In the realm of ideas, there’s no shortage of passion. On the other hand, there appears to be a drought when it comes to the implementation of ideas.

Passion without an actionable plan will eventually end up in the grave; sometimes literally. Consider all of the books that were never written, songs that were never sung, humanitarian efforts that never saw the light of day, and business ideas that have gone to the grave with the people who thought of these life changing concepts. It is passion unrealized.

If you’re like me, you probably want to live life to the fullest and actualize many of the passions that reside within all of us. In order to do so, we have to plan and then act. I know what some of you are thinking…”I’m not administrative or organized.” Unfortunately, that excuse won’t work in the real world. Most creatives who live out their dreams have actualized their passion to intentional planning and hard work. Period. Now that excuse is removed, let’s plan.

In planning out action for your passion (kind of rhymes, no?), I would like to recommend the following statements to help guide your process:

• Think Business Plan – A business plan is essential for any endeavor because it will provide implementable direction to any vision or passion. Even if you’re starting a “non-profit” (which in my opinion is a horrible description of that field) or an organization of passion, you need a business plan. From my experience, many non-profit start-ups shy away from language like “business”, “revenue”, “customers”, “market audit”, etc. Well, you have to get over that. Don’t get tripped up by the language of business because you feel that it doesn’t match your organizational nomenclature. You need to think in terms of process. As they say, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Remember, there is a precious baby in the bathwater that you need to engage. Some resources that may help you in this process include books (there’s plenty out there), searching the web (there’s plenty of blogs and videos on the topic), and/or hiring a qualified consultant (ask me for recommendations).
• Think Sustainability – Does your plan have fiscal and human resource legs? In other words, how will you fund or resource your endeavor? Where are you pulling the fiscal and human capital from? Does your company or organization have concrete commitments from some to help support it? Will people invest in it and why?
• Think Scalability – Is your plan scalable? In other words, how much growth potential is realistic in the next 1-3 years? What are some signs that it will actually be the case? Can you and your team (if you have one) sacrificially commit for the next 3 years to the plan in order to implement the concepts? Is there a cap on how much you can grow as a company or organization?
• Think Simplicity and Uniqueness – This is not to say that your plan will be non-complex or naive at any level. I’m asking if your message is simple enough to grasp and communicate to potential partners and supporters. Will people get the unique message of your passion or will you drown as white noise in the market you’re hoping to impact?
• Think Long Term – I mentioned 3 years because most businesses and organizations need that much time to really develop its initial phase. Also, this will give you a broader perspective of what it is you hope to develop. It can also minimize unnecessary, short-term frustrations.
• Think Investment – Too much start-ups get side tracked by “costs”. In actuality, think of your expenditures as investments and not costs. Yes, you will need to invest funds to make anything move. It is unrealistic to think that money is not a part of the equation. It just is. Get advice on how to maximize your limited budget, but do view it as investment. Last time I checked, money doesn’t grow on trees (unless of course, you’re are independently wealthy to begin with).

I’m committed to helping people implement their ideas. It is not just a passion, but an actionable plan that I’m living out. I hope you will join me in this way of living.

Please let me know if I can ever be of help to you and your passion. Let’s continue to move forward.