I believe there is only one single thing which you really need, when starting new business, or a new job or even when starting out something smaller like attending dance classes, or joining some sport club.
Passion. Cliché, right?
Now, allow me to spent a little bit of time thinking why is passion so important, and why I believe it is more important than money, market need, price, business model, etc... Here is the list of my arguments:
(1) Higher commitment by order of magnitude. Did you heard about the guy called Elon Musk? That guy is definition of the word passion. He made a lot of money on selling the company named PayPal and then he went into... the rocket business. He had a friend, which made a video of rockets blowing up, in order to prevent Elon to start this kind of business. Elon also put 100M$ of his own money into the company (SpaceX). 100M$ of his own money!
When you are passionate about something, you will not give up easily. It's actually really hard to give up in these situations. (Even when your third rocket in a row blows up :-) - every time I get goosebumps when listening to Elon's answer to the question if he was thinking about giving up: watch here)
(2) Effective marketing. When you are passionate about the topic, people can tell. Better, if they are passionate about the same thing, you just acquired a customer, or an employee! What I'm trying to say, is that it is much more efficient to market your passion, rather than some kind of special offers or other incentives. When you market your beliefs, then you speak directly to the soul of somebody who believes the same thing. This builds loyalty, which is something that incentives can never do.
(3) Meaning. There is no better feeling than waking up early, excited for a day because you can't wait to start to do what you want to do. Do I need to say more? :-)
I mean really. If you are not passionate about what you are about to do, don't do it. Do not start that business, because it will bring you shitload of money. Start a business, for making your life more meaningful.
It is real shame, that only few parents teach kids to follow their passions. Actually the opposite is true. We tend to kill their passions by giving our children some "reasonable" advice to do things, which are "right" and safe.
Maybe we need to embrace the precise opposite. Maybe we need to embrace some boldness. Maybe we need to encourage people to do those "crazy things which will never work out". Maybe then, the world would be much happier place.
Thank you for reading.