Passion
I love nature. I want my children to grow in a world where they can live. I want them to enjoy climbing a tree, picking up wild fruits, and sharing experiences with wildlife. I want to teach my grandchildren how to fish, the same way my grandfather taught me. I believe the world has taken a big toll on the environment, and it is my generation and the entrepreneurial drive the only force that can revert this.
I started www.goprofilegreen.com during my one-year MBA. It is a tool that let’s users offset their carbon emissions from their social media profiles. We deliver a hassle-free and social way for users in Facebook to invest in natural capital. After many planted trees, an MVP, more than 100 users in Facebook, thousands of dollars and months of hard work I learned that the only thing that keeps an entrepreneur moving forward is passion.
Build a team with passion
GoProfileGreen was structured hiring a third party to develop our MVP. Even though this was the best decision at the time, it is affecting our potential and growth during our current stage. I learned that if you are planning to start an internet based business, a technical cofounder is a must. Not because of the lack of knowledge I have in this key department, not because it is less expensive for you to build the MVP, not because of the agile deployment you can implement but because of passion. A third party developer will never input the workload with the same passion as a cofounder, and this can be detrimental for your venture.
Choose your path carefully
I started this venture because I wanted to create environmental value for the planet. Understand what really motivates you to pursue the entrepreneurial path is important to keep you moving forward. What you don’t read in books and no professor tells you in Babson is that starting a business is a lonely process. Keep this in mind when you decide you want to start a business. Surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs and sharing your progress and ideas with them helps, but at the end it depends on you and your team to move forward. Write exactly why are you starting your business in a big poster and hang it in the wall. Read this everyday. This will remind you what exactly motivates you and will keep you moving forward. Simon Sinek, in his book Start with Why?, explores in depth this key concept that will motivate you and others to push the business forward. You can check out his Ted talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioZd3AxmnE
Do what you love
If you are starting a business you need to believe in what you are building. If you have no passion for your venture don’t even waste your time ideating about it. Someone once said: “Do what you love, and money will follow”. I deeply believe in this. If you love what you do, you will build it at it’s best and find the market’s needs later on. Don’t let your failures push you down, remember why you started the business in the first place and that you love doing what you do. Remember your passion, it is the entrepreneur’s only reason to push the limits.
From one entrepreneur to another, I ask you: What’s your passion?