A successful friend told me “Hope is not a strategy”. My thinking is, sometimes that is all you have to drive your passion to become a reality.

Throughout college, all I could think about was how I never wanted to have a job. I constantly focused on what I was learning and reading and how it would get me to that goal of starting my own business. I made it a priority to spend time around smarter people than me. That is not saying much, as everyone was smarter than me at that point, but again sometimes all you have is hope.

Like everybody else, you graduate and search for a job that will pay the bills. So many of us hate that job. It sucks and you complain that life isn’t fair, and you tell yourself, if I was running the show, everything would be better. That is a bullshit fantasy. Too many people complain and don’t do anything about it. If you think you can do better, then do it! Get off your ass and start something of your own, something that the world hasn’t seen before, something people want and need but they don’t even know it yet. That’s being an entrepreneur. Anyone can open a little box and do what the guy down the street is doing; be the one who opens a little box with a great idea, and with hope and execution you will flourish.

I quit my job because I had hope. We don’t necessarily recommended this approach; you still have to pay the bills, but I knew I was not going to stop until I built my business. The goal was to create the life I always dreamed of. With my 3 years as a strength coach, a wall of books, an entrepreneurial spirit, and with a lot of hope, I set off to create a dream. Within 3 months, I was on my way to starting my personal training business. I was training 55 hours/week with the clientele I always hoped to have. Yes, we targeted a wealthy clientele, because during the worst economy, you can still drive your business if you have hope to make people great. That hope means educating yourself daily, spending time with mentors, working your ass off from 5am to 10pm, 7 days/week, and servicing your clients with passion and love, and an understanding that they all want to look better naked!

My dear friend was right, hope is not a strategy. You need hope but if you sit on your ass and don’t execute your desire to be the best you can be, you will never succeed.