As an entrepreneur, you are never very far from your business.  No matter where you are or what you’re doing, it’s always with you, slipping into your consciousness.  You might be in the shower, lounging on the deck, on an airplane with everyone around you snoozing or out on the lake….your mind will still be spinning on the latest issue or the next big opportunity.  When you’re passionate about what you do, you have an advantage because you’re energized and motivated to give it the extra thought that helps keep you ahead of the game.

This weekend I spent time out on the lake with a few fellow entrepreneurs and some young up and coming entrepreneurs.   It was only natural in this environment for conversations to take place around what drives a successful business and person.

We gathered on a long time friend and fellow entrepreneur’s boat, Scott Brown.  Scott is a very successful chiropractor, due primarily to the fact that he broke his back when he was young and was told by the doctors that he would never again be able to do all of the physical activities in life that he loves so much.  He went to see a chiropractor and it changed his life, so he decided to go to school and become one himself.  From there he started his own practice, and he did so with a passion.

My son Tony’s friend Steven was another entrepreneur that joined us.  He is in the business of putting breathalyzer devices in cars that are occasionally ordered by the courts.  He’s facing issues in some states due to laws that have yet to be passed, which led Scott and I to discussing with him how it takes passion to push a business through the tough times and excel to higher levels.  We asked Steven, “Are you passionate about your business?”

Steven said he was passionate about boats, and was thoroughly enjoying the 60 foot one he was on.   Steven might very well find success without finding passion in his business, but he’ll not likely reach the level that he could unless he can find a way to connect to it and build passion around it. 

Scott suggested finding something in his past or through a friend where an effect of drunk driving could invoke some emotion.  Another option could be to talk with members of MADD (mothers against drunk driving), and connect with moms who’ve lost kids to drunk driving.  Having options like these to dig in and pull out the things that can fire up a passion help people to develop a conviction that supersedes money alone.  If this doesn’t work, experience tells me to move to where the passion is.

I have met a lot of people who are in that position of having a job serves only the purpose of providing a paycheck.  You can see the lack of enthusiasm and dread in their time at work.  I went after what I loved, starting as a young boy, which was to have my own business and the freedom to create value for others, letting the money follow.

Are you passionate about what you do?  If you’re not, are you doing anything to get there?  We deserve to be happy, and we are when we live our passion.

I kept hearing and seeing the slogan “The Honey Badger Don’t Care” in email jokes, on television, and from various people. You may have seen it during the college National Championship Game between Alabama and LSU. You may have seen the signs referring to LSU player #7 Tyrann Mathieu as the Honey Badger.

This all started because of a video called “The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger” by Randall (strong language; use viewer discretion). Given its popularity, you have likely seen it by now. If not, this video is really funny, but more importantly, it is a very intriguing story from an entrepreneurial perspective.

First of all, the video simply shows footage of a Honey Badger with voice over commentary by Randall that has gone viral (almost 34 million views). This has landed Randal a spot in the cartoon movie as well as a stuffed animal being sold with his voice. He also has a Honey Badger game app and has landed a book deal. The Honey Badger may not care, but Randall did. He cared enough to go out and take advantage of the opportunity he created for himself, turning something fun into what appears to be big money.

As I think about the slogan “the Honey Badger don’t care,” I see a mindset that an entrepreneur sustains when he or she is getting started. The entrepreneur don’t care . . . that he is unfunded, lacks experience in the marketplace, doesn’t have a team in place, doesn’t have any customers, is told he can’t do it, is not smart to quit his job, doesn’t have another source of income, and he still sees an opportunity and goes out there and makes it happen.

Now, you may be thinking that this was just a stroke of luck, and that this guy’s lottery ticket got called up. No, I don’t see it that way just as I don’t see the success of most entrepreneurs as luck. The real story is that Randall’s dad was a camera man for Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, and since the age of seven, Randall would narrate the films for the family when his dad would come home from these exotic trips. They would go to the zoo frequently, and he would tell stories of all the animals at the zoo. His big success came from living what he loved to do!

This is the case with most of us! We live in such a way that our passion and love for the things we do puts up in the path of opportunities that have not yet been seen, and then those that decide they really want it “honey badger” away working toward success.

What are you passionate enough about that that you don’t care what gets in your way and won’t let anything stop you?