Have you ever had a big audacious goal or dream that seems so huge it feels like it will never happen? Almost like it’s a pipe dream, and there’s just no way you can achieve it?
I hope you do! I really hope you have something in the back of your mind that you want to do that is so awesome you wonder if it’s even possible.
I recently had an experience I want to share with you real quick…
So, it was a couple days before Creating a Dynasty (our advanced leadership seminar), and there I was, sitting at the kitchen table with my family, eating turkey soup. And in walks Rayven, who is just an amazing, beautiful, incredible lady who assists me with our social media. She brought in some materials that I needed to take with me to Creating a Dynasty, and I told her to grab some soup and cornbread and have dinner with us.
As we sat there, she started to drop a few seeds – seeds that had been planted even before that day – and it had to do with the cheesecake I make for Thanksgiving every year, and how our clients really want to try it.
She then proceeded to tell me that Mariana – one of our faithful clients who flies from Finland to wherever we are for First Steps to Success every month – suggested doing a fundraiser with the cheesecakes so they could taste them and raise money for the orphanage in Belize.
Now, if this is your first time hearing from me, you have to know I have a burning passion for the orphan, the widow, the sick, and the hungry, as well as those in the sex trade. I mean a deep passion. It’s what gets me out of bed every day. It’s why I do radio shows and business consulting. It’s why I work. I work to help people succeed and to help people come out of ruts, out of debt, out of a lifestyle that is killing their future, and teach them strategically how to succeed. I take the income that is generated from that work to supply jobs for people and give the rest to those in need.
So Rayven calculated it: if we sold raffle tickets for $20, and only half of the people at Dynasty bought a ticket, we would raise $8,000. I decided it was definitely worth it to make two cheesecakes.
Well, I was leaving the next day to St. Louis to speak to 900 people for 3 full days, and I had a TON of stuff to get done before then. I still had to finish packing, had a radio show the next morning, and as soon as that wrapped, I was hopping in the car straight to the airport – and I was somehow supposed to fit two cheesecakes in there somewhere!?
Long story short, we worked together and pulled it off. They were finished literally minutes before I walked out the door.
Fast forward to Friday morning…
I got a message from Jenn, our events director, telling me $3,300 had already been collected from raffle tickets just during registration. I was blown away! But then at noon that day, she came to me with a note telling me we had received $20,000 already. I fell to the floor and started bawling.
You see, $8,000 was an astronomical goal to me. It was such a huge, audacious goal, and I was thinking, "There’s no way this could happen, but I’m going to step out in faith and go for it."
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Jenn had a goal of $50,000. I told her, "I don’t even want to hear that number! $8,000 is a big enough goal." She was asking and praying to raise $50,000, and there I was, not wanting to get my hopes up. Yes, me, Dani Johnson, not wanting to get my hopes up…
The drawing happened Saturday afternoon, followed by an auction for the last few pieces. The number kept getting bigger and bigger, and my heart was racing and I had tears in my eyes. My goal of $8,000 had been far surpassed, and I was literally looking up to the heavens, saying, "God, really?! When you say you will do immeasurably more than I could ask for, hope for, or imagine…really?! This is so much more!"
As the final numbers came in, I was shocked and amazed. We raised $114,000 from two cheesecakes! A single piece sold for $16,000, and another piece sold for $15,500! It was crazy!
This group that was in St. Louis that weekend totally blew my mind. They were so giving. They came together as a team and made it happen.
I’m telling you this today because if you have a big audacious goal, you must understand it’s not just you that’s going to achieve it. It’s you and others! It’s a team I believe will come together once you step out in faith to take action.
And while you’re on your path to acheiving your goal, you also must understand that you will have moments of "Is this really going to happen? Will it really happen for me? Are all the pieces really going to come together?" But I look forward to the moment you have YOUR mind completely blown, when your heart is racing, and tears fill your eyes as you look to the heavens, saying, "God, really?! This is so far beyond my goal!"
I believe you are coming into that season. And I believe if you choose to believe that something far beyond anything you could ever ask, hope, or imagine will happen in your life, then you are going to receive it.
That’s what it takes to succeed in today’s world. That’s what it takes for your children to succeed. We must believe in something bigger than we think we can do. We must believe and know that it’s going to take a team to make it all happen. And then when you step out to do something great with your life – like taking care of the orphan, the widow, and the sick – that’s when you have a greater power coming in to deliver far more than you could have ever even imagined.
So if today you’re looking at that big audacious goal, wondering whether or not it’s going to happen, I’m here to tell you YES, IT WILL! So choose to believe it!
I can’t wait to hear what your big audacious goals are and watch you far surpass those goals! Tell me your story in the comments below!
I believe in you. There is a team of other people who believe in you. Push through the doubt and choose to believe. Keep moving forward with faith, and until next time, God bless!
In great faith,
My Big goal for 2013 is to start several of my own businesses . I want to excel as a Realestate investor . I want to purchase several homes and to purchase homes where struggling single parents can come and live free for at least 6mo to a year so that they can get ahead while they work to support their children.I want to give to children of single parents gift cards at least twice a year at the beginning of the school year and at Christmas time . I want to be able to quit my job and work from home so that I can spend some quality time with my children . I want to know the meaning of shop until you drop because we lived in extreme lack . I want to change the course of my whole family and teach others how to invest even when it looks like you can’t . I want to let the world know that it doesn’t matter how poor, broke or down you are that God can bring you up. Don’t let anyone still the promise that God has given you . Keep the faith in God because that’s all that you have and need ,plus ambition to do what he has told you to do.
Amanda
For an ordinary person like me, I consider my humongous goal this January 2013 my fundraising goal of $10,000 for my written book and ready to publish volume 1 this February 2013. I take this as a challenge for myself how far I can be. If I can do 10, 000 this January, I am ready to make $500,000 this year 2013 With the help of our God.I asked his blessings and showered us the skills and knowledge to help each other people. My goal is to share all the blessings to cancer foundation and helping for the scholarship program of students who are willing to learn but cant afford financially to go to school. “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength’ Philippians 4:13 I truly believe and I will do it with his guidance and will.
My husband and I have a heart to see people broken out of consumer debt. When we were married we had $25,000 in consumer debt…wow…after a year we decided to make some changes and through some divine strategy and hard work we were debt free in 18th months!
Our goal is to see people make one of the best investments ever…themselves. So we have set up a website on a shoe string budget and made a course to help people get out of debt and are nearly ready to kick start our dream!!!
My goal is to open a gym where I can help people change their health and body composition. I want to teach group classes, do one-on-one training, have seminars about nutrition and healthy living, and have an awesome youth program where kids can come and learn to exercise and be healthy at an early age. I want to be invovled with the schools and the community to help my city be a very healthy place to live.
I have been working on my goal of being an Independent Wholesale Supplier to a variety of business professionals, as well as, Internet Retail sales, and initiating my new and unique fund-raiser that I designed for schools and churches, since about 2008. Since I had not had the ability to obtain the capital I needed to get a strong start, I had to dedicate my efforts on a part-time basis while building a strong foundation to ensure my business would work well according to my business ideas and plans.
My husband and I have had our share of medical issues which have slowed me down, but I have kept the fire burning and kept my business active, I just wasn’t ready to quit! The main reason I wanted to start this business is that I knew what skills and experience I had, but since I have severe arthritis in my back and knees and other medical issues, I had a difficult time trying to find an employer that would hire me. After reviewing my own resume, I decided I could develop a business that I could work despite my physical limitations, because I knew I could find ways to work around them.
Unfortunately, in 2010 my husband developed a rare disease called Diabetic Amyotrophy Neuropathy, and it was a scary time for us. We initially thought he injured his back at work, but to make a long story short, he went from being a strong, hard working guy, to having his muscles deteriorate almost completely within 3-4 months time, not being able to stand on his own 2 feet. This disease affected the muscles in his legs, arms, shoulders and other internal organs to become very weak, and I became his caretaker 24 hours a day / 7 days a week. It was a very tough road, but we made it through the most difficult time in our lives, through faith, prayer, and hard work. He has regained some muscles and is able to use a walker around our very small apartment, but he still has a long way to go, he still takes morphine for the pain. Since this started in 2010, I had to put my business on hold, but I still kept it active, even though I wasn’t able to do much with it.
Over the last few months, I have been able to slowly work on updating my website to get it ready for restarting my business in 2013 (MY GOAL). Now that my husband doesn’t need me every minute of the day, I’m able to start setting appointments with customers to introduce my business to them, and learn about their business so that I can explain how I can help them save money for their business as well as for themselves. Each business has different needs, so I found it is best to find out what their needs and goals are so that I can share product suggestions and ideas with them. I will also be scheduling appointments with private schools to introduce my new fund-raiser.
Another goal I have is to be able to earn enough to pay off our debt, and be able to buy a home that we can design that would be more suitable for us, with our physical limitations. We live in a very small apartment, and it is not handicapped accessible. We cannot afford to move out at this point, so we’re making do with what we have. It is not only our goal to have financial freedom, but the freedom to live in a home that we want to live in, not one that we’re stuck with!
My goal is to pastor a church this year. I had a vision many years ago of something I would be doing. My wife had the same vision before we ever met. It was years after that we ever talked about it and compared notes. It has yet to happen, but I am confident I will see it. I believe much of the church world lacks in the wisdom like Dani is teaching. It must happen within a local church and spread from there. Many congregations are held captive by the disbelief that it could work for them because of a separation between spiritual matters and employment/business. I want to change that.
Thank you so much for posting this Dani! So inspiring!
My BIG AUDACIOUS Goal is to become the number 1
income earner in my company during the year 2013.
My first step to success still be getting the first 5 people
on my team to your next First Steps To Success Training.
Someone felt a specific conviction to give us Grooming Your Children for Success. We were so impacted by the book we bought seven more copies to give to people and keep in our church library. We do our best to raise our children based on the biblical priciples of this wonderful, inspiring book. To change our North American cuture around, everyone needs to read this book.
Everyone in North America can read this book, My Big Audacious Goal is to challenge everyone to buy seven copies of this book and pass it on to seven families we care about. When they see the results they can pass these books onto others they care about. Write your name and phone number on the inside of the book so people can call you for encouragement. This will change the world around us one by one.
Sorry, I got the book title mixed up. Its called “Grooming the Next Generation for Success” by Dani Johnson
Sorry,I got the name of title mixed up. Its called ” Grooming the Next Generation For Success” By Dani Johnson.
What a great article. My BIG audacious goal is to earn more money in my home business. I am learning so much from your materials. I know 2013 is the year of change for my family. We are paying off debt, seeking God, and our minds have been changed to think like 2 percenters. We will be working smarter this year so that we enjoy raising our children ourselves fully committed to their success. The biggest goal we set is to take a vacation, which is long overdue. It has been 10 years. We have explained that we couldn’t afford it…. and maybe next year. We will make it happen this year.
My Big Audacious Goal for 2013 is to reach my (new) community with free Debt on War and Grooming the Next Generation for Success, annihilating debt in this city and giving the next generation a chance to make a difference – filling my funnel and give $10,000+ (tithe) to orphans, widows and the hungry by the end of this year.