Dream Year, You Killing Me.

I've always known God has given us dreams that only we can accomplish. I've known in order to accomplish those dreams there is a cost. Also, it takes guts, hard work, trust, and faith to accomplish that dream.

BUT I've learning new things along this Dream Year Journey: When God awakens that dream, when we gather others to that dream, that dream becomes a reality (not a new thought, but more realized now). God has been and continues to be involved in that dream long before we got involved.

I've learned that the dream, if it is a God-given dream, isn't just for us. Often, God has people, a movement if you will, in place to accomplish that dream. Sometimes, He may just use us as the catalyst for the dream to become real. And maybe, in the end for that dream to become a reality, we have to hand it off to someone else to accomplish it.

I guess my question is, are we (more specifically, am I) willing to hand over and entrust that dream which has been birthed in me to someone else in order to see it come to be?

Maybe once I have that figured out, I've learned what I've needed to learn from the Dream Year and maybe need to start asking, "What's next?"

What I'm Doing Over the Next 12 (11) Months.

All About Dream Year

Dream Year is a 12-month process that's designed to help you bring your God-given dream to life.

You bring the dream.

I'll be your dream coach.

As a community of just 20 participants...

We'll make it happen.

We won't meet in person (so no travel required), but we'll collaborate on-line through video chats, practical lessons each week, monthly phone calls, and Google Wave. You'll occasionally get free resources in the mail and private conversations with notable leaders.

So that's...

1. One exclusive lesson from me each week.
2. One 40 minute phone call with me each month.
3. On-line collaboration with a rotating team of 4.
4. Occasional on-line video chats.
5. Occasional free books.
6. Free admission to my 2010 events.
7. A personalized plan for executing your dream.

While you go about executing your project, we'll walk through a 12-month curriculum that looks something like this...

January - Authenticating your dream (tracing its history, assessing your readiness, testing the idea, defining a clear project, raising your faith level, preparing for risk)

February - Building your platform (moving from beggar to influencer, finding your audience, trading value for information, becoming an expert in your field)

March - Defining your values (determining what you won't do, then determining what you will do, on the subject of excellence, building a team to bring your idea to life)

April - Funding your dream (great ideas are spreadsheets with skin on, identifying revenue sources, shaping your strategy, cash flow is everything, the art of making the ask)

May - Branding your project (developing a total user experience, a field guide to designers, developing a creative class around you, design as the foundation for what you do) 

June - Creating milestones (working backward from the goal, productivity tools, the sacrificial substitution principle, how faith changes the order of action, )

July - Leveraging influence (if you don't have influence you borrow it, if you already have influence you still borrow it, creating social movements around your idea, networking with leaders who matter)

August - Partnerships (creating win-wins, the art of negotiation, rooting out great partnerships, angles of benefit, value exchanges, approaching partners)

September - Rainmaking (sales for people who hate sales, how to put yourself out there without losing dignity, systems that produce revenue, closing deals, invoicing, merchant gateways) 

October - Shaping an organization (organizational systems, proprietary versus outsourced, contractors versus employees, legal issues, how to make your idea your living, etc.)

November - Positioning yourself (navigating the world of media, agents, publishers, and conference makers, marketing in an over-saturated field, differentiation)

December - Last-month epiphanies, unresolved issues, feedback and last minute-ideas, charting the future connectivity of the class of 2010

There will be monthly assignments that will help you work toward your dream. But you'll benefit from the influence, connections, resources, talents, and ideas of all of the participants. Each year will produce its own class of graduates... a fraternity if you will. A skull and bones of the Christian world. =)

Here are some of the advantages of Dream Year.

- You'll get a personal dream coach in me.
- You'll get practical guidance on executing your idea.
- You'll get encouraging but constructive feedback.
- You'll help shape and fulfill the dreams of others.
- You'll get caring accountability.
- You'll get private sessions with notable thought-leaders.
- You'll get occasional free books from publishers.
- You'll end up with stronger network of culture-makers across the country.
- You'll get the connections, resources and talents of an amazing group of leaders.
- Free admission to STORY and The Whiteboard Sessions during 2010.
- Membership to the exclusive Dream Year class of 2010.
- Oh... and how about YOUR DREAM COMING TO LIFE?! =)