Entrepreneurship with Passion… what’s that?

Entrepreneurship with passion huh? 

Sounds nice… but what is it really?

Well… I’m still a young guy and have a lot of life in front of me still.  But, I’m old enough to know what entrepreneurship with passion is… and what unpassionate (is that a word??) entrepreneurship.

I grew up in a middle class home where we had to work hard for everything we got.  It wasn’t until I was in high school that our family really became what is called by a lot of people “well off”.  Before then… it was full of hard work and a lot of struggle.

You see… my mom and dad are both entrepreneurs.  My mom owns the largest party and wedding rental/sales store in Southern Oregon and it’s been around for almost 20 years.

My dad owns Southern Oregons most successful independent construction and lawn and garden equipment rental/sales firm in addition to a few other businesses including commercial real estate.

I don’t say this to brag about anything…

… far from it. 

Like I said, the success really didn’t come until I was in high school… and it was a long haul to get there.

But, the reason I bring this up is because through watching both my mom and dad start, build, and now look to exit their businesses… I’ve seen the whole range from extremely passionate entrepreneurship… all the way to worn down and unpassionate entrepreneurship.

When my parents started their businesses they loved every second of hard work and frustration (at least I think they did ;-).  They lived their businesses until they had built them up to the point where they were able to take more time off and have their employees run the biz.

But…

In the last 5 years or so I’ve really seen a huge change in my parents when it comes to their businesses that have been around for over 15 years.

The passion is gone.

My dad loves his business and his employees (most of the time, lol).  But, he doesn’t wake up every morning excited to go to work anymore.  He is getting worn down in this biz… but still hasn’t lost his entrepreneurial desire.

As for my mom, she lost her passion several years back and actually is fortunate enough to have a company team that has taken over the operations so she can completely step away from the business.  That’s what we’re all looking for…. right??

Well… not for me.  I’m not looking to build a business so I can step away from it 5 years from now.

To me, entrepreneurship with passion is what I’m living right now. 

I love waking up everyday and thinking about how I’m going to build my businesses, serve my clients better, and reach my life goals.

I live, eat, sleep, and breathe entrepreneurship and am always looking for ways to add to the passion. 

But…

A couple years back I was completely the opposite.  I was working with a company that I was excited about at first.  I just knew I could build their business and my wallet would fatten up in no time flat.

But… in less than 6 months my passion faded fast and I literally had to drag myself out of bed every morning to go to work.  I even went as far as negotiating a flexible work schedule and stayed home some days to “work”… but found myself not getting a whole lot done for the company.

I was worn down and hated life. Whatever the opposite of passion is… that was me.

Then, I figured out what passion meant to me…

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