Sept. 6th, 2010
The first NYC skating footage is coming soon! We had a lot of fun and met some awesome people today! Dillon and Dan came along for what would be the most interesting skate I’ve had so far! Dillon plans to post the footage tomorrow. We’ll be skating around NYC for about three weeks to build some buzz. We also expect to give some presentations at Yale, Harvard, MIT, and Wellesley. Once we’ve built some awareness in NYC, we’ll start skating more progressively toward NC and of course California after that.
The last few weeks leading up to the beginning of the Freedom Skate were incredibly stressful, but they were also very inspiring. It is still unbelievable to me that just two weeks out from starting the tour we didn’t even know our investor, Dan Hussain, from American Pioneer Ventures. Up until that point, we had committed to going down to start the skate, even if we had to hitchhike down to New York where the skate would start. I talked to Dan for the first time on August 23rd over the phone. The very next day, Dillon and I drove well over halfway to Pittsburgh to meet him. There was just so much shared vision that we didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity.
After meeting Dan, things moved really fast. The running joke has been that a Fortune 500 company probably wouldn’t have even responded to our email yet. I think that much is true. It’s amazing what can happen, when a few people with shared vision and enough passion begin working toward a common goal. That word: “begin,”… it’s so much more important than I can explain. If I could pick a single obstacle that prevents more people from achieving great things than anything else, it would have to be an aversion to starting. Most of us will not take a dive and go after a great idea full force until we see that everything is perfectly lined up. The funny thing is: there will never be a perfect moment! The best time to start is right now. You don’t need to know how to address every obstacle (also known as opportunities!). You just need to know where to begin, take the first step, and then figure out where to place the next.
My mindset while skating is similar; I never know how to handle all obstacles between me and my goal. I just know my direction and start moving. I handle obstacles as they come – adapting as need be to make it happen. It’s the only way to live.
Below is a short video about an inspirational experience right after we purchased the RV that we are using as the support vehicle for this tour.
Good stuff my man! Keep the dream alive!