Evan Carmichael argues that genuine passion matters more than market research or margins when starting a business. He uses the example of selling authentic Islamic books in a low-demand niche, showing how deep commitment can make even unattractive markets work if you're creative enough.
Chapters
What do you think about my business idea? A lot of entrepreneurs write into me and they ask me that. What do you think about my idea? Is this a good idea? Should I go for this or not? They need validation. You want someone to tell you, "Hey, this is great. Do it." Here's the problem. I can't tell you if you have a good business idea or not. It has to come from your heart. As black and white and as kind of numbers-based as business is, The real successful businesses come from an entrepreneur who has a passion, a belief in what they're doing. They see a need in this world and they go out and they fill it. And it doesn't matter what the numbers say at the start, doesn't matter what your market research tells you at the beginning, because people have gone into businesses that look terrible. Like, why would you go into that business? There's no money to be made. And they become ultra successful. And people have gone into Industries that look fantastic and have failed miserably. Because if the only reason you're going to go into a business is to make money, or because the market trends say, "Hey, this is a hot industry," you're not going to make it. The number one most important rule for starting a business is having passion for it. You have to have a deep passion for what you're doing, and if you do that, your business has the best chance of being successful. All the other rules in business, they don't apply. They can't help you if you're not passionate about your company. Doesn't matter what your marketing strategy is, doesn't matter how much financing you raise, doesn't matter about your human resources strategy. It's not going to work. Your business will not work unless you have that burning passion. I got a question from one of my YouTube viewers. Love you guys. Mohammed. So Mohammed says, what would you say on starting the trade on authentic Islamic books? Seems like the demand is really low, low margins can be charged on books, but it's something I really believe in. And he wanted my advice on what to do. So my answer is the same, you know, so I'm not, I'm not Islamic, I don't read Islamic books, but that's fine, nothing against it. And even though demand might be low and your margins might be low, the key part here is it's something I really believe in. And if Mohammed, you really believe that these books are important and need to be spread and need to be out there, then you've got to do it. You've got to pour yourself into it, and you can find a way to be highly successful in it. You can find a way to make this business take off, but you've got to do something a little different. You've got to inject yourself into the business. You've got to do it in a way that nobody has done it before. And if you're passionate about it, if you love doing it, if you're doing this for a reason, a deep meaningful purpose, then you're gonna find creative new ways to grow this business. Even though it looks completely unattractive at the start, even if a banker looked at this and said, "Why would you go into this business? There's no demand, there's no margins, you're not gonna make it." Even though it may not look good on paper, you can make it work if you bring your passion and creativity and personal perseverance to the business. And it doesn't matter what the business is. If anybody has the same question, I don't care if you're selling Islamic books, I don't care if you're selling tables, I don't care if you're trying to sell a sports franchise, I don't care if you're selling cars, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. The business, the product, the service, it does not matter. The thing that matters is your belief in what you're doing. I believe in helping entrepreneurs. It's hard to make money helping entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs don't have money to spend. I'm going after the audience with like the least amount of money to spend, right? Entrepreneurs have no money. We're spending everything on our business. So what the heck am I doing, Evan, going out trying to help entrepreneurs? I do it to do it. I do it because I love it. I do it because it's the right thing to do, because it fuels me, gets me excited, and I found a different way to do it. And as a result, I make money doing it, even though people might have said at the start, you're crazy. This is stupid. Why don't you just go get a job or start a business where all the trends are going up and where you have people who are making tons of money who can buy from you? So it doesn't matter what your product is or your service. What matters is your belief that you're doing the right thing. Belief. For those of you watching, like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. It makes me want to do more for you. And I'd love to hear what you think. Please leave a comment underneath. Let me know what you think about the video. You have a question, put it below. I'll make a video response for you just like I did today for Mohammed. Thank you so much, and I'll see you soon.
