How many times have you heard the saying, “Do what you love and the money will follow”? Well, that’s not always true.

Creating a business product or service that’s just about what you love can be a direct path to a failing business. Why? Because it takes more than love to make a business idea work.

Here are 3 ways loving your business idea can lead to mistakes.

Love Can Make You Weak

Falling in love with your idea can make you miss possible problems with your business product or service. When you first think about your business idea, you’re probably thinking only about why you will love earning money doing something you enjoy.

But every business, even the ones that look fun, has small details or chores that can be annoying.

You Think Everyone Agrees with You

If you love something then everyone, or at least a lot of people, must feel the same way, right? Wrong.

People are different from each other. We have different lives, likes and dislikes.

But we tend to think most people agree with us and feel however we feel. This is why having a business idea you love can make you skip some common steps for trying a new business idea. For example, popular business advice includes doing research to see if a large group of people are already using, or have shown interest in using, a certain product or service. If you’re already in love with your business idea, you’re much more likely to skip this important step.

Love Can Eventually Grow Cold

You might be in love with your business idea today. But how will you feel about it next month? How will you feel next year or during the next few years? Will you fall out of love with your business idea — and lose interest?

Or will you be willing to stay with your business idea long enough to make it work, even when it is hard to love? You can be too optimistic about how long it will take for your business idea to succeed, just like you can overestimate how awesome the business itself will be, or about how many people will also love it.

It will likely take some weeks, perhaps even months, to grow your business. Ask yourself: Can you stick with your business through good and bad times?

Don’t Give Up on Love

So, does this mean you have to settle for a business idea that’s just okay? No. You can still try out a business idea that you love. Just don’t let that love make you do crazy things.

Take the time to learn as much as you can about your business. Ask these questions, while doing research about your idea.

  • What are the ups and downs of running this kind of business?
  • Are many people already interested in this product or service?
  • How long could it take for the business to succeed?

Taking a closer look at your business idea will help you create a business that you enjoy running, and a service that helps your customers. And what’s not to love about that?

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash