“You travel, you learn” they say. And they are so right. This trip to Japan has been amazing so far for me. And surprising. OK, this doesn’t convey the message, let me say like this: “I’m completely blown away”. Why? Well, let’s say I’ve had a series of very successful meetings and it just keeps getting better.
It’s all about Passion
That’s actually the title of the presentation I’ll be delivering tonight at the Digital Hollywood University to inspire young entrepreneurs to follow their passions and build great things. I’ll be talking about passion for money (as a bad starting point), and then what it’s really about: passion for a solution (I solved my own problem by building Nozbe), passion for the industry (that’s why I do Productive! Magazine and Show), passion for the product (I just want Nozbe to keep getting better), passion for growth (I want everyone in my team, including me to keep getting better) and ultimately passion to help others (like we did with #publicNozbe in times of the earthquake in Japan). These are the passions I live by.
Passion attracts Passion
When you’re so passionate about your stuff, other passionate people notice that. They get attracted to you and you get attracted to them. Just look at the photo above - @shigotano and @zonostyle - my two very good friends helped us out with the event here in Tokyo (and support everything we do so much) because we share the same passions. We just “clicked” and connected. They are amazing.
I also had lots of business meetings with some really “big fish” in the industry. Many influential bloggers, alpha-twitterers… as well as some key executives in very big companies. I was humbled they all wanted to get to know me as I really wanted to get to know them so much. Most of the time they reached out first (and @torumori with @voodoovamp helped set the meetings up). Again, I was surprised and humbled. But then we met… and listening to them I understood how it works - they are just folks passionate about their stuff… and they know I’m the same way.
Money or status do not inspire people. Passion inspires people.
These meetings I had here were all very successful. We learned so much from each other. I feel like both sides needed these meetings like water to re-affirm their passion and learn from the passionate person in front of them. This is magical. When this happens you feel like you’re alive and the work you do really means something. And you learn so much. And you’re in for a surprise what can come out of these meetings. Let me repeat the phrase from the beginning of this post: I’m really literally blown away by all this.
And what are you passionate about? Does your passion attract people and inspire them?