4 Ways to Use Your Passions to Start an Online Business

Hey Friend!

Do you want to start a business that’s your very own? A side hustle? A vessel for you to leave your full-time job? Or maybe a new ministry?

You know there’s a call, a tug, on your heart to start something, but maybe you’re unsure of what that might be. We are diving into your passions! I’m giving you four different ways you can apply them toward taking that first step forward.

Testimonial

Hi Stef, it’s Arissa, host of The Girl Who Can podcast. I wanted to give you a huge ‘thank you.” Your podcast came into my life when I had a heart-tug from God to use my gifts and voice for good, but I didn’t know how to use them. Of course, He sent me you, and I quickly jumped into Clarify Your Calling and Podcast Pro University. I was able to launch my podcast. It was very scary and, honestly, I pushed my launch date back a couple of times. But with God’s strength and your words of encouragement each week, I was able to successfully launch. 

Now I have 12k downloads. It blows my mind that God was able to do that with this platform! In less than a year, my podcast has been streamed in over 100 countries and I’ve been in the Top 50 charts in some of those countries for Education and Self-Improvement. Thank you, Stef. Your courses really helped set me up for success. I am able to edit, organize my content, and make sure everything is God-centered. The next thing on my list is to join Podcast to Profit. I appreciate you!

12k downloads in less than a year; streamed in over 100 countries, and Top 50 charts? Girl! Cheering for you!

Friend, if this is on your heart to reach people across the world with one episode per week, podcasting is an incredible vessel for you to do it.

4 Ways to Use Your Passions to Start a Business

Let’s begin by talking about your passions. Get out a notebook, whiteboard, or anything that will allow you to dream and create some vision-casting. 

What are your passions? Divide your paper or board into three columns. Title the first one, “Things I Love to Do.” Go crazy. Write down everything you love to do.

I want you to do this first piece now as it feeds into the four ways you can use these passions to start a business.

Title your second column, “Things I’m Great At.”

Note: If you are shy about tooting your own horn, don’t worry, you don’t have to share this. Just allow yourself to write down anything that comes up for you.

In the last column, make a list of “Things I’ve Successfully Done in the Past.”

It’s okay if there’s overlap in more than one column. It’s exciting to see recurring things in your lists.

Now it’s time to look at your lists. Highlight or circle anything that is recurring or related. Anything that appears on all three lists is a big clue it’s something that could potentially be part of your business. It’s not always the case, but we want to get rid of the things that don’t really make the cut. 

Do this now before going forward.

Hopefully, you now have two or more things identified that are recurring or related. Of these things, which have you most excited? Which ones make the most sense for a business you can start?

If you want to do a deeper dive, get my course, Clarify Your Calling. This is a great head-start that you can bring into that program with you. 

But for today, we are going to dream. Dreaming gives us permission to see what’s possible. There’s no pressure; only potential.

The 1st Way to Use Your Passions to Start a Business

Think about how you can use your passion to start a blog or YouTube Channel. If you wrote down something that has to do with writing, cooking, makeup, or fashion – anything that is visually oriented – YouTube is my favorite of these two options. This will help you connect with people on a visual level to help them solve their problems.

It can eventually turn into a business because you are creating something that allows people to trust you, learn from you, and be engaged with you through your educational content. It allows you to build a community around your long-form content which you can monetize in the future.

The 2nd Way to Use Your Passions to Start a Business

The next way is to start a podcast. This is something I’m obsessed with; you know this. Podcasting is an incredible way if your business has anything to do with mindset, how-tos, inspiration, teaching, mentorship, parenting, relationship-building, life coaching, or spiritual growth. Just about anything can translate to utilizing podcasting as a way for you to grow your connection with your audience; even to build your audience. This has been the number one way I’ve built an audience – right here from the show. 

My podcast is the top of my funnel. It helps me build my audience and community. I teach and share with you on the show. You can take the free content or you can decide to invest and take one or more of the courses. It’s such a great win-win no matter where my listeners are and helps people have success.

If you do want to start a podcast and plug your passion into that outlet of starting a business, you can get started in Podcast Pro University.

The 3rd Way to Use Your Passions to Start a Business

The next way to use your passion to start a business is to turn it into coaching or create a course.

One of the easiest ways to turn a passion into something that’s profit-producing is to coach on that passion or create an online course around it. For example, let’s say I circled Mountain Biking and Speaking. Maybe I need to start a podcast about how to get started with Mountain Biking. I could then coach on it or do analysis or audits. I could even create Mountain Biking programs to help people prep for races.

When you think about how to monetize your passions, there are probably hundreds of ways you can do that. This is to get those ideas flowing around what that way could be. I want you to completely throw away the ‘how’ question for right now and just think about the ‘possibility’ question.

If the ‘how’ was not something you had to worry about or consider, what could this look like?

Coaching and courses are two awesome ways to turn that passion into something that’s going to earn profit for you.

The 4th Way to Use Your Passions to Start a Business

You can sell your products. Let’s say the passions you circled were more hands-on like knitting, painting, or jewelry-making. Another great option to turn this hands-on passion is to start a business by selling your products online.

You can do this in places like Etsy or Amazon or start a Shopify store. You can start a YouTube channel or podcast and then sell your products directly from your long-form platform. 

Check out Episode #676 as it goes hand-in-hand with this episode.

The avenues you can take are endless as far as marketing and selling actual products.

Pop Quiz

What did we discuss today?

Pick the one thing – the one thing – that feels super aligned for you based on your passion. Remember, we’re just vision-casting and having fun. You’ve determined what a little bit of direction might look like.

Write down that one way to start a business that really resonated with you. Remember, they are:

1. Start a blog or YouTube channel.
2. Host a podcast.
3. Create a coaching offer or course.
4. Sell your products.

Which one felt exciting to you? Which felt like a good fit for your passion? Write it down.

The last step – BONUS!

Answer this question:

What is the first step to move toward making that way to start a business a reality for you? 

What is that first step? This is pivotal. Anytime you’re trying to grow into something or do something new, it’s going to look impossible. It’s going to seem like:

• You’ll never figure it out.
• You don’t have enough money.
• You don’t have the time.
• No one will listen to you.

Everything will come flying at you. Spiritual warfare will be super real because you’re about to move into this capacity God has for you. 

The tip I give my students is: What’s the next step? Take it. Then look up and ask God what the next step is. Then you take that step and look up. Repeat.

If you said that you were going to start a podcast, what would be the next step for you? Is it to come up with the name of the podcast? Is it to invest in a course or program? Or, do you need to order equipment? What is it that you tactically need to do next?

Do that next right thing, Friend! Do it. It’s the only way you actually move forward to start a business. Go. Do.

I hope this has encouraged you, given you inspiration, and maybe even a glimpse into the future of what could be possible for you. I hope you now know how your passion can be used in a lot of exciting ways to help you start a business.

If you need help with any of the work we started here, go to stefaniegass.com/school.

I pray that this blesses you. Keep shining and keep showing up to do the work! God will meet you exactly where you are.

I pray this blesses you!

Xo,

Stef

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Before you go, be sure to watch the free workshop!

This free workshop is for you if you want to grow an online business in less time.

It will teach you how to explode your audience without the social media hustle, make consistent sales using a podcast, and plan, record, and launch a podcast with ease!

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