Example: Below is looking straight ahead:

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

And this one is from the exact same place, just turned around 180 degrees:

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Looking around, exploring viewpoints, is how a photographer explores their eye, surveys a scene, and “sees” the world in a way to extract meaning.

The same applies in business.

Look around. Take a step back and survey the scene. Think. Trust the importance of reflection in creation. Where is the crowd going? Where can you go?

What is your first thought in creating a business?

If your first thought is about what you want to get out of a business idea (e.g. money), you’re dead before you’ve started.

If your first thought is about what your customer gets from your business idea, you’ve now created a reason for you to exist: to deliver something that someone values. Then, figure out how to create value for yourself from this relationship.

Regardless of whether this is delivered “free” to the customer, or paid by someone or something else, if you’re going to exist for any sustainable period of time, you’re going to get paid somehow, by someone, at some time.

Look around: if you can create value, someone will be paying you for it. Follow the process, and the results will come.