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.

That is, until our eyes were opened to the truth of the matter.  The reality was, that due to the FREE ticket advertising, every single male within an hours drive showed up every Thursday night.  What’s the problem you ask?  First: Extremely crowded slopes, almost to the point of not being able to move comfortably down the mountain.  Second: The overcrowding caused the lift lines to back up so far that the wait to get up the mountain was longer then the time it took to actually board down the mountain.  Third: We were surrounded by hundreds of dudes!

Still, we believed for quite some time that the FREE ticket made it all worth while.  However, one afternoon we decided to venture out to another mountain (Sugar), one that wasn’t FREE, but a great mountain none the less.  I paid $17 for my ticket and went on the same day (Thursday) that the FREE event was being held at Beech.  What was the comparison you ask? First: We had the mountain practically to ourselves (everyone else was boarding for FREE!).  Second: We made 5 times as many runs at the place that made us PAY as compared to the one that was FREE.  Third, the place that made us PAY was actually closer in distance, saving us even more time and more money.  We had nearly unlimited space, and we never dealt with the lines, crowds or the uneasiness of  being surrounded by hundreds of dudes.

What is the lesson?

• Just because it’s FREE doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best deal.
• Don’t settle for the FREE average…being average is almost always FREE.  Instead, pay for VALUE.
• Your time is not FREE.  If you could pay a little to have a lot more time (and fun!) wouldn’t you?

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.

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.