This is a copy of a presentation I gave to students who are in a leadership development course at the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth. The topic was “How my passion has served me in business.”

This is a somewhat strange topic to be asked to speak on. It reflects a very good understanding of what makes an individual successful in life, for academic training, good business plans, access to capital, do not for a successful person make.

Passion is how life is supposed to be lived

With passion, life flows, resistance to living our purpose is less, and the eternal question of why we are who we are, or why we do what we do be comes clearer.

If we tap into passion, we are able to live our purpose. Each one of us are unique individuals. Each one of us has a purpose for being here. For me, it is not possible to separate my purpose from my passion. The two feed off one another.

So let me tell you a bit about myself, and how passion has helped me achieve my purpose for being.

I don’t know how to succinctly articulate my purpose. But I know that my purpose is to build a better humanity. I know that my purpose is served, by serving others. I know that my passion grows more and more, the more I am able to serve others, I know that my purpose is served by not accepting injustice, poverty, greed, and exploitation. And this is where my passion lies.

I knew at a fairly young age that I wanted to work with disadvantaged communities, and that I wanted to find innovative ways of doing that. I had a flash of entrepreneurial stupidity/brilliance when I was 27 years old, that Toursim was a way to do that. I had a vision of doing business in a way that served the poor. I had no idea of the detail, the model or the finite plan, but I believed we could walk a line of benevolent capitalism or social entrepreneurship.

So I started Calabash Tours
A small, effective tour company that operates in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It has a simple purpose: to link people – rich and poor.
Wonderful results flow from that. Effictively managed, it creates an understanding of how we are all interconnected, despite different races, cultures, economic status etc

I took the idea of doing business in a way that served the poor into boardrooms and to big tourism players.

Often, they did not get it! But I communicated my vision with tremendous passion. I so believed this would work, and was the right thing for me to be doing.

Often I got complimented on my passion, but left with no deals.

Passion alone does not make for success.

I refined our products based on the feedback I got. I realized I needed to understand the tourism industry better, the supply chains. I realized who made the decisions about what clients did when in our area.. And I realized I needed to find ways to add value to what these clients were looking for. I had to serve them, in order to live my vision.

In the early years of our business, it was only through believing that what I was doing was my purpose and my passion that I was able to go on. I was making very little money. I was having doors slammed in my face. I was being made promises. I was complimented politely for innovative ideas, but not getting bookings. It seemed helpless sometimes. But I continued.

What I realized along the way, was that my ideas, though not that innovative or brilliant, were beginning to stir people. The world is so jaded, greedy, dull, lacking in innovation. I noticed people slowly being stirred by my different approach. Business started to come in. Resistance gave way to flow. And we have now been in business for 12 years.

Along the way, other opportunities have come my way. People have wanted to buy our business. People have encouraged me to go more mainstream with my business. People have offered me jobs. And upon reflection, each time, I have remained steadfast – that what I do now, is what I am meant to do for now. I am where I am, because that is where I am meant to be.

Knowing your purpose, living with passion, means you must know yourself. What is important to you. I am sure I could have made more money, more easily, if I had taken some of the opportunities that have come my way. I would have had to be less self reliant maybe. Maybe I would have had more security.

But would I have been able to serve humanity in the way I do now. Would I have been able to have the wonderfully humanizing experiences I have now, straddling the development sector and the business world. You see, I know myself. I know what it is that drives me. And that is my compass.

To live with passion, you must know your values. You must know who you are. This allows me to live with great Faith. I have faith in myself, and that I am doing what I was born to do. I have faith in a loving Creator, I call him God that the journey I am on, is the journey I was born to be on. And having that Faith, allows me to get through the tough times.

You must know yourself. Do you know yourself? Do you know who you are.. Do you know what you are to do with your life? Do you know your values. You must. You must engage with this, and they don’t teach this in lecture halls.

So how do you get to know your purpose and your passion. Some of you do. For sure. That is why life is rewarding you and you are able to live with great Joy. Some of you don’t. You remain in the mind space of being victims. Not being good enough. Not clever enough. Not liked enough. Not pretty enough. Too white, too black, to man too woman – whatever.
Knowing your purpose and living your passion leads to being Enough for yourself. Being. Just being. Just being Enough!

So to snap out of the place of victimhood, and to snap out of the place of a passionless life I can suggest the following.

Pray. Meditate. Be still. Make sure you are able to just simply be a few times a week. Just be, Not do. Clear your mind. Listen to your inner voice. Listen to your intuition. Still, quiet, just be.

Be yourself. Trust yourself. Serve others. Let your passion grow.

The results will be beyond your wildest dreams.

Believe me.