Value creation

There are all sorts of ways to create value. If you let it, value will flow outward from within you. Value comes from taking things that never were connected and connecting them. Value comes from acquiring something that one person doesn’t need, and providing it to someone who does need it. Consider the enormous value that is created on the website eBay, where people are able to sell things they don’t need, things that have just been laying around gathering dust and getting in the way. EBay enables people to sell these kinds of things and to receive some money for them, by connecting with someone else who is looking to acquire exactly what they’re selling. And, it’s a win-win situation. Because whatever the item is, the person who sells it wins by getting rid of it and getting some money in exchange. The person who buys it finds exactly what they’re looking for at a price that is less than buying it new.

The concept of eBay is that it connects people. That creates great value because there’s value on both ends of the transaction. The eBay website adds richness to at least two lives whenever a transaction happens. It’s adding richness to the seller and it’s adding richness to the life of the buyer.

Somebody thought up the whole system. It started as just a thought, and then someone went out and found the necessary resources, and promoted it, and made the whole thing work. Someone made use of existing technologies and capabilities, and put them together to do something that had never been done before, to create the online auction website called eBay. Many ideas like this come from people who find themselves in the rich territory of having a little bit more than they need, with the extra time and resources to develop new ideas. There are countless ways to do that.

Whatever interests you, whatever fascinates you, whatever you’re passionate about, there is a way for you to use that passion for a particular thing to create real, desirable value for other people. There’s something about what you’re interested in, something about what you’re fascinated about, that’s going to be of great value to other people. Connect with it, act on it, and the value flowing out from your life can benefit the whole world.