NickVenturella.com 5-14-17

Happy Mother's Day & The Power of Good Ideas

May 14, 2017

First off, to all the mothers out there, happy Mother’s Day!

Next, I’m excited to share that the Madison, WI-area arts/entertainment/lifestyle publication, Isthmus, did a write up on my AutismHR.com project.  You can read it here.

With that in mind, today I want to talk about the power of ideas.

When I started AutismHR it was just an idea — a website that somehow could connect autistic adults to a pathway of meaningful employment. I’ve iterated on that idea quite a bit since the first launch of the site, but the core concept is still intact.

That’s really what I want to talk about:  iterating on your core concept.

The core concept of an idea can often be good, but the execution needs refinement, so don’t give up if your first pass at something doesn’t seem right, but you still feel moved by the main idea of it. 

That scenario absolutely was the case with AutismHR. Having a son on the autism spectrum, I knew the research and I knew there was a need for creative ways to build a path for autistic adults to find meaningful work. However, finding the right-fit execution of that idea in a way I could really lean into, to truly provide a positive impact, became the challenge.

But when you’re passionate about an idea you are motivated by something bigger than yourself, so it’s easy (or at least easier) to keep pursuing it to appease your curiosity vs. allowing that feeling to nag at you without exploring it…at least that’s how I am.

Here’s another example…the band, Gin Chocolate and Bottle Rockets, writes heart-felt, accessible music about the human condition. A great idea for an all-girl band who can rock out while hitting some sweet vocal harmonies.

These ladies are motivated by their passion for music and connecting their music with others’ everyday lives. This is why they were asked to provide a motivational talk for a healthcare organization. 

Surely, the ladies thought to themselves, “we’re not necessary keynote speakers,†but they iterated on the good idea that is their sincere stories behind their music. The result is that they developed a motivational talk/musical presentation that is bigger than themselves, and will reach many others who may not have otherwise heard their music or their message. 

I have no doubt their talk will inspire the organization who hired them and lead Gin, Chocolate and Bottle Rockets to other such engagements — an iteration on their original idea.

How do I know this? I was fortunate enough to have been invited to a sneak preview of the talk/presentation they will soon give to that healthcare organization.

It’s truly a gift to yourself to keep exploring your ideas, and they can become an even greater gift for someone else because you scratched the itch of curiosity to keep exploring good execution of your idea…

…and that allows ideas to become a gift to others...potentially many others.

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Ideas! They can be so powerful.

Isn’t that crazy?

Ideas are simply thoughts upon which action is taken to transform them into something real that positively impacts others. 

That concept alone excites me, and for those of you that it excites too, please keep generating and iterating on your ideas no matter how crazy you may think they sound. You’re not alone, and likely your idea will help others more than you’ll ever know.

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I try to keep my newsletter content exclusive as unique benefit to you as a subscriber, however, good ideas need to be spread. If you think someone you know might be inspired by this newsletter post, please forward it to them. 

If they’re curious to learn what else I write about each week they can sign up on my email list here, but no one should feel obligated to do so.

Have a great week!