American Dream

Jim Bickford
Author, Speaker
American Dreams

As I reflect back, June of 1993 became a major turning point in my life. On one of summer’s most beautiful days, the last place on earth I wanted to be was in court. Worse yet, it was bankruptcy court where I was dreading the reality that at 36 years old, I was now bankrupt. This couldn’t be. I was college educated. I was a hard worker. I worked six and seven days a week, day and night. Not me!

I was wiped out, financially, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I had only $12.97 left to my name. No wife, no kids, no house, no job, a failed business of six years, gone, no hope, and most of all – no future. All I could hear were the words...loser,...you loser, boy, what a loser you are, over and over again. I just wanted to go hide somewhere, anywhere, anywhere but here.

It was at that point in my life, that I was presented with a great opportunity to change. I thought, well, you’re down to nothing. What is it that you really want to do in life? I thought about it, over and over. I thought, that even though I was broke, I still believed that everyone in America who worked hard and did the right things had the opportunity to achieve their very own American Dream. I also knew that good things took a long time to accomplish. I then said, you’ve still got another 30 or so years you’ll probably be working. It might as well be at something that you really enjoy doing.

When I walked out of that courtroom, I knew I couldn’t change the past, but I certainly could attempt to change the future, for the better. It was at that moment, that I made the commitment to myself that I would somehow find a way to continue to study and interview some of America’s top achievers and find out how they went about achieving their dreams. I would also discover what kept them going, how they bounced back, and hopefully, be able to share their wisdom with other dreamers throughout our great land.

How did I get started? Earlier that year I saw a great story of comeback on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” on television. It featured John Paul DeJoria, who was homeless twice in his life. Through hard work and persistence he managed to bounce back and build from scratch the $150+ million John Paul Mitchell Systems hair care empire. That inspired me!

I wrote him a letter. I also wrote letters to hundreds of other achievers asking for the opportunity to interview them on how they reached their own dreams against the odds. My friends all said I was crazy, none of those millionaires will ever answer your silly letters. Well, many did, including John Paul. I was now back in business and near publishing a 16 page quarterly newsletter called “American Dreams.”

During that six-month startup period, I lived on fumes, borrowing money and stretching out my bills to survive. Finally, I had 5,000 newsletters printed, most on credit. John Paul Mitchell Systems purchased 1,000. I was on a roll. My goal was to sell the newsletters to companies in discounted large quantities where they could hand them out to their employees, customers and throughout their network as a motivational and inspirational tool.

Over a two-month period I sent out over 500 second day air packets to company CEO’s making them a great offer to purchase and distribute newsletters at huge discounts. Most routed the letters to marketing where most of them loved the idea although they said to check back next year. This year’s budgets were already spent. I was devastated. I couldn’t wait until next year. Unfortunately, I was forced to wind down the newsletter. Again, I was broke, tired and badly embarrassed.

A friend then suggested to me that I take a Dale Carnegie course. I immediately did and loved it. There were about 40 or so other people in the class who were positive, upbeat and looking to improve themselves. My instructor, Nick Zavadsky, was tremendously motivating. The next day I asked the local sponsor, Eddie Snow if I could come to work for him. Within a week, I earned the right and came onboard as a straight commission sales representative. Since I had no money at the time, he paid for my classes by offering me generous scholarships to complete them. I graduated from six of their classes and they were excellent. The classes helped rebuild my self-confidence. I was torn between Carnegie and writing. My passion was always there to write about the American Dream. The writing eventually won out. I left Carnegie after working there for 15 months.

Still needing to generate an income I worked at a variety of sales and marketing jobs to get by on. I also worked in customer service and even telemarketing.

As for the writing, I felt I could raise enough money to research and self-publish “The American Dreams Collection” book from some of the people, mostly, well off, who I would interview. It took well over 900 letters in second day air packages and over four years to get the interviews I needed. I received back hundreds of letters stating they all liked the project but were not in a position to help finance it or did not have time for an interview. With over 800 rejections it was not easy for anyone to take. Especially, for a struggling, unknown writer. I had a whole wall plastered with rejection letters. My friends and family, again thought I was nuts. They suggested, why don’t you just go back and get a good full time job. It was tough hanging in there.

My goal was to get just one of the millionaires I interviewed to fund the project. Again, my funds ran out. With 800-plus letters out there, I finally received one of the letters back from a leading venture capitalist. He stated, maybe he could help me out a bit. He believed in my project and helped with the initial seed money. Soon, another millionaire believed in the project and committed to purchase 1,000 books if he liked the final draft. All in all, it finally snowballed, amazingly, nine multi-millionaires helped get “The American Dreams Collection” off the ground. Passion, purpose and persistence finally pay off.

This exciting journey evolved over a 20-year period where I read and studied well over 600 books on success, achievement and prosperity which finally led me to researching and writing about it. Hopefully, one of the stories in “The American Dreams Collection” may be the one that motivates YOU to rebuild your own American Dream.

It is my firm belief – The American Dream Is Alive And Well To All Those Who Choose To Chase After It. The Choice is yours.

Resource Information:
American Dreams
Phone: (702) 732-1971
Web: http://www.usdreams.com