Cooking is your greatest passion. You decide to write a book about it. You have to test all recipes.

Cooking is your greatest passion. You decide to write a book about it. You have to test all recipes. Your enthusiasm becomes so much that people want to do it too. You, an ambitious writer, decide to marry your new writing passion with your real-world job, and write a guide for recipe testing. With a solid following, you could start a company catering to the needs of the recipe testing community.

These are my personal examples, but they could describe some characteristics of a first-time entrepreneur: discovering your greatest passion, committing yourself to the pursuit of it, planning how to get to a specific outcome (such as a book or a company) and then taking action to make it a reality. You might be thinking, why not write about a passion that you’ve already experienced and demonstrated? The truth is that no one will give you advice about something that they themselves haven’t experienced and found themselves in. On the other hand, you might also be thinking, “Shouldn’t I be as well-versed in the field as possible before writing about it?” No, the best way to learn is to observe and experience it first-hand. If you find a new passion, commit to it and get to work.

Does that mean that all entrepreneurs should focus on their core passions? Of course not. I’ve been in the nonprofit sector since 2009 and have had many ideas about how to improve our service delivery. After running a few of those ideas through the funnel and seeing a “No,” a “Maybe,” a “Maybe not now” or a “Why don’t we give it more time to see if this idea works,” I’ve learned to put them on the backburner, while I work on another passion.

Entrepreneurship is not about starting a company or about being an expert. It’s about finding a problem to solve and then taking action to make it a reality. As Aristotle said, “The road to happiness is to work for the creation of something that is greater than yourself, and not to wait for other people to give you happiness.” So put down your smartphone, log off your laptop, leave your smartphone at home and follow your passions. You’re not alone. The world needs great entrepreneurs.