He wrote his idea on a napkin, I write mine on a sticky note.
Andrew Norman from Hear Nebraska is an entrepreneur that seemed to do things a little differently than everyone else. The main aspect that immediately struck me about his method and organization of his business was that it was never meant to be a thing that made money. In fact, up until this point, he has not paid himself, and has always had other, full-time employment. I found this to be kind of refreshing, since it just meant that his idea was something he implemented into his life because he enjoyed writing and talking to people about music. The fact that it has grown to the size it is now at is a bonus, and the additional fact that he will soon get the opportunity to go full time is also a bonus as well as a testament to his hard work and dedication to Hear Nebraska.What reminded me of my own life was his “idea sketched out on a napkin” thing. When I start something, it usually begins as something on my to do list, or an idea that I write down on a sticky note. Though to this point I have not done something of quite the same magnitude as Norman has, this is a method I have used. Hitchcock Blogs was an idea that Matt pitched to us at Cali Taco, which lead to us camping out in a booth for a couple hours trying to figure out if it was something we could even attempt to do. We wrote a note, not on a napkin, but in my cellphone – a note that became the basic ground rules for our site. Even though many other meetings and discussions helped lay the ground work, our starting point was similar to Norman’s in that it just started with an idea.
I think that the example of the “idea sketched out on a napkin” could also be considered the main lesson that Norman was trying to teach – that it can just start with an idea. I think another important lesson I took away from Norman’s talk was that you do have to allow the pieces to fall into place sometimes. His idea for a college paper topic became something much greater, and he still did many other things in his life before the stars aligned for him to really make Hear Nebraska his number one priority. He had to let the pieces of his life, as well as the pieces of the organization, come together before he knew what it had the potential of becoming.
Words on a Wire 