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Follow Your Dream

Guest post by: Alfred Ade-Ijimakinwa

Article Overview: Dream are like fantasy. Bringing it alive brings fulfilment.

Follow Your Dream

Again, I love biographies of successful people. Maybe, someday, you should ask me why I love them. Don't ask me today for I have a story of a farmer's son who dreamt of being a lecturer. Enjoy reading. In 1888 in Maryville Missouri, a son was born into a very poor home. In his teens, he would get up at 4a.m. every day to milk his parents' cows. However, he managed to obtain a formal education at the State Teacher's College in Warrensburg. Afterwards, he landed a job selling correspondence course to ranchers. He would later become a salesman, selling bacon and soap.

At the age of 23, he managed to save $500 and walked out on his job as a salesman to pursue a lifelong dream of being a lecturer. But he ended up in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. "Perhaps, I will succeed as an actor", he thought. After a road show in a circus, he returned to New York nearly broke and ended up living at the YMCA on 125th Street.

He got a job as a salesman, but he was not fulfilled. He would later be tired of living in a room infested by cockroaches. He was tired of being an unhappy salesman. He wanted an improved life. He wanted to be remembered for something very significant. He remembered his lifelong dream of wanting to be a lecturer and was ready for it. He persuaded the manager of the YMCA Evening classes to allow him to instruct a class for a small pay. He got the job, but soon ran out of materials in his first session. He visited the library, but found no suitable materials for his students who were small scale business people who wanted to increase their sales and self confidence. He decided to develop his own course material on public speaking and self confidence. And at the age of 26, every week, he was earning $500, which is equivalent to 10,000 now.

As a young man, he admired the Steel Magnate Andrew Carnegie. And later changed his last name from Carnagey to Carnegie, this also added to his credibility. At 28, he was able to rent Carnegie Hall (A Hall named after Andrew Carnegie because he financed the construction) for a lecture to a packed house. Afterwards, His first collection of writings was published titled Public Speaking: a Practical Course for Business Men, which later was entitled Public Speaking and Influencing Men in Business.

At 48, he encountered his greatest achievement when Simon & Schuster published his book titled "How to Win Friends and Influence People." The book became an international bestseller. At his death, the book sold million of copies in 31 languages and there had been 450, 000 graduates from Dale Carnegie Institute.

Dale Carnegie died a lecturer.

Follow your dream for someday you will find yourself in your dreamland.

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Article Tags: Andrew Carnegie, Dale Carnegie, graduates, influencing people, public speaking, Steel Magnate
Referred by: http://www.parisandjoanne.com/



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