Jeff is a social entrepreneur and the owner of the house that I was able to stay at for the last several nights. He’s also the creative director for Catalyst as well as the brain child behind a few organizations like Plywood People and Gift Card Giver. Plywood People is a fair trade organization that combines providing jobs for people in countries of need with using recycled resources (mostly old billboards) to create products that are unique but highly practical. Gift Card Giver is brilliant idea that focuses on taking something that we have in excess and using it for something better. There are over $2 billion annually in unused gift cards that just sit in people’s wallets. Think about it, this industry has grown to a $60 billion industry and most of it just sits because people don’t often realize it’s real money. So this nonprofit takes that unused money, compiles it together, and sends gifts to people all over their area. All people have to do is give something they probably wouldn’t use anyway.
As I heard all the stuff Jeff had a hand in, I was just inspired by the creativity. Also, on top of that, by his willingness to house all the people he did during one of his most slam packed weeks of the year. I didn’t even meet him until the conference was over, and even then he played host with all the people he had in his house. I think the most inspiring thing for me was not that he had all these creative ideas or ways to meet needs, but that he was actually doing them. Creative ideas come up in conversations all the time between people, but how often are they enacted? How often do we put into practice these brilliant ideas filled with creativity that come up in conversation? On the flip side, how often do we allow the circumstances around us to shoot them down before they ever take flight?
One of my biggest purposes in life isn’t to be the super creative person that solves all the world’s problems because honestly, I’m not that great. I know that’s hard for our generation to say, but while I love the way that I’m gifted and wired, it’s not about me. One of my biggest purposes in life is to inspire people to step up and be that creative influence that they can be. I want to help them brainstorm, get out of debt, set a plan and a mission, and go save the world. We have so many excuses, but not near enough action and it’s time to risk failure. We’re so scared of screwing up and losing everything we have, that we hold so tightly onto all our stuff and end up in some super lonely and unfulfilled places.
As creative people, dreaming is an incredible gift that we have that lets our imaginations run wild, but it’s not enough to dream anymore. We dream of what we could be doing, but then get snapped back to reality and think, “Oh, one day…” When will that one day get here? One thing I learned from watching Jeff this weekend is that, if you live for something bigger than yourself and don’t allow this culture’s “reality” to paralyze you, fulfillment is just around the corner. I saw this as I watched Jeff and his wife Andre play with their baby girl they just adopted. When you see a picture, it’s obvious Jada Rae isn’t “theirs”. However, when you actually watch them, you see a family that doesn’t let the culture’s reality of “family” define their home. In the midst of all that Jeff is doing and launching and risking, he’ll always be able to come home to that reminder that living your dream doesn’t mean staying asleep, it means waking up and taking the risk and trusting your foundation enough to make it happen.
