Go Big or Go Home | Pam Moore

What will you accomplish in the next 1, 2 or 10 years if you have no fear of failure?

What will happen if you go for your dreams more than you worry about not achieving them?

I can remember a powerful conversation I had with a family friend, mentor and successful entrepreneur.

I was a few months away from heading off to college and we were discussing my dreams and life plans. I told him, “I dream that someday I will actually NEED a passport.”

His response was “what do you mean need a passport? Of course you will need a passport.”

He then went on to tell me that I needed to think bigger. He made it clear that instead of just needing a passport, that I would fill one up. He advised me that I should set a higher goal and envision having a passport so full that it was bursting.

We then had a deep conversation and he explained it wasn’t so much about the passport as it was the life that I would live, what I would accomplish, and the experiences I would have on the journey to filling up the passport. He said I would likely have kids by the time it was full and that I could then pass on the life lessons to them.

There is no “finish line” in this thing called life. It is a journey best enjoyed with good people to hug you, laugh with you and help you stand when you fall down.

He went on to explain that the more people we help stand back up, the more solid our own foundation becomes.

I can remember him stating so boldly, “go fill that passport until it bursts.”

At the time I laughed and said something similar to “yes, one can dream!” I never really had a dream to be a global traveler.

I simply had a desire for one heck of a memorable journey in this thing called life.

My journey…

My parents divorced when I was in 2^nd grade. My dad passed away (committed suicide) when I was a sophomore in high school.

I was raised and cared for by my single mom who knew how to stretch the dollar, love her kids and teach them to build a future for themselves. She taught us to be secure in who we are and have faith that we can do anything we set our mind to.

There was no silver platter handed to me. I knew from the age of 7 that if I wanted to go places in life, it would be my responsibility to make it happen. I wanted to leave a legacy and wanted to change the path for my kids, my grandkids and generations to follow.

Heck, I could have made up a ton of excuses. I could have let fear get me down. I didn’t have anyone to help pay for college or guide me on the perfect path to a career of success.

I put myself through college and have been blessed with amazing teachers, mentors, corporate leaders and colleagues since I can remember.

I followed my passions, dreams and held on to my faith, and never stopped believing in God’s ability to straighten my path when needed.

Life is simply a daily choice of faith or fear. You can live each day in fear or you can work hard, and have faith that you will achieve your goals.

I have always believed it only takes a seed. We reap what we sow.

15 Years in Corporate America

I spent 15+ years working inside the walls of corporate America. I was the gal who if they didn’t know what to do with a project, they would hand it to me and tell me to go figure it out.

I was usually tasked with “making it kick ass” in what was always a very short runway of time. My management would slap some insane revenue goal on it and tell me to sink or swim.

I learned to swim more than sink. I learned to stay close to the revenue. I learned to surround myself with good people who were smarter than me.

I learned marketing was more about an emotional human connection and that it didn’t always require a million dollar marketing budget. I learned to think out of the box, dream big, slow down to speed up, eliminate random acts of marketing and teach others to do the same.

I helped grow 800+ person business units in 18 months from projects that started with 3 people as a “test project” championed by the CEO of fortune 100 organizations.

I survived 13 layoffs at one company alone by staying focused on the goal and avoiding the water cooler. The water cooler was usually filled with people living in fear. The people going places were too busy helping their team succeed to waste time talking about their fears all day.

Fast forward to today…

After 15 years in corporate America, I ventured out to be an entrepreneur a few years ago. There was no “test the waters” chapter. It was time to fill up the rest of the passport.

It was time for a “go big or go home chapter.” I left behind a successful 15 year corporate career, stability, 401k, dream house and cars.

I traded it all in for a dream, for a journey, for a passport that needed filled!

Where are we today? We sold our first agency within two years and are now rockin’ the second agency, Marketing Nutz, and serving clients all over the globe that range in size from startups to Fortune 100 organizations.

I’m even writing this blog post while on a plane headed to Barcelona, Spain to conduct a two day workshop with our client, British Council. We’ll be training and empowering their team of 30+ amazing and smart social business marketing leaders from all over the globe!

I just returned from a business trip to Poland two weeks ago where I was hired by the Polish Insurance Association to deliver a keynote presentation to a room full of C-Level executives in the financial and insurance industry. You can check out the photos from the trip in this Flicker album here-> Pam Fell in Love with Poland in 2014

You can even read my first and second blog posts originally published on our first agency site, here-> Go Big or Go Home (the original) and New Chapter.

What about the passport?

And what about that passport? Well it’s about 75% full. It might even be full by the time it expires in 2018.

Here’s the thing… I’m not focused on “filling up the passport.” I am focused on living my life and helping other people build and live theirs. My goal is not to win agency projects and speaking gigs so I can add stamps in my passport.

I am simply living my dream, one day, one stamp at a time.

Each stamp represents tens to hundreds of people who I have helped on their journey. Each stamp represents human beings who I have met along the way and connected in a personal, human way.

Each page is filled with memories of laughter, breaking bread with friends new and old, falling down and standing back up together.

Don’t miss the journey!

I’m not telling you this to brag. This blog post is not a sneaky way for me to sell to you or trick you into anything.

I’m sharing because I know many of you are too busy trying to earn “the passport” that you are missing the journey. You are missing the bumps, valleys, mountains and people you could meet there.

You are too busy worrying about what you don’t have or what your competition is tweeting about that you have lost sight of the WHY you started your journey in the first place!

It is the WHY that gives you endurance, agility and success on the journey. It could very well be fear and insecurity that is holding you back.

Go Big or Go Home!

It’s time you go big. Don’t just get the passport. Don’t just start a business, launch a website or Facebook page.

Your worth on this planet is not measured by the number of followers you have or your social influence score. It’s measured by the lives you change on your journey.

When you focus on what really matters, the fear seems to go away or at minimum be reduced.

Take that fear and kick it to the curb.

If you can dream it, you can plan it, build it and live it!

What is Your Journey?

What is your path? Where are you? Are you ready to release the fear? Have you already released the fear? What did you learn you can share with others to help them? Share a bit of your story here if you think others can benefit from it.

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