Passion vs Purpose

In my 13 year journey as an entrepreneur, I hear a lot of people saying that passion is what drives you to succeed.

“Follow your heart and passion, and you will feel fulfilled.”

I have met many individuals who have left dead end jobs to start a business that was birthed out of passion. Led by an intense desire to fulfil a dream, they launch into it with excitement. In a way, that was how I started my business too. I was drawn to the magic of photography… of how a single image could tell such a story. For years, I was driven by this passion of mine… to travel the world and take beautiful images. My heart was full as I fulfilled my dream and traveled to many countries in my early days as a wedding photographer with Stories Lifestyle.

Interestingly, it was during the height of those travels and shoots, around 2012 when I was the most busy, that I started to question the meaning of it all. As my business went through its peak season, and then low seasons where I faced many challenges, I constantly questioned myself, “Why am I doing what I am doing?”

It was then that I realised my passion had died. It was no longer sufficient to rely on passion alone to drive my business forward.

It was then I started to look around me and I found jaded, tired entrepreneurs who felt the same way. Hustling because they do not know any other way. The excitement of the early years of business has died down, and now, they wonder, “Where am I heading?” When passion is no longer is your leader, you’ll feel lost.

So a huge lesson was learnt.

I cannot rely on passion alone to drive me. I needed purpose.

As I spent many hours in quiet reflection, I had to redefine my business according to purpose. For the first time in many years, together with my team, we sat down to discuss what our vision statement was. The end result of that was a renewed sense of energy and drive to move forward.

For Stories Lifestyle, we want to touch lives by building visual stories for the present and future generations. We do this by capturing life’s moments, creating memories and deepening relationships through our lenses.

And last year, it became clear to us, that our purpose for Stories for Business was to create visual content that supports family life, healthy communities and building a better future for all. We love supporting entrepreneurs and businesses that have big visions to benefit the community. That is why we love creating content for clients like Focus on the Family, Early Autism Project, leadership coaches like Donald Lim and more.

Everything solidified for me too last year, as I personally became a certified coach and launched My Dream Life program in 2021.

My biggest personal lesson was shifting my self-focused passion towards an outward-focused purpose, while being authentically true to myself.

So following my passion brought me forward, but having purpose sustains me. If you are an entrepreneur who has lost your initial passion, start digging deep to remind yourself of your purpose:

Why did I start my business in the first place?
What problem does my business solve?
What values are important to me personally, and how does it relate to my business?
How can I make a difference to my clients?
What is the positive outcome of my contribution?

If you’d like to discuss your purpose through 1 on 1 coaching, I’d be happy to meet up with you. Explore what a coaching session is like by requesting for a complimentary 1 hour session with me here.