Suffering with somewhat of an identity crisis? Maybe you’re questioning your place in this world and are wondering which direction you should go in? Well, don’t worry. Millions of people, including myself, have struggled with this personal battle on more than one occasion, and this article should provide some clarity regarding which business you should start.
If you’re wondering how you can find your purpose in life, the solution lies in the answer of one of two separate questions: 1) what do you enjoy doing as a hobby? and 2) what is something you used to really suffer with but then overcame? If you can successfully answer these two questions, then you will be one step closer to identifying a profitable business opportunity for yourself.
It does help if you’ve lived a life full of different experiences. The more exposure you’ve had to different people, jobs and hobbies – the more options you’ll have to choose from when figuring out your purpose in life. For example, if growing up you tried football, ballet, boxing, chess club and guitar, you should have a better idea of what you do or don’t like than if you only tried guitar.
Turning a hobby into a business
Now, turning a hobby into a business is probably something that you hear all the time when asking “Which business should I start?”, so I won’t bore you with the same spiel. What I will say though is that it’s going to be a lot easier to stay motivated when you revolve your work around something you really enjoy – especially as you’re likely to be bringing a wealth of expertise to the table.
Turning your hobby into a business isn’t always as simple as it may seem though. If your hobby was playing the guitar then you might assume that you’d have to form your own band and start writing music, however, that’s not the case.
Instead, you can train others how to play the guitar! You can do this with personal sessions or on large platforms like YouTube, which will pay you based on ad revenue. You can also teach others to play in online courses and masterclasses.
Obviously I’ve used guitar playing as an example, but this can apply to hobbies of all kinds! If a company can make millions selling a ‘Pet Rock’, then you can make money doing what you love!
Taking a different approach
Sticking with the above example, the options I gave all required the use of an actual guitar. This doesn’t have to be the case though, as you may want to start a totally different business which still targets people within the guitar niche. Confused? Don’t worry – I’ll explain.
In this article I wrote a while back, I spoke about a graphic designer on Instagram (@anocostra) who would create business logos specifically for tattoo parlours. Now, I don’t know whether Ano actually has any tattoos himself, but he clearly likes working with tattoo artists.
Ano is creating new business logos for the tattoo industry every single day and has proven to be very successful in doing so. You can adopt the same strategy by starting a business that you’re good at and specifically working with an industry that you enjoy or connect with most.
Turning an experience into a business
If you’re looking to keep your personal hobbies separate to your business, then I totally understand. Luckily for you, there’s another way that you can find a profitable business opportunity (that you will enjoy), and that is to reflect on a previous pain that you’ve experienced before.
A good example of this is how you often hear personal trainers talk about how they used to be fat, or that they used to be really unhealthy. These people then overcame that difficult obstacle of getting into better shape and improve themselves as a person. They then turned that life experience into a business opportunity. You can also do the same!
“There are lots of people who currently are who you used to be. Your purpose is to go to help them. You represent hope to them.”
Evan Carmichael
Evan’s quote was something of a life-changer when I first heard it, even though it is quite simple when you think about it. Hearing it reminded me of when I once walked out of a psychologist’s office thinking “I wish that was my job”. My own personal experiences up to that point made me want to help others either avoid or get over the same pain(s) that I once went through.
So I have to ask you, what was something that really struggled with? Think of something that hurt you really bad, yet you rose to the challenge and overcame it. Once you’ve got it, think about how you can monetize that experience.
Examples of Pain-to-Profits
Your mind may be going blank when coming up with ideas for turning a past experience into a business opportunity, so I’ll help you by giving some realistic ideas to get the creative juices flowing. You’ll notice that often the job revolves around teaching, but there are plenty of career options that can develop from that. Nevertheless, here are some examples…
- Losing a lot of weight, putting on muscle, being healthier or even managing to compete at an athletic level, to then-coach others on how to achieve similar results.
Example(s): Personal Trainer, Nutritionist. - Going from being broke to building a 6-8 figure business, then helping other entrepreneurs to grow their own businesses via high-level consulting.
Example(s): Business Consultant, Facebook Ads Expert. - Suffering from heartbreak after a bad breakup or even struggling to connect with the opposite sex at all, then teaching couples/single people on how they can better their relationships.
Example(s): Marriage Counsellor, Dating Coach. - Dealing with the stress of raising kids and managing your own personal/work time simultaneously. You can advise other newbie parents on what (not) to do when raising a family.
Example(s): Mom Blogger, Parental Counsellor. - You’ve gone from burning your toast to becoming a homemade Michelin-Esque chef. You’ve gained valuable experience in how to both cook & present your food and want to share those lessons with others.
Example(s): Author of a Best-Selling Cookbook, Food Blogger.
As mentioned already, a lot of these examples revolve around teaching others how to either avoid or overcome the same pain(s) that you once experienced yourself. This is often done via consulting, counselling, blogging or just plain-teaching. How you do it is entirely up to you!
Conclusion
The answer to figuring out which business you should start is to first take a look at your hobbies or past life experiences that you’ve overcome yourself. If you can find a business opportunity that fits into both categories, then it’s an absolute no-brainer that you pursue a career in that field!
Do you have any comments or feedback on this post? Let me know in the comments below!
