To Make Your Mark, First Find Your Place Where is your ground? That's sometimes the most essential question.

"The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper." -- W. B. Yeats

I met this guy in an airport recently who was holding his guitar like a holy vessel; said he carried it everywhere. He was on his way to Seattle, because, he explained, "It's where things happen." He didn't have a plan for stuff like food and shelter and, you know, work. All he had was a ridiculously invincible spirit about where he needed to be.

I understood what he was going through -- to be carrying around an entrepreneurial passion like it's a hot potato, and feeling like you cannot set it free until you've reached the ideal ground. Everyone has their ground. Some seek out new ground, traveling great distances to find a community of like-minded creators and an environment that encourages their success. Others alter the ground beneath their feet -- creating a business or a community where nothing like it existed before. We are the product of where we put our roots, and these places become a product of us. Symbiosis.