How 'bout this idea?

    I am visionary. Not a very effective visionary, but one just the same. My ideas almost always lack proper motivation or patience. The enjoyable part for me is coming up with ideas and discussing them, not necessarily following through on them. I love being around visionary people. Idea people. Especially entrepreneurs. You know who I am talking about! The guy that always has a great invention. He is always looking around and thinking of ways to do things better. 

Idea people. Give 'em a cup of coffee, a revolutionary idea, and watch their eyes sparkle. We are always being criticized for not following through. Oh, but that is not true. Visionary people always follow through, we just hit road blocks. A big one being lack of time or money. Usually money.

I am a visionary thinker. My friend and fellow roofer, Tim, is a visionary "do-er". I probably call him twice a week with new ideas for roofing, or totally unrelated stuff. Our conversations always end the same way... I am out of breath from excitement, pacing the room and resting my arms from all the waving and charismatic activity. And then he says.." That is awesome! What are we going to do about it?"  He wants to put wheels on ideas.  He loves to research. He calls professionals and talks over ideas with them. He knows how to take an idea from thought to fruition.

We have come up with about fifteen different "inventions" that we think will sell. I have forgotten them all. Tim, on the other hand, has a notebook where he has them all written down. He has phone numbers of companies he has talked to. He has friends in the patent office. He is always researching, always thinking. Tim is pure, undefiled inspiration.

We have seen a couple of our  business ideas take off, and we both make our living doing them today. That is incredible and a lot of fun.  No inventions yet.  Maybe someday...

Every Christmas, my friend David from San Diego and his wife come to town. We can't get together and talk for five minutes without coming up with a business idea. Every year we have a great idea, and every year is the year that we are really going pursue it! This Christmas is no exception, and right now we are pursuing another business fling. Here is an excerpt from an e-mail I got from David this morning...

"Daniel: I had a great time chat’n and maintaining our friendship. Please keep in touch! Give me a call soon!  I think our ideas can take off if we don’t procrastinate!"

He enclosed a document that showed me that he is taking this seriously, and has already begun investing time. Wow! I am getting goose-bumps.

Here is some advice on interacting with idea people:

1. Hug them. We get discouraged easily.

2. Finance them, (kidding.)

3. Never say, "You never follow through with your ideas!!"

4, Ask them if they have been getting enough sleep.

5. Monitor their coffee intake.

6. Listen to their ideas, show excitement, and don't tell a soul.

7. Don't tell a soul their idea's.

8. Don't tell anyone the idea that your visionary friend told you.

9. If a visionary friend tells you one of their ideas, don't tell anyone the idea.

10. Try thinking of an idea. Take your friend to Starbucks, buy them a cup of coffee, and tell them your idea. Just watch. It'll be fun.

11. Buy them a notebook for Christmas. They will use it.

Comments

[Jennifer L]

That's hilarious!!! I will definitely keep that in mind.

For the administratively-minded, here's some advice:

1. Tell us your ideas and let us take a minute to process. Taking a minute to think doesn't mean we don't LIKE the idea...just means we're already trying to figure out how to get there.

2. Take US to Starbucks cuz we have a looooooooooooong process ahead of trying to get inside your head to see exactly what you're thinking about.

3. Believe us when we say - we can't do it without you.

4. Take us to Starbucks cuz coffee is good for the imagination...and we generally lack this virtue.

5. Be really excited with the end product, even if what you were thinking was 'apples' and we come up with 'oranges'.

6. Take us to Starbucks to celebrate.

7. Let us sleep a good long time...after all that caffeine, we'll need it!

:) Happy New Year, mis amigos!

[Amy B.]

Thanks for the advice. I have several visionary friends, so it should come in handy. ;)