Sometimes your passions can be the most obvious things. What makes you light up inside when you think about doing it? And is there a way to combine this pleasure with your existing professional experience and skills?

Of course, for many of you, just transferring your professional career from employee status to freelance seems the easiest way to start your own business. But does your current or former job light up your life? And for those of you who arent currently working, do you want to go back to your last job or training or do you want to move into a totally new career? Is there a way of taking elements of your experience and combining them with more of your personal values and gifts?

Lets look first at how you enjoy spending your time the best, what lights up your soul. Make a list of 20 activities that you currently enjoy doing the most. These can be professional or personal. They could include going for a walk, dancing, going to art galleries, meeting people or surfing the Internet.

Just to make sure were not overlooking any passions that youve let go of, lets also look at your preferred activities and hobbies as a child and a teenager.

For example, when I was a child, I was always the organiser of the other neighbourhood childrens games, and I loved dancing and reading. When I was a teenager, I was still organising everyones social activities, dancing, reading and writing. Now I am an adult and I am still doing the same things. I now appreciate that amongst my gifts are people skills, organising events, absorbing information and writing ideal skills for a person with a career in public relations, journalism and public speaking, who loves to dance whenever possible.

A friend of mine spent much of her childhood and teenage years on the telephone to all her friends advising them on their parent or relationship problems. Needless to say, she grew up to become a psychologist. Another, now a successful interior designer, told me she used to love making furniture for her toys when she was small, using her mothers sewing machine to make little curtains and constantly redesigning her bedroom as a teenager.

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Discovering your passions to choose a business