#theDREAMinitiative ignites professional goals!

There are two weeks between me and ideaSPARK, an event I’m sponsoring to increase my public profile. This ticking clock means I better get going and figure out how to bridge my company to the event itself.

So what does that mean? First, I need to understand my role as a sponsor.

As a sponsor of ideaSPARK – which is a part of a very large local event focused on sparking creativity (SPARKcon), I need to showcase my strategic marketer capabilities. But me being me, I need to do something meaningful too…something helpful…something that would help spark good in the world.

That’s not a big task, right?

I am always looking to make a positive impact, but I face a unique challenge as a sponsor for ideaSPARK. In this case – I am surrounded by a SPARKcon audience who consists of artistically creative types, while I am the non-artistic strategic thinker who seeks clarity in everything I do!

“So…,” I asked myself, “how can pragmatic me possibly do something that makes sense with my sponsorship of SPARKcon?”

I then had a spark of my own (pun intended)…how about I do something to help spark a business or nonprofit idea or…a career goal?!

This will be fun! And if I do this right — this may just be the first step someone takes towards realizing their dream!

Dreams can come true when we are passionate about them, but how many of us realize it starts with writing them down? I have learned that writing down goals causes people to not only feel a level of commitment to them, it also forces them to clarify what they want.

And, when a goal is shouted out to the world (via this area of my blog) it advances into the level of a pledge!

Great! Now I have found a way to relate to this creative theme. But how do I get them to think about their goals? Especially out in the open?

I contacted friends – friends who want to impact their lives and the world. I contacted people – people who I may not know personally but I know they want to realize aspirations beyond what they are currently doing.  I challenged them to share. I challenged them to take the next step in achieving clarity.

I gave them the theme: Share your dreams for a business or nonprofit idea — or a professional career.

And then I gave them the fill-in-the-blank questions…

Wait, as you read on I want you to be thinking about your answers, too! You don’t have to share your dream with me. That’s not my goal.

[success]My goal is to get you thinking and asking these questions of yourself.

When I was little I wanted to be… Now, even if your answer is dancer or astronaut the point is: we’ve been taught to dream! Somewhere along the way we get told to be responsible, sensible; but, once upon a time, we were allowed to have any dream we wanted.

Now that I’m grown up, my dream is… Describe your dream of changing the world, launching a business, or launching a career.

My new dream in one word: Do you want to do something that helps, encourages, loves, connects, etc? Having a one-word mantra is easier than reciting a mission statement. For example: You may be a Sales consultant who wants to successfully offer a service to help small businesses. You want to train them to sell for themselves OR you want to help, encourage, connect, grow.

The challenges I am afraid of – the challenges I need to overcome: The moment a person sets a goal, many begin to fear failure. We can’t focus on that fear. We should instead stay focused on our passion, and to be a success, we need to find ways to surpass our challenges.

Can my dream be a reality? Yes! My reality date is: The goal is to set a date and do it!

My DREAM date is… No, not the candles and wine kind of date, but the person who will be by your side on this professional journey. We can’t achieve our dreams alone, we need help. Identify one person (or one resource in your circle of influence) who can help you achieve your new dream.[/success]

When I sponsor an event I set goals for my business. I write them down. For ideaSPARK, I want to Increase Sleddogg’s Public Profile. I may not out rightly receive business from this particular sponsorship, but that shouldn’t always be your goal with sponsorship. The goal here is to attach my name to something worthwhile. And I believe this is perfect for me.

Did you like learning about #theDREAMinitiative? Did you answer the questions yourself? Return back to this area often to see how people have answered these questions. Professional in nature, these dreams come from people from all walks of life. Some have already been successful in their careers and want to try something new. Some are just starting out.

“the DREAM initiative” is a spinoff of postcard ‘art’ Sleddogg and Cynergie Studio will be jointly promoting during ideaSPARK September 12-15. Called my BIG fat secret, visitors at the event will be asked, “Do you have a secret? How about a secret life dream? A secret fear? What about a secret bucket list?”

This is much like PostSecret, but instead of collecting secrets via postcards in the mail, our postcards are collected during SPARKcon and posted to an online gallery for all to see (online link coming soon). It’s fun…it’s a community art collective!

But I don’t want the spark to end when SPARKcon is over. “the DREAM initiative” will continue long after the event. FOLLOW THE DREAMS HERE. And hey, you don’t need to share your dreams with me, but if you feel so inclined, then I would love to see them! So write me – share your dream story with me!

My goal is to help you ignite your professional dream!