Never Give Up on Your Dream (You’re Closer Than You Realize)

Hey all! I’m excited to have my friend Dave Arnold writing for us today. Dave is a husband, father, writer, speaker, coach, and advocate for the displaced. You can connect with him on Twitter  or Facebook. 

I wanted to bring Dave on because he is in a unique position and has an amazing story. I think we all can relate with Dave’s efforts to build his business. When you’re done reading the post head over to Dave’s site and check out what he has going on. I’m a huge fan of his and love how he’s helping people. Take it away Dave!

Two months ago I received a letter in the mail. It was one of those letters that you read and think, Gulp. Now what am I going to do?

What did the letter say? I knew you’d ask.

The letter was from the district superintendent – i.e. the main boss – of the church-based organization I work for, and indicated that unfortunately funds have dried up and therefore they can no longer afford to pay me a salary or health benefits.

To their credit, this action is not immediate; it will happen down the road. Nevertheless it will happen.

The gulp came because I have two small children – one who was just born this past March – and we will lose our health benefits.

All that to say, however, I wasn’t scared or even that disappointed.

Why is that?

I’ll get to that in a minute.

Sometimes a closed-door and bad news is the exact thing we need to help us walk through a better door which leads to good news.

You see, there are many factors and forces out there attempting to knock you off of the path of your dream. We have our own fears and what-ifs to deal with, other people’s opinions and plans for us… you name it.

Truthfully, I’ve given up on my dream more than once and have used all the excuses:

I started too late.

Why would people listen to me?

I can’t make a living doing this.

But I’m here to say, it’s possible to live your dream and that…

It’s never too late to start. In fact, the most important thing is to start.

People will listen to you because you are the only unique you on the planet. The world needs your voice! You can make a living off your dream if you are persistent and willing to put some elbow grease into it.

So after I opened the letter and shared it with my wife, she reminded me of a conversation we had about six months ago.

The conversation was about how I felt called to provide for my family through my online business of writing, speaking, and coaching. This promoted me to talk to my dad who has his own business and just finished publishing his own book.

In short, my dad offered to contract me to help him with online marketing and promoting his book (stuff I love to do and am doing with my own business). Not only that, it’s more than double what I was making with the faith-based organization and he’s 100% supportive of my dream.

Amazing!

So just because one door closes it doesn’t mean it’s the end. Like the great Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Our job is to keep taking shots, keep getting out there, keep knocking on the door of our dreams.

Sure doors will shut, but you better believe others will open. Kimanzi is an example to all of us as someone who didn’t give up on his dream and kept knocking.

So I say, knock on friends, knock on.

If you enjoyed this, please consider signing up for my email list. You can do so here and get my free Manifesto, Made to Soar.

Was there ever a time when you have thought about or have given up on your dream? 

P.S. In case you missed it my friend Jimmy and I launched something to help frustrated self-published authors. Check it out here.