Hook And Show Introduction

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You build something you absolutely love. You poured your heart into it. Then you launch it and nobody buys. If your offer is a passion project, meaning it's primarily interesting to you, it's going to be a very long and expensive road to profitability. And well, you deserve better than that. Welcome back to Plan Like a Boss. I'm your host, Tanya Lawson. And if this is your first time here, I am so glad you found us. This is the show where we talk about building a creative business that actually works, not one that just feels good on Instagram. Today, we're going to get into something I see trip up creative entrepreneurs constantly. And I see it because I personally lived it for way too long. We're going to be talking about the difference between building a passion project and building something the market is actually going to pay you for. And before you get defensive, because I know some of you just had a little knee-jerk reaction to that, I'm not telling you to abandon what you love. So stick with me. We've been sold this story. And honestly, it's a pretty good story. The story goes something like, follow your passion and the money will follow. And I don't think that story is totally wrong, but I do think it is dangerously incomplete. Here's what the passion trap actually looks like. You build something you absolutely love. You poured your heart into it. You create all the content about it. You built a course around it. Then you launch it, and nobody buys. And then you start feeling confused because you work so hard, because you love what you made, because you got amazing feedback from all of your friends. But here's the truth nobody really tells you in a straightforward way. The market does not owe you revenue just because you worked hard. The market pays for one thing and one thing only: solutions to problems that feel urgent. The market doesn't pay for interesting, it pays for relief. If your offer is a passion project, meaning it's primarily interesting to you, it's going to be a very long and expensive road to profitability. And well, you deserve better than that. So let's start by getting really specific about why this happens. Interesting content gets lots of views. Interesting products get saved and interesting ideas get, oh, that's so cool in the DMs. But profitable things get purchased. And those two categories do not automatically overlap. When you build

Why Passion Projects Don’t Sell

SPEAKER_00 3:15

something from a passion first standpoint, you often end up with a product that teaches people something really cool, but doesn't fix anything that was actively hurting them. Think about your own buying behavior for just a second. When did you last spend money quickly without overthinking it? My guess it's not because you found something incredibly fascinating, but probably because you had a problem that needed fixing. Maybe you had a flat tire and you went to have it plugged. Or maybe you couldn't get it plugged, so you had to buy a brand new tire. You're perfectly willing to spend money when it's fixing something that is stressing you out or costing you time or money. And that's the thing. People buy from their pain stack that pile of things that is actively causing friction in their life or their business. And if your offer isn't in that pain stack, it becomes a maybe later. And maybe later, it doesn't pay your bills. So let's talk about what I like to call the vitamin versus the painkiller framework. I want you to keep this framework in mind every single time you're developing a new offer, a new product, new content, anything. There are vitamins out there, and then there are painkillers. Now, vitamins are good for you. People know they should take them. But

Vitamins Vs Painkillers Framework

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if they forget for a week, honestly, life goes on, no big deal. Painkillers, on the other hand, if you need one and you don't have it, you're going to find one. You will go to three different stores, you will borrow one from a neighbor, you will do whatever it takes. Most passion products are the vitamins. They're nice, they're good, but nobody is losing sleep over whether or not they buy them. Painkillers solve something that actively hurts. And in business, hurts looks like I'm losing money because I don't understand this, or I'm wasting time doing this manually every single week, or I don't know how to do this and it's costing me clients. So the question you need to ask about every single thing you create isn't, do I find this interesting? It's is this a vitamin or is it a painkiller for my audience? Because vitamins are nice to have, but painkillers equal buy it now. And look, vitamins can work, but they require a much longer sales cycle. They require a lot more trust and a lot more content. Painkillers, on the other hand, people will find you. They are actively out there searching for relief. So, how do you actually find the painful problems that are worth solving? This is exactly what I want you to do. First, I want you to go to where the complaints are. Seriously, go to Reddit threads, Facebook groups, your email inbox, your DMs, anywhere your ideal client is venting. What do they keep saying? What comes up over and over again?

How To Find Urgent Problems

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Second, I want you to look at what people are already paying for. Not what they say they want, but what they've already opened their wallet for. That is your clearest signal. Third, I want you to pay attention to the problems people feel embarrassed about. These are gold. If someone feels a little ashamed to admit something isn't working, that emotional charge means they really, really want it fixed. And they will pay to fix it privately. And fourth, ask yourself, what problem do people bring to meet over and over again? Not just in a professional context either. In life, the things your friends, your students, your followers keep asking you about, that's a signal. That's a painkiller waiting to happen. Now, I need to have a real talk with you here because there's a reason a lot of creative people resist this. It can feel like if you build something purely because the market needs it rather than because you're obsessed with it, you're somehow selling out. Like you're trading your creative soul for a dollar. And I hear you, but I want to push back

The Selling Out Fear

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on that gently. Being good at something and getting paid well for it is not selling out. It's sustainability. It's what lets you keep doing the work. There's also this other thing that shows up: a fear that if you solve practical problems, your work will be boring, generic, that you'll lose what makes you you. And that fear is completely understandable, but it's not the only option. You don't have to choose between personality and practicality. That's a false choice. Which brings me to the next thing I want to talk about. How to keep your personality while increasing necessity. Here is the shift I want you to make. Instead of asking, how do I build something I'm passionate about? Ask how do I solve a real problem in a way that only I can. Two totally different questions. Same person,

Keep Your Voice Increase Necessity

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completely different outcomes. Your personality, your voice, your lens, that is your unfair advantage. It's what makes your painkiller different from every other painkiller on the shelf. It's the reason someone buys from you and doesn't just Google the problem. Think about it this way: two people could teach the exact same SEO strategy, but one of them teaches it in a buttoned-up corporate tone. And one of them, hello, teaches it in a way that makes it feel like we're just two friends at a coffee shop figuring it out together. The same information, but a very different experience. Your personality is not in competition with market demand. Your personality is the delivery mechanism for the solution. Solve the problem, but be yourself while you do it. And that's the whole game. This practical problem-solving approach gives people a reason to buy. Your personality gives them a reason to buy from you specifically. And when you nail both, that's when things really start to move. So let me bring this full circle. Choosing to build something the market actually needs is not selling out. Creativity aimed at demand is simply strategy. And strategy is what turns a passion project into a real business. You're allowed to be interesting and essential. You're allowed to be creative and solve real problems. These things are not opposites. The shift I'm inviting you into is just this. Put market demand in the driver's seat and let your personality ride shotgun and then watch what happens. And speaking of strategy, if you want to make sure your business is bringing in revenue month after month consistently, I've got something I would love to invite you to. On March 27th, I'm running a live workshop called Revenue on Repeat. And this workshop is not another one of those webinars that's offering you ridiculous promises like hit seven figures next month.

Live Workshop Invite Revenue Systems

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But in this workshop, we are going to be talking about why your income feels so unstable. And we're going to actually map out your current revenue system and then build your first revenue structure. And you're going to walk away from this workshop with clarity and action steps that you can start taking to build out consistent revenue right now. It's hands-on, it's live, and it's designed for creative entrepreneurs who are tired of guessing and they're ready to build something that works. The link to grab your spot is in the show notes. And if you've been feeling stuck or like you've been building in the dark, I genuinely think this is going to be for you. So if this episode resonated with you, I would love it if you would give us a review on your podcast platform of choice and drop a comment and let me know what is the one painkiller that you think you can solve. And until next time, keep planning like a boss.