5 Things to Think About Before Creating a Marketing Plan

 

Setting a marketing budget before defining a marketing plan is like putting the cart before the horse. Although there are plenty of online resources that can help you get a general idea of how much your marketing budget should be (depending on the number of years your startup exists, the industry in which it operates, etc.), preparing a marketing roadmap should come first.

Your marketing budget may change during the budget year, but to make it feasible, it should be built together with a plan that fits the goals of the company and one you could work with on a daily / weekly / monthly basis.

Before creating a detailed marketing plan including budget allocation to the various channels, deadlines, owner and more, there are 5 things to consider:

1. Audience

Startups are agile, and the answer to the question “who is your target audience” may change over the lifetime of the start-up. However, when you initiate your marketing efforts and build a plan and budget, there must be a clear answer to this question. For example, is your product an innovative a/b testing widget aimed at marketing executives in Fortune 500 companies? Is it an app targeted at teenagers ages 12-17 who live in English-speaking countries? Generic marketing targeting e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e (or “anyone who would want to buy the product”) is bad marketing. Even if you want to target multiple audiences, you must define them and often will need to narrow the list of audiences down, depending on your available capital and human resources.

Some would choose to build a persona (or persons) of the potential audience, to better understand who the potential client is and which pain they have that your product can solve. There are several excellent guides online to help build a persona and a free Persona builder by Xtensio.

2. Objectives

Once you defined who your target audience is, set your goals for the period of the marketing plan. One goal, for example, can be positioning yourself as an expert in the industry (thought leadership). This can be done by guest columns written by the founder/CEO in relevant blogs (for example, Bessemer Partners mapped Israeli cyber security startups for TechCrunch to position themselves as experienced investors in this industry). Another goal can be increasing sales. This may lead to focusing your budget on paid advertising.

A goal can also be recruiting new employees, and for that you may want to reach out to tech blogs who cover cool office spaces like this article in Fortune. There are additional goals you can have, and the answer to the question what are your goals could be “all of the above.” But, in order to prepare an effective and executable marketing plan, I recommend prioritizing these goals.

3. Marketing Channels

After you set your audience and goals, the next question is where can you find the audience. Going back to the example of targeting marketing execs in Fortune 500 companies, the chance of them reading an article mentioning your company at AdAge or AdWeek is higher than them reading such an article on Mashable. If you target the 12-17 age group, are they on Facebook, or like all of us, moved to Snapchat? Try to understand where your target audience spends most of its time online. Often, the chances of finding good and targeted leads will be higher in niche industry blogs. I worked with a company that targeted c-level executives in the hospitality business. The best leads we got was from an article on a small blog, but one that all c-levels in this industry are subscribed to. Sometimes, being featured in a large publication is a matter of ego more than ROI.

4. Team

While building the marketing plan, ask yourself if there is currently someone on the team that will be able to carry the plan out. If not, is there a need (and budget) to hire a full-time marketing person? If you have an existing team, do you need to hire more people or would outsourcing services like Fiverr and UpWork make do? There are opinions supporting and opposing hiring freelancers, but from my experience, it depends on the person. You can hire an employee with zero dedication and a contractor who gives 120 percent into the project.

5. Budget

This point is derived from the four points above. Only when you set your target audience, objectives, optimal marketing channels and structure of the team will you be able to better understand what budget is needed. The marketing budget should be consistent with the growth to which you aspire. If you decide on a fixed monthly marketing budget throughout the year, it will be difficult to expect that it will support a growth. Start with a realistic budget – both in terms of available resources and also you in terms of your goals (it’s difficult to demand a 10 percent MoM growth with a fixed monthly marketing budget of $1,000). Consider long-term and short-term factors. For example, investing in content and SEO is a long term investment (Google will kill any tricks you try ;-)). In contrast, a PR campaign can and should be limited in time, so you can allocate only a few months out of the budget to it. If you decide to work with a PR agency, you can limit the work to 3-4 months. In addition, as the company’s general budget may vary due to external factors (drop in revenues, declining recruitment, etc.), the marketing budget will vary too, and that should be taken into account as well.

  Source : http://bit.ly/2bYpD2m

Bad Idea Killers

How to Survive Your First Year of Entrepreneurship

The first year of entrepreneurship is the crucial one. It’s where your company will either grow at an incredible rate or immediately stagnate. It’s true that most entrepreneurs give up in the first year,according to a number of studies. This is not difficult to understand why because it’s notoriously difficult to thrive in one of the most competitive areas of business.

But this doesn’t have to convince you that this is a bad idea. You can start your own business and you can succeed. This guide is going to show you how you can go about surviving your first year of entrepreneurship.

Have a Goal

The only way you are going to make your strategy succeed is through having an actual goal. A common mistake is that people have no real idea what they want to accomplish or why they are doing this. It leads to them doing something without any meaning or purpose in mind.

If you can’t articulate your goal, you are never going to make it through the hard times. A good goal is something that you believe in and that you are doing for the greater good. Yes, you can make money and get rich, but a good goal embraces something more than that.

The Right Work Ethic

It’s easy as an entrepreneur to take the slightest hint of success and turn it into something that it isn’t. For example, it’s easy to see an increase in sales and then to relax and soak it all in. There’s nothing wrong with reflecting sometimes, but if you are compromising your work ethic in order to do this it’s a mistake.

The best entrepreneurs are passionate people with a big work ethic. They are so passionate that they never stop working. If they have to work 18-hour days, they relish it because they believe in what they are doing and they are passionate about what they are doing.

Remember, entrepreneurship is primarily about hard work.

Be Willing to Delegate

It’s easy to try to take on all the responsibility alone. This may work for a time, but it’s quickly going to lead to burnout. The chances are you are also not going to do the job as well as you could have. Be willing to delegate different tasks to people with more expertise than you.

It may require an outlay to begin with, but you are going to make your money back because the job will be done right.

Love Risk

Entrepreneurs can never afford to be conservative. The nature of the business means that they have to go further than others in order to achieve success. In other words, they have to bring something to the table that has never been seen before. And with that comes risk.

The problem with a lot of entrepreneurs is that they come from conservative backgrounds. They may have worked in a large company where taking unnecessary risks was actively discouraged. As an entrepreneur, you can’t afford not to take risks because otherwise you are never going to discover something new.

You can never guarantee that it will come off well, but the point is you are trying new things. You are always going to miss the shots you never take, as the saying goes.

But how do you take risks without putting your whole business in jeopardy?

This is quite simply because the idea is to not take these risks. The daring acts that many businesspeople take may look crazy from an outsider’s point of view, but in reality, they are incredibly calculated. They have weighed up the pros and cons and they know that they have a reasonable chance of success.

Be Content with Living Cheap and Uncomfortable

The life of an entrepreneur is rarely glamorous. There are many entrepreneurs who have been homeless while running their businesses. They have worked minimum wage jobs and they know the meaning of hard work. There are no shortcuts to success and very few people are lucky enough to come up with a great product that goes viral.

Many entrepreneurs simply can’t stomach the idea of living lean and living with a constant jittery feeling that they are going to fail. Comfort is not something you are going to experience often in this line of work.

The End Goal: a Happier You

But you’ll be happy to know that it all pays off in the end. Many entrepreneurs report being happier than they have ever been, despite the stress and discomfort that comes with being an entrepreneur.

Is the life of an entrepreneur for you?

 Source: http://bit.ly/20Bg2P1

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How To Know If You Have What It Takes to Own a Business

Starting a business comes with its share of challenges. Knowing whether you can overcome those challenges is often the difference between a successful business or closed business.

Unfortunately, any business owner will tell you that it takes more than just a passion to get you to the top. Because 96% of businesses fail within 10 years, it's important to really think about not only what it takes for a business to succeed in your industry, but also what it takes out of a business owner.

So how do you know where you fall? Do you have what it takes to own a business, should you wait a few years, or is it not the right path for you at all?

Are you willing to take risks? Do you have a cap on those risks?

This will be the number one question on every list you read. When you own your own business, you have to be comfortable taking risks, mainly financial risks. Quitting your job and having to put all of your life savings into a space or hiring employees is a common practice all new entrepreneurs go through, and for some the risk is just a little bit too much. 

They try to be smart by saving a certain amount of money and only going so far. While this is a smart move, you can't think that way if you own your own business. You have to be able to plan (and essentially see the future), and give it everything you've got at any point in time.

Can you stick with what you start?

Some people are more free spirits and like to be moving around all the time. Entrepreneurs oftentimes have to have this similar attitude, however, which makes this one tricky. You may seem like you're the right fit to own your own business until this consideration trips up your plans. You have to be able to really stick with what you start, and for some this just isn't in their nature. Be honest with yourself and think about your past projects and how you did sticking with them until the end.

Can you make decisions and feel confident about them?

Plain and simple, you have to be a good decision maker. This one is fairly obvious, but it's incredibly important. When you own your own business, it's ultimately all up to you. You may have people there to help you, but you have to be able to make decisions and feel confident about them. The Wall Street Journal outlined several great decisions you'll have to make right off the bat:

·         Do you want to work from home or lease office space?

·         When are you going to start hiring employees, and what will their jobs be?

·         Do you pursue high-end clients or sell to the masses?

·         Do you want to incorporate? Do you want to advertise?

·         Are you going to borrow money from family and friends? Are you comfortable using your entire savings for the business?

Obviously these are basic questions, but if you're unable to really feel confident about these then it's important to realize the decision-making will only get harder. One wrong decision could cost you a lot of time and money, so you have to be prepared for that fact as well.

Are prepared to commit fully to your business?

Owning your own business will take up the majority of your time if you want to be successful. This means less time going out with friends (and less money to do-so), and even less time with your family (a deal-breaker for many). If you're not ready to commit fully, this may not be the right time. Again, it's all about decisions.

How much can you juggle at once? Are you willing to take on multiple responsibilities?

On that same note, a big reason owning a business will take up all of your time is the fact that you have to take on many responsibilities. At first, you may be your entire company, which means you're the IT pro, the marketing expert, the sales guru, and the boss. Even when you do start to grow your business, as the owner you still need to be familiar with all departments and have at least some expertise in all areas. 

This is also something that is hard to learn on the job, so I highly recommend getting some practice and seeing how you do juggling different things first if possible.

Do you enjoy working with and being around other people?

Another obvious one that has to be mentioned--you have to be good with people. Even if your business doesn't involve a ton of face-to-face customer interaction, you're the owner of the company. You have to manage employees and you have to work with everyone. This is something else that it's tough to learn on the job, so really be honest with yourself about where you stand on the issue currently.

Take a quiz.

When all else fails, there are also several quizzes out there to help generate an answer for you. However, I highly recommend really thinking about some of the points above and coming up with your own conclusion before jumping into a quiz. After all, you need to be able to make decisions on your own, right? Start with this one. You can then listen to others (the quizzes) and take advice and see how you do.

Your Turn

If through it all you still feel confident and ready, go for it. If you don't feel like you're ready right now, that also doesn't mean that you won't be ready in the future. 

As long as you take the time to consider some of the tips above, you should be able to come up with a pretty good idea of if business ownership is right for you. It's not right for everyone and that's OK--the sooner you can weed out ideas that do and don't work the sooner you'll be able to find the right fit for you, and that's really all that matters in the end.

Source : http://bit.ly/1WRrbsU

5 Digital-Marketing Tactics to Ditch in 2016

Keeping abreast with what works in digital marketing can be a constant catch-up game. Fickle consumers jump from channel to channel. Google updates its search algorithm. Keeping up with Facebook’s monthly changes requires constant education. Because of all of this change, it can be hard to keep on top of which digital tactics still work -- and which are no longer relevant.

Read on to understand which digital-marketing tactics you should consider ditching in 2016.

1. Having a desktop-only accessible website

The mobile website living separately from the desktop website no longer flies with Google. The dominant search engine has made it very clear that a traditional website that doesn’t adjust to the user’s screen size won’t be as visible as one that does.

Google knows its users access their search engine while on the go and wants to serve its users in the best way possible. To make itself look better, it must reward the websites most accommodating to how customers search the web today -- in the car, the Starbucks line and even in the corporate meeting.

Websites must be fluid not only for the user, but for the business owner’s convenience as well. Having a mobile website built on a separate platform runs the risk that information from site to site will be inconsistent. Contradictions erode consumer trust. Handling social media and directory updates creates enough extra work. Having to upload new information to additional sites become cost and time ineffective. The bottom line is that the traditional desktop designed website will lose rankings and visibility.

Despite Google’s clear messages that websites must be mobile-friendly, many small and medium-sized businesses have not converted their websites to mobile-friendly design. To check if your website is mobile friendly, enter your url into Google’s “Mobile Friendly Test Tool.”Google will quickly tell you if and why your website does not render in an effective way on tablet or smartphone. Small fonts and links put too closely together are a few factors that make a website impossible to navigate and access on a small screen. Get your website mobile today to keep customers coming in.

2. Not updating your website.

Beyond mobile accessibility, Google also closely watches how often users click and convert on your website. While it was once speculated that Facebook channels would overtake websites, research tells us that consumers return again and again to a company’s website for in-depth information on the corporation, product and contact details.

Google takes this habit seriously and wants company websites to serve visitors’ needs. Again, like the mobility demand outlined above, Google is laser-focused on delivering quality answers from quality websites.

The place-holding or basic website that acts primarily as a two-dimensional, digital brochure doesn’t win higher rankings from the search engines. The site must be attractive, easy to navigate, timely and constantly updated with quality content.

A/B testing can help your site win better user engagement and sales or other conversions. More, Google interprets users quickly bouncing away from your website back to the search results as a signal the site offers content that’s irrelevant to the search query. To succeed in digital marketing, make sure your website fulfills a need and constantly addresses that need with timely, relevant content.

3. The spammy link

Google changed the determination of quality in 1999 when it decided that, rather than have an editorial team review websites and make subjective judgments, it would derive value of a website by the number of other websites linking to it. In other words, the digital thumbs up in the form of backlinks provided a more accurate reflection of a site’s usefulness.

Unfortunately, business owners and unethical search agencies sullied Google’s trust of backlinks as indicators of the authority of a website. These entities gamed Google’s system by creating backlinks from artificially created sites with poor-quality content and irrelevant information. Google’s strong staff of PhDs and computer engineers rectified this black- hat SEO with the Penguin update, which penalizes websites without authentic backlinks coming from relevant and reputable websites.

Today, Google rewards the quality, robust content that earns backlinks naturally. SEO companies have become big content generators. Keep in mind, too, that in addition to signals from other sites, Google’s staff of editors spot-check a website’s content to make sure it’s relevant to certain search queries. Companies without meaningful and helpful content, products and backlinks drop in the rankings quickly. After all, Google doesn’t want to deliver a poor product.

4. The superficial social channel

Social media marketing progressed so quickly, many companies were thrilled to get cover images and some content -- any content -- up over the past few years. They felt convinced having a presence on social media would prove their credibility.

Companies that overlook the opportunities social media provides to connect one on one with customers do so to their detriment. Studies show that social media has become one of the big three of customer support, alongside telephone and email.

But where those emailing a company expect a response within a day or so, a study conducted by Edison Research reveals that 42 percent of those contacting a company through social media expect a response within 60 minutes, and 24 percent expect a response within 30 minutes. Further, consumers expect the social-customer service team to work all night and through the weekend.

Long gone are the days when companies avoided social media for fear of negative comments. We’ve all learned negative comments happen whether we’re there to address them or not. Now, most marketers view criticism as an opportunity to educate customers and showcase a committed, responsive customer-service department.

5. Single display and Facebook ads

Typically just 2 percent or fewer website visitors convert on the first visit. Sales professionals have always known that it takes seven to nine contacts before the sale is closed. If the website is the digital salesperson, shouldn’t it have the opportunity to follow up on initial contacts?

Google and Facebook have made this possible through re-targeting -- which Google calls re-marketing. When a visitor lands on a website, a cookie or short piece of JavaScript is placed in their browser. After they leave your site, this cookie pings the re-targeting platform to put certain ads on the next pages the visitor goes to.

That’s why, when you spend some time on a hover-board site or when you next go to WebMD or Facebook or your favorite blog, you see an ad for the hover board. It follows you around the web. WebMD, Facebook and some blogs also have a relationship with the re-targeting platform that acts as a clearinghouse or middle man to deliver ads to appropriate publishing platforms. The WebMD page you see won’t be the same WebMD page a friend sees even if you use the same URL. Ads served to your friend will be different and based on her previous Internet activity.

When done right, re-targeting helps move the prospect down the sales funnel. It re-engages them after they leave your page. The era of a single display ad that shows up on one blog in the same place every time is coming to an end. Today’s technology enables advertisers to target one customer at a time and lure them down the attention, interest and desire path to action -- the sale.

Each digital-marketing tactic a business chooses must depend on the size of the business, its unique selling proposition, its audience demographics and its ideal buyer’s journey. No digital-marketing technique is a one-size-fits-all solution, but we’re confident that if you avoid these tactics and mistakes, your digital marketing efforts will be improved in 2016.

Source : http://entm.ag/1K1PzRc

10 Ways Creativity Can Completely Change Your Life

“Life is a great big canvas. Throw all the paint you can on it.” ~Danny Kaye

I’ve had those days when I felt like my life was in the doldrums. When I felt stuck in the same-old, same-old and wondered how to get a pick me up. When I wished I had more passion or purpose or maybe just a jolt of joy to shake things up.

Sometimes there were things I thought might make me happy, but I couldn’t have them just because I wanted them. Like, I couldn’t just snap my fingers and meet the man who sweeps me off my feet or become a kazillionaire.

But there is something that’s always at my (and your) fingertips. Something we always have that will instantaneously make us happy, right now in this moment.

And that is (drum roll please…) our creativity.

Creativity is not just for artists or making art. Creativity is life making. It’s anything we do that turns us on, invigorates us, or offers a simple moment of pure merriment.

For me, I love to paint and write. I knit while watching my favorite movies. I have a blast cooking and sharing my recipes. I let myself go wild in dance class.

All of us have something we enjoy doing. Or something we think we would enjoy but don’t do because the bigger, more major things in our daily lives take priority. We just don’t make the time for it.

Or we judge it as “a little hobby” (like crafting, kickball, or learning magic tricks).

Or we think it will never become something significant or important (like changing the world.)

Or we deem it as just plain silly. (Why pick up singing when we don’t even know how to stay in harmony?)

But the things we enjoy are far more important than we could ever realize and can make a significant impact on our lives.

Here are ten reasons why (and there are so many more):

1. Creativity makes us present.

Because we’re doing something we like to do, we’re engaged in the moment. Time passes in an instant ‘cause we’re just having some good ol’ fun.

When I paint, write, knit, dance, or cook it’s like active meditation. Being present with myself dials up my knob of attention and wakes me up.

Creativity stimulates us to be more mindfully in tune with our overall lives. It also calms our nervous system, decreases anxiety, and helps restore balance.

2. We better our relationships.

Simply because we enjoy doing something we love, we connect to ourselves more intimately. We develop a profound relationship with our inner selves.

The more we connect to ourselves, the more we’re able to connect to others and deepen all of our relationships. This secures healthier bonds.

And because we’re more fulfilled, the less we need others to fulfill us and the more we have to share. Our happiness expands and others feel it too and want to spend more time with us.

3. We’re playing again.

As kids we could create anything and have fun with it without worrying about what other people thought.

We could sing out loud in the car, turn a mud-pie into a monster, or let our stuffed animals have conversations. We were all free in one-way or another.

Creativity returns us to the innocence of our childhoods. And giving ourselves a break from the pressures of adult responsibility, we become lighter and increase our sense of humor as we delight in the pleasure of our amusements.

4. We’re led to new wonderful opportunities.

The current of creativity is like a river finding its sea. It always leads us to bigger waters. So even a small creative project might open us to whole new possibilities. We never know where it might lead.

On a whim I got this idea to make a board game. My friends loved to play it and soon, I was hosting game parties once a month at my house for up to thirty people. It became such a wonderful way to bring people together, a publisher picked it up and today everyone can play it.

But we don’t do it for product. We do it for pure joy and interest.

For sure with any kind of project, as our creative juices get flowing, there’s an infinite pool to draw from to keep our inventiveness growing.

5. Depression is lifted.

While doing the things we enjoy, even if it seems small or easy, the self-judgments we make (like we’re not enough, or bad, or we don’t matter) are suspended. We do it just because of the sheer delight of doing it.

It’s the permission we give to ourselves to do what we love that makes us forget we’re in the slumps. The more we engage, the more our spirits fly.

Doing something that is not demanding or to win is the antidote to any dreariness or blahs. My mood always uplifts when I’m creating something just for my own gratification.

6. It’s always new.

Every time we make stuff we’re embarking on fresh, unknown territory. Each time we begin and as we continue, we’re traversing on a new adventure.

Creativity has this awesome way of always changing things up. Even if it seems “mundane” like stirring a soup, or knitting a loop, or moving my body, it always brings a different experience.

A plus is it also initiates new perspectives.

7. We get out of our own way.

When doing something we enjoy, we’re focused on the act of doing it rather than self-ruminating. It immediately gets us out of our head.

So much of our unhappiness is bred from being fixed and consumed by our thoughts and behaviors. We tend to observe our feelings, words, and actions far too often.

But when we’re engaged creatively, we’re freed from any internal traps that say something about us, especially because it doesn’t have to be so serious.

It’s also the #1 best replacement for any addictions.

8. We become amazed by our intuition.

We may wonder what gives us pleasure when we feel stuck. But there’s always something whispering to us.

That’s the beauty of creativity. It might be telling us to take a pottery class, or sign up for a book club, or learn a new spiritual practice because it knows this will add some sparkle and enliven us.

When we listen, we realize that we’re being led by something much greater than us. The more we listen, the more astounded we are by what lives inside us.

9. We build character.

As we attend to our creativity, we feel better about ourselves. This simple act of showing up serves our self-respect and confidence.

The more we make pleasurable, creative acts a priority, the more we rejuvenate, strengthen, and grow.

Each time I sit down to write and my fingers get moving, I feel proud of myself for meeting the blank page head on.

The overall gain is a greater sense of gratitude.

10. Love begets love.

The more we cultivate what we love, the more love we accumulate. Our cup flows over.

Clearly there are days we may show up to do something we enjoy and it isn’t always enjoyable. Sometimes the cake doesn’t rise, the paint spills, or my muscles are sore. But finding creative ways to solve the problems can be fun if we continue.

When we don’t worry about how it turns out and we do it simply for the wonder of exploration, our heart expands and love abounds. And this spreads out into our entire life.

So, what’s compelling you to create? What might creativity be telling you to do because it’s sure you’ll gain from it? What if you just said yes to your freedom, fun, and happiness?

Source : http://bit.ly/1lEbxnz

Why You Will Never Be Successful If You Cannot Name Your Passion

"Without passion, success doesn’t exist."

Can you win without trying? Can you come out on top with minimal effort and focus? Can you take the trophy without having that need pushing you to become better, stronger, faster, smarter?

Yes, you can. But you cannot — I repeat, cannot — become successful in an area about which you are not passionate. It is impossible. In fact, it’s a logical contradiction that can’t be overcome.

If you are never passionate about anything, then you will never be successful in anything. Think about that for a minute.

To be successful is to achieve a desired aim.

That’s one of the more common definitions of success: achieving a goal or desired aim. I, for one, believe that this is an insufficient definition, or at the very least, a deceiving one. It makes it seem that as long as it is wanted, any goal or aim, can result in success.

This simply isn’t true. Achieving that which you desire is a success, but that does not make you successful. You may be successful in achieving that aim, but you won’t necessarily be successful as a person.

It is important to differentiate between what it means to succeed and what it means to be successful.

I succeeded in waking up this morning and getting out of bed. However, I didn’t go celebrate afterwards – it’s a success unworthy of praise. 

To be a successful individual, you must succeed in something that you and others will deem as something worthy of mention.

In other words, you have to succeed in something that most others cannot accomplish.

It’s winning a competition and beating others to the finish line. Many may argue that this sort of competitive approach can do more harm than good, which in part is true, but you can’t change the true definition of success to make yourself feel better.

The pursuit of success itself isn’t harmful; what is harmful is pursuing the wrong purpose.

Most people fail because they are pursuing the wrong goal. Growing up I was, apparently, a very talented dancer. On a national level, I was one of the top two dancers in America. However, dancing was a hobby and not a passion.

Whatever passion I did have at first faded away over time, and that’s okay. Thankfully, I was brave enough to drop it and move on to something more worthy of my diligence and intellect. Countless people pursue things that they don’t particularly want to pursue.

Parents or friends are the influencers pushing many people. Others push themselves because they believe in an idea that holds little validity. Many of us create a dream that cannot exist in our reality, but pursue it blindly because we either don’t know all the information or refuse to accept that information as truth.

It may take time to find the right cause, the right pursuit, but that’s simply the way these things work.

As human beings, we don’t enjoy experiencing uncertainty. We try to avoid it as much as possible and hide from it whenever we can. Life itself is nothing more than an array of uncertainties arising from and followed by more uncertainty.

We don’t like leaving things open-ended; we prefer to have a direct path of travel mapped out ahead of us. Unfortunately, finding what you ought to pursue, finding that passion, takes time. It takes research, experience and many mistakes and detours.

In fact, one of the most difficult, and most important, parts of life is finding something to devote yourself to; finding that passion that will give your life both meaning and happiness.

One of our saddest moments is the moment we realize we spent too much time doing something we shouldn’t have been doing; we spent our most precious currency on things unworthy.

Mistakes and poor decisions are only that if you don’t learn from them and bounce back. The mistakes we make in our lives are the bricks that pave the road to our success.

It’s what we learn from those mistakes and what they teach us about ourselves and the world that allow us to become the successful and passionate people we are meant to be.

If you don’t screw up, then you can never succeed. If you never make mistakes, then you simply aren’t trying hard enough to do anything worth doing.

Without passion, you will never feel successful, not because you didn’t succeed in achieving an aim, but because that aim wasn’t worthy of your effort.

Success is entirely and completely subjective. What I consider a success you may consider as nothing deserving of praise – the same goes vice versa. What really matters is what you believe.

Are you proud of yourself? 

Did you push yourself to go beyond your limits or did you just coast? Were you hungry to do more, to learn more, to create greater creations?

Did you change yourself in order to be capable of achieving the things you wished to achieve?

Most importantly, what is challenging and did you love it?

The best definition for passion is “a challenge that you look forward to conquering.”

Passions aren’t passions because they are easy to accomplish. That would make your passion short-lived, as well as unsatisfying. People are passionate about things because they see questions that remain unanswered.

People are endlessly curious creatures, as long as they find something they are curious enough about. Finding this curiosity is the goal of our lives because, without it, there is no passion. Without passion, success doesn’t exist.

Source : http://bit.ly/1OSJeOT