Item — HN Reader

It doesn't matter if you sell diapers or dentures; if you've built a successful ecommerce business around a niche, I promise you'll become passionate about it.

I totally disagree.

Yes, you need to head-check the ideas you are passionate about and see if they can really grow into viable businesses. But you also need to check seemingly lucrative ideas and see if you are passionate enough about the industry and the concept to stick it out for the long term. You are entering a marriage. Can this idea be both a great, supportive partner and your best friend?

After the initial buzz of building a business and the early success, what's left over is a lot of time focused on your product and industry. If you don't like golf, you probably shouldn't start a golf-focused e-commerce site.

1 comments

OP here. I definitely understand where you're coming from but I've personally experienced something different.

One of the eCommerce niches I entered based on research (not passion) was trolling motors. Starting out, I had absolutely zero interest in them. None. Never even used one in my life.

But after selling them for a few years and building a business around them, I've come to be a trolling motor geek and even enthusiast. Driving down the road, I'll crane my neck to see what type of motor the boat in the other lane has, and I enjoy talking with customers about them on the phone.

Is it really trolling motors I'm enamored with? Not really. They're just the vehicle I've picked to build a business around. As I mention at the end of the post, passion is 100% essential for success. In my case, I'm just passionate about building eCommerce businesses and some of that eventually leaks over to my product of choice.