That Thing You Love

Have you ever seen something that felt out of place or weird? A controversial bumper sticker. A woman doing yoga at an intersection. Your friend buying a parrot as a companion for his dog.

I used to go about my daily life and see things like that all the time. The thought in my head always seemed to be—”Why would you want to do that?”

Until recently. I’ve realized something so obvious yet so hard to understand because of our self-centered human nature.

Everyone loves different things. More importantly, the things you love are not the same things most of the people you come in contact with like.

That’s why I can bore people to death talking about WordPress and Adsense, or the latest tennis results. They simply don’t care. And that’s okay. We can still be friends for other reasons or interests. But most of the time, we tend to stick to people who share our interests. Am I right?

That’s a shame, really, because it’s a wild and interesting world out there.

I have three observations for you to consider:

1. First and foremost, be open-minded. One man’s hate is another man’s love. What you throw away, someone else might be willing to buy. That’s as important a social lesson as it is a business one.
2. You can make money catering to what people love. See above. The Internet has enabled this ten-fold by encouraging niches and connections between hugely specific interests. If you love making hats out of blue wrapping paper, someone else out there does, too.
3. Make sure you fund your love. I like tennis, so I buy balls. I research the best rackets. I look for dry-fit shirts. It’s not a waste of money—on the contrary, within moderation, it’s absolutely soul-filling. I make sure what I love is well-budgeted for. Because without tennis, life just wouldn’t be the same. Makes sense, right?

Are you funding what you love? Do you see a business opportunity out there you can take advantage of?

Photo by jurvetson