Putting your money where your mouth is!
Have you put your money where your mouth is? What are you doing to pursue your passion? To make your dreams and ideas a reality?
I have been posting articles on LinkedIN since December. I’ve developed a habit of jotting down ideas I think others might find thought provoking and entertaining. My posts page on LinkedIN is now filled with dozens of these ideas and riffs — many still waiting to be published. This will be #14.
I’ve published articles on personal development — training, discipline, internships, and practice. It is an area where I have a deep passion. Coaching and mentoring are a big portion of my life, from Lacrosse and Basketball, to my work in financial services and ecommerce.
I’ve written articles about analytics, customer behavior, and big data. For more than two decades, I have made a career of building real value and innovation. Modeling, statistics, data mining, analysis, synthesis, and business intelligence have been a part of my DNA for as long as I can remember — and will be the subject of many of my future posts.
From Muppets to Fraggles, Legos to boardgames, cartoons to movies — I’ve tried to keep them interesting through the use of analogies. I’ve also written articles with a touch of history from the Age of Philosophers to the Age of Sail. History is the perfect analogy and the analyst in me loves all that time series data…
And somewhat to my surprise, these articles have created a lot of opportunity. I have had offers for speaking engagements and collaboration projects with successful authors. I have been asked to join new communities and consult on new projects. Limited time has forced me to turn down more of these than I would have liked. For me this has always been a hobby.
That may have been the end of this idea (and surely the death of this post) but work experience has also shown me that dreams, hobbies, and real passion can change lives. Since 2000, I have helped to create networks designed to turn ideas into businesses and dreams into reality. It is a simple formula — take a good helping of passion, add some great technology, and just the right amount of capital. These don’t take time out of the equation — but it is far less of a limiting factor!
For my part — I will keep posting articles. And I hope LinkedIN always remains a network that helps me connect with my passion. But last week I incorporated Corsair’s Ventures, a venture fund that I’ve created with a few partners to invest in businesses and technologies that leverage analytics and focus on professional development. It is time to put my money where my mouth is!
Originally published at www.linkedin.com.
