If it’s in your heart to do, then do it.
If you know that it is the right thing to do, then do it.
If there is risk involved, be careful, but do it anyway.
Don’t wait to be asked.
Don’t wait for someone to tell you it’s okay.
Don’t wait for validation before you begin.
Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity to present itself.
Don’t wait for all the lights to be green before you pull out of the driveway.
Just step out and do it.
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Just do it! For more information about how to enhance your business, visit my page Who & Why or send me an email at sethgetz@gmail.com.

I was recently at a entrepreneurial pitch night where people with an idea, pitch that idea to potential partners. It was a lot of fun and a great night, but afterward, I was thinking about what one should look for in a potential business partner of any kind.

The first thing to look for is passion. Without passion, why bother?

But there has to be more than passion because just like in a romantic relationship, passion is easy to come by. In marriage, it takes more than just passion to make it across the finish line.

You are looking for someone who has the character to take hard hits and overcome obstacles. Someone who will “stick with it” even when times become very challenging. You want to find someone who won’t give up in the hard times. Find someone who will really believe in the worst of times.

Someone who comes upon each challenge with hope and stamina. Avoid people who are going to feel sorry for themselves (self-pity is a huge time waster. It’s self-centered and keeps you focused on the problem instead of looking for a solution).

So here is an (admittedly incomplete) list of what to look for in a potential business partner:
1. Passion - without it, why bother?
2. Character - passion without character will often create failure
3. Stamina - Can they take hard hits and still keep coming with a good attitude?

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Is there anything else I am missing? For more information about how to enhance your business, visit my page Who & Why or send me an email at sethgetz@gmail.com.

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” -Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company Founder

Innovation is a social process, Yes, we can come up with ideas in isolation, but working with others helps us make them a reality. Social interaction spurs the thinking process, making us aware of problems and potentials that we may not have noticed before. Our ideas come to life as we critique and improve upon each other’s plans, but without feedback, we get stuck in a rut. We lose sight of the big picture as we spin our wheels, unable to take our ideas to the next level.

Unfortunately, fear often keeps us from sharing our ideas. What are we so worried about? Perhaps we think someone will take our ideas and run faster with them than we can. Maybe we fear the inevitable criticism that comes with opening our ideas to the world. Can we handle people critiquing our “babies?” At first it might be hard, but unless we share our ideas and risk feedback, it’s unlikely that they will ever become a reality.

So, how should we start sharing our ideas? Many turn to online forums, but internet connections can never beat face-to-face conversations and close physical proximity. When we work together in the same space, challenging ideas flow and bounce around at an accelerating pace, creating a culture of innovation.  Having lunch or coffee with other innovative people allows us to spark new ideas and refine old ones, and spending a day working together enables even more to be done.

Don't try to go it alone. We all have this image of a solitary Thomas Edison toiling away in his workshop, but what we should be visualising is the little-known group of 50+ innovators that came to work with him from all over the globe. Together, they created a culture of innovation that allowed them to literally shed light on the world. Finding other people who are innovative thinkers and getting together with them on a regular basis allows us to create an energy and buzz that can never be rivaled.

Here in West Michigan, there are several groups trying to create such an innovative culture. Hope College has a phenomenal entrepreneurial program. Grand Rapids’ Startgarden helps  startups get off their feet, providing them with funding and opening their ideas to public critique. Co-working spaces like Warehaüs in Holland host great networking events and make room for the social development of ideas every day of the week. So put yourself out there! Connect with the sort of people who bring these organizations to life. Find the ones who challenge your way of thinking the most, and work with them every day if you can. As James Cash Penney (the man who had the idea for a little thing called the department store) once said, “growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.”

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In what setting are you most effective? For more information about how to enhance your business, visit my page Who & Why or send me an email at sethgetz@gmail.com.

Do you remember the thrill of getting a new pair of shoes? 

As I was growing up, my mother, much like your mother probably did for you, would take me to the shoe store to buy a pair of  shoes. After trying on a few different pairs of shoes and walking around the store with them we would find a pair that we liked. Then, and only then, our mothers would give the ultimate test, the Thumb Test. Using their thumb, they would push down on the end of the toe to make sure that the shoe had plenty of what? Growing room. Why? Because they wanted to make sure that the shoes allowed for our feet to grow, rather than only being comfortable for a short time. Sound familiar?

Now that I am full grown man I no longer use this thumb test. No longer am I growing, no longer do I need the extra room. For the rest of my life I will wear the same shoe size. It is one of those limitations that God placed on these bodies of ours. I will never be any taller then I am now, I might grow a little around the middle as some of us have a tendency to do in later years, but as a general rule we are done growing —or are we? Perhaps we should look beyond the physical to our minds, our character, even our personalities. All of these were meant to keep on growing indefinitely! The great thing about life is that there are no limitations on how much we can grow and develop. Unfortunately most people don’t tap into their growth potential. Benjamin Franklin’s thoughts captured on this gravestone inscription are very true:

Most of us complete our education and we stop learning and growing. 

What a tragedy, what an utter waste of a great life! Don’t let this be you! Don’t ever stop learning; always keep growing. I want to encourage you to make yourself a lifelong learner. No matter what level your abilities are, you have more potential than you could ever realize in your lifetime!

Why do people stop growing? 

Is it a conscious choice—or more a lack of a making a choice? You see, upon reaching adulthood, most people find an “environment” that they feel comfortable in, much like a worn pair of comfortable shoes. The choice that has to be made is that of stepping out of our comfortable environment into one that is bigger than we currently are in, the same way we used to get a pair of shoes that we could grow into. Figuratively, find a pair of shoes for your mind that gives you room to grow. Step out and step up to a responsibility that is “too big” for you right now and that requires your growth in order to fulfill it. Find an environment where you are forced to grow just to keep up. Keep stepping out and stepping up for as long as you want to grow. Because you will never find a shoe for your mind so big that you cannot grow into it.

Give your life the Thumb Test; step out of your comfort zones, take on new challenges, and stretch yourself. Do things that you never thought you could do. Take on a responsibility that is more than you feel like you can handle so that you will be challenged to live up to it. Don’t ever get a pair of shoes for your life that fit you perfectly; always provide some growing room. If the shoe fits, don’t wear it. Experience once again, or maybe for the first time,the thrill of learning, of conquering! The thrill of growing into a new pair of shoes.

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What size shoe are you wearing? For more information about how to enhance your business, visit my page Who & Why or send me an email at sethgetz@gmail.com.

Whenever I see someone doing something interesting or special I have three types of responses. One, I can discount their achievement by judging it and pointing out ways it doesn’t match up to some standard I come up with at that moment. Two, I can discount it by saying “I could’ve done that” (think modern art), but the fact is that I didn’t. Three, I can simply appreciate it for what it is and who they are for having done it.

The world is full of people doing fun and incredible things, it is far too easy and downright depressing to constantly try to discount what they have done. But my tendency is to discount what they did, because, they did it and I didn’t, so I chose to simply appreciate it for what it is and who they are for having done it.
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For more information about how to enhance your business, visit my page Who & Why or send me an email at sethgetz@gmail.com.