Joy Foster – Founder of TechPixies – Dreamchaser
The distinction between ‘realising your dreams’ and ‘chasing your dreams’
I’m Joy Foster, the founder of TechPixies. We run online courses in social media, WordPress and digital marketing specifically aimed at helping women who want to return to work, change careers or start a business.
I have been chasing my dreams for the past 16 years and I want you to know:
- It is never too late to chase your dreams
- I do not regret for one second chasing mine
But there is a distinction I’d like to make between ‘realising your dreams’ and ‘chasing your dreams’ AND I should know the difference because I’ve spent a LOT of time chasing them.
Realising your dreams means that you take that dream or that vision in your heart and you turn it into reality.
But the step that comes before realising is chasing. In order to realise your dreams, you actually have to make the first move – to realise a dream, you have to have a bias towards action, a bias towards chasing, because here is the thing… you will never ever realise your dreams if you don’t start chasing them in the first place.
I have had a lot of dreams – In 2004 and 2008, I wanted to make the United States Olympic Archery Team. A dream I chased with all my heart but never realised. Although I was a member of the US Archery Team and lived at the Olympic training center, I failed to make either of the Olympic teams I tried out for, despite my efforts which included:
- Quitting my job to train full time for 4 years
- Shooting up to 1000 arrows a day
- Training with the number one archery coach in the world.
Another dream of mine was a four year mission to complete an Ironman. After having two children 15 months apart, I took a hiatus from all things sporty. It was only when a friend down the road suggested that we start running while pushing buggies that I decided to have a go again. We ran/walked for 20 minutes, 2 mornings a week.
Then I heard an amazing woman, Sophie Radcliffe, describe how she completed an Ironman despite the fact that when she started training she had never run more than 3 miles in one go. I decided then and there that if she could do it, I could do it too!
I spent four years training fo Ironman and I attempted Ironman Wales. I finished the swim in 1 hour 22 minutes and the bike in 9 hours and 8 minutes BUT I crossed into transition 53 seconds late and wasn’t allowed to start the marathon, which is the 3rd leg of one of the most grueling races on the Ironman circuit.
I like to tell people that when you don’t finish an Ironman, they give you something called a DNF. Normally that stands for ‘Did Not Finish’ – In my case though, it stands for ‘Did Not Fail’.
Leading into the Ironman itself, I was up against it. Not only was I running a business and raising a family BUT 2 months before the Ironman, my father in law was diagnosed with leukemia and 12 days before the Ironman he passed away. The very fact that I showed up was a win, getting to the start line, a miracle and getting as far as I did, a blessing.
At one point towards the end of the race, I passed several men, walking their bikes up a hill with a 16% incline. It is important to note that only 12% of the participants at Ironman Wales were women in the first place. At the bottom of the hill, I committed to myself that no matter what I did, I was not going to get off the bike. I knew that if I got off the bike and walked it, my Ironman journey would be over.
But I have other dreams too – in fact, when I set out to build TechPixies, I made 3 promises to myself:
- That within 5 years, TechPixies would be profitable and sustainable
- That I would know my children and they would know me
- That I would still be married
I knew that if TechPixies was profitable and sustainable, I would be able to financially provide for my family but I didn’t want it to be at the cost of my family.
In all honesty, I’m so glad I made these promises to myself.
And here’s my top tip – I wrote them down, I talked about them, I blogged about them, I prayed about them. I made my dreams real to me and to those around me because by doing that, they too could share in the journey.
I also got some great advice somewhere along the way. Someone told me to ‘remember to have fun.’ I honestly think this is one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received. What is the point in chasing dreams if you are miserable the whole time you are doing it. In all honesty, if you are miserable, it is probably the wrong dream.
Chasing and realising your dreams should be fun. It should be liberating, it should challenge you and push your limits… but at the end of the day this is YOUR LIFE… you should enjoy it.
I dreamed of taking TechPixies from being a local, Oxford-based face to face social media course and transform it into an online social media course that could be accessed by anyone in the world. Today, I’m pleased to announce that TechPixies is on track to be sustainable and profitable throughout 2020.
- We’ve built an online platform
- More than doubled our impact in terms of women we’ve helped
- Hired a team from within our supply chain (meaning, women who had done the TechPixies course)
- We secured CPD Accreditation which means we can offer CPD (career professional development) Certification for our online courses.
I know my children and yes, I’m still married. I may not be an Ironman YET but I’m glad I went for it and I have no regrets.
In order to realise your dreams, you have to start chasing them. Chasing dreams requires courage – but if you can muster it up, going for your dreams will be one of the best decisions you can ever make.
If you’re ready to chase your dreams, TechPixies is offering a discount price of 10% off our social media magic course. To take advantage of this offer visit: techpixies.com/socialmediamagic and use the code ‘RHC’
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