I just had a new idea today and it was inspired by my actions not my plans.
I've always been someone who has valued a well-designed plan and considered it a personal failing if the plan can't be accomplished.
But it's hard to plan for what's around the corner. So when I start something that has a lot of unknowns, it's comforting to put on the brakes and make sure I have considered the big picture-which really means that I am stalling.
This was thrown in my face recently in only the way that Gary Vaynerchuk can do it: plain and direct. In this video, he says "People love to use strategy as a disguise for inaction." His whole premise is that action leads to strategy because you learn and hone tactics by observing the world reacts to ideas in motion. Act, observe and then react. Plans are made as a reaction, but you must act first. To read more on this approach check out Gary Vee's blog post entitled: "How Successful People Think."
So I have been doing Streetview Vagabond since 2018 but you wouldn't know it since a lot of that time was filled with inaction. But recently I have been producing a YouTube video each weekday which highlights a different radio station around the world coupled with Streetview photos from that location.
The videos have gotten better over the past 5 weeks. I figured out how to convey what I was doing in a short intro and include funny locations as my "sponsorship" at the end of each one. Places like Liar, Liar Plants On Fire in Australia, the Niple Center automotive parts store in Bolivia or a bathroom tile shop called Gasy MOFO in Madagascar have all been highlighted.
I have had a blast listening to a variety of radio stations, discovering new music to me and finding comedic gold in the quirky names of local businesses. But why should I do it?
I dont have a solid answer yet. I may get my next interview because someone likes and comments on a post, or maybe I will find a business worth investing in, partnering with or franchising here. I really don't know where it will lead to but I am starting to get an idea.
I was at a skatepark today when I realized that I should give more insight into why I love finding skateparks on Streetview around the world. Its because I love to skate.
So then I got an idea of posting about my love of skating with some photos of skateparks I recently found. The idea became "Streetview at Home" in which I find something on streetview throughout the week and then try to do something here at home that would be connected to that newly found place.
This isn't too different than when I went to Rahama African restaurant in Maryland to taste Ghanaian food (see the video of that meal in this link) but now I started thinking outside of the food realm. Today it was connecting my drop-in on a bowl to a skatepark in Nairobi but next week it could be going to a trampoline park in Virginia like the Do A Flip facility I found in Moscow, Russia.
I would not have come up with this idea from the outset. But it was an outgrowth of me producing radio recap videos regularly and asking myself: "What's next?" It came as a result of my actions.
So I may not know exactly where I am going with this whole Streetview Vagabond thing but I do know I can make things up as I go and I'd rather do that than have a beautifully planned plan.