I heard a publisher today talk about how important it is to write so that your reader is seeing themselves within what they’re reading. 

The common trait of caring isn’t just caring about the people you come in contact with, and it’s not just about caring for your team. It’s about those that “care” about life, family, career, their beliefs and standards and everything that encompasses their lives. 

When the traits of integrity, compassion, honesty, and focus come to mind, they’re all encapsulated by under the umbrella that you actually care about everything and being your best in your space. 

Those are the people you can trust. Those are the ones who build big teams. Those are the ones that create a safe place of environment and belonging. 

If you care about something and it may be new territory, but you know it’s worth your sacrifice to push beyond your own knowledge, you may just be that one who is capable of gathering those around you. If you care. You will have the respect. 

A book which is written with the reader feeling they are envelopes within the pages is a book you’ll read and feel. 

Win your team by being the book they’re reading about themselves and not you.

Did you “dream” of flying like Superman, swim like Aquaman, have the strength of Wonder Woman? Lift trucks like the Hulk? Swing from building to building pretending to be Spider-Man? 

Remember when you use to dream? 

I was driving my sports car years ago, not driving fast, just cruising down the highway enjoying being behind the steering wheel. 

As I passed a family in a Dodge minivan I saw 2 little children in the back seat with their faces glued to the window, eyes wide open watching my sports car go by. They were dreaming. Wow look at that car….

The father driving the minivan glanced over as well but his countenance wasn’t the face of happiness. His wife was holding a little dog, in her own world. 

What’s my point?

The father used to dream. We all did. Life, circumstances, changed his dreams into the reality of his choices and decisions. It happens to all of us. 

When we were children we believed practically anything is possible. But what happened?

We find out Santa, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and Fairy God Mother doesn’t exist. We go to school, graduate, get a job, and realize it’s nothing like it was when we were 6 year old dreamers. 

We get married, have kids, get a dog and buy a minivan, realizing fairy tails are simply not true, therefore there’s just no reason to dream. We quit dreaming. 

If there’s one thing I try to do when helping people, it’s helping them to dream again, to believe in themselves, to take the leaps to become more than just whatever life hands them. 

I love my children and I’ve constantly encouraged them to dream, to reach for the stars, to have the mindset of confidence. I’ve always instilled into them the same thing my parents instilled into me. 

“You can do anything you set your mind to do.” ~Mom

Maybe it’s time to break free, to use your imagination, live your dream. Don’t chase your dream. Live your dream. 

As you read this, remembering your childhood superhero, could you feel it? Could you feel the dream?

I was a general contractor for years, I owned a custom home and commercial contracting company. 

I did most of the architectural design. Approximately 6 of the homes I built per year made national magazines of which I was very proud and focused about my business. 

I was the sole owner the company with about 160 to 170 employees. We built homes, schools, banks, hotels, and other custom projects. 

I also had a log home dealership and exclusive territory with the largest log home company in the world. This was a major business of itself, generating business from magazines, trade shows, billboards and websites. 

Enjoying network marketing wasn’t just a hobby with me either. I was building teams around the world while managing several businesses. 

I had found that in those days, I may have been demanding, stern and brash at times, with everything depending on me to direct it and the buck always stopped on my shoulders regardless whatever happened. 

I drudged through several recessions over the years, however I could see the recession of 2008 coming fast and I knew it wasn’t going to be a normal recession. I decided to shut down the operation of general contracting and home construction altogether. I didn’t want to ride that one out. 

It cost me a lot to shut that all down and for at least another year I backed every project with a year warranty no matter what. It was a difficult decision but a smart one at the time. I was one of the very few general contracting companies that didn’t experience bankruptcy in the northeast Atlanta area. 

I knew I had my Networking business in Direct Sales. I had just launched Russia and was focused on Hungary and Germany. My focus was on what needed to be done. 

Construction and direct sales is an entirely different culture. Jeffrey David Evans can attest to the fact of how direct I could be and how I loved my subcontractors but they knew both my nice side and the side that meant business. 

The corporate world or the distributor field of a company is like the China in a China cabinet, and there’s no place for a bucking bull in either. Construction was a different story. 

Isn’t it amazing how we can see how direct and harsh we have had to be in some things in life, maybe not that it was needed but that it was just the culture at times? 

But do we carry that over to friendships, relationships, business environments which it just doesn’t fit exactly? Sure. But what do we do? We adjust and find that discipline to be our best every way we can. 

Sometimes even I have to remind myself that it is easier to attract bees with sugar rather than vinegar. Even when piss & vinegar may test positive in running through our veins. 

I appreciate all those in my life who have trusted me, respected me, worked and sacrificed with me all these years. More importantly I appreciate them for putting up with me. You know I had your back no matter what. 

You know who you are.