I have been hit on many sides with this concept today…I figured I better sit down and write about it a bit. I was speaking with a friend of mine earlier on the phone and he was sharing a vision he has for his life with me.

 

Without sharing the details I will just let you know that we came to an agreement that many of the things we see and even end up being passionate about are not necessarily what everyone is wanting or looking for…yet.

 

Sometimes we see things that are not necessarily for today but for a future that has been "readied" for our vision. What I mean by this is that most of the time we need to build a bridge for others to walk over before they can actually get a glimpse of the vision we see.

 

From a business perspective it reminds me of a principle that Michael Masterson points out in one of his books "Ready, Fire, Aim." In one portion he is talking about the fact that the tipping point of a new product often takes some time to get there.

 

In other words…being the first isn't necessarily the best position for a new product. For example…Apple did not invent the concept of a personal mp3 music player but they brought out the ipod at the time that the tipping point for personal mp3 players was ripe.

 

Apple simply did it better in terms of marketing and making the technology accessible and easy for people and they reaped the rewards for their timing, sense of quality and marketing savvy.

 

Another example of this is something that I was confronted with today as well…a young man by the name of Adam Young started doing techno pop music in his parent's basement just a few years back. He posted his music on myspace and "Owl City" was born.

 

Today Adam Young's music is wildly popular and in fact we listen to it in our home. My kids love his stuff because it is fun to hear. I like it because it is clean and enjoyable to have on in the background.

Unfortunately there is a whole host of people out there terribly upset and even hateful of this young man's success. He is accused of copying "The Postal Service" and Ben Gibbard.

 

Purist fans of Ben Gibbard and his music both from "The Postal Service" and "Death Cab" are irate that Adam Young has become so successful doing something remarkably similar to Ben's music. Adam's voice even sounds similar.

 

I think Ben's music is great for the most part and it may be true that the influence in Adam Young's "Owl City" sounds are more than coincidental but just as Apple was in the right place at the right time (with a huge amount of help from some brilliance from the leadership) so Adam Young was/is at the right place at the right time (with some key business and musical contacts along the way).

 

Owl City is hugely popular today and I for one congratulate and applaud Adam Young. If you don't like his music…don't listen.

 

Anyhow…these examples are just a couple of hundreds or more that we could dig up. Just as Apple didn't "invent" the personal mp3 player and Adam Young didn't "invent" the sounds put out by Owl City both of these examples are exactly what my friend and I were talking about earlier today.

 

Both Apple and Adam Young come along at just the right time. But, they both made some smart business decisions along the way. I think everyone is familiar with Apple's development and marketing genius but you may not have known that Adam Young has also been quite savvy in his career to this point. His use of MySpace was incredibly brilliant (even if he didn't know it at the time). He has also been able to make some important business connections such as with Relient K (a very popular  christian band). He helped produce one of their songs, had some help with backup vocals and was able to tour with Relient K. This was more than likely very helpful in promoting him to the top of the charts with his huge hit "Fireflies" and become wildly successful with his music in general.

 

If the world is not ready for you it doesn't matter what you have to share…they are not going to receive it. Does this mean you are sunk if you have an original idea and want to get it out to people? Not at all.

 

What it does mean is that you need to be ready to build a bridge so people can "safely" walk across to where you are. People, in general, are not going to take any unnecessary risks or action to come to where you are at until they are close enough to be on the same page or the timing just happens to be right.

 

If you are going to sit around and wait for the timing to occur…I can almost guarantee that someone else is going to ride away with the lion's share of the spoil, so to speak. Having an original idea is not the place you want to be unless you are completely ready to put a great deal of time and effort and patience into getting your vision out to people in such a way that they want to share in it with you.

 

If you don't want to put maximum effort into sharing your ideas…I guarantee someone else is. Guess what? It is that someone else who is going to be remembered for it.

 

However, if you are willing to take the time to build bridges and trust with people (see my post on Trust) and continually water that trust and continue to build more and better bridges…then you will be the one remembered and reap the rewards for your brilliant ideas and/or products.

 

Robert Kiyosaki has a brilliant insight he shares in his book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." He is talking with a writer who he says is a brilliant writer but hasn't sold many copies. His question to her was something like this: would you rather be a best selling author or a best writing author?

 

Through this conversation Robert shares in his book the the young lady could not get to the point of of "seeing" the fact that writing something and having people read what you have written are two completely different things. You may be the best writer to ever live, or you may have the best idea or product or whatever, but it becomes largely irrelevant unless you bring other people along with you. This involves sales, marketing, sharing, building bridges, promoting yourself, enabling others to capture your vision…whatever you want to call it…it doesn't happen just by accident.

 

So…this is the question I pose to you. If the world is not quite ready for you or your ideas or products, are you willing to put in the tough work to bring those dreams to fruition? Are you willing to work to bring people alongside of you so that they too can embrace what you have to offer? Or, are you going to simply believe the lie that since it is a brilliant  idea (could be product as well), then it will spread on its own? I am not saying that this doesn't happen once in a great while…but it is is extremely rare.

 

Most likely…your idea, dream, vision, product or whatever will simply be rediscovered by someone else willing to put in the time and effort to bring it to fruition. Guess who will be remembered for it?

 

Do you want to reap the benefits of your ideas, writing, product? Engage in the serious process of exposing the world to what you have to offer and patiently (with a ton of effort and hard, serious work) bring them alongside of you by creating an environment where people trust you and want to join you in your dreams and endeavors. In other words…become a leader.

 

In closing here is one of Owl City's songs (I created the slide show) so you can hear a sample of Owl City for your enjoyment. Also, I chose this particular song in honor of a friend of mine that I reconnected with on facebook after many years of having no connection at all. She happens to live in Seattle today.

 

Here it is: "Hello Seattle"