Who are you and what do you do?
I am idea-list, designer, photographer, artist, studied music and philosophy and have worked a fair cross-section of jobs available under the sun; everything from restaurant manager to bodyguard, private investigator to holistic healer.
Currently, I am creating design concepts for public use, encouraging togetherness and oneness. I will soon release a holistic website as well; as all is one and one cannot do without the other. We cannot change the world without changing ourselves, which in turn needs a change in our awareness.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I do. The only way I know how to go about realizing an idea is by taking the first step. After that, I take the second and then the third. Somewhere around the third step I know if the idea is worth pursuing or if it only sounded great in my mind. I look for collaborators as soon as possible. This is the hardest part, as good ideas, meaning the ones which are new, out there and would change something, are the ideas that harvest the most suspicion, ridicule, or simply go straight over other people’s heads. Although this is tough, those are the ideas most worthy of insisting on. They are the ones causing the MAN-effect once published, “Man, how did you come up with something so cool like that?!” Not giving up no matter what is probably the single most important ingredient in bringing my ideas to life.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Scott Belsky’s [amazon_link id=”159184312X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Making Ideas Happen[/amazon_link].
What is one piece of advice that you’d like to give?
We are all just bozos on the bus; none of us is more clever than the next. If an idea succeeds in the market, it says nothing about the quality of an idea, only about the market. And it definitely does not say anything about its creator. Know yourself, honestly! Be rigorously honest with yourself about what you are doing and why. Strip away your ego, greed as a motivator, fear as a de-motivator and honestly assess what you are left with. That’s you motivation and that will yield your results. Given the status of the world, those were and still are our main reasons for doing or not doing something.
What is one idea that you’re going to bring to life in 2012?
A holistic website with a blog, and hopefully daily entries worth reading, thinking about and meditating over. Another project pending is an installation of 200 red spiral-shaped outdoor seats at the World Design Capital in Helsinki. Not only should they promote design and the event, but also nourish communication between visitors and locals. Each seat places 2 people opposite from each other, close enough for communication, apart enough for comfort.
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.