What separates a good idea from a bad one? I have focused on this question over the course of my travels, and this post is based on the conversations I’ve had with many entrepreneurs who’ve had their fair share of ideas. It’s meant to give you some questions to ponder in hope that you will be able to separate the good ideas from the bad.

1) Where is the idea coming from?

Matt Flannery, founder of Kiva.org, came up with ten business ideas during a quarter-life crisis. He flirted with a number of odd plans, ranging from DVD vending machines to an online luxury clothing rental company to creating robots that connected to the internet for video content.

The problem with these ideas, Matt said, “was that these ideas were negative reactions against my current state. They weren’t proactive movements towards something I love.”

2) What are your interests?

One night I took pen to paper and wrote down all of my interests. Travel. Learning. Writing. Having meaningful conversations. Baseball…

I took these interests and applied it to a question, “what the hell should I do after graduation?”

I was able to unify these interests into a simple idea called Pursue the Passion.

3) What makes your idea special?

“Brett, people come up with these ideas every year. There’s always someone traveling around getting guidance, or wisdom, or whatever. The point is, your idea is not new. It’s not special. There has to be something more than the idea, and that’s the person behind it. They have to be passionate about what they are doing to make the idea special.”

These are the words of Aaron Matos, CEO of Jobing.com when I first met him to discuss possible sponsorship of Pursue the Passion.

4) Feedback

“A good idea will receive more negative feedback than a bad idea,” said Matt Flannery, the entrepreneur discussed in paragraph one. “Groundbreaking ideas have a contrarian nature, they contradict common wisdom and common sense. That’s why no one else is doing it. No one else thinks it’s feasible. If it’s a great idea, a lot of people won’t think it’s feasible. And that will make it a good idea.”

It’s important to get feedback on your ideas because it will give you a feel for how good the idea really is. Just remember to keep the quote above in mind.

5) How deep do I really care?

I believe this is the last question you need to ask yourself before investing time and money to an idea. It’s a tough question to ask. But a necessary one.

For me, the quote that I have on my home page is “half of the American work force is not satisfied with their job.” Every time I read this quote I think back to when I was an auditor, working in this beaten down building with thousands of employees that had the same beaten down look the building had.

So when I start to doubt my idea, I think back to that scene. And then I remember why I do this.

For the second year in a row, a Pursue the Passion team member has been diagnosed with an infection not typically found in young adults.

You may remember Case 1. Kristy Sather came along for a week on the 2006 Pursue the Passion Tour, riding from Tucson, Arizona to Santa Rosa, California. Upon arrival in her hometown, she checked into a hospital after feeling something was wrong. She would spend a week in the ICU after finding she had Septicemia, a rare, serious life-threatening infection in her kidney. Needless to say, it was a very scary week.

Case 2 is Noah Pollock, who has been our journalist for the last month. A few days ago Noah found out that he has Shingles, which typically targets adults 50 years and older. Shingles is an infection caused by the varicella zoster virus, the same infection that causes chicken pox. Causes of Shingles include a stressful environment, depression of the immune system from sunburn, and multiple changes in climate…all things we’ve experienced in our life on the road.

So we have two rare cases, both coming on back to back years of living in a RV for extended periods of time. Is this just some coincidence, or do working in cramped quarters and living in dorm-like conditions have something to do with it?

Weird.

Yesterday I came across Whitney Johnson’s “Dare to Dream” blog. She had an interesting point on one of her posts that said, “for all your readers know, you may be daring them to dream, without having dreamt yourself.”

This quote frightened me. I’m scared that you, the reader, think that I, the author, am just some 22 year old kid telling you to follow your dreams. I am going to share with you how, and why, I am pursuing the passion so you do not get the wrong impression of this site.

My Story:

I chose accounting when I was deciding what my major should be in college. My step dad told me that accountants made the most money and had the most opportunity out of school, and since I was insecure and money driven at that point, I chose accounting.

I never planned on being accountant, but that was the path I was led down by default. All of my classmates either were continuing their accounting education by obtaining their masters degree, or were accepting offers at Big 4 firms for fifty thousand dollar salaries in the fall semester of 2005. I was stuck in the middle. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.

I had twenty interviews with potential employers that fall semester, and one thing became apparent. Not everyone had it figured out.

But that damn question of “what should I do with my life” lingered over the heads of everyone I talked to in the interview waiting rooms. Even after I accepted an offer with an accounting firm that fall, that question still remained on my mind.

In my very last interview, I got this funny feeling. I was overcome with fear that this would be my last interview. As I watched my interviewer ramble on and on about how much she loved her job, I realized that I liked interviews. I discovered that I liked interviews because I liked people. And what I enjoyed most about people was talking with them about their passion.

I went home that night and thought about what I would do during the summer between graduation day and my official start date in Corporate America. I got out a pen and paper and jotted down the things I wanted to do. I wanted to travel. I wanted to be close to sports. I wanted to better myself. Most of all, I wanted to continue having the feeling I had when I talked with people about their passion.

These desires that I wrote down is what you now see with Pursue the Passion. The RV came as a necessity because we had nowhere to stay, and I actually thought that when I bought Maggie Miracles (the first RV), that I was making a sound investment. Three hours into the first trip, broken down with green liquid spewing from the engine, I quickly realized that it had not been such a financial savvy decision.

That summer I interviewed 75 amazing people. I traveled 10,000 miles by RV, my mom’s 4Runner, plane, and train for 2 months. I went to places like Nike, Microsoft, Playboy, many sports stadiums, the homes of welcoming strangers, and cities I had only read about. It was the time of my life.

The summer also had an inadvertent effect on my Corporate America experience. It completely soured it before I even stepped in the door. I knew, that after being exposed to all different occupations and possibilities, that I had made the wrong choice to go into accounting. I was selling out by going into a secure, stable, well-paid position because it just wasn’t me. But because I was contractually obligated to show up on September 4th, I was going to show up on September 4th.

On August 23rd, two weeks before my anticipated start date, I reported to a “real job.” The corporate lifestyle benefits came throughout the week, ranging from extravagant lunches to all types of corporate goodies. I temporarily forgot about all that I had gained and gleaned during the summer.

But as the months passed, I began to revisit the advice that was given to me. I began to write a book about the pursuit of a passion, despite not working with a passion myself. This was troublesome to me, and even more so as I continued to receive emails from people around the world who were inspired by this site.

I felt not only like a corporate sellout, but also a hypocrite. I thought to myself, “how can I have a site that says to pursue your passion when I’m not pursuing it myself?”

I guess that was my “aha” moment where I said to hell with this. I started to get by on a PB & J diet, sacrificed Saturday nights, and saved up so I could go on a second PTP tour. I sent out over twenty carefully crafted sponsorship proposals to corporations, schools, and small businesses to see if they’d be interested in sponsoring the tour. No luck.

One day I received an email from the boss saying that she wanted to see me. I made the decision that it was now or never for me. It was time to quit the job I despised.

I walked into the office belonging to my boss at the scheduled time on the scheduled date with my heart pounding and my roommate’s co-worker’s resume. My boss was seated on the other side of the desk with two envelopes. Much like a classic western gunfight, I drew first. I quit. BAM!

I left the two envelopes on the table, one containing a raise, the other a bonus, and said goodbye to steady paychecks and corporate security.

With no paycheck, I scrambled to get by. I hired my friend Jay, who graduated in December with a college degree and is now on the tour, and paid him minimum wage to help me get things in line with the Pursue the Passion tour. He crashed on my couch, and we ate free Hot Pockets and Stouffer’s products, given to us by Nestle, until we couldn’t take the taste anymore.

Every day I would rise at 5am, wake Jay up at 8am, and we’d work until 9pm or 10pm. Then we’d bounce back the next day, looking for sponsors, passionate people to interview, and couches to crash on.

It wasn’t until I focused all my time on Pursue the Passion did I start to see results. After all those hours of writing sponsorship proposals, we found a sponsor in Jobing.com right in our own backyard. We went from having four people visit the site a day to an average of two hundred people per day. We made a pact not to eat Hot Pockets again.

Things started to click and hit full stride come July 1st, the official start of the second Pursue the Passion tour.

We’ve been on the road for over a month now, pursuing our passion, and the question that I frequently receive is “so, are you any closer to finding out what you want to do yet? What you going to do after this?”

People don’t realize that I am a passion pursuer and a crazy entrepreneur that will not stop until the bank account says zero. My goal is to turn this website into a resource that will help people who are in the same situations I found myself in as a student, and in the working world.

I am whole heartedly and no longer hypocritically pursuing my passion, and I invite you to join the journey as well.

What’s been the highlight of the trip? It’s a question I frequently receive, and it’s one I frequently struggle to answer.

About six months ago, when I was persisting to get this idea off of the ground, a community member at StartupNation offered the advice that the passion is the pursuit.

He couldn’t have been more dead on.

I could point to Seattle and say that it is a highlight. The highlight could be appearing on TV. Meeting thousands of new people, creating something that matters, cruising in a bad ass RV, being treated like a celebrity every time we step foot in a Jobing.com office…at the end of the day, the highlight has been the journey itself.

It has been developing this simple idea of talking with people for advice, and turning it into something greater, something bigger than I could have ever imagined.

And we have two more months of the tour to go, with endless possibilities waiting for us thereafter.

That my friend, is a highlight in and of itself.

In a trade that resembles the recent Kevin Garnett for the Boston Celtics deal, Pursue the Passion has swapped Lawrence, Kansas and two days in Phoenix for Mount Rushmore, Sioux Falls, and Minneapolis.

“It was a no brainer,” said Farmiloe, founder of Pursue the Passion. “I mean, if we didn’t go to Rushmore now, when would we ever have the chance to go again? Plus, that 566 mile drive through Kansas from Denver would have been killer.”

Other PTP members were excited when they heard of the deal.

“I’m stoked,” said Zach Hubbell, video editor and driver who drives with a leadfoot. “I’ve always wanted to go to Mount Rushmore.”

Noah Pollock, a native of Tucson, Arizona, had this to add: “I’m excited. Minneapolis is like Tucson. It’s a hidden gem in this country.”

The deal will alter PTP’s schedule slightly, making the departure date of the second leg now August 16th, as opposed to August 18th. The team will be back on track when they hit Madison, Wisconsin, Friday, August 24th.

For questions or comments, please respond below.

It’s been one crazy month on the road. With all the action that was jam packed into our schedule, it feels like I just lived the best year of my life. Every day ranged from “enjoyable” to the “best day ever.”

Here’s a run down of what happened during the first month:

The Tour

• Over seventy-five interviews

• 5,459 miles traveled

• No breakdowns, except when the RV wouldn’t start in Berkeley…(we got a jump and were on our way within a half hour to barely make it to our next interview).

• Fifteen official city stops, although we made quite a few stops in towns like Missoula (MT), Flagstaff (AZ), Coeur d’Alene (ID), and Rawlings (WY).

• Nine western states visited

• Visited landmarks that included: the beach (Southern California), Hollywood strip (L.A.), Golden Gate Bridge (S.F.), Trans America Building (S.F.), Vineyards (Sonoma County), Space Needle (Seattle), Pike Place Market (Seattle), Yellowstone National Park (MT & WY), Budweiser Brewery (Colorado).

• 32 Nights where someone crashed in the RV…although there were only 3 nights that all four of us slept in the RV because in every city, except Yellowstone and Spokane, we found someone that let us crash on the couch.

• Ten couch crashing sponsors.

• Fourteen Never Eat Alone Lunches

• I estimate that I came into contact with over 1,000 new people, either on or offline, in the month that I was on the road.

The Press
• 5 Television appearances

• 8 newspaper appearances

• 5 Radio appearances

The End Result:

We’ve got some work to do before we go on tour on August 18th, when we kick off the second leg of the tour by heading for Las Vegas. We have two weeks to reflect on all the information we gathered, how we can improve, and then dive into the tour well rested and somewhat sure footed.

I’d like to hear from you on what you think we need to do to improve. Please comment below or send me an email because I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Friday, Friday, Friday. I love Friday. Here are the 5 things I am excited about as I write this list in Seattle.

5) I’m excited about appearing on ABC’s Northwest Afternoon today in Seattle. Actually, I’m a little nervous. We have a six minute, twenty second televison segment that will go out to a large audience including about thirty people watching live from the set. I don’t know what the hell is going to happen, but I’m excited to find out.

4) I’m excited about going to Yellowstone National Park and camping for two days. We leave for Spokane tomorrow, and will then taking off to Yellowstone to interview a park ranger and possibly a cuddly looking bear.

3) Noah and Zach dumped the hazardous human waste that was accumulating in the “black” tank of the RV. Nothing else needs to be said about this.

2) I’m excited about going to the Seattle Space Needle today to conduct impromptu interviews. And to try and top this photo that I took on the last tour…

1) I am extremely excited about showing video from our interviews and our tour on this site. The video allows every dedicated reader that has labored through our writeups to join our journey through the beauty of multimedia. Jay Whiting, our multimedia director, is proud to present you with just one of the videos we will be posting on a daily basis…

People have lately been asking me what the common characteristics are of the people we meet. Here’s one for you:

They’ve mastered the concept of time.

D’Wayne Edwards, who we interviewed yesterday at Nike, unknowingly had put his watch on upside down and hadn’t noticed until we commented on how cool it looked. Recognizing his mistake, he took it off his arm and put it on correctly. This is at 1pm, meaning that not once had he taken a peek at it since being at work.

The people I interview could care less about how late they work, how long they work, because time is nothing to them. They are doing what they want to do, and will do it for as long as they want.

As I post this, it’s midnight. I pursued the passion since six this morning. And you know what? I love it. I’ve got a radio interview with Bob Miller in a few hours for his morning show, and then it’s another exciting, crazy day, including a trip for four to Seattle.

Time flies.

I was doing an interview with the Chicago Tribune last week about the role passion plays in entrepreneurship when the journalist sprung a question on me that caught me offguard.

Does passion have its limitations?

The question made me realize that I had focused on what passion can do for you, not how it could work against you. I decided to put in some thought in the question and came up with two solid ways passion can work against you.

1) When you are so passionate that you will give everything you have to an idea, both physically and financially, even though the idea is a deadbeat.

2) When you are so passionate that you act unethically to realize your goals.

So how do we avoid these valleys and find our peaks?

The answer to number one is to seek feedback. Matt Flannery, the CEO and co-founder of Kiva.org, told me that the best way to test an idea (or a passion) without pouring money, time, and effort into it is to seek feedback from people. Once that feedback is received, whether positive or negative, the seriousness you have for the idea will either strengthen or fade.

It is better to know early on in the process whether an idea (or career) is right for you so you don’t make the financial investment only to find that resources like time and money were wasted.

My answer to number two is that passion can drive people over the edge sometimes, but integrity is the only thing you can control. Passion can only be limiting if you allow it to be.

What are some other limitations? Or thoughts?

I’ve been told that when you are pursuing your passion, the excitement outweighs the nerves that you encounter when something really good can happen. Right now, something really good is about to happen.

I am on my way to San Francisco to interview Kiva.org co-founder Matt Flannery, who started a non-profit organization that I admire beyond words. What this guy has done is built one of the world’s most useful resources that allows you to lend to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world so that the third world entrepreneur will lift themselves out of poverty. Kiva offers loans that change lives, and Matt is the man responsible for building a sustainable, wildly successful business while changing the world we live in.

Long story short, I have a ton to learn from Matt, and I’m excited to see what I will learn from our conversation that will transpire in a couple hours.

Wish me luck.