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Lesson #1: Make Your Passion Your Life’s Work

Article Overview: “Without passion, work is just work, a chore,” says Stewart. “Passion is the first and most essential ingredient for planning and beginning a business.”

Lesson #1: Make Your Passion Your Life’s Work

“Without passion, work is just work, a chore,” says Stewart. “Passion is the first and most essential ingredient for planning and beginning a business.”

From an early age, Stewart knew what her passion was; she had always felt most alive when she was experimenting with her mother in their kitchen or planting flowers in their backyard with her father. She loved the domestic arts and knew that if she were going to live a meaningful life, she would have to find a way to channel these passions into a career.

For Stewart, her passion came before her business sense. She was not chasing success nor was she chasing dollar signs. What Stewart wanted was to spend her time doing what she loved most. “You will find that when you have a passion for what you do, and if you are sincere about your interest and concern for your customers, then ‘work’ becomes a genuine pleasure,” says Stewart.

While Stewart never had to deal with the challenge of discovering what she was passionate about, she did face difficulties in translating her passion into a practical career. Like a true entrepreneur, Stewart embarked upon a number of different careers before finding her true calling in media. For instance, Stewart knew she loved house renovations and home décor, so she rationalized that a career in real estate would suit her best. She even went so far as to obtain her real estate license upon moving to Connecticut. But, she soon realized that the actual work of selling homes and driving around with clients was not what she wanted to be doing.

“Try new things,” Stewart advises entrepreneurs who are just starting to explore their options. “I promise that no matter what you experience, you will learn lessons that will eventually help you choose a business you love and a job you will cherish.” Stewart quickly left the real estate business to begin her catering career, which would prove to be a much more fulfilling – and successful – endeavour.

Experimenting with different career possibilities will not only bring you closer to what you really want to do but will, according to Stewart, teach you invaluable lessons that you can use in the future. For instance, Stewart never imagined her modeling career would in any way help her in later years, but she now recognizes that it did in fact teach her how to be comfortable in front of the camera, where she spends much of her time today. During her time as a stockbroker, Stewart also learned the pitfalls of companies who tried to build on debt and expand too quickly, lessons she remained wary of as she was starting her own business.

“If you want to begin the journey to discover your entrepreneurial passion, you first must analyze your own interests,” she says. Passion, however, must not be confused with enthusiasm, which Stewart notes can often lead entrepreneurs down the wrong path. “Becoming a first-rate entrepreneur begins with loving your work and becoming expert in it.”

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Article Tags: business sense, career in real estate, connecticut, dollar signs, endeavour, essential ingredient, estate business, face difficulties, genuine pleasure, house renovations, job, meaningful life, passion, passions, planting flowers, real estate license, true calling, true entrepreneur



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