#collegepro

When I was 16 years old I fell in love with the sport of Rallying. I spent most of teen years dreaming about winning the lottery or having a superman style hidden talent for driving cars. I just need a chance to see if I had “it.” My dream got put on hold since both of those things didn't happen.

At the request of my family I went to college after high school. During sophomore year I was in Economics with a few hundred others when a clip board for a summer job came to me. I put my name down and forgot about it. 24 hours later I received a call and after a few weeks of interviews I started my first franchise business with College Pro. I saw this as a great way to get more money to start my rally team.

At 19 years old I was running and managing my own business. For personal development that summer was the most valuable experience of my life. I also made more money that summer than any of my friends. As important as my rally dream was I had met a girl (Sarah) and she swept me off my feet. I took most of my profit from my first year running my business and bought her the biggest diamond I could afford. I don’t regret that decision for a second.

The rest of my college years I worked my ass off. I hardly partied in college and I woke up earlier on weekends than I did during school days. I found I loved owning my own business and being the boss. Running a house painting business I had no passion for the product but I saw the bigger picture. I knew all the skills I was learning I could start my own rally team.

I graduated college in 2009 with unemployment at the highest levels since the great depression. I was one of the few who landed a job 6 months before I graduated. I was careful not to put lucky in the last line because luck had nothing to do with it. I worked as a General Manager with College Pro which meant I hired, trained, managed, and coached first time franchise owners. Again nothing to do with my dream of rallying but looking at the bigger picture I had a job and I was developing more skills. Without a doubt one of the hardest jobs you can have. College Pro prides itself on developing business leaders and the full time staff positions are designed to constantly push you outside of your comfort zone.

After moving to Boston from Denver I started to really feel the weight of my job and my lack of passion for the product. I had also lost the drive for my dream since it was 10 years ago I created my dream and I felt I wasn't any closer to achieving my dream. But Sarah didn't let me give up on my dream of Rallying. She told me she knew I loved it too much to give up on it and she wouldn't let me give up (Thanks babydoll).  

A few months later the marathon bombings happened in Boston. I was working so much that I wasn't able to be in Boston that day but the frailty of life hit me pretty hard. I had to find something I was more passionate about so a few days later I decided to email any group or company I could think of associated with Rallying. Honestly my list consisted of three places. I hastily put together an email describing my experience and passion with business and my desire to apply it toward rallying. I did hesitate for a second before hitting the send button but “hey what’s the worst that could happen?”

The owner of Team O’Neil Rally School, Tim O’Neil, emailed me back within 24 hours. We talked by phone a few days later and a few days after that I came up to the school. Long story short(er) I’m now the General Manager of Team O’Neil Rally School and Sarah is in the process of moving to New Hampshire from Boston. I’m helping Tim manage a team of 5 rally cars and a school where we teach people how to rally.

While in the pursuit of my dream Sarah and I have been living apart and see each other on weekends. I was thinking about our situation and that is how I came up with the title for this post. It got me thinking about everything I/we have sacrificed for my dream. I have learned so many life lessons in the past year and one of them is truly never give up on your dreams. It might just be there waiting for you tomorrow.