NOTE: With this article, Towel & Basin continues its celebration of Women’s History Month by serving and supporting, encouraging and empowering women who are making history today.
Given the raw, physical attraction of a couple touching each other, the songwriter asked, “What’s love got to do with it?”
And the same could be asked about finding your WAHM job. Is there a place for your passion when choosing your work-at-home business?
If you have ever heard the expression, “do what you love and the money will follow” then you understand the basic concept behind identifying a passion for your WAHM business.
The thinking goes like this: You will spend significant time working your WAHM business, so it’s important that it’s something you feel passionate about – especially when you encounter unexpected setbacks and challenges.
There is some truth to this...but love and passion are not enough for running a successful business.
Frankly, doing what you love does not necessarily guarantee the “money will follow.”
You see, you may have a passion for a particular topic. And others may share that passion or at least have some interest in it. But if what you are passionate about is not something that people will pay money for, you don’t have a business. You have a hobby.
In a previous article, we described eight types of business opportunities available for work-at-home-moms.
Today we’ll consider how you can sort and sift through the many options – to find a business that fits you well – and that you’d love doing.
Your goal is to find that sweet spot where your passions, your skills and an audience of actual buyers intersect. Keeping that ultimate goal in mind, we’ll now first consider ways you can find your passion. Then, in a future article, we’ll look at identifying your skills.
To help you discover what you are passionate about,
Ask yourself
• What things bring me great enjoyment when I’m doing them?
• What do I enjoy doing the most? When I get a small chunk of time that’s not scheduled with other activities, what do I choose to do?
• What is it that when I’m doing it, I don’t seem to get tired and time seems to “stand still”?
Also, think about the things you enjoyed doing before you were a mom. Ask yourself:
• How did I spend my weekends before I was a mom?
• What job did I have that I truly enjoyed and found satisfying – beyond the paycheck
Your answers to the questions will begin to give you a sense of your passions.
Turning a passion into a business
Here are just some examples of passions that could become income-producing businesses.
If you are an excellent cook, you might turn your passion for cooking into a personal chef business, a catering business, a business that supplies muffins and treats for offices, or even a menu planner (where you provide other moms with pre-planned menus that they simply follow each week when cooking for their own families).
Let’s say you adore children -- yours and others. You can’t get enough of them and enjoy each moment you spend with children. It’s not your desire to “get away” from them to work but to include them as much as possible. In that case, your WAHM business might center on children in some fashion. You might tutor kids, or open a home daycare.
If you are a crafter, you can turn that passion into a business of many different kinds. You might make your crafts and sell them at craft shows, or on Etsy.com or eBay. Some women have trunk shows in their homes where they sell their wares. This works especially well if you are selling fashion accessories or jewelry that you make.
When the passion doesn’t “turn”
You might discover that the things you like doing just don’t translate well into a business. What then? Well, take some time to reexamine the things you like to do. Think carefully and creatively to see if you may have overlooked some opportunity to turn you passions into a WAHM business.
For example,
Are you passionate about watching television? If so, could you turn that passion into writing a blog that with enough readers, you could monetize with advertising? Or you might get paid to write reviews of shows for a funny or irreverent site.
Are you passionate about reading? You might write book reviews that net you some pay. You could set up a blog for other readers that again, with work could earn you money from ads on it, plus commissions from promoting relevant products on your site.
Are passionate about fitness? You might find a WAHM job as a personal trainer, providing you have adequate equipment and space at your home. You might also find a niche for yourself as a personal fitness motivator, providing customers with detailed and customized fitness plans and motivation.
Now, even after taking this second look at your passions, you may confirm that what you most love doing just does not translate into a successful income-producing business. If so, fine. Do it as a hobby.
Then look at your skills to offer solutions that people will gladly pay you to provide. As you provide those products and services, and your customers are pleased, you might find yourself developing a passion you didn’t know you had.
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Finding a business that aligns with your passion is possible. Just remember -- after identifying what you love doing -- to examine your skills and do research to see if there is a market of buyers for what you love doing.
Resources
How to Find Your Personal Vision
Your Etsy List Builder
Your Etsy Profit Machine
Craft Inspector
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Disclosure
Some of my blog posts contain links to products. These are products I use personally or come highly recommended from sources I trust. I would recommend them to my own family. At no extra cost to you, the product creator gives my nonprofit organization a small commission if you click one of these links on my blog and purchase something. This is a win-win-win situation where I get to recommend great products to my readers who benefit tremendously from these products when they buy. My organization receives a small compensation to support our mission and the business gains a new customer. And you pay the same exact price you would pay if you had found the product yourself!