Creating Something (spectacular) from Nothing

In 1988 I had the idea of setting up a Personal Training centre in Melbourne.
There were no commercial PT facilities in this country at the time.
It would be Australia’s first appointment-only gym.
I was young, had no business experience, no tertiary qualification and not much money.

Clearly, a perfect plan.

On top of all that… the majority of (allegedly) well-intending, much-wiser-than-me ‘advisers‘ suggested that there was no market for this type of business concept in Australia.
It wouldn’t work, I would lose my money and if anything, PT would be a short-lived fitness industry fad.

Thank goodness they were all around to ‘help’ me.

Fortunately for me, I found a way.
Despite my numerous short-comings, challenges and ‘helpers’.

The idea became a reality and the ‘business concept that wasn’t commercially viable’ now completes around 80,000 appointments (training sessions) per year and provides careers for over fifty people in my Brighton centre alone.

Pretty good result for a dumb idea.

Now before you get the wrong idea… no, this is not a story about how clever I am (trust me, I do many dumb things), it’s more a lesson in what might happen when we take our thinking cap off and put our doing sneakers on.
Sometimes we think too much.
For way too long.

At some stage every success… was simply an idea.
An idea that was possibly had by many… and acted upon by one.
A thought, a concept, a theory, a vague notion, a possibility floating around in someone’s head.
A possibility that became a reality.

At some stage somebody stopped talking, theorising, planning, waiting and took a chance. They dealt with their fear, their insecurities, their lack of … whatever… and got off their butt.

They found a way.

While others with the same idea did nothing, they did something.

People who walk the talk (as opposed to the multitudes who talk only)… invariably find a way.

While the superstars with the great ideas live in a constant state of analysis paralysis, rationalising and justifying why “now is not the right time”, people with less talent, more courage and more drive are turning dreams into realities.

Every successful organisation, business, program, product, endeavour was, at some stage, a theoretical concept which had life breathed into it by someone who had the vision, the attitude and the drive to make something from nothing.

Nine months ago I was a writer, business man, educator and professional speaker who had no idea what a blog site was. I met the bald man (Johnnie) and he ran an idea, a concept by me.

And while I’m still (happily) an internet rookie, I’m also a blogger with an international audience, a web-site which is growing and gaining momentum by the day, I’m helping a few people, doing some good, having a ball and learning new things daily.
An idea… became a reality.
Thanks Baldy.

BUT… (there’s always a but) success doesn’t always come easily and it hasn’t fallen on our heads from a great height. We (Johnnie and I) work our (respective) asses off to make this blogging thing work. My goal (by the way) is not to make money from the site (no requests for donations.. ever) but to simply create an amazing personal development resource for people all over the world (I hope you’re getting something out of your visits).

We’re definitely not there yet, we make mistakes daily… but we’re having a big crack at it and we won’t die wondering.
Between us, we invest about sixty hours per week into the site to ensure the look, the function and the content of the site is where and what we want it to be to achieve our desired outcomes… a lot of hours when you consider we both have real careers outside of our work on the site.

I know I won’t die with my best ideas left in me.
I’m gonna milk every ounce of my potential and ability… and have some fun doing it.

Waddabout you?