Turning dreams into reality

It is your business that you are going to run; all of the successes, mistakes, actions and everything else are going to be yours. So it is vital that you are personally prepared for what can be the best thing you’ll ever do.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard was from Henry Ford when he said ‘if you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right’. You have to think big to achieve business success. People will tell you to set SMART goals – specific measurable achievable realistic and timely. I sum these up in one word – rubbish!

Set huge goals and then really go for them. Shoot for the stars, get those goals firmly set in your mind and regularly visualise yourself achieving them. Whoever said you can’t dream? Just dream big dreams.

I remember when I lost my sight just after starting up Great Guns Marketing. I had an occupational therapist come to see me who told me to forget about running a business. Massage therapy or piano tuning would be ‘more appropriate’ avenues for me. I think I’ve proved them wrong.

What stops people setting huge goals? Often it’s because they just might fail. What’s wrong with failure? I often fail but I learn much more from my failures than I do my successes.

Failure is a learning experience – treat it that way. In America, they embrace failure and they love it for what they learn from it. This could be why they lead the world in entrepreneurship.

The other reason people don’t set huge goals is that it is scary. Didn’t you ever pay to go on a fairground ride or watch a scary film with the lights off? We pay money to be scared!

Just learn to enjoy the thrill of setting huge goals and the fear of getting out of your comfort zones and going after them.

The other key to realising your dreams is thinking positive. Now, everyone tells you that but nobody tells you how to do it. Here’s what I do and this has always worked for me.

Whilst I’m thinking about all the things I’m thankful for, I’m filling up my glass and by the time I’m finished my glass is much more than half full and I’m ready to tackle the day and fill it to the top.

Finally, here’s three vital pieces of advice that you must keep dear:

• Don’t be a nearly man, or woman. I sometimes sit next to them at dinner and they tell me all the things they nearly did. Just get on and do it, whatever your particular ‘it’ is. If you fail then you have a much better story than you would have if you nearly did it.
  
• Don’t depend on luck, it doesn’t exist. Luck is where hard work meets opportunity. Work hard and the opportunities will come; as an entrepreneur your skill is to spot the opportunities and grab them round the throat and don’t let go until you’ve got every benefit from them.
  
• Finally, always remember Henry Ford’s adage; if you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.

Having said all of that; starting a business is like running a marathon. There are lots of ups and downs and pain barriers to go through.

You have to have endurance to keep going until you get to the finish line. You are very unlikely to get rich quick and you need to stick with it through the good and bad times. For me, it is the most exciting and thrilling thing I have ever done.

Enjoy going after your dreams and enjoy realising them. Just remember to always have a bigger dream to go after once you get close to realising the first one.

Liz Jackson founded her telemarketing company Great Guns Marketing in the lounge of her rented Basingstoke flat in 1998 with a £1,000 grant and £4,000 loan from The Prince’s Trust.

A year later she lost her eyesight due to a degenerative eye disorder but has continued to pursue her dream and now employs 120 people across the UK and Ireland and turns over more than £2 million.