Milton Hershey was down on his luck when his boss fired him from his job as a printer’s apprentice in 1871. But, where others saw only sour grapes, Hershey smelled sweet success. He poured himself into his vision for bringing chocolate bars to the masses, founding the Lancaster Caramel Company in 1888.
129 years later, Hershey’s fledgling enterprise, now known as Hershey Chocolates, is one of the most successful firms on earth. According to Business Insider, his story is but one of many examples of people who went from failure to fame. There’s no reason you can’t add your own name to this illustrious list. Here’s how you can go from getting the boot to wearing it.
Know Your Passion
There’s a huge difference between working and having fun. One is drudgery; the other is a delight. One is a route to a payoff. The other is the payoff itself. One saps you of energy and makes you hate your life. The other energizes you and make you embrace living. Your challenge is to turn the fun into a full-time endeavor, one that puts money in your pocket. In other words, you need to find your passion. Here’s how to start:
- Ask yourself what makes you forget to eat. Do you get so wrapped up in your woodworking hobby that you hate to stop for a sandwich? Do you immerse yourself in baking to the point that you forget to sample your own wares? Do you find the idea of an empty cupboard appealing as long as you can use the food money to buy sewing supplies? Hidden somewhere in all that dietary deprivation is the thing you love to do most of all.
- Find an unmet need. This may require some creative thinking, but the rewards make the effort worthwhile, according to an article in the Huffington Post. For example, your community may have plenty of busy pet owners who would love to find someone dependable to walk their dogs. Fill that need and voila, you have a source of income.
- Look to the future, not the past. There’s a reason why most people prefer using a smartphone over a landline. The smartphone is more convenient and has way more features. Some products that dominated yesterday now exist only in the past. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Take vinyl records for instance. Most of the time, however, money follows where technology and innovation lead. You should so as well, f you want your business to succeed.
- Get online as fast as you can. It’s impossible for a company to succeed in today’s world unless it has a healthy Internet presence. This is true even for the aforementioned vinyl record market, which relies on the Web for most of its sales.
Losing your old position can lead either to failure or success.
The choice is yours. Use the tips in this post to turn your dreams of self-employment into reality. Who knows? Maybe one day your old boss will come knocking on your door looking for a job herself. The joy you’ll get from that experience alone will make all the effort and risk-taking worthwhile. Best of luck in your future endeavors and may the winds of change always be at your back.
