Entrepreneurs Unpluggd: How do you bring ideas to life?

Saya Hillman: I just do them. I don’t dwell on questions like, “What if this doesn’t work?” or other types of worries. I jump in and adjust or tweak as necessary. I don’t fixate on what I don’t have: any letters (PhD, CPA, CPCC, ESQ) after my name, an easy time saying no to doughnuts, an MBA, a mistake- and regret-free past, a business plan, a lot of money, “the answer,” and a response other than “nothing” to the question, “What are you certified in?”

Instead, I capitalize on what I do have: a supportive, vast and diverse network of folk from Rwanda to San Francisco, fingertips that leave behind entrepreneurial and/or bonding smudges, a growing community of people who’ve experienced goodness due to said fingertips, a vocabulary that lacks the phrases “I’m bored,” “I’m sad,” and “I can’t,” a lifestyle that allows selfishness (i.e. no kids, no pets), a product/service that others market for me, time, creativity and passion.

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Also fun: this IdeaMensch interview. (Why this sudden interest in Saya? I attended this event last night. And as I settle into life in Chicago, I’m thinking a lot about what fingerprints I left—or didn’t leave—in NYC, and which ones I hope to leave here.)

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Photo: Cell phone snapshot in the NYC subway, January 2012.