Yesterday marked the launch of the Small Business Bonfire. The site has been months of work in the making, with a moderate amount of blood, sweat and tears, and a significant loss of sleep. So, I’m thrilled to see people signing up, starting to make connections, downloading files from the library, and talking about it on Twitter and Facebook.

There’s a lot more to come, so stay tuned.

This post, though, is about fire.

Fire. It’s like a combination of passion, drive and intensity. Look at the successful entrepreneurs you know. I bet they have fire. It may not be the screaming-in-your-face aggressive kind, but there is fire there.

You have fire, even if you feel like you don’t. The trick is uncovering what fires you up and channeling it into your business.

Without fire, it’s almost impossible to reach ambitious goals, push yourself to your limits, and make the answer “yes” when everyone keeps saying “no.”

For me, fire comes from seeing, learning, contributing and sharing success with others. There is nothing quite like a successful collaborative experience, especially when it has the power to change the way people do things and think about things in a positive way.

Some people innately know where their fire comes from. I didn’t. I’m a (sometimes) introvert, so my passion for collaboration was hard to expose. But once I did, it truly changed everything for me.

It got me through the long nights and tough challenges of launching the Small Business Bonfire; it forced me to let go of my desire for perfection and just let things breathe; and it will get me fired up as I continue to work to make the Bonfire an insanely useful resource for small business owners.

So…what fires you up?

What’s the one thing that keeps you awake at night, thinking of your next move and how you’re going to translate your ideas into action? What do you return to, every time you hit a rough spot? What makes it all worth it for you?

Image credit: Bubbels