Here’s the issue:  With the onward advancement of the Internet (it’s still growing!), the huge growth in the number of social networks available and the shift in general marketing characteristics, more and more of the general public is able to join with or voice with a wider variety of groups, associations, blogs, non-profits, churches, schools or charities.  Is there anything wrong with this?  Of course not!  Networking your company or charity or church is a great way to get the word out on what exactly it is that you are trying to accomplish, what message you want to release.  The challenge is not in getting your message out or getting your company recognized or even attracting people to join with you.  The challenge lies in getting people to willingly and authentically support you.  Due to the fact that so many people and companies are accessible to the public, it is quite simple to join up with and interact with and show support for those people and companies.  However, showing support is completely different from initiating support.  In other words, it is very easy for me to join a network, give them my email, my picture and some general information, but what happens then?  They have my show of support…they have my picture for crying out loud!  But do they have my full-on initiated support?  Am I willing to act when called upon?  Would I stand up for that blog or company or person in a public forum?  Would I buy their product?  Would I sell their product?

The next step is to initiate your support.  If you love something or someone…buy that something, sell that something or tell that someone (again, not yelling)!  Do not let your support be reduced to a picture and a name in a list of millions.  If you genuinely support someone, let them know that you are for them and then get behind them full force.  If you love a product, tell the world about it so that others can come to enjoy it too.  If you love a blog, subscribe to it and let your friends know that you love it.  If you attend a great church, let others in the community know that you attend a great church.  Don’t let your show of support go to waste…Initiate it into a moving, powerful and acting force.

If we ever expect our life or our company or our church or our relationships to progress to the next level; if we desire that our marriage develops into new realms of trust and love; if we ever expect to reach out and impact a broader market; if we want to put that latest great idea into action; if we want to be rich; if we want to help as many as possible; if we want to give it all away; if we want to decrease our negative environmental impact; then change is absolutely necessary.

Why did Facebook revamp its entire layout?  Why did WordPress totally turnover its Dashboard?  Why, when millions of people worldwide use your product or service every day, would you ever want to change a single thing!? Here is why:  They want to get better.  Why did Steve turn machine Mac into musical Apple?  He knew that in order for the company to grow (to be the best in the world!) it had to change, to be the change.  Why does Google come out with a new application almost daily (or so it seems)?  They realize that in order to stay on top, they must keep doing what got them there in the 1st place:  promote and initiate change.  Every year these companies change the way we do and see everything.

Want to get better at anything?  Get better at being willing to change.  Want to become a Visionary?  Train yourself to see the change before it happens and take advantage of it.

Does your company make a product?  Are you in sales?  Are you responsible for the marketing of a certain material or commercial good?  How about a commodity?  Over the long haul, why do your customers, consumers, clientele, patients or students continue to come back to you in order to obtain the service or product that you represent or sell?  Why?  

Why do people choose to continually buy Coke when Pepsi is always on sale?  Why do people buy iPhones when they could settle for a phone that is a quarter of the price?  Why do people consistently attend the same church service at the same church week in and week out?     Why are more and more people reading blogs to get their news instead of the Times?  Why do people shop at Wal-Mart instead of the corner hardware store?  Why do students delay taking a certain class in order to take it with a specific professor when they could take it right now and get it over with?  Why will a patient drive for hours to go to his dentist when there is another dentist down the street?

Here is why:  They, the consumer, like the product.  The results they get from the product or service (or both!) are great, they are proven and the consumer loves a great, reliable, proven product.    

Do you blame Mayor Ballard?  Surely not!  Instead, blame Toyota!  They have the better product (more fuel efficient for example).  How can you fault someone for buying the better product when we do it ourselves every single day.

Here is the challenge: Many visionaries, no matter how self-motivated (or whatever), never get their start-up…well…started up!  Blame it on, if your must, a lack of focus.

The new visionary, leader and entrepreneur all know that they can impact their community, city, state, country and world in a drastically positive and unique way.  They know (and believe!) that they can do something great.  They have the initiative, the proper attitude, the enhanced heart, the high flying mind set, the proper hair cut (what?).  In short, they have what it takes to really make a difference through their actions, business and perspective.  Yet for some reason they just can’t put it into MOTION.  Ever been there?

We are all either (1) looking to premiere our first great idea (2) looking to get our next great idea rolled out or (3) looking to improve our current great idea already on the market.  So how do we accomplish one or all of these things?  How do we set into MOTION that potential entrepreneurial energy which is currently stagnantly waisting away, not making money, not changing lives, not making someone else’s life better, in our revved up minds?  You know you possess the power to change lives, now how do you harness it and put it to use behind a great idea or goal?  Here are some questions and points to ponder in your search (Think, for real!):

1.  If you could be the greatest in the world at one thing what would it be?
   
2. If you had complete freedom of time, how would you use it?  
3. If you had all the resources in the world, what would you build, design or work at?
4. Take your answers from 1-3 and solidify them…write them down!
5. Your answers from 1-3 should reveal something deeper about yourself (your passions for example).  So go ahead and work at what your passionate about, what you really desire to do.  Make real plans to take a step toward making these answers a reality.  
6. Don’t take your life for granted.  Do that which you truly believe is worth doing, don’t make excuses.

There are people around you…everywhere!  They stand beside you in the deli line.  They pump their gas right next to where you stand to pump yours.  They sit in the cubicle right next to yours.  Their facebook picture shows up in line with your other 837 favorite friends.  They run on the treadmill, dripping sweat just like you, less than 2 feet from where you stride.  They eat their meals, many times alone, at the table just adjacent to yours.  They stand shoulder to shoulder with you in the elevator.  They cling to their mothers legs as she,not distracted, continues to shop.  They smile and slightly wave, make eye contact, and quickly move on.  They sit in church every Sunday, filling the pews just like you.  They cling to their newspapers at the coffee shop just like you.  They type away on anything and everything just like you.

Do you ignore them? …or… Do you initiate a conversation with them?

Some people hate to be bothered.  Don’t bother with them.  But, there are so many people out there, in the world all around yours and mine, that long for interaction.  Give it to them.  Interact.  Conversate.  Make a positive connection, no matter how small, and you will change that persons day, maybe even their life.  Don’t forget about those around you.  Make a difference by simply letting others know that you notice them, show them that you care.  Start as many conversations today as you can.  Inspire and be inspired.  How will you ever be able to meet the needs (being a visionary) of those around you if you never talk to them, get to know them and eventually learn those needs.  This will change your life.

In our striving, we often look to the outside, to that which we can learn or gather or purchase in order to improve whatever aspect of our life that we are attempting to improve. This is GREAT (most of the time)!  However, many of the best entrepreneurs and leaders of our time have simply taken a deeper look inward for their greatest visionary concepts.

If you are looking for a way to generate capital, run through a mental checklist of what it is that you do well.  What are you already talented at? What gifts do you have that can be used to provide a service? Are your talents or skills a product?  Is your natural ability a sell-able service? Do a self-evaluation, be honest with yourself, and don’t sell yourself short. A lot of what you are already great at can be used to help others and at the same time help yourself.  Do not miss the obvious.  Do not miss out on capitalizing on that which you are already great at.