Having big dreams - and getting past the nightmares that come with it

When you have dreams, goals, ambitions, etc. - especially big ones - you're almost guaranteed to come across more than one person who will give you all the discouragement, negativity and pessimism in the world. They'll tell you everything from how crazy, naive and unrealistic you are. I've always called these groups of people "haters, fakers and naysayers."

I believe, from my own personal experiences, that one of the toughest things a person has to persevere through when pursuing their dreams is maintaining focus and discipline in the face of everybody else being negative.

There's probably a bunch of you reading this thinking "oh that's not difficult to ignore, who cares what people thing" - and when the naysaying comes from most people I would most likely agree with you. But what if those same people who say all those negative things are the very people that you care about and trust the most - people such as your friends, family, your own mother, father, brothers, sisters, wife, kids, best friend.

You can start to see how difficult a situation like that becomes - especially when you see these people all the time and/or live with them.

I speak from personal experience, as I have been the poster boy for such a scenario since I was 18. for years, my goal has always been to be a business owner and to own many different businesses, assets and investments. I've been on this personal journey pursuing my dreams and I firmly believe I will reach all my goals eventually.

I'll give you a specific example by telling you a true story. One summer, when I was 23 years old, I decided that my first attempt at acquiring my first commercial property was gonna be a $60 million shopping center. Not only that, I wanted to maintain 100% ownership after raising 100% of the money (from both banks and investors). Now needless to say, everybody and their mother thought I was crazy being that this was my first property - and to be completely honest, it was one of the most empowering and also most horrifying experiences of my life. For months I spent all day and everyday cold calling and emailing various different people to put together a team (attorney, accountant, lenders, brokers, etc.). I used to get very nervous calling people on the phone not only because of the nervousness that naturally came from the situation at hand, but also because I have a stuttering problem. So everyday I would terrifyingly dial number after number. Calling the banks/financial institutions gave me the most shakes as the phone would ring.

What only made matters worse was when I would get rejected by some of these people or come across the ones that were naysayers as well. It's still traumatizing remembering some of the negative words that were said (I even broke down in tears one time as a result of such a discouraging phone call).

I was able to ultimately assemble a team of lawyers, broker, securities lawyer, mortgage broker, and a private placement agent. I came so far in the process, but unfortunately I ended up not buying the property. The placement agent lost confidence in me and the seller ended up taking the property off the market.

Even after going through all that though, as hard as it was, I look back on it positively. I learned that I have the fire in me to persevere as much as I did, I got through the fears of calling people, and most importantly - I learned that I have the ability to believe in and pursue something as major as that. And the kicker to that story is - that was last summer, 2013.

To this day I remain focused and driven on my journey and not at all have I lost any of my desire or major ambition. I don't think - I KNOW that I will make my dreams a reality and will one day be doing acquisitions so big that I'll look back on that $60 million deal and laugh at how small it was.

The point of this blog that I wanna drive home is this - no matter what your dreams are, no matter what your goals are, no matter how big or small they may be - NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, ever give up on them - keep the dream alive even when surrounded by the haters, faker and naysayers - especially when it comes from the people we care about the most. I'll see you at the top.