Realizing Your Dream

I was in Denver, Colorado giving a seminar last week to a wonderful group of business professionals. At the break a woman by the name of Lena approached me and introduced herself.

She told me that she had written me an email five years ago after reading my book Starting Your Own Business, and that I had helped her start a business of her own. I did not remember her or having any contact with her at first.

Then she started to tell me how she had been working in the banking industry for seven years in the Denver area and new she wasn’t going to go much further in that industry, so in order to control her own future she would have to start her own business.

At this point I started to remember her. Lena had no real business experience except what she had gained from working at the bank and she only had 2 year of college, but she was full of energy and desire to learn.

I remembered helping her narrow down her choices as to the type of business she wanted to start, set up a program for her to set goals, and a model for a business plan once she decided which business she wanted to start. Most importantly I advised her to find a mentor.

After that I never heard from her again. I simply thought that she had given up on her dream of starting her own business and just kept working at the bank.

I was happy to find that she followed my advice and kept going. She explained to me during the break that after much thought and preparation she decided to take the plunge. She started a direct sales business in conjunction with a national corporation.

Lena told me that she remembered how I had told her to tune out all the negativity she would probably receive in pursuing her dream and stick to her goals. She told me how true that was because her family and friends gave her about three months or until her savings ran out and she would be begging the bank for her old job back.

Well that was five years ago, and after struggling through some lean years, her business is now generating $600,000 annually in gross sales! Her sales force consists of 35 topnotch consultants. Her company has won eight national awards and dozens of local sales awards. She is now in the process of going International.

She thanked me for giving her the initial encouragement and guidance that she needed to begin pursuing her dream and apologized for not staying in touch. I told her I was glad that I was able to help her but she did it all herself.

I am always happy to hear success stories like Lena’s whether I was ever involved or not. Lena’s story shows that anyone can make their dreams become a reality. When you have a strong belief in yourself, set goals and have a well thought-out plan to achieve them anything is possible.

The key is; you have to want it bad enough. Obviously Lena did.

Our Best Days Are Still Ahead

The next time you’re feeling like you are running a hundred miles an hour just to stand still, think about the spectacular accomplishments of the human race.

Every generation has had its share of pessimists and “nay sayers.” People who have said “The impossible can’t be accomplished.” Fortunately there have been people in every generation who know better. When we think about that statement, it goes against the very nature of man, because doing the impossible is what we do best.

The next time you turn on your desktop computer, your iPAC, or your iPod, think about the fact that it was just a little over 500 years ago that Columbus ventured out on his voyage of discovery to find the “new world.”

Five centuries are just a few ticks on the clock of human events. We’ve come a long way in a short time, and our learning curve is exponential. We’ve learned more in the past 50 years than in all the preceding stages of humankind.

The impossible can’t be done? How about traveling faster than the speed of sound? Or putting all of man’s knowledge in a computer chip smaller than your fingernail, or seeing the space shuttle fly to the space station, or cell phones that take pictures or a home theater. Think about all the laser surgery that is being done, the amazing transplants, and all the cures we have found for diseases once thought to be incurable.

Try explaining these facts just a hundred years ago and you would have been labeled mad or insane, as insane as your grandchildren 50 years from now when they will talk of weekend space travel, universal communication where you not only can talk to another person anywhere in the world on your cell phone but see them as well. Think about the possibility of through-the-earth transports, and even flying cars. Nothing is out of reach.

The human condition is to react to the needs of the race and grow, and in so doing, the decomposition of barriers becomes the very natural fertilizer that will enrich that growth. It’s always been that way, and you can bet it always will be. Perhaps you haven’t been watching closely enough.

The world will always have its pessimists and “nay sayers.” People who say the world is coming to the end and our best days are behind us. And in today’s turbulent world with terrorism and the wars in the Middle East, there is so much negative news that we forget about all the positive things that are happening in the world.

This is what makes the words of Napoleon Hill the author of Think and Grown Rich so important today when he said: “What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve, with a Positive Mental Attitude.”

Our world with all its mistakes and shortcoming has come a long way and we have a lot to be proud of. Our best days are still ahead of us. Believe it!

Thank Them Again

My message today is about fulfilling your obligations. I’m not talking about paying your bills on time, keeping your promises or always doing what you say you will do, when you say you will do it.

Let me ask you an important question. Who were the people that really helped you when you needed it most? Take your time and think about this before you answer. I’m not referring to those people who may have taken advantage of you when you were down to better themselves or those opportunists who wanted something you had and offered their help in return.

These types of people can be found all along the sometimes bumpy road to success. Their attitude is one-sided, even if for the moment they seem to care about your problem. Their gifts usually come with very long strings attached, and if you accept them, a great burden often accompanies them. These people are not who I have in mind.

The people I’m talking about are those who have helped you unconditionally, and they asked nothing in return.

If you have been fortunate enough to have had such a special person in your life, I hope you can bring them back into focus, just for a moment, so we can take care of some unfinished business.

Think carefully about the amount of time that has elapsed since the time when they helped you. Too many times, the careers that those individuals helped to launch are the very obstacles that get in the way of our acknowledgement of their contribution to our success.

The reason I’m writing this today is because I recently lost a selfless friend that I wish very much that I had called, just one more time. My friend knew who much I appreciated all he had done for me over the years. I told him more than once how much he had meant to my success. But now that he’s gone, I wish I had told him one more time, just to be sure.

Don’t let this happen to you. Take the time today to let the people who have helped you, know what they have meant to you. There aren’t enough of them in the world. Let’s make sure they know that they are appreciated.