Passion isn't enough

"If you'd like to find a job where you have no boss, you will probably end up having a lousy boss - you - to do the work. We have to be really careful when we're deciding to act like the boss...then we need to do it as a professional. The fact that we have passion for the project itself is completely irrelevant. When you're doing professional work, you should do it like a professional."- Seth GodinAs someone who has been teaching entrepreneurship classes for a few years and consulting artists for over a decade, this is the number one hang up for people who want to start a business: their passion gets in the way.Passion is a useful tool, but it should never be an excuse to make careless risks, to skip empathy when working with others, or to ignore critical work that needs to be done.In that sense, chasing your dreams is simultaneously easy and hard. It's easy when you can see how the mundane, difficult steps lead to the bigger picture. It's harder because you'll suddenly realize that the path to get there is much longer and more challenging than we ever think.Passion can be an anchor that provides security but it can also be what is holding you back. The key is learning when you need to hunker down and when you need to sail.