not going to just magically happen. In excitement, we are only looking at the good and our perspective is off and we can only see the good that will happen and sometimes even exaggerate the possible positives that will happen. Passion, we know that there will be hard times, but we still want to do it, we still want to wade through the made, because the result is worth it.
So are you excited about your business or are you passionate?