Tag: passion

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Create your own magic

English: The circus comes to town in Aberdeen ...
The circus comes to town in Aberdeen Chinese State Circus by the beach (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I was a little boy I used to love going to the circus that used to come each year to the beach. Out of all the wonderful things at the circus what I enjoyed most was watching the magicians.

The magicians, dressed up in smart black suits and top hats, would do things like waving their wands and magically a dove would appear from their hat. They would also pull handkerchiefs from their sleeves that seemed to go on and on. The one I think that everyone loved was how they magically found money behind people’s ears.

In the real world how do you create your own magic? What does magic mean for you? Have you created real magic in your life through your business, products or services?

Making something from virtually nothing has always appeared like magic to me. Let’s take the example of someone who makes a scrumptious dinner. All the ingredients are there in the kitchen. The chef puts them into pots and pans and into the oven and from these various ingredients a transformation occurs. These ingredients become tasty meals or dishes served on a plate. The ingredients by themselves have not suddenly become a tasty dish – the real magic has been the chef who has used their skills, know-how and ideas to make ordinary ingredients such as flour, butter, eggs, meat and vegetables into a cordon bleu meal.

It’s amazing how some people can create products or services themselves from virtually nothing and live and work in their hometowns and enjoy themselves. Sadly, others take years to learn professional services and then find that their home town or home city is too small for these services. Then they have to go sell their services in other countries in far off lands. Why is it that these people can’t come up with products and services that they create themselves and can support their lives in local communities?

Creating an income for yourself on your own terms and serving and supporting others is a kind of magic. Not only is this liberating but it’s also empowering and helps you love every day with joy and excitement. Coming up with things to sell yourself is deeply fulfilling especially when you are engaging with your passions, aligning your work with your values and sharing what you have created with others. A business of your own can be a way of sharing your gifts.

So, how do you create your own magic in your life? How practically do you go about coming up with ideas for products and services and turning them into commercially viable products? How do you take ordinary objects and inject life into them so that they magically take on a life of their own?

It all involves coming up with new ideas, seeing opportunities in the market, spotting trends, identifying gaps and using your imagination and passion to come up with something from scratch. You can do all of this on your own or if you are stuck will need to speed up the process, you may need help with pragmatic, practical and enjoyable advice and guidance as well as coaching to help you create your own magic.

Life is short. Some people say that we shouldn’t could our years but live for each and every day. Others have taken it further and have said that we should live every second and yet others say we should live every breath we take. Why wait another moment? Why not use your next breathe to send me an email to get started?

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Giving thanks to all the things that make starting and running a business possible

The First Thanksgiving, painting by Jean Louis...
The First Thanksgiving, painting by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A local restaurateur and his sister lived in the United States when they were growing up. At the request of a customer from the United States who felt lonely at the time of thanksgiving, the restaurateur held a dinner here in Johannesburg for the customer and has held the dinner ever since.

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. The “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621.

The Thanksgiving meal that we ate at Hodges Restaurant in Craighall included corn dogs, turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce, sweetcorn, roast potatoes, green beans with almonds and pumpkin pie.

You can’t help thinking about everything you are thankful for with such a bountiful dinner. Your family and friends. Your health, ability to walk, talk, see, touch, smell and taste. And the opportunity that life and people give for you to develop your skills, grow your gifts and use them positively and constructively in your community, in business and in society.

That brings me to Idea Accelerator. This online tool has given me and many others the opportunity to learn from each other. Idea accelerator’s vision and mission is to help other people come up with ideas and realise them so that they may fulfill important goals in their lives.

Over the past two years I have been able to slowly grow Idea Accelerator into the vision that I have for sharing practical experience about turning ideas into viable products and services, new small businesses and sideline income opportunities.

I am most grateful for those who have given freely of their time and practical experience to make Idea Accelerator possible. From all sorts of creative business people who are finding new ways to help other people through their start-ups and small businesses.

It’s this passion and creativity that drives people and business. At the bottom of businesses that last is the commitment to help people improve their lives. Whether it’s to learn a new skill, fix a broken relationship, save a life or show someone how to make money for themselves and their loved ones.

Yes, it’s good to give thanks. To see how far we’ve come. To appreciate how others have helped us. But, more importantly, what we are giving to others.

 

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Can you hear the thunder and feel the glow around your face?

Shawn Phillips live in Johannesburg, November 2013
Shawn Phillips live in Johannesburg, November 2013

On Tuesday evening I listened to Shawn Phillips, the folk-Rock musician, at a benefit concert for sufferers of the disease cystic fibrosis. The concert was held at the Pavilion Hall Marks Park, Greenside, Johannesburg.

All I knew about Shawn Phillips before I got there was his iconic album “Second Contribution” which everyone who enjoyed 1970s music had in their collection. I haven’t followed his career so I didn’t know what to expect. Continue reading “Can you hear the thunder and feel the glow around your face?”

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What you should know about owning a start-up – 8 must-have qualities for entrepreneurs

Test your concept on real customers first.
Test your concept on real customers first.

I wouldn’t want to put you off about owning a start-up but there’s some things you ought to know before you decide to go it on your own.

And that the one major thing you’ll have to realise and accept: when you start something, you are totally on your own. You will need to do everything in the beginning. Nothing will happen without you making it happen. Continue reading “What you should know about owning a start-up – 8 must-have qualities for entrepreneurs”

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Is passion waiting to find you?

Santiago de Compostella pilgrimage route
Discovering one’s passion on the Santiago de Compostella pilgrimage route of 750 km

A friend who has been trying to find his passion went over to New Zealand and Australia for six months. He travelled in a camper van with his surf board and came back to South Africa with stories: travelling along scary roads up cliffs and in dense trees to surf spots, getting electrocuted leaning against a farmer’s cattle fence and even stumbling on a nudist beach by accident.

Yet after all his amazing adventures, seeing different lifestyles and meeting new people, he hadn’t found his hoped-for passion. You see, after years working in demanding corporate jobs and high-pressure sales promotions, he has taken time to figure out what he really wants to do. Continue reading “Is passion waiting to find you?”

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What stokes your fire?

  

Shoal of fish
© Chesney Bradshaw 2011

What stokes your fire?

At Christmas day lunch in a seaside restaurant, a pink piece of paper tumbled out from a cracker:

“Why was the chicken at the North Pole?”

The answer: “It was lost.”

A chilly prospect for the chicken but perhaps a familiar sensation for those who lost their way in 2010’s economic blizzard.

At a time when predictions for the New Year overflow in newspapers and magazines as well as on blogs, FaceBook, Twitter and websites, it’s perhaps pertinent to reflect on people who seem to predict their own futures regardless of inner and outer circumstances.

Consider some entrepreneurs I came across shortly before the end of 2010:

? One has started an eatery in a side road with big plans for the future

? Another who deals in maritime collectables can’t wait to trade in the New Year

? Yet another is starting a micro brewery with an excellent tasting product

? One young entrepreneur is kick-starting an online health foods business for athletes

? A microcomputer retail owner is repositioning his business for increased growth

? A guitarist has just released his fourth CD and is growing his following

What do these entrepreneurs have in common? What stokes their fire?

They have all come up with their own ideas to produce business concepts that support their passion. These innovators possess a razor sharp understanding of their product and customer needs. Another thing, they tackle what they are doing with such enthusiasm that they don’t seem to have time to dwell on the economy. They are also hardly likely to be pouring over the list of dire predictions for 2011 or any year for that matter.

This is not to say that predictions are unimportant. They point to possible areas of change. Give warnings. Signpost opportunities.

These entrepreneurs are busy implementing their ideas in 2011. Each one has come out of a hobby or interest, a passion driving them to turn what they love doing into a way to support their lifestyle and incomes. How did they stumble on these ideas? How long did it take them to realise their dreams? What fire kept burning inside them to make a go of what they imagined and eventually realised?

Phil Cousineau in “Stoking the Creative fires: 9 ways to rekindle passion and imagination” challenges, “What will it take to stoke your fire?” He covers stages of the creative journey: inspiration, perspiration and realisation. “Unreal work,” he says, “burns you out, real work renews you.”

What will light your fire this year? What will keep stoking your fire? How long will your fire burn?

One of the best-kept secrets is to find your ideas, your innovation, in a state of relaxation. Forcing ideas in a mad scramble blocks your creative pathways. “An environment of playfulness and humour is highly conducive to creativity,” says Michael Michalko, a leading creativity expert and author of “Cracking Creativity: The secrets of creative genius”.

How do you find your real work? It almost always requires inner work, knowing who you are and what you want. Your search can include keeping a journal for thoughts and ideas, going back into your past when you felt passionate about something and exploring various sources of information such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books and blogs to spark ideas. You can also use ideas and techniques on this blog or the websites listed on the right hand column of this page. Innovators need not originate completely new ideas but can SCAMPER (substitute, combine, adapt, magnify, modify, put to other uses, eliminate, rearrange, reverse) existing products, services, concepts and ideas to create new products and services.

The entrepreneurial spirit, whether in the form of the independent businessperson or the innovator working with passion in a company, needs nurturing. It is the source for solutions to today’s challenges and points the way to new possibilities for our environment, living, working, playing.

Entrepreneurs and innovators in whatever field possess the fire to innovate whether searching to start something of their own from scratch or re-imagining and re-inventing what they do at work. Whether they run a family business, “kitchen table” business or a part of a corporation as a manager, entrepreneurs have a passion to produce ideas and turn them into innovative products and services that ultimately help people live better quality lives.

Hotwire your inner circuitry with creative fire in 2011 and forecast your own future.

Copyright 2011 Bell & Cray Business Research™. This material used with special permission from Bell & Cray Business Consulting™. Bell & Cray Business Consulting™ is a division of Bell & Cray™. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be duplicated or re-disseminated without permission.

Copyright 2011 Bell & Cray Business Research™. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be duplicated or re-disseminated without permission.

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