But the one truly common denominator behind all those that succeed – whatever that may mean to you – is inspiration. Without inspiration an author gets writer’s block, and without inspiration an entrepreneur fails to really grasp their vision and start to understand how they want to make it reality.

This week was the usual broad range of calls, meetings, introductions, and events, but all were highly inspirational at the time and for the future outcomes, but also underlined how inspired the entrepreneurs and their ideas or businesses were.

The first meeting of the day was with a talented young filmmaker who had recently set up in business and the discussions revolved around how important it was for any business to communicate its product or service to its target audience and how the use of video and film is so much better at getting across the message and inspiration behind the business than by just using words or even pictures. This can even be seen in the statistics for LinkedIn, where people are much more likely to open a post with a video than one without.

The rest of that day was made up of a number of introductions that underline yet again the power of networking. By connecting one person with a particular inspiration with another person with a different but linked inspiration it can be remarkable how much bigger that joined inspiration can become. With both of those meeting I am sure that 2020 will prove just how true that will be and no doubt you will hear more on these in coming months. But I am confident that both will be very big for all involved.

The following day was even busier and with an even broader mix of meetings, inspiration, and possibilities. It started with a lady that is a leader in the Women in Business sector, with discussions revolving around how we can work more closely together to help more women follow their dreams in business and helping them to turn their inspiration into reality. This is a sector that really is in need of reform as it is certainly not the women themselves that lack inspiration but rather the staid, old fashioned approach of financiers and others that support businesses, in giving women an equal chance to develop. To prove this point even more, about 80% of my meetings this week were with women founders of businesses.

Just like any other businesses, magazines need to be of interest to their clients and to inspire them. And this of course takes interesting articles and stories. Happily, in a meeting with a magazine editor I was able to introduce her to a very inspired lady and her business, and that business in itself is all about inspiring and positively disrupting their clients’ approach to life. As such, this is a perfect fit to appear in the next edition of that magazine – yet more introductions only possible because of the power of networking.

As the week wore on I met with lady that had been inspired by reading one of my previous articles (thank you!) and she had an inspiration some years back for a business and is now getting closer to launching her product but needed funding to do so. The immediate action points coming from that meeting were for me to make not one but four separate introductions for her. Inspirations are absolutely crucial but are not enough by themselves and need to be supported by the right partners and contacts.

The week started to wind down with a meeting all about sustainability and environmental awareness. So not only is the inspiration behind the business focused entirely on these topics, but the whole point of the business is to inspire others to change their approach and inspire them to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. With a reach of a massive six million people on the database and the rather belated recognition by all of the importance of this, they are sure to grow even more quickly next year.

Inspiration is all around us, but like all things in life, some chose to grab it, follow our dreams, and not let the good things in life pass us by, whilst others lack inspiration and are the poorer for it. So as a very early new year’s resolution be brave, grab your inspiration with both hands and make 2020 the year to make your dreams reality.