This is a YouTube video titled "Spencer Christian Interviews Allison Maslan on ABC's View from the Bay" containing an interview recorded in August 2010. The content features Spencer Christian and Allison Maslan discussing how to overcome fear and take steps to follow one's dreams, including practical advice and personal anecdotes from Allison Maslan, who is the author of "Blast Off." The interview also includes another speaker contributing to the conversation and covers topics such as goal clarity, facing roadblocks, creating success plans, and the importance of guidance and coaching.
All right, here's a question for you. Are you afraid to follow your dreams because of the risk that might be involved? Well, you're not alone. Many people feel that way. Joining us now with steps to help us launch our dreams into reality is the author of Blast Off. Welcome, Alison Maslin. Good to see you.
Thanks. Thank you so much for having me. Say your last name correctly, Maslin.
Yes. Okay, good. So, Alison, why is it that so many people are afraid to just go for their dreams?
Well, we often got messages when we were young to really, you know, what do you want to be when you grow up? And then all of a sudd, it's time to get out into the working world. And by default, we often fall into something either that our parents told us to do or that we thought would make us a lot of money. And then, you know, life starts going on 10 years down the road and you're like, I don't like this. This doesn't make me happy. And there are about eight a recent study that 87% of people are really miserable in their careers.
So how did you decide in your life to follow your dreams? What was it that gave you the inspiration to go for it?
Well, my father really was my mentor. He had the largest chain of women's clothing stores privately owned in the United states in the 70s and early 80s. So he had such a passion for business. So I think that just infused to me. And I have had nine of my own businesses, and I love creating new businesses in my business.
Okay, let's get some inspiration from you. You've got five steps to launching your dreams into reality. The first one is get clarity on your goals and dreams.
Well, this is what a lot of people struggle with is their roadbloc because they know they want something more, but they don't know what that could be. And so in my book, Blast off, and in my coaching practice, I take people through a creative process to figure out what is your passion, what would you love to do? And one of the things I have is the Dream career questionnaire that asks these questions to help get to that deeper place. And I had one of my clients who came to me, and she was burned out in her career and really was in a job for survival. And what came through the process with it? She loved fashion. She loved everything about. But she thought she had to have a lot of money to open up a brick and mortar store. But I said, no, we can do this on the Internet. Now. She has this beautiful store called heavenspennies.com and has now made enough money to send her kids off to college, and she's living her passion.
So now we've got some clarity on our dreams. You say we need to face our roadblocks, identify them and face them. This is something you sort of did in a rather unusual way.
Yes. Well, one of my dreams when I was younger was to be on the flying trapeze. I was always a gymnast growing up, and when I discovered that. And really, the trapeze. Yes. Is a lot like life in business. You gotta jump off with both feet. You've gotta stay focused on your goal. And I take a lot of my clients up on the flying trapeze because it really helps you break through that barrier, right?
Yeah.
It's about letting go and just going for it.
Yeah, you just have to. It's the beginning of the challenge. That's the hardest part. That's great. Once you take those first few steps, your fear begins to dissolve, your confidence rises and you can say, yes, I can do this, I can do this and more. Yes, and more. Absolutely.
How do we create our success plan, our blast off plan?
Well, I think this is the other thing where people get stuck. They may know what they want, they work through their fear, but they don't know how to get there. So one of the reasons I developed this plan was to give people a structure. When you have steps to follow, when you have a structure, you have something to hold onto. So it helps you from procrastinating, from quitting when things get tough. So I help you create what I call a big picture vision. So you know exactly where you're headed and you feel confident in that. And then we break it down into small steps. I call them mini feats. And that makes it so it's not so overwhelming. It's not like this big lofty goal and you just take little steps every single day.
So give us an example. Do you write this all down on a piece of paper? Is that what people should do?
Well, I have a workbook that is also in my book and it has forms in the back, so that helps you break it down. And I also have a software program I developed called Blastation. And it's just an online program. You just log and you can put in all your big visions and it helps you break it down. So you just log on every day and it tells you exactly what you need to do. So it makes it really easy.
And how important is it to ask for guidance or direction?
I think that we all need that. People think that it is a weakness to ask for help, but it's really quite the opposite. When you think of athletes, they have coaches that helps them to strategize, to help them stay on track and stay motivated. A life and business coach, if they walk, their talk, can do the same. It really helps you get from A to Z without the headache, without the heartache, you know, actually save you a lot of money and time and to keep you on track, to reach your goals.
You have so many events coming up, and we actually have them all on our website, including one tonight, the Mastermind gathering, tonight at 7pm at Row in San Francisco. If you want to check it out or get more information, go to our website.
