My late business mentor from 2013 would always quote the following:
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive,”–Howard Thurman
Back then the quote didn’t really resonate a whole lot with me. I mean, it made sense and I understood it, but for where I was at in my life and business, it didn’t really stick for me.
Until a few weeks ago when a friend of mine shared that same quote on her Instagram account. When I saw it, I was in the middle of creating my Dream Life Or Bust site and brand. I was finally giving myself permission to do all of the things that I truly wanted to be doing.
And so that quote stood out to me like never before. It not only resonated with me, but it stuck like glue.
I screenshotted her post and made the image the background on my phone’s lockscreen. I wanted to see that quote every single day.
All these years later, I finally got it.
Maybe because I was finally stepping fully into the dream creative life I’ve always wanted. Maybe because I had finally given myself permission to do all of the things I wanted to do. Maybe because I finally accepted that I’m multi-passionate and that I’m never gonna be “normal.”
The majority of online business experts will tell you that you need to pick a niche, figure out your expertise and determine what problems the world/your target audience has, so you can then fill that need with your services. And they wouldn’t be totally wrong. That’s definitely a legitimate way to create a business.
The only problem is it wasn’t right for me.
I’m not meant to niche down or to choose one area of expertise or solve just one problem. I’m multi-passionate, and that’s why all the traditional online business and marketing advice never really worked for me.
I mean, it worked in the sense that I’ve created a $70k+ a year business doing things like the internet marketers say you should. If I wanted a business where I just colored in the lines and followed the formula that everyone else was, I could call myself a success right now and be done with it.
But my soul felt like it was dying (not unlike when I quit my day job back in 2012).
I don’t want to follow someone else’s strategy and I don’t want to connect the dots someone else says I should connect. I want to create a life and business that I LOVE, that sets me on fire, built around all of the things I’m passionate about, love to do and am good at.
And so that’s why the Howard Thurman quote stood out to me so much at this time in my life. Because I no longer wanted to figure out what the world needs.
I wanted to figure out what made me come alive and that’s what I wanted to spend all of my time on.
So rather than living the status quo of internet business and marketing, I’ve decided to go my own way. I’ve decided to focus on all of the things that excite me and that make me come alive.
Because if the world needs people who’ve come alive, I want to be one of those people. I want to be out there doing my thing, being me, sharing my art, and inspiring the other multi-passionate writers, artists and entrepreneurs of the world to know that they don’t have to choose one thing either.
What makes you come alive? That’s the question we need to be asking ourselves as business owners.
Not what’s a need I can fill or what problems can I solve for people, but how can I come alive in a way that will inspire others to come alive too? People who are on fire and living their dreams become the spark for others to wake up from the numbed-out lives they’ve been trapped in to finally see the light of who they really are.
Will I still solve problems in my business and still address the needs of my audience? You betcha. I’m in the business of helping people.
But will I continue to let that be the only or even the main question that I ask myself when I want to create an offer or a product? Hell no. Because now I know the real question. The question we should all ask ourselves.
The question I should’ve been asking myself since day one.
So, what makes you come alive? Go and do THAT! It’s the only way you’ll truly ever be happy, fulfilled and living the dream life you’ve always wanted.
Dream life or bust,
jen
