The concept of "The American Dream" is one of the most well know idea's in the modern world. It motivates people from all over the globe like a beacon of light. Everyone understands it and no two dreams are the same. Unfortunately, the American Dream you end up with may not be the one you initially intended.
My dream at 15 yrs old was to be rich by 28.
Straight out of high school, I got my first job at Wells Fargo as a bank teller. My father worked his way through college and he felt his children should too. The deal was, " I pay for my own college tuition and every semester after I pass all my classes, he would reimburse me."
I worked my way though Junior College and University selling cars, vacuum's, gym memberships, retail, and delivering pizza's. It took me 5-1/2 years to earn my BS in Finance from San Jose State University. It was 2005 and I was 25, educated, and broke!
I Then got married to my long time sweetheart from high school and we moved to Hollywood, CA. I worked at Enterprise Rent-A-Car and she worked nights at Hustler Casino as a Black Jack banker. That's right, my wife was paid to count cards and play 21 with house money.
What husband wouldn't be proud of that?
After the first year in Hollywood, things were looking up. I changed jobs and took a position as the Business Development Manager for one of the first car-sharing companies in the United States, Flexcar. We moved into a better neighborhood in Hollywood (Behind the In-N-Out burger on Sunset Blvd.) and started thinking about the future... We were 27 years old and felt like the American Dream was possible for us.
Fast forward 1 year... Flexcar gets acquired by its only competitor Zipcar and Zipcar fires everyone from Flexcar including myself. I wasn't too worried though. I was young, had a college degree and plenty of sales experience. So in the meantime I thought I would enjoy unemployment and weigh my options.
One month later things went from bad to worse... THE FINANCIAL CRISIS.
Every company in america went on a HIRING FREEZE or mass layoffs. At that time, I was still unemployed and my wife was working at a local coffee shop as a barista.
Basically minimum wage and a few dollars in tips at the end of the shift. One month we only made $176.56.
I couldn't find work anywhere and my debt was piling up fast. During those days I did what I could to make an honest dollar. Over the next year we had to downgrade our living situation to a 660 sf. studio apartment in a cockroach infested building.
Side Story: One night my wife was sitting on the couch watching TV and she reached over and grabbed her red wine glass. Without looking she took a drink! Then felt the sensation of a cockroach squirming in her mouth. She spit out an inch long roach! HA, we both laugh thinking back at it... but gross! At the time it wasn't as funny and complicated an already very stressful living situation. We almost got divorced several times... none cockroach related.
Over the course of that year I also filed bankruptcy.
Fast forward 6 months I landed my first job in over a year! I worked at a Sprint cell phone franchise. The job was minimum wage, plus $5 commission for any phones I sold. I was selling new phone renewals to Union Bank members... Over the phone!
Have you ever tried to sell a phone, over the phone!? ;-)
I hated that job but we needed money so I took it. But I continued to send out resumes and only write cover letters for positions I was truly interest in. A few months later I was rewarded for my efforts and landed a job as a territory sales manager for an oil distribution company in Long beach.
Finally we were able to breath again and move out of Hollywood. The pay was much better and it allowed my wife to quit her coffee shop position and do something else. She knew she would have to start at the bottom and work her way up and that's what she did. She took a position as an unpaid intern at an internet startup in Santa Monica, CA called InTheMo. Over the next 6 months she leveraged that internship into a paid full time position.
Over the next few years we worked hard and changed jobs where we needed to. We had many bumps in the road, but the trajectory continued upward. It is now Sept. 2017 and my wife and I both have great jobs and own a beautiful home near Laguna Beach, Ca. We are also expecting our first child.
My wife is a senior product manager for a technology company and I am a high level Territory Sales Manager in a multi million dollar territory. We will both have to work to make ends meet and raise our baby to be but we are making the best of it. The future is unknown but appears to be bright.
Have we accomplished the American Dream? Was it easy? No to both. But I am invested in Crypto-currencies.. just in case.
So what's the point?
I think the point is, the American Dream isn't what people think it is? It's no longer a dream; it's more of a fantasy. America is great because it gives you the opportunity to become anything you want. BUT, just because you want it... doesn't mean that's enough.
You have to work hard, start over many times, stay flexible, laugh at the bad breaks, take personal responsibility, and never stop trying. If you aren't willing to do that, you don't have a chance.
I've been in sales my entire adult life. I've sold everything from vacuum cleaners and gym memberships to financial services and finished lubricants. I've had the unique opportunity to work for/with some of the best known companies in the world.
Electrolux
24 hour fitness
Applied Material
Solar City (Elon Musk)
ExxonMobil
Castrol
Idemitsu
To name a few.
I've met good people and bad. I've worked for good companies and bad. I've worked with lazy people and motivated people.
The one thing that defines whether or not a person has what it takes to accomplish the American Dream is also one of the hardest things to learn... Always take responsibility FIRST before blaming others. Only then will you learn and be better the next time.
Life will continue to present you with a problem until you learn the lesson it is trying to teach you.
One final thought.
Don't let others put their limitations on you.
Go get your dream!!