There’s a difference between starting a business because everyone seems to be doing it and starting one because you’ve seen a gap so clearly, so personally, that you can’t unsee it.
The first kind can work. The second kind is different. The second kind tends to follow you home.
Passion doesn’t have to be loud to be real. Sometimes it’s quiet, a tiny pilot light that never quite goes out, even when everything around it seems stacked against that little light.
That little pilot light gets lit in different ways. Sometimes it’s the pain of not having the support you needed when you needed it most, a care coordinator who didn’t exist when you were navigating a medical crisis with aging parents, a seniors advocate who should have been there and wasn’t. Sometimes it’s something simpler, a product gap that hits you in a moment of need, like a reusable, cushion for those punishing hospital beds or the metal wheelchairs in emergency waiting rooms, and a question that forms every time: “why doesn’t this exist, it seems like a no-brainer.”
My parents and I have invented a lot of things while navigating my Dad’s illness. He’s actually the best at it, even in the throes of excruciating suffering. Maybe it’s his way of pulling his attention away from the what-ifs. But what I know is that he’s always been wired this way.
It’s how he built his own business, born out of a postal strike in the early days of being new immigrants with a child to feed. The shipyard hadn’t delivered on its promises. Going back to Scotland wasn’t an option. So he looked at the gap in front of him and figured out how to fill it.
That’s a pilot light.
In me, it translated to discipline and a drive I’ve never been able to fully explain, a passion to do something real with the strange and particular gifts I have. It’s what keeps me waking up lit up about the people I get to work with, and willing to reinvent myself when the world calls for it.
Here’s what I’ve come to believe: time and comfort are the test.
So many products and services get created in moments of need or crisis. And then the crisis passes, or comfort returns, and the idea goes back on the shelf. Eventually it gets boxed and moved to storage, alongside all the other things that almost happened.
Unless the passion is real. Unless what’s driving you is a genuine need to end the suffering, the aggravation, the absence of that thing, to make sure no one else has to go without what you had to go without.
You know it’s the real thing when you hit your first major speed bump and you don’t stop. When the voices saying “quit now,” “this will never work,” “you’ve had your time” get louder, and you get quieter and more determined.
Some call it a calling. Some call it stubbornness, defiance, rebellion. “Dare me not to.”
If you know exactly what I’m talking about right now, your pilot light is nodding vigourously.
And it just got a little brighter. (I think in Pixar movies.)
If this landed for you, you might be at a point where having the right thinking partner in your corner would make a real difference. That’s exactly the work I do with founders.
Founders: Leadership Coaching for Founders
The pressure of building and leading a company is relentless. Tracey Burns helps founders navigate tough conversations, align teams, and stay grounded in values while scaling their vision.
Founder-focused coaching:
- Executive and leadership presence
- Conflict resolution and team alignment
- Navigating financial and business transitions
- Emotional intelligence and trust-building
- Sustaining energy and well-being under pressure
Learning to work with interpersonal dynamics can turn leadership challenges into strengths. Strengthen your culture and impact by booking a session today.
