Pursuing Dreams That Scare You

Have you ever had a crazy dream?

Have you ever had a dream that seemed so impossible, but no matter how the mere thought of going after it scared you, it simply would not go away?

Several years ago, I had a dream of hosting a live conference.

Not just any conference.

My dream was that I was going to host a conference, IN A STADIUM, where tens of thousands of people would come to hear me speak.

I seriously had no idea where this dream came from.

The first thought that came to my mind was... "Who do I think that I am?"

At the time, I wouldn't have considered myself to be that much of a powerful communicator when it came to "pubic speaking, on a stage, in front of a live audience."

For the life of me, I couldn't imagine anything that I, personally, could ever share at such a conference, that would attract an audience of that size.

But this dream never went away!

It was weeks before I ever spoke about this dream to my closest friends.

Of course they encouraged me. The told me that they could see that happening.

But those were just my closest friends, who have always saw much more potential in me than I had ever seen in myself.

Their encouragement, however, was starting to impact my own beliefs about this dream.

It took months before I ever spoke about this dream to anyone outside my "inner circle."

I'll never forget the night that I sat in the living room of some friends that I had just met for the very first time in Auckland, New Zealand.

It was February 2016.

I was in New Zealand on an all-expenses paid, 10-day trip to New Zealand as a Keynote Speaker for the Asia Pacific Podcast Conference hosted by my friend, Paul Spain.

That was my second, paid, "International Keynote Speaking" opportunity.

Some friends, that I had met at the event, had invited myself and Paul, over for dinner.

As we sat in their living room, someone asked me.... "What's next for Cliff Ravenscraft?"

I nervously told them about my dream of hosting my own stadium event, with 10's of thousands of people in attendance. 

I told them how I had no idea how such a dream would become a reality, but I was actively taking steps toward the progressive realization of that dream.

I was shocked to hear the words of every person in that room as they told me how much they were 100% certain that dream would be fulfilled.

Not only that, but every person in the room had committed that they, themselves, would be buy a ticket to my first, ever, stadium event.

Over the following months I began to tell others.

Nearly every single person, out of the first 100 people that I had shared my dream with, had the same response as that small gathering in New Zealand.

I began to think to myself... "Wow! If I could just have this same conversation with 49,900 more people, I'd have a completely sold out stadium event."

Keep that statement in mind when you follow the rest of the content that I'm about ready to share with you. You'll have a greater understanding of why I've been so drawn to one particular method of marketing the Free The Dream Conference.

It wasn't until June 2016 that I began to have a grasp about the type of content that I would share at a conference that I would host.

It was at that time that my wife, Stephanie, and I attended an Unleash The Power Within event in Dallas, TX, hosted by Tony Robbins.

There were approximately 10,000 people at this event.

This one weekend had a powerful impact in my life. I experienced a number of major mindset breakthroughs in a single weekend and my life has not been the same since.

Stephanie and I gave a full review of that experience in episode 456 of my podcast.

Over the next two years, there were so many people who had told me that they, personally, would not want to attend a Tony Robbins event, but they would attend an event with the same transformational outcome if I were to host it.

I went to work and immersed myself in the study of want I wanted to offer at my own event.

I encourage you to write the following down...

• "I will immerse myself into the study of whatever it is that I want."

I invested MORE THAN TEN THOUSAND HOURS, over two and a half years, studying mindset tips, tools, techniques and strategies from Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, and a large number of other folks who had devoted their lives to this type of work.

This is how I developed the Free The Dream Core Message.

For me, the next step was to see if people would actually pay to attend live events (hosted by me).

When Stephanie and I built the home that we live in today, we knew that "live events" would be a part of our future.

Knowing that, we intentionally built the "Next Level Studio" which included a complete training space to host live workshops.

See photo below:

In June 2017, I hosted my first live event.

I had never hosted anything like this before.

I had never marketed anything like this before.

I had all sorts of fears related to putting myself out there in such a way.

My goal for the first event was to have 12 people attend.

I didn't hit my goal of selling all 12 available seats. However, I did have six people who had traveled from all over the United States to attend a live event that I hosted. (See photo below)

The best part was just how much of a profound impact this weekend event had on the lives of every person who attended.

I'm still getting emails (I'm writing this in July 2019), from those who attended this first workshop, with reports of the amazing ways their lives have been positively impacted by this weekend workshop experience.

I took what I learned from that first experience and attempted a second live workshop, in November 2017, with the same goal as before, to sell all 12 spots.

SUCCESS!!!

Actually, I sold THIRTEEN spots. (See photo below)

For those of you who are really into details, you may notice that there are 14 shown in the photo above.

My son, Matthew, is sitting in the very back row, all the way to the left.

He had plans to launch his own online business after graduating high school and wanted to participate in this workshop.

He took just as many notes as anyone else who attended.

From there, I was able to take what I learned about hosting these smaller live events (and marketing them) and I was able to successfully host a number of SOLD OUT SESSIONS within the Next Level Studio.

It was time to take the next bold step in the journey of pursuing my dream!

It was September 2017.

I took the biggest risk that I'd taken since leaving my career as an insurance agent back in January 2008.

I researched what it would cost for me to host a full blown conference for 300 attendees.

To host the conference in the venue that I wanted, with the extremely high standards that I had set for the production of this event, the estimate was between $40,000 to $70,000.

Once again, I had NO IDEA how to market a conference like this.

But I was convinced that this is what I HAD TO DO!

The idea of not hosting the Free The Dream Conference in September 2018 was more painful to me than trying and failing, even if it turned out to be a financial loss.

My goal was to have 300 people attend that first event.

I didn't hit my goal.

However, 87 people did attend!

Of those 87, Ling-en Hsia traveled all the way from France and Freya Casey traveled all the way from Germany.

What happened at that very first Free The Dream event was beyond what I could have ever imagined!

I created this video that shows the genuine emotions that I as experiencing the week following the event.

Since the very first recollection of this dream of hosting stadium events, I've come a long way.

I have hired a number of speaking coaches and I've gone to four professional speaking development workshops to help me take my public speaking skills to the Next Level.

Today, I do actually consider myself to be a powerful communicator on a stage in front of a live audience.

In fact, when I step on a stage, in front of a live audience, I feel more at home there than anywhere else.

Something inside of me just "comes alive."

Today, I am 100% confident that this dream was meant to lead me to develop the Free The Dream message.

I know, with all of my being, that I was created to share this message with as many people who will be willing to hear it and apply it to their lives.

I feel DRAWN toward filling stadiums with people who are ready to break free from everything that has been holding them back from living the life of their dreams.

I must admit, I still have a lot of personal and professional growth to go through before I will be the man that is able to fill a stadium.

However, I'm taking consistent steps forward toward that dream.

I'm writing these words with only 62 days until the second annual Free The Dream Conference.

I'm still trying to figure out how to successfully market a conference such as this.

My goal, once again, is have 300 people experience a significant life transformation at this year's event.

As I'm writing these words, there are 75 people who are currently registered and who will be attending Free The Dream 2019.

And get this....

• Four people are traveling all the way from Australia.
• One person is traveling all the way from New Zealand.
• One person is traveling all the way from Switzerland.

Still, to reach my goal, I must continue to take what I learned, last year, about marketing an experience such as this and convince another 225 people that this event will radically and profoundly impact their lives in such a way that they will finally break free from just surviving in life experience was it feels like to thrive in life.

I have to convince them that RIGHT NOW IS THE TIME TO LIVE THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS!

And that Free The Dream 2019 will set them free to finally LIVE THE LIFE YOU WERE CREATED TO LIVE.

I created a very lengthy video that shares all the things that I'm doing to successfully reach this next milestone.

For some, you may read these words between when I've written them and September 2019. If so, you'll have to wait until September to see if I was successful in reaching this next major milestone.

However, for everyone else, you may be reading these words days, weeks, months or even years after September 2019.

If so, you likely already know if I was successful in creating an environment where 300 people's lives were radically transformed in a single weekend in Franklin, TN from September 13th -15th, 2019.

For authenticity sake, I am not going to come back and revise this after the fact.

Instead, I'm going to leave this article right here to encourage and inspire you to go after your wild and crazy dreams.

Set big goals.

If you fail to meet your initial goals, don't let that stop you from learning from your experience and moving forward!

DREAM BIG DREAMS!

You are way more powerful than you could ever possibly imagine.

All the resources you need to live the life for which you believe you were created to live are available to you.

If you have trouble believing that, come to the next Free The Dream Conference and you'll come back a different person.

I'm working to obtain a video testimonial from all 87 individuals who were at Free The Dream 2018.

I have more than 20 of them already.

I'm going to share the first two testimonials that I had recorded and shared below.

Watch both of these testimonials and you will understand why I am so thrilled that I didn't allow THE FEAR OF MY DREAM to keep me from pursuing the work that I felt most called to do in the world.

Testimonial From Crystal Foth

Testimonial from Casey Price

Just imagine this...

What if that dream you have, the one that scares you, is calling you to live a life where you will be able to profoundly and positively impact the lives of others?

Howard Thurman was an African-American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader.

He is the author of one of my favorite quotes.

Thurman wrote... "Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Hosting live events "makes me come alive."

Remember when I told you that my first thought, when confronted with this dream was... "Who do I think that I am?"

Today... When I boldly tell the world about my dream of stadium events, I proclaim,  "If others speakers, comedians and musicians can fill stadiums... Why Not Me?"

It is my hope that this article inspires you to take your dreams seriously.

Sincerely,

Cliff