There are three elements to success – do you know what they are and do you use them?
Have you ever stopped to think if you are actually suited to what you’re doing? Sometimes people simply fall into jobs, with no real planning – rather than sitting down to assess “What am I good at? What do I like to do?”
They simply go for the money, or what someone else recommends. I know when I started my working life (28 years ago – sheesh) I took my first job as a way to leave school and start earning money. Not the best motivation. I was an Apprentice Electronics Technician with the Navy. I justified my decision by saying, “Well, I’ll be getting a trade – it’s good to have a trade certificate…”. I went into it for the wrong reasons – and so it did not last.
The same thing applies to a business. If you decide to go into business for the wrong reasons you will fail. If you see business as a money making opportunity, even if you are successful at making money, you are not assured of happiness (though some may argue that point!).
There are three things required in business to ensure success (including happiness and fulfilment) and those things are:
- Market Need
- Competency
- Passion
At the overlap of these three things lies success.
If there is a market need, you can competently fill it, but if you are not passionate about it, you will eventually fail.
If you are competent, have the passion, but there is no market need that you can find and satisfy, you will fail.
If you know of the market need, have the passion, but are incompetent … you know the rest.
This applies to happiness in a job, success in business, raising a family - many, many things.
So, if you ask a kid what they want to do when they grow up, help them to understand the above principle, and get them started on the right foot.
If you are starting in business, ask yourself a series of questions related to the above three elements. If you are struggling in business, one of those three (or all of them) need work. | 
