I think most people will admit that one person can make big changes in the world…but most people can't fathom that *they* could change the world. I think lack of action around good ideas is very sad… This goes for "good ideas" for individual businesses, too.

I go to Networking events, and we come up with good ideas for eachother's businesses, but usually that's as far as it goes. People have a very hard time bridging the gap between "IDEA" and "ACTION." – Most great ideas are overwhelming, could have such far reaching implications and require lots of research.
I know I've worked very hard coming up with the ideas for my consulting business…but I've had to work even harder to implement those ideas and turn them into concrete and clear actions I can take.

Jessica – thanks for the comment. Congratulations as it sounds like you're doing more than most to implement and take action – that is great! Do you have any tips or techniques you use to do this that you can share with the community?

Great post, MZ. I can relate. My wife heckles me a bit as 'The Idea Guy', but I've learned this year to take measurable steps to validate or discredit my ideas as viable business options. I've learned more meaningful info in the past 3-4 months about new subjects (email marketing, blogging, web 2.0, etc) than I had about any subject in the previous 3-4 years.

DO NOT DO what I have done. I would get a great idea and roll it around in my head for a few days. The 'potential' of it would keep me warm for 5-6 days and then I would be on to the next idea. Potenial is a horrible word, if you're older than a teenager and someone says "You've got potential', run screaming in the other direction and take ACTION!

Theo – right on! Appreciate the comment and glad you liked the post.

Thank you for this article. This is definitely me! I had so many regrets and often times beat myself up for watching my ideas materialize without me. I am working on some ideas right now and this was the message I needed to read to keep me motivated.

MSantiago – that's great! All the best with that.

Starting a business can be overwhelming! I like to make things VERY CLEAR for myself so each day when I wake up, I know exactly what to do to grow my business.
When I first became overwhelmed by all the "stuff" a consultant has to do, I decided to write a "HATs" page. To be successful with my business, I need to fill the following roles (or wear the following "hats" at times): Business owner, business manager, customer service expert, public relations expert, website creator, writer, secretary, public speaker and finally, Professional Organizer.
. If I do ha

Next, I wrote out the specific duties of each role, with a time estimate (to the minute) and required frequency of each task (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly(. To be successful and meet all the requirements of each role, I need to work about 55 hours per week and can have BILLABLE ORGANIZING HOURS for only 17 hours per week. That's why us consultants have to charge accordingly, and can't value our hourly rates below what they should be. We do a lot of work to keep a business running!
As far as great business ideas go: Being organized and knowing exactly where you want your business to go helps us decide whether our "great ideas" should be pursued or not. Often, I have a GREAT idea, but when I look at it objectively, it doesn't fit with my business direction.

Yes, perhaps most people do believe one person can change the world. Perhaps few who can believe they can change the world. Far more important, almost no one believes the person they know can change anything.

As an engineer I work to make the vision a reality. I am very good at it, as an MBTI INTJ. However I face the current "management" culture where "management" is now equated with beuracracy and hubris, people making decisions who are utterly unqualified. Nothing happened to change this after the Morton-Thiacol incident at NASA. We are drowning in these "professional managers" who are not the people with the skills and knowledge of the specific domain.

The level of skeptacism the qualified visionary faces is extreme, driven by the unqualified non-visionaries around them. This is the key problem, not regret. It is very hard work to face these bozos in your way at every step.

God save us from the MBA and the PMP.

Hi, Like your site, really on my wavelenght.. Afer years of thinking I have nothing to offer the world and falling into a void of daily grind with no dreams or aspirations, I woke up to the fact that I do! We live in a world that is so focused on achieving the next step that we forget that sometimes we do have knowledge we can pass on to give some other person's business or personal life a boost. I am in a situation where I myself have a wonderful business idea but am stuck in getting it into action and I need help but I don't want to drudge through all the boring stuff to get it on the road. I want a consultant to answer my questions and find the solutions, not many can do that, can you???? How much do you charge?? Looking forward to hearing from you. Till then take care.