5 Creativity Exercises to find your Passion and Discover your Niche

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

~Steve Jobs

The fastest way to launch a successful business is to discover what your passionate about and then figure out how to get someone to pay you to do it. Entrepreneurs today have far more competition than ever before, however, they also have more access to potential clients through social media and the internet.

The key to getting in the race is to find what you love to do and the ability to convey that to potential clients. Resilience is important too, but it’s like a muscle, and just like muscles it gets tired. When that happens, it’s much easier to keep going if you are passionate about what you doing.

Fortunately, you can remove the likelihood of overexerting your emotional reservoir by finding your niche.  Here are five exercises to help you uncover your passion and discover your niche.

Exercise 1 – What did you love to do as a child and teen?

Be honest with yourself on this one because the answers to this will affect the other four questions. Recognize the difference between those things you were good at and those you wish you were good at. Put all judgment aside in this step so you only focus on gifts and talents, not whether those gifts and talents will take you anywhere.

Make a list of all the things you remember enjoying as a child and a teen. Would you enjoy that activity now?

Make a list of the activities, chores, and events you enjoyed. Did you have a part-time or summer job that you loved? What toys did you like to play with? What about volunteering and classes? List them all.

Exercise 2 – Narrow down the list

Take a deep look at what you listed and rank them in order of the things you enjoy doing most to least. Number your lists from best to least liked. Now, look at your list. Are there any you can eliminate? Things you really didn’t enjoy that much?

Your looking for your sweet spot. Your sweet spot is the intersection between your gifts and talents, skills, and passion. When you discover your sweet spot you are ready to focus on the next questions.

Exercise 3- Figure out what people will pay you to do?

If one of your talents is rolling your tongue, congratulations, you have an audience of one. This is where market research comes in. This will help narrow down exactly what to focus on. Look for websites that offer demographic information to get a better idea of how much to explore this talent. Check Google, Facebook, and other social media platforms to see how many people search for those gifts, talents, and skills. Use keywords to help you search. Is there a market for the first five things on your list?

Exercise 4 – Is your passion scalable?

Sure, your mom may give you a few dollars out of pity, but that’s not likely to pay the bills. If you find there is a market for the things on your list, which one has the most potential to making a living?

Be honest with yourself. Just because you can make money doing something do you love it enough to keep doing it every day until it becomes profitable? Most new businesses fail within the first few years because it takes time, energy, and investment to make a new business profitable. It’s not easy and you need to be positive your passionate enough about what you choose to keep going when it doesn’t seem like anything is happening.

Exercise 5 – Make a list of people who are doing want you want to do.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Study people who are or have been successful in the area you want to pursue. This serves two purposes. First, you can learn a lot about what to do and not to do by observing others. This is how we learn most things in life. For instance, talking, walking, playing, and so many other things we learn came from watching others. Second, you get a good idea of what your competitors are doing. What’s working? What’s not? How can you distinguish yourself and your business from others? What will make you stand out? What do you offer that others don’t?

In conclusion- A lot of people wait until they have everything figured out, an extensive business plan written down, investors wanting to throw cash at them, but usually their ideas never see the light of day. Step out of your comfort zone and try it, work hard at it, and see how it goes. The greatest lessons in life are learned by trying, failing, trying another way, and figuring it out.

Take a chance on doing what you enjoy — even if you haven’t yet figured it all out yet. Test what it might be like to work in an area you’re passionate about, build your business network, and ask for feedback that will help you develop and refine your business plan.

It’s a way to not only show the value you would bring, but you can also get testimonials that will help launch your business when you’re ready to make it official.

Perhaps most importantly, though, it will shift you out of paralysis and fear and you will get the joy of seeing what a difference your contribution can make. That will fuel your creativity and drive you to succeed.

If you don’t know what to do next and need help figuring it out the best investment you can make in yourself and your business is to hire a business coach. Try joining my Business Trailblazers Mastermind it’s not as expensive as one on one coaching and you get the benefit of a group to inspire, encourage, learn from, and cheer you on. For more information on coaching or the mastermind email me at Elizabeth@ElizabethClamon.com or make an appointment for a free thirty-minute coffee chat at https://MeetElizabeth.as.me/