I remember when I was about 12 years old my Mom and Dad got involved in a multi-level marketing business. They would talk often about dreams and goals and encouraged me to learn all I could about business.
Eventually they burned out and left their MLM opportunity, but the lessons I learned from that early age still apply to my life today. So what did learn?
I learned the value of having a dream. A vision for your life. Without a dream, you will just wander, literally, aimlessly through life. Big houses, nice cars, and gold watches are nice, but they're not really dreams.
No, dreams are bigger than self. Sure, materialism may intially serve as a great motivator. Afterall, if your 17 years old you're naturally going to want a cool car. But eventually you need to graduate to a higher level dream.
How can you contribute to make your community a better place? How can you help others on their path to their dreams? What can you do to show people your vision?
Once you have your dreams your next step is to develop a plan to accomplish those dreams. What business will you go into? How will get the capital to start that business? What else do you need to learn in order to make that business successful? These are all important questions and they will help you begin to design a realistic plan to move towards your dreams.
Once you have a plan, you need to set your goals. Goals are like a trail of little gold nuggets that lead right to the goldmine. You set them, reach for them, accomplish them, and the next thing you know, you're standing at the entrance to a literal goldmine ready to move to a new, unimaginable level.
But you need also to be careful about your goals. Don't just set an easy goal so you can make yourself feel better about setting goals. Set goals that will challenge and change you and never stop reaching for the next level. Just like you wouldn't stop picking up gold nuggets on a trail that lead to a goldmine, you should never stop setting and achieving goals that are moving you towards your dreams.
Lastly, think about what it takes to draw people to you that will help you on your path. A powerful team can provide you with valuable insight and shave years off your jounrney.
I heard a preacher speaking on leadership once and what he said was so profound, so clear, that it blew my mind. He said that leaders do not seek out followers, they attract them. What attracts people to you is your passion, the very people that will help you on your journey will do so because you're passionate about your vision, and your vision comes to you when you understand your purpose.
So it begins with understanding your purpose. The old question, "What is the meaning of life?". You need to answer this question for yourself if you are to develop a vision and plan for your life.
Once you understand your purpose, you will get a vision (or dream) that is inline with that purpose. That vision will inspire passion inside of you and that passion will inspire others to join you. Anthony Robbins says "There are no lazy men, there are simply men who's dreams do not inspire them".
Being an entrepreneur means being a leader. A leader in your business and a leader in your community. Once you begin to apply this philospophy to your life, you'll find that you can do a lot more than buy that cool car.
© Copyright Gary L Drumm Jr.
