Food for Thought: Chasing Dreams

Donni and I attended The Brand Helena K.’s Basic Business: Lunch and Learn over the weekend. The amazing gouda omelet and mimosa I had weren’t the only gems being dropped at BQE Restaurant & Lounge. The guest speakers really tugged on some of my heart-strings.

Even though I claimed (and still claim) 2015 as MY year, the first few months have been a roller-coaster ride. (For the record, I’m not a big fan of roller-coasters.)

A lot of the advice given by the guest speakers related to my current situation. Bels Stacks, owner of STACKS Magazine, dropped a little knowledge on dream chasing. I needed another mimosa at that point, because it brought up all the things I’ve been kicking myself for lately. I didn’t have a strategy for chasing my dream. Hell, social media marketing wasn’t even my dream. I was just tired of working for whack managers and dramatic small business owners. I took the freelance route as a way to make money from a hobby.

There were A LOT of things I could’ve done differently in the past: I could’ve actually tried to enter corporate America after college; I could’ve went to grad school; I could’ve saved money while I was living with my sister; I could’ve demanded the pay I deserved from my clients–but I didn’t. And while I could keep dwelling on that obnoxious list of things when life gets rough; I just need to accept them and #CarryOn.

“Yesterday is a canceled check.”

When author/actress/HBIC, Faye Adams-Taylor, spoke those words, I wanted to slide out of my chair–but I didn’t want to embarrass Helena. All the things on my list of regrets are already done. There is literally nothing I can do to change the decisions I’ve made. However, I can put time and energy into cleaning up the messes those decisions helped create, and try my hardest to avoid making them in the future. As I mentioned before, engaging on social media was something I enjoyed doing and happened to be good at. It wasn’t this fire burning inside me that had to be put out, and that was definitely starting to show.

I started my path as a freelance social marketer for all the wrong reasons, which caused me to settle and get stuck. Over the last few months, all I could think about was how much I didn’t like the work I was doing. I wasn’t satisfied with the performance of my efforts, and when I tried to do something about it–I failed. In December, I reached out to three of my clients with a proposal to enhance my social media approach. When they basically ignored what I had to say–I didn’t care. I didn’t hunt them down or demanded a response. I was over it. It was hard for me to get pumped up and focused to make changes when they weren’t. So I continued posting and tweeting, just to make sure I got paid– all while complaining and sharing horror stories with my friends. The signs were all there for me to move on, but I stayed because I NEEDED the money.

Fast forward to today, and those clients are gone. Part of me, a very small part of me, is freaking out because this is the worst time for me to not have a reliable source of income, but the rest of me is relieved. Although I didn’t expect for it to happen this way, this is what I wanted.

The universe put me at a stopping point. From here, I move on. I focus on making all the things I daydream about a reality. It’s only been a few days since I’ve officially been “client-free”, but it feels amazing to be the only thing I have to worry about. They say “thoughts become things”, and this is proof. The real fun begins now as I figure out my next move. I really just want to escape to an island: run barefoot in the sand, grow my own fruits and vegetables, work in a local bar or coffee shop and maybe, just maybe, figure it all out.

But before I make my great escape, I’d like to hear from my fellow dream chasers. What words of advice or stories do you have to share? Comment below or tweet ya girl @TheAceAlexa!