Adrian Newman’s latest ‘e-Wealth Daily’ article is titled “Passion and Reality: A Marriage of Success”. [Adrian Newman’s Article]

Adrian Newman’s latest ‘e-Wealth Daily’ article:

Passion and Reality: A Marriage of Success

I don’t watch a lot of television. But one of my favorite shows is the ABC program “Shark Tank.”

“Shark Tank” is a Mark-Burnett-produced, ABC program where fledgling entrepreneurs pitch their businesses in front of a panel of real investors (the Sharks) in hopes of getting some money in exchange for a portion of their business.

The Sharks (one or a combination of them) either invest in the company or they simply say “I’m out!”

In an episode I watched recently, the entrepreneurs pitching their companies were:

— An NYU student trying to get an investment for his environmentally friendly/aware t-shirt company. He was looking for $30,000 for a 20% stake in his company;

— A San Diego SWAT team member looking for$250,000 for a third of his “face down” tanning pillow business;

— A brother and sister team looking for capital for their idea to open a chain of stores geared to basically show children how to shop. They were looking for $200,000 for 30% of their business; and

— A couple of avid cyclists who wanted money to help their business, which is selling super-powered wipes for cleaning grease off your hands that work better than average portable cleaning wipes. They were looking for $40,000 for 40% of their company.

Now, only one of these companies got the money they were looking for: the last company with the grease-cleaning wipes.

But the one element that all of these entrepreneurs shared was a passion for what they were doing. You could see the amount of blood, sweat and tears they each put into their respective businesses. You could tell that they whole-heartedly believed that their ideas were bound to be successful.

But the fact was, most of them, while backed by that passion, were doomed from the start.

The t-shirt guy was basically silk-screening the shirts and not branding his company on each shirt to try to drum up business. He was also entering a very competitive market. The tanning pillow, while a great idea, was way over-valued for the amount of revenue it was currently generating. And the “kids’ store” idea was a unique little hobby, but the miniscule revenues they were generating just weren’t going to get any investment interest.

Even the winning bid of the grease-cleaning wipes had major flaws that included not having a proprietary formula for the cleaning solution. In fact, the two “Sharks” that did invest seemed to be more impressed by the company’s branding and the passion of one of the entrepreneurs than the product. (Besides, 20K for 20% is pretty low-risk/high-reward).

While it’s imperative that you have a passion for your idea or your business, it’s just “fluff” if you don’t have a realistic concept of your business and your industry.

It’s great to throw projections around with inflated numbers and lofty goals. But if you don’t have an anchor in reality, then your business plan is nothing but a work of fiction.

(Editor’s Note: Mike Newman built his fortune based on a passion. His book, “Getting Rich Doing What You Love,” details how he went from a struggling immigrant with $20 to his name to a multi-millionaire using the right formula of passion and reality. To find out his whole story, click here: http://www.lombardipublishing.com/ads/newman_book/index.asp)

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The e-Wealth Daily Bulletin brings you daily tips, advice and breaking news related to home businesses, small businesses and internet marketing. Our team of experts gives you the information you need to take your business pursuits to the most profitable level. Founded by Adrian Newman in 2003, the e-Wealth Daily Bulletin and www.ewealthdaily.com are a division of Lombardi Publishing with online newsletters reaching over 100,000 subscribers each month.

* IMNewsWatch would like to thank e-Wealth Daily for granting permission to reprint this article.

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