Creative people have made a testdrive in their dream business or profession for centuries and many generations. Talking to or even working with somebody who does the creative work they would love to do or explore. For architects, artists, designers, writers, cooks, actors etcera it is quit normal. Mostly however something you do at the start of your creative career. You can do it any time in your career however. To sharpen the story you tell yourself about you, your work, your business, what you are capable of doing. In meeting a mentor, somebody who has a creative dream business in your eyes and makes money with it.

Years ago I started advising creative people who started their business to make a Testdrive in their Dream Business. Speaking with a hero or heroine who has your dream business. It can save you years and a lot of money having direct feedback and stories of someone who does what you feel you would love to do. Almost everybody who has made a testdrive has come out of it with a more clear story and more determination than ever to make their dream business come true. They landed exciting projects, started an education or found other ways to further their dream business. After years of fantasizing their Testdrive has given them in hours or days the strength to come into action.

Partly this was due to a learning effect – the concrete knowledge they gained about the business of their dreams. Partly it was the mentor who held their hand, gave their confidence a boost en offered them help. Partly it was the contacts they made, which made the next steps more simple.

But the most important of all, next to these practical matters, was something different. The Testdrive in your Dream Business awakened and gave energy to something deep inside of them, a part that once awakened, refused to be ignored. Know that when you consider a dream business it not only is about how you spend your hours at work. Het is about the connection between your work and the deepest feeling about yourself.  It is about doing what you love, work that energizes you instead of exhausts you, work which has meaning for you.

Twelve reasons for a Testdrive in your Dream Business 

1.  To make a testdrive in your dream business before you committ yourself to a business

2. To find a mentor

3.  To learn about the ins and outs of a business

4.  To make contacts in a profession or market

5.  To raise your confidence level

6.  To explore a  passion

7.  To satisfy your curiosity about ‘ the road not taken’

8.  To test possible businesses when you don’t know yet what you want

9.  To make an unusual, exciting journey

10. To try out something new and challenge yourself in new ways

11. To create a new story about yourself, your present company, job, lifestyle and future

12. To reconnect with some passion(s) inside of you