In the post ‘Why ‘being passionate’ is awful advice’ by Scott Gerber, the point is made that your work or business shouldn’t necessarily be something you’re passionate about.

I disagree  – I think you have to love what you do – here’s why.

At a time management session the other day we did that exercise where you draw a rectangle (this represents all the time in your life imagining that you’d live to the average age). You block out the time you’ve already used. So for example if the average age for a woman to live to is 85 and you’re 42, you’ve spent half your life, so you’d block out half the rectangle.

Then you block out half of what’s left – because you’ll sleep this much of your life away.

Then you block out half again of what’s left – because you’ll spend this time at work. (roughly!)

And what you have left – that very small ‘square’ – is your ‘free’ time left for your life time (holidays, weekends, retirement etc) to do other stuff. All the stuff you really want to be doing.

This hugely simplifies your life – but still it gets you thinking.

And it got me thinking why does work have to be a block that is ‘work’, something that has to be endured, and got out of the way so you can do the other stuff you want to be doing?

Why can’t work be integrated with the other stuff; so there is no strict division? If work is a place that is flexible, family friendly, you get to learn, even travel, is satisfying and fun, you spend time with fabulous people – then it wouldn’t be that block of time to ‘endure’.

You gotta love what you’re doing. Bottom line.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed in your business and swamped with tasks that you just hate to do (think – filing tax returns), maybe it’s time to audit your workload.

Create a log of all the tasks you carry out in your business… from answering email to client meetings. Everything.

Then create three columns at the end row of your list. Title one column ‘passion’, another column ‘profit’ and the last one ‘goal’.

Now go through your list of tasks and assess each one… ask yourself;

-          Do I love doing this task? (if yes, give it a tick in the passion column)

-          Is this task profitable? (If yes, give it a tick in the profit column)

-          Is this task bringing me closer to my goals? (If yes, give it a tick in the goal column)

Now look at your list. The tasks with three ticks you get to keep (they’re passion activities, they make money and are moving you toward achieving your goals). And probably for now, you keep the ones with two ticks.

Look at the tasks with no ticks, or just one tick… these are the ones to outsource. Can you delegate to someone in your team, hire a Virtual Assistant or a book-keeper part-time?

Your ultimate goal is to spend all your time on tasks that you love doing, make money and are goal orientated.

How fun would work be then, huh?!

Back in 1995 I started a magazine for women in business; ‘Her Business’ – it became popular and went on to win many awards and media attention.

In hindsight the magazine was successful because of the following ideas- can you integrate these concepts into your own business?;

I tapped into a niche market.

My magazine was for women in business. Not anyone in business. Not all women. Just women in business.

My market was well defined and accessible.

I could reach my market very easily – there were business women’s groups a plenty to reach out to; I offered subscriptions as prize giveaways; I was invited to speak at the groups. I could – and did – go through entire yellow page directories looking for businesses owned by women and sent them letters about the Her Business magazine and how it could help them.

I was young and had heaps of energy

I worked hard. Really hard. I was in my mid twenties so I could survive on three hours sleep for days on end. (I can’t any more).

I was in a stable relationship

I had a partner who was incredibly supportive of my entrepreneurial dream. He helped out lots, didn’t whinge when I worked crazy hours, was my biggest fan and generally wanted to see me do well. This is huge – if your partner is feeling abandoned or resentful of your success, then you could be facing an uphill battle.

I didn’t have a TV

Enough said. We can waste hours of our day doing ‘stuff’ that doesn’t bring us any closer to our goals.

I was very clear about what I did

I published a magazine for women in business.

I had a story.

My story was about having a dream to start my own magazine, start my own business even though I knew nothing about publishing or running a business. I had great examples of my journey – and people love to hear your story; your reason for doing what you’re doing. Then they can understand, be inspired, they can visualise it and they hop on board and feel connected to you.

I chose the right time

Back in 95 women were starting to launch their businesses in a big way. They wanted support, advice and role models – a magazine was perfect. A magazine that addressed their needs and offered solutions to their problems.

I had an assistant

After months of going it alone, I did get an assistant, and while we did share a computer (imagine it!) it did free me up a bit. Then I went on to have a fabulous team who all worked hard building the business.

I went on heaps of courses

If there was a course going on about any area of business – I was on it. Lots were free, and others I offered contras; like a free pass in exchange for coverage, or sponsorship, or magazines, or subscriptions – or whatever I could think of. I read lots. I didn’t stop learning.

I created a brand.

Once the magazine was established, we created an annual awards event, then a who’s who directory, then networks and clubs and then conferences – all for women in business, under the Her Business brand.

We had the audience, so we kept thinking what else can we offer them?

I had integrity

From the beginning I was adamant I wanted to be a business magazine for women not a magazine for women that had a business section. I wanted to create a magazine for its readers, not a magazine for advertisers. I did not want to sell out with fluff content on fashion and beauty products to appease advertisers.

Readers respected that I put them first – and not the advertiser first. Of course it came with a cost; I missed out on some high paying advertising.

I had multiple revenue streams

We had income from retail sales, from subscriptions – that we worked really hard at building and advertising (we believed if an advertiser wanted to be part of what we were doing then they’d join us; we didn’t do a hard sell to advertisers.)

And – I loved what I did.

Sometimes I got goose bumps from the joy of it all. I worked hard, sure. But I loved the challenge, the satisfaction of seeing another printed issue, the feedback from readers, the variety of work, working with a team and the flexibility of  being my own boss. If you work long and hard, you have to love what you do.

What do you do ‘right’ in your business?

A recurring theme in our master mind group is a tendency to ‘think small’ of ourselves.

We don’t charge enough for our products /services, we don’t put ourselves forward for big jobs, we don’t approach the top level movers and shakers, we don’t toot our own horn  – and so on.

Yet we’re all smart, confident and talented women – we can see it in each other but not in ourselves.

We’ve discussed the issue at length and we’re aware that this thinking small will inhibit any chance of true success in our businesses. Whether it’s through lack of confidence; being too humble; just not believing in ourselves, or not recognising the real value we offer – something is holding us back.

As Nelson Mandela famously said; ‘Your playing small doesn’t serve the world’.

One of our members brought along a worksheet one week that outlined the need to make a decision and own it (eg, I am the city’s leading business coach), believe it and then list all the reasons why you deserve it. That was empowering – sometimes we forget all the experience we have, the achievements we’ve accumulated until we list them down and acknowledge them properly.

When I started Her Business magazine my dream was simple – to start a magazine for women in business; I could see it, I believed in it and, amazingly, in myself (even though I didn’t know anything about running a business or publishing) – I simply didn’t doubt it. I just got on with it.

With age and experience comes wisdom but also knockbacks, fear, -coupled with less energy, more commitments – and suddenly a dream that was simply challenging a few years ago – now seems so much more tougher.

I came across a post and workbook today called ‘7 steps to playing a much bigger game’ – and I love it. David Navarro has written a very looooooooooooong post (but well worth the read) to complement the workbook. The free workbook is downloadable from here: www.thelaunchcoach.com/workbook1 . If you’re not stepping up  – then check this out as it’ll kick the butt of your thinking small.

Lots of what David said resonated with me, but particularly this point when we wonder if we’re good enough (that old imposter syndrome rearing its head): “You have certain skills you can offer the world, and whether or not you don’t appreciate them, other people can.  You may not see yourself as a 10 on the old sliding scale, maybe you’re a 5, but let me tell you this: To people who are a 0, 1 or 2, your 5 might as well be a 10.  You have value they need.”

This is a conundrum I face as a business blogger; the more I look, the more I discover lots of other people are out there already doing it and doing it well; I feel intimidated, the inertia kicks in – but then I think of the people who’ve asked me what’s blogging about? What’s twitter? And I realise I do have lots to offer; and there is enough of the pie for us all…. so I’ll stop waiting to be a ten and just jump right in and give the value I can.