By
Bob Cox
Last
month, while delivering magazines to one of my clients, I asked him
how he was doing. He chuckled lightheartedly and responded “I’m
living the dream”. His good friend chimed in “Yeah, but who’s
dream is it”? We all three enjoyed a good laugh as I bolted through
the door and onto the next delivery.
After
an entire day of delivering and soul searching, I asked myself if I
had been living my dream for the past several years. The honest
answer was a resounding NO! I had failed to share my primary
motivation for starting Go
For It Magazine with
my clients. Why? Because I enlisted two close companions, fear and
self doubt, to protect me from the danger of being rejected by the
people I have a great respect for: entrepreneurs.
For
over six years, I had been telling my clients that our magazine was
created to give local businesses an affordable way to advertise
during the Great Recession. While that statement was 100% true, it
was not the primary reason I created the only freely distributed
self-improvement magazine for our community. I started Go
For It Magazine
because I knew what it was like to live my dream, what it was like to
live someone else's and the startling difference between the two!
After
six and a half years of long hours attending school and working late
nights doing janitorial work, I accomplished my goal and earned a
four year degree in marketing from Sac State. I finally figured out
what I wanted to do: Work for a large advertising agency in Los
Angeles. I had always been fascinated by human behavior, so working on
major ad campaigns would give me the opportunity to unleash my
creative imagination while trying to figure out what motivates people
to buy the stuff they buy.
Immediately
after graduating, I wrote a strong resume and mailed it to every ad
agency in L.A. Days turned into weeks as the phone mocked me in
silent protest while the bills continued to roll in. The financial
pressure became unbearable, so I set my dream aside, took the first
job offer and then spent the next four years in a prison without
bars: Retail management.
Now,
don’t get me wrong. Retail is a wonderful profession, it just
didn't happen to be my life’s calling. I did my best to make the
most of my new career, but I felt the life force draining out of me
with each passing day. Just when I thought I couldn't sink any
lower, the store manager pulled my aside one day and said, “Bob, I
don’t think you’re cut out for retail”. I thought, “Great,
now I can’t even succeed at something I don’t even care about”!
Fortunately,
everything changed one sunny Saturday afternoon when my parents
eagerly gave me a price guide on baseball cards. I thought, “That’s
nice, my parents have finally lost their minds and think I’m still
10 years old. I guess they can’t they see that I’m grown man,
standing here in their used book store with my wife, my son and a
migraine the size of Dodger Stadium”! After several months, I
opened the magazine and was shocked to discover that I had thousands
of dollars worth of cards in an old shoe box. I became so inspired, I
started an investment guide on baseball card collecting, calling on
hundreds of card shops all across the country, asking them to
advertise in our magazine. The last time I felt that excited was when
I was a 10 year old kid opening up baseball card packs!
While
that venture didn't pan out financially, it opened the doors to an
amazing opportunity when I got a job in advertising sales. From the
second I went out with one of the advertising reps, I was hooked! At
the end of each work day, I had plenty of energy left over to enjoy
real quality time with the people I loved. Every morning, I woke up
early and invested in myself, reading messages that inspired me to
improve every facet of my personal and professional life. Within
three years, my earnings nearly doubled, I was loving life and living
the dream…my dream!
If
you’re currently living your dream, please email your story to us
so we can share it with all our readers and encourage everyone to go
for it!
No comments:
Post a Comment