There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." -Douglas Everet
I think sometimes we hear things like ‘make your dreams a reality’ or ‘make money doing what you love’ and roll our eyes.
They sound cliché and trite.
They sound like the kind of cloying meme-worthy message we’d scroll past or maybe slow down just long enough to look at, the way we do a car wreck as we drive by, quickly speeding back up after we’ve gotten a glance.
I know, because I hear it from some of you. Sayings like this can make our hackles go up. “That just isn’t the way the world works,” is the most common defense.
I hear you. I take note. And in turn, I’m mindful with the words I’m about to share with you. Because while you might slow down long enough to rubberneck, for some of you, this might be the kind of ra-ra, cheerleader-esque talk that feels untrue or makes you want to email me back to tell me a thing or two about how the world works.
You’ve officially been warned by this former cheerleading captain. I’m bringing the ra today and backing it with substance.
I’m in the business of selling dreams, making them a reality, and making more money than we believe is possible by doing what we love.
It’s only in the last handful of years that this has become my actual business, coaching entrepreneurs to build businesses they love that get them paid.
This isn’t a coincidence. Mindset and business coaching isn’t a fun niche I pulled out of a hat, randomizer, or found in an online quiz. It’s a way of life for me and it has been for as long as I can remember.
I’m in the business of selling the reality of dreams and helping people make them happen because that’s what I believe is possible and know is true, not just for me, but for all of us, if we allow it to be.
What’s important to hear in that sentence is, ‘if we allow it to be.’
Them be some pretty bold words. I know this, but hear me out.
My life has been a series of following one ‘dream’ after another and turning them into reality.
The reality part has never felt sure or easy on the front side of the leap. The fear has always been present. And I’ve never had any more guarantee than the rest of us that things will work out. But, I’ve always bought into what now informs my coaching framework and the way I approach business.
I believe our dreams aren’t random and we’re all so much more capable than we give ourselves credit for. I also believe strongly that when we combine clarity, mindset, strategy, and action with some grit and heart, we become unstoppable.
I believe we can make money doing what we love.
Again, bold words. I know. But I want you to hear them. I want you to hear them from someone who’s lived into this time and time again.
I’m not about to lie to you and say creating what’s in your heart is easy.
The dreaming part is easy, sure. They’re handing dreams out left and right like candy corns on Halloween.
But getting out of your own way long enough to get clarity on the strategy that works for you and showing up like you mean it to take action until you get the results you want requires a little more from us.
Here’s what’s fascinating. It isn’t actually easier the other way.
It isn’t easier chasing the things we don’t care about, the shadow dreams, the shadow life. I know we think it is. I know it seems that way.
I know that can be the story or excuse we tell ourselves, but it isn’t actually any easier to show up and make something we don’t want or care about happen.
It takes just as much effort to chase something we don’t actually want. I’d argue it actually takes more. But no one talks about that, do they?
No one says, selling yourself out isn’t actually any easier. Playing it ‘safe’ doesn’t actually make you any safer. Well, I'm saying it.
I’m going to share an example outside of business that paints this picture.
About five and a half years ago, I decided after a girls’ weekend to NYC that I wanted to live there. We’ll call this my ‘dream’. It was nowhere near a reality or anything that made rational sense. I had a great life, job, apartment, you name it, in LA. Except I knew I had to live in New York.
That was pretty much the basis for my reason to move. Afterward, I justified it with some more logical sounding things, but really, it was because I wanted to and felt like I needed to. And because a cab driver told me I’d be a millionaire if I did, lol.
I decided within two weeks of my trip that the move was happening. I quit my job, sold my car, sold most of my belongings, packed the rest up, and bought a one-way ticket a month-and-a-half later.
Before moving to Manhattan, I also decided a part of this ‘dream’ was living in a particular neighborhood, which unbeknownst to me was also one of the most expensive neighborhoods in an already prohibitively-priced city.
As a little backstory, you should know, I was moving to NYC without a job. I had saved up some money and had a serious plan and determination in place, but no job.
The other piece of information that’s crucial here is that not only do Manhattan apartments leave the market and get snatched up about the second they enter it, you also need to prove you make 80 times the rent, you know with a job, which I didn’t have.
Now you and I both know the rational and realistic thing to do would have been to see that information and either not pick up and move to the Big Apple or to look for a place where it made more sense.
Except, that’s not what made sense to me. That wasn’t the point of my move. That wasn’t the ‘dream’ or what I wanted.
I’ll spare you all the details, but here’s how this story ended. I wasn’t approved on one apartment in the neighborhood I was dreaming about. I was approved on three within a day-and-a-half of moving to the city. Without co-signers or money from anyone else. I even got them to knock the rent down.
Underneath all of that was deep clarity, a hella' lot of mindset work, some strategy, and taking action like I meant it and knew it was possible to make it happen.
You know what else? It was probably easier getting those apartments and ultimately deciding on the one I wanted (which you have to do very quickly here) than it would have been to go apartment hunting for what I kinda sorta wanted.
I also know for damn sure none of that would have happened if I hadn’t allowed it to. If I didn’t have the resolve that our dreams aren’t random and we can make pretty much anything possible with some clarity, mindset, strategy, and action (I didn’t know I was calling it this at the time, y’all).
While some dreams take more than a day-and-a-half to come to fruition and the process of clarity, mindset, strategy, and action can stretch out more in some situations, the bottom line doesn’t change. This process is the same for us as entrepreneurs.
I’m in the business of selling dreams and possibility because I’ve always lived my life this way and I don’t know any other way.
I know our dreams aren’t random. I know we’re so much more capable than we give ourselves credit for because I’ve witnessed it over and over and over again.
I also know what happens when I stop believing this philosophy and treat it as silly, fluffy, cliché, and start leaning into ‘that’s just not realistic’; the magic stops, and it isn’t any fucking easier.
So today’s post is a call. An invitation. A cheerleader’s yell.
If your dream is to build a business you’re wildly in love with that also gets you paid, do that. Show up for that. Know it’s possible and it’s your job to find a way to believe it and make it happen.
Don’t sell out for the watered-down version of this dream and make something that feels safe or wait until the right time. There is no right time.
Don’t wait for permission or a sign. If you need it, THIS is your permission. THIS is your sign.
Stop looking for someone to tell you it will all work out. I promise you, the more you crowd-source, the more you’ll hear why it won’t work. This is the quickest route to a ‘realistic’ path.
Believe in your dream. Your vision. Yourself.
Because that’s the rocket fuel for your dream business, and it’s not for sale.
Take responsibility for what you want. Your dreams aren’t random but they are up to you to turn into reality.
Wishing you your version of success!
P.S. Ready to own your dreams and turn them into a business you're wildly in love with that also gets you paid? You're in the right place. That just so happens to be my secret sauce and what I do!
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