A lot of people who have achieved their dreams would give the advice “Never give up”. But the fact is, many people have to give up for one reason or another. But how can you stay on track and not give up? Probably the number one reason a person has to give up on their dream is because of their financial situation. So this is my advice:

1. Be conservative in your spending. A friend once told me, “Spend less than what you make, it’s that easy”. Of course sometimes it’s not that easy, but it helps to mentally prepare yourself to not spend so much.

2. Be very careful with investments. There are a lot of investments out there in the world that look attractive and easy. But I’ve found there are no ‘get rich schemes’, or they are very rare. I would advise not to make money investments, but rather invest time and effort to make your dream come true. If your dream requires some financial investment, try to do it in a way that will not cause you to give up your dream if it fails.  For example, try to start out small and grow slowly, don’t bet on the whole business at once.

I was listening to the story of Herbert Kalmus, inventor of the Technicolor color movie process. It took many years, investment and many tries to create a viable color movie film, but Kalmus was able to keep going because he created other inventions at the same time, that gave him additional sources of income. Other companies developing color film went bankrupt, but Kalmus had the foresight to diversify his business and thus diversify his income sources.

So my third piece of advice is: Try to develop other ways to make money while you’re working on your dream job. Some people take extra jobs, but don’t have time to work on their dream job. It may not be easy, but try to figure out how to make it work.

Personally, I wasn’t good at saving money, I spent many years not making much money, and I lived in an apartment til I got married and bought a house at age 41. I consider myself a late bloomer, but somehow, because I didn’t give up, I was able to get my dream job as a Disney artist.

I have a friend, Suzie, who shared a story about a young man she used to hire to help work in her garden. He was shy and embarrassed to tell her that he had left community college to attend a trade school to become an auto mechanic.

He said that most of his friends were going to Stanford, USC, and other universities, to become lawyers, teachers, etc. and they looked down on him and made fun of him for wanting to fix cars.

But he loved tinkering with car parts and playing with engines, and Suzie told him that there was nothing wrong with that and he would always have a job and be admired and respected by people. He graduated from the trade school top of his class and quickly found employment with the county.

Suzie told him that doing what he loved will always make him feel fulfilled and much happier. By following his passion, he was able to earn good money and was starting to become less shy and more confident.