The Spark

I didn’t purposefully start the fire. According to Billy Joel, “It was always burning.” (Thanks, Billy!)

But a spark got me to where I am right now. Why? “It was always burning” apparently…

A few months ago, I decided to do something crazy. I left a great job with great teammates. For almost 15 years, I held the same position with pretty much the same teammates—even those who left before me still keep in touch. Those 15 years were spectacular. I was given the chance to do things I had never dreamed possible in one job: work behind the scenes to get our organization on network TV, partner to write a book, start a magazine, experience an award-winning organizational culture, and lead a team. The more I did, the more opportunity I got. It was great. I got “more and more” assigned to me. I loved having “more and more.”

One day, it hit me. I had so much great stuff to do that I had stopped thinking up greater stuff. I was just doing the same reports, presentations. and projects that I had done before. Things were going so fast that I was now rewrapping what I had previously created with some new shiny paper and a bright bow. Our clients and customers were happy, but I no longer was. I was missing something. That something was my ability to actually think. Then, a light bulb went off!

One day, it hit me. I had so much great stuff to do that I had stopped thinking up greater stuff. I was just doing the same reports, presentations, and projects that I had done before.

I had to make a change. But to what?

There had been names scratched on paper. URLs purchased in a GoDaddy account. Doodles of logos for a personal brand. Ideas for my own business. Those were all part of an uncomfortable dream. I like corporate structure and the safety it provides. I enjoy being around people. But the spark started to smolder. Within the first week that I found myself on “vacation,” “job seeking,” or “retired,” (Yes, I am too young and possess far too many bills to be retired.) at least eleven people told me that I should start a business doing what I do: things that others want to have but that they don’t want to do themselves because they are hard or uncomfortable for them.

And then someone asked for a small project. And then a second. And then someone else asked for another small project. Before I knew it, things were on fire around me and I had started my own consulting practice built around bringing other people’s bright ideas to light.

The Bulb was born.

Now I can think and help others think. Let the sparks fly!