Running a business is hard. There are days filled with paperwork, customer complaints, and unexpected costs. On those days, it’s easy to wonder, “Why did I even start this?”
Every business owner has asked that question. The answer that keeps you going—the thing that gets you excited to open your doors or fire up your laptop each morning—isn’t just one thing. It’s a powerful combination of four key ingredients.
Think of these ingredients as the four points on your career compass. They are:
I enjoy it. (This is your passion.)
I am good at it. (This is your skill.)
I make good money. (This is your profit.)
I’m around fascinating people. (This is your community.)
Most people start with number one: “Follow your passion!” But what if your passion doesn’t pay the bills? What if you’re passionate about something, but you’re not that good at it? That advice can feel confusing.
There’s a smarter way. Let’s flip the order. Let’s start by looking outward, at the world around you, and then work our way inward. This reverse approach can be a game-changer for building a business that is both successful and deeply satisfying.
We’ll start with the most overlooked point on the compass: the fascinating people.
1. Where Are the Fascinating People?
Before you can build a business, you need to find your people. These aren’t just customers who buy from you once. These are the people who make your work interesting. They are the clients who challenge you, the peers who inspire you, and the mentors who guide you.
“Fascinating” doesn’t always mean famous or powerful. It means people you connect with. People you enjoy talking to. People whose problems you find interesting to solve.
So, where do you find them?
A. Look at Industries and Hobbies. Every industry has its own culture. Are you fascinated by the creative, visual world of graphic designers and artists? Or do you prefer the logical, number-focused world of accountants and engineers? Maybe you love the hustle and stories of restaurant owners, or the technical details that excite software developers. Your fascinating people are gathered around specific industries, hobbies, and passions.
Action Step: Make a list of three fields or hobbies you find interesting. It could be anything: craft brewing, sustainable farming, fantasy sports, or home organization.
B. Look at Communities, Online and Off. Where do these people gather?
Online: LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, Reddit forums (called subreddits), and specialized online forums are where people go to ask questions, share wins, and complain about their biggest challenges. Lurk in these groups. What are they talking about? What gets them excited?
Offline: Trade shows, local business chamber meetings, workshops, and networking events are gold mines. The goal isn’t to sell anything at first. It’s to listen. To learn what makes these people tick.
C. Define “Fascinating” for You. What kind of interactions do you enjoy?
Do you like teaching and helping beginners?
Do you enjoy debating ideas with experts?
Do you get energy from creative collaboration?
Do you like hearing the unique stories of people in a specific trade?
Your “fascinating people” are the group you want to serve and work alongside. When you find your business home among them, work stops being a chore and starts being a conversation. Once you know who they are, the next question is how you can create value for them.
2. In What Ways Can I Make Money With Them?
You’ve found a group of people you like. Now, how do you build a business that serves them? This is about finding a need and filling it. It’s about spotting the problems your fascinating people have and creating a solution they are willing to pay for.
Don’t think, “How can I get their money?” Think, “How can I make their lives easier, better, or more successful?”
Here are ways to make money by solving problems for your chosen group:
A. Solve a Specific, Frustrating Problem. Listen to the conversations in their communities. What do they complain about? A graphic designer might complain about clients who don’t pay on time. An restaurant owner might struggle with scheduling staff efficiently. A small blogger might not understand how to set up their website.
Business Idea: You could create an invoicing service for creatives, a scheduling software for small restaurants, or a simplified website setup service for non-techies.
B. Help Them Save Time or Money. Time is the most valuable thing for any busy person. If you can save your fascinating people time, they will pay you. If you can save them money, they will see you as a hero.
Business Idea: If your group is small-scale farmers, you could start a service that handles their organic certification paperwork. You’re saving them time. Or, you could use your bulk-buying power to get them supplies at a discount. You’re saving them money.
C. Help Them Make More Money. This is always a winning strategy. If you can show someone a clear path to increasing their sales or profits, you have a very strong business proposition.
Business Idea: If your fascinating people are local plumbers, you could specialize in marketing for trade businesses. You could build websites and manage online ads that get them more service calls.
D. Provide a Specialized Product or Information. Sometimes, the group needs a specific tool or knowledge that isn’t readily available.
Business Idea: You could source and sell rare materials for custom jewelry makers. Or, you could create an online course that teaches new real estate agents how to pass their licensing exam on the first try.
The key is to match the money-making opportunity to the people you’ve identified. A business that sells high-end fishing rods will do well in a community of fishing enthusiasts. That same business would fail in a group dedicated to indoor yoga.
You’ve found your people. You’ve found a way to serve them that makes financial sense. Now, you need to ask a critical question: Are you the right person to do it?
3. Which Ones Am I Good At?
This is the reality check. You might find a group of fascinating people with a problem you can solve, but if you don’t have the skills to solve it well, the business will struggle. This point on the compass is about self-awareness. It’s about knowing your strengths and being honest about your weaknesses.
How do you figure out what you’re good at?
A. Take a Skills Inventory. Split your skills into two categories:
Hard Skills: These are teachable, measurable abilities. Writing code, doing taxes, welding, speaking a foreign language, using Photoshop, managing a social media account.
Soft Skills: These are personality-driven skills. Communicating clearly, listening well, leading a team, solving problems under pressure, making people feel comfortable.
List everything you can think of. Don’t be modest. Ask a friend or a former coworker what they think your greatest strengths are. You might be surprised.
B. Look for the “Sweet Spot” with Your Business Idea. Now, take your list of skills and hold it up against the money-making ideas you came up with in the previous section.
Example: Your fascinating people are “new parents.” A big problem they have is needing healthy, pre-made meals because they have no time to cook.
Question: Are you good at it? Do you have skills in cooking, meal planning, and food safety? Are you organized enough to manage inventory and deliveries? If you burn water and hate logistics, this business idea is not a good fit, even if the need is great.
C. Be Honest About What You’re NOT Good At. This is just as important. If your business idea requires a skill you lack, you have three choices:
Learn the skill. (This takes time and effort.)
Partner with someone who has that skill. (A great option!)
Choose a different idea that better matches your current strengths.
The goal is to find the overlap between a market need and your natural talents. When you work from your strengths, work feels easier. You build a reputation for quality and expertise. Customers trust you, and that trust is the foundation of a lasting business. But even if you’re good at something, there’s one final, crucial question.
4. Which Ones Do I Enjoy?
This is the final piece of the puzzle, and it’s the one that prevents burnout. You can be good at something, serve a fascinating group, and make money, but if you don’t enjoy the day-to-day work, you will eventually resent your business.
Enjoyment is what gives you staying power. It’s the fuel that gets you through the hard days.
How do you know if you’ll enjoy it?
A. Analyze the Day-to-Day Tasks. A business idea might sound great in theory, but the reality is in the daily tasks. Let’s take the example of being a social media manager for coffee shop owners (fascinating people!).
The idea is creative: building a brand, making fun videos.
The reality includes: responding to negative comments, staring at analytics for hours, constantly thinking of new content, and dealing with the technical side of scheduling posts.
Be brutally honest. Would you enjoy that mix of tasks? Do you prefer tasks that are repetitive and structured, or tasks that are new and creative every day?
B. The “Sunday Night Test.” Imagine it’s Sunday night. How do you feel about starting your workweek tomorrow?
If the thought of the work ahead fills you with energy or quiet satisfaction, you’re on the right track.
If it fills you with dread or anxiety, that’s a major red flag. It might mean the work doesn’t align with what you enjoy.
C. Enjoyment is Different from Passion. You don’t have to be passionately in love with accounting to enjoy running a successful bookkeeping firm for small contractors. You might enjoy it because you like creating order out of chaos. You like helping people feel less stressed about money. You like the puzzle of balancing numbers.
“Enjoyment” can mean many things: it feels meaningful, it uses your creativity, it gives you a sense of accomplishment, or it simply doesn’t feel like a grind.
When you enjoy the work, you bring a positive energy that customers notice. It makes your marketing more genuine. It makes your customer service better. It makes you more resilient when challenges arise. You’re not just building a business; you’re building a life you like.
Putting It All Together: Your Four-Way Compass
Let’s see how this reverse order works in practice for a fictional small business owner, Maria.
Fascinating People: Maria loves the energy and dedication of owners of small fitness studios (yoga, CrossFit, pilates). She finds their focus on health and community inspiring.
Make Money: She listens to them. Their biggest complaint is that they are great trainers but terrible at marketing and filling their classes. They struggle with websites and social media. Maria sees an opportunity to offer monthly marketing packages specifically for small fitness studios.
Good At It: Maria takes a skills inventory. She is highly organized, a good writer, and understands the basics of Facebook and Instagram ads. These are the hard skills needed. Her soft skills are that she’s encouraging and a good teacher—perfect for working with coaches.
Enjoy It: Maria thinks about the day-to-day. She would enjoy creating content, looking at what works, and teaching the studio owners how to use simple tools. She loves the idea of helping wellness businesses succeed. It feels meaningful to her.
Maria’s business has a high chance of success because it hits all four points of the compass. She found a clear path by starting with the people she wanted to serve.
What if your compass points don’t all line up perfectly yet? That’s okay. Very few people start with all four. The compass gives you a direction to grow.
Maybe you’ve found fascinating people and a way to make money, but you’re not yet good at the skill. That’s a signal to learn and practice.
Maybe you’re good at something and make money, but the people aren’t fascinating. That’s a signal to niche down and find a subgroup you like better.
Maybe you have the first three, but you don’t enjoy it. That’s a signal to change your daily tasks, hire out the parts you dislike, or consider a pivot.
Your business is a living thing. It will change and evolve. Use this four-way compass as a guide. Check in with it every year. Ask yourself:
Am I still surrounded by fascinating people?
Am I still solving a problem that allows me to make good money?
Am I still working from my strengths?
Do I still enjoy the day-to-day work?
If you can answer “yes” to these questions, you’ve found something rare and valuable. You’ve built a career that doesn’t feel like work. And that is the greatest success of all.
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Hi, I’m Heather.
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