The BIGG Successs Show
Is Passion Overrated?
Passion is but one ingredient in bigg success. We talk with Jim Bouchard, the man behind the book Dynamic Components of Personal Power. Read our show summary at BIGGSUCCESS.COM.
Welcome to The Big Success Show. Today we ask, is Passion overrated? The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. I think Mary Lynn, one of the most awesome people we've met since we started Big Success has to be Jim Bouchard. Oh, definitely. He's an amazing guy. Black Belt turned motivational speaker. Now, how's that for some credentials? Yes, and he gets you in touch with your personal power. That's right. He is the power vader, right? And recently, Jim kind of turned the tables on us. That's right. We interviewed Jim on The Big Success Show, then he interviewed us recently for his show. And the conversation turned to Passion. The primary business that I've been involved with for a long time is the martial arts business. And the arts and business part of a very difficult time, we have a very difficult time resolving those two. And most martial artists, and I'm sure if people in other business sectors, it would appreciate this as well. There's a lot of rhetoric, I suppose, devoted to getting into a business that expresses your passion. However, most martial artists will go into business, we want to create a school because it's our passion. It's not always the best way to make money. I think that's a hugely important and often overlooked factor when people are entering an entrepreneurial life. Passion is necessary, but it's not the only ingredient that's necessary. Absolutely, Jim. And I think that you have to be careful that, well, it's the old story. You know, I have a hobby that I love and I turn it into a business and now I don't love my business or my hobby. You know, that definitely does happen to people. And I think that one of the things that we like to encourage people to do is think about your hobbies and think about what you like. But also think about what are the elements of that hobby that you really enjoy. And so it may not be the hobby itself that you go into business for, it may be something you get out of it. For example, in my case, you know, I've taught and it was kind of my hobby because I had my own businesses, I would go off teach one class. Well, I realized I loved seeing light bulb go off in people. I loved feeling like I was helping people. I love talking people out of going into business, but I also loved talking people into going into business. And I got all of that out of my teaching. And so turning that into a business worked well for me. That's what people really need to look at. And when you open these doors, sometimes you find passions that you never knew existed. I didn't set up to get into the speaking business. I did always have the ambition to write a book at some point, but I never thought I would go out into the speaking world. And like yourself, I found that it was just a natural extension of the teaching that I like to do in my case within the martial arts world. So you're such a great presenter. So how did that happen for you that you ended up getting into the speaking business? And, you know, what was the light bulb that went off for you and said, "Yeah, I should do this." Hey, I thought it was my turn to interview you guys. But that's a great question. Coming up, Jim's answer to our question. Today, we're living the highlights. The highlights! That's a highlight, Mary Lynn. Okay. We're sharing some highlights from our interview with Jim Bouchard, and we asked Jim how he became a speaker. It actually came from some of my martial arts students. When I was sharing the philosophies that helped me, the martial arts philosophies that helped me create some sort of an anchor and a sense of value and worth in my life. I was sharing those with my martial arts students in the dojo, and they found themselves applying them to real life, to business and personal life. So a few of them encouraged me over the years and said, "Hey, you know, why don't you take your message to a different audience?" Not everybody wants to learn how to punch and kick, but everybody wants to learn how to develop their personal power, to develop their capacity to act effectively. So that's how it got started, and you know, then I was blessed enough to run up against one of my mentors who said, "Hey, it's what you do every day anyway. You go on the floor and you teach. You're presenting." Yep. And so it was, for me, it was a very natural transition, but I'm going to mark it this way. Whenever we take on an enterprise like this, to me, one of the greatest gifts that I learned from the martial arts was the idea of beginner's mind. That the whole world is open as a learning experience for us, and we should never stop to pat ourselves on the back too long. So the process of becoming a speaker, just like the process of being a martial artist, to me, is not a... Perfection is not a destination. It's not a running process. Yep. So I want to learn, and I want to grow, and I want to be a better presenter every day, and I know you guys feel the same way. Absolutely. Exactly. Well, and Jim, I'll tell you the thing that strikes me from your story, that it's so interesting to me. When you hear people who've succeeded and have moved on to different things in their life, it's amazing how opportunity doesn't knock loudly. You said that you had a student who basically made a suggestion to you. Mm-hmm. And, you know, with that one little suggestion, and you listening carefully, and then processing it, you found this opportunity. I think that's something that people really need to be aware of, is that opportunity is not going to, you know, hit you like a train. It's going to be very subtle in most cases, but that is where you'll find that thing that you really want to do. You can find the link to our complete interview with Jim on our site today at Big Success. That's BigWith2GSuccess.com. That's also where we have a written summary of today's show. Next time, we'll talk about mistakes that brought one business down. Oh, no! At least we can learn from them. Until then, here's to your Big Success. The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. [Music]