When I was young, I determined with complete certainty that I’d be a business owner when I grew up. My father owned a lighting fixture company and I’d seen him start the company from our basement and end up growing the business to a pretty profitable one.

As I grew older, the ever important question came up; What kind of business should I start?

At 21 years old, of course I made the decision based on where the money was whether I liked what I was doing or not. I opened a mortgage company since that was what I had been doing successfully for about a year and a half (which isn’t much time at all).

Sure, the money was great. In fact, I had a lavish lifestyle pretty young. I was a year into my marriage and my son Christian was just born. I thought I had it all.

But an interesting thing happened. I started living for my business and would spend 12-16 hours a day in my business and away from my family. I did it for years thinking that I was doing the best for them. Sure we had “things” but they didn’t have me. All this while not really enjoying what I was doing.

Looking back, having a business just for the money is definitely the wrong approach for finding your ideal business. So, to help you avoid this same mistake, here are 3 easy ways to identify your ideal business.

1. Discover your unique knowledge – this can come from what you excelled at in school or something you’ve learned at your job. You may have a lot of knowledge in your field of interest that others don’t possess. People are always looking to learn what they don’t yet know, so either teach them or do it for them.

2. Identify your unique passion – there is probably something that you absolutely love to do and would do it for free. However, if it provides value to others, why not make money with it. Perhaps you love installing car stereos (I did as a teen and made great money). You may love scrap booking and can teach other people how to do it. Find what you’re passionate about and most likely, there are others passionate about the same thing!

3. Uncover your unique experience – you have lived a unique life than no one else can share. You have had a series of lessons throughout schooling, your childhood, work experience, and hobbies and interests. It is through your unique life lessons that you have something of extreme value to share. You can use those experiences to help others achieve success in those areas no matter what they are.

Its through your unique knowledge, experiences, and passions where your ideal business lies. You already have everything that you need to get started today. Forget growth strategies and focusing on getting started. Without starting, all the details don’t even matter.