A few days ago I opened my FB chat window to find that my sister sent a video clip of Will Smith. If I’m being honest, I have to say that I don’t usually open these things. They usually turn out to be some sort of chain message. I always hated chain letters back in the day, turning them into videos doesn’t make them any less irritating. But when I saw that it was a celebrity I happened to enjoy, I decided to give it a hear. I know, shallow. But it’s true.

Will was sharing a motivational message about protecting one’s dream. He quoted some other person I’d never heard of in saying, “Set your life on fire, and seek those who fan your flames.” The idea being that if you if have a dream, pursue it, surround yourself with those who will help you build it. Through support and encouragement, education, motivation, or even tangible aid. This is something I’d heard several years ago, when first introduced to the concept of entrepreneurism. I’ve experienced my share of pyramid schemes, motivational seminars… It was certainly one of the most indelible messages I received. I’d also heard a variant of it as a young boy with this simple biblical admonition, “Bad association spoils useful habits.”

I got to thinking about this message and somehow, I had the presence of mind to invert the message. What about spreading the message of fanning one’s own flames? Is it enough to simply have a fire inside? Or do we need to fan our own flames so that our dreams grow and manifest? One way we can fan our own flames is to educate ourselves. Educating yourself, By Yourself is possible. There’s even a word for it, my favorite word. Autodidactic. The more you grow your wealth of knowledge and skills the more capable and ready you are to push back at the world to manifest your dream.

I listened to a pair of talking heads this morning, one of which said that he thinks that if people have talents that can help to make the world a better place, then he feels they have an obligation to themselves and the world it’s self, to employ them. Or something rather close to that. I happen to agree. Making the world a better place can be as simple as selling a homemade bath bomb to someone that needs it at the end of a hard day’s work, or sand etching a stone with a client’s last name. The perfect decorative item for their door stoop. The other talking head said something else I agreed with, which was that the only way to manifest a dream is to do it. Do stuff! Make things, go places and talk to people, bring your creative force into the world. Gain support to create momentum.

I've been working on my own dream. In fact, this blog post is one way of doing so. But other than that, today I went to my first open shoot. This is a bartering event where photographers and models get together to work on building their portfolios. I had a blast! I went in the spirit not only of seeking to build my portfolio, but also to help manifest my dream by doing stuff. More to come on that experience.

If you’re walking through your days with a dream in your head. I encourage you to introduce the world to your dream, by building on yourself, and simply doing what you dream of doing, on whatever scale you possibly can. Success doesn’t often come over night, and when it does most humans wouldn’t be ready to handle it, because they’ve leaped past the struggle. Don't be afraid to grow.

Have any of you heard of skill share? Skillshare.com is a site that offers classes on all sorts of things. Business courses, photography courses, painting and even knitting. Almost anything you can think of. I consider it a valuable resource. Amazon! Did you know that amazon offers free educational e-books? Then of course, Youtube should be mentioned. There’s also Minds.com which is a growing alternative to Youtube. One of my favorite resources is Audible.com. I’m an on the go multitask kinda guy. Audible is perfect for absorbing information on the go. Then there are good ole’ books. Half Priced Books is one of my all time favorite places to fan my flame on the cheap.

I’d like to mention a few people within my own personal reach, who are building on dreams, and fanning their own flames. Ash Brannon, who hand makes some awesome aromatic, fizzy bath bombs. One can see what she does at her Etsy page BATH IN PARADISE (all caps=link). Don Wilcox, who loves to make all sorts of things with rocks and minerals. Please enjoy his work on his site, TUNDRAFOX.COM. Diana Tallada is a wife, mother and CEO/Founder of the Purpose Driven Empire, centered around fitness and health. Visit DIANA.TALLADA through Instagram.

Fists up for the small businesses of America! Fanning their own flames to manifest dreams.

Dreamer, to doer of stuff. Yeah...Stuff!