I
dream my painting and I paint my dream. ― Vincent van Gogh
Dreams
are the touchstones of our characters. ― Henry David Thoreau
Live
the Life of Your Dreams: Be brave enough to live the life of your dreams
according to your vision and purpose instead of the expectations and opinions
of others. ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
Have you ever heard
of Gigi’s Cupcakes? Until recently, I
had not; however, I think this story is inspiring and well worth the read.
Gina “Gigi” Butler
started her first company, Gigi’s Cleaning Company, at 15 because she did not
want to work for anyone else. Her real
dream was to become a country singer/songwriter so she sold her cleaning
business and followed her dream to Nashville, Tennessee. After finding a few cleaning clients, she
would clean during the day and at night wait tables and sing. During this time, she worked at popular
tourist night spots such as Tootsie’s and The Stage on Broadway.
At 30, she decided
that she had spent enough late nights waiting tables and singing. She decided that she would retire from the
music industry. Part of her felt like
she was a failure because she had not accomplished her dream, but she knew that
God healed all wounds. After expanding
her cleaning business and hiring new employees, she was content with life.
One afternoon while
cleaning, her brother, Steve, called her from New York. He told her that he had just stood in line
for 2 hours for a cupcake and he personally believed that the cupcakes she made
with her mom were better than the one he was eating. He encouraged her to start her own bakery in
Nashville. She took a “leap of faith”
and decided to start the bakery.
After many setbacks
including financing issues and people not believing in her dream, she found a
banker that helped her. On the day she opened the bakery, she had $33 in her
checking account. Gigi’s Cupcakes now has more than 100 locations in 23 states.
Gigi’s advice for
anyone interested in her story:
If I can convey just one idea to
someone reading my story, it would be to believe in yourself, walk with
integrity, work hard and trust in God. And maybe your life won’t turn out
exactly how you were expecting or hoping it to be; but maybe, just maybe, it
will be so much better than you could have ever imagined!
With God, all things are possible!
CHALLENGE: Be encouraged to keeping
pushing towards your dreams!
As we are approaching midyear, it is
a great time to start preparing to conduct your midyear goal review. If you are not tracking benchmark data for
your 2018 goals, start gathering data to determine progress.
To Read the Full Story about Gigi’s
Cupcakes:
Good stuff Terri, as always! David W.
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