If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It

"Magic exists. Who can doubt it when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind, and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live."
— Nora Roberts

I possibly made the biggest mistake of my life by taking my children to Colorado on vacation in 2014. Up until that time, I was a happy fellow living in a small town in Indiana and then moving later in life to Indianapolis. I owned a company in Beautiful Parker City, Indiana. Life was easy; my partner and I had built a wonderful life, but, what happened next, I would never forget.

We found Boulder Creek, our Air B, and B was a basement at the end of Pearl Street. As I sat in the creek while my kids' tossed rocks in the stream, I looked up and saw something that changed my life. I looked up and noticed a large stone mountain beaming in a blue sky. I looked around and thought, how do I live here?

My entire family lived in Indiana; my business was located in Indiana, my life of 44 years had been spent in the cornfields of Indiana. But yet, my question to myself was, "How can I reside in this paradise?" So I returned to my home and told my business partner my idea. Unfortunately, she had no interest in Colorado, it was cold too much snow, but she agreed to visit Boulder with me the following year.

In 2015 we visited a few times; I was fortunate to get a speaking gig for 90 people in my industry. By the end of 2015 had convinced my partner that we could launch our company in Colorado, and I would go one week a month to develop the territory. She reminded me I didn't know anyone, and I said I knew one, Dot Miller.

Dot Miller was the young lady that hired me to speak, and I called her and asked for a referral to an accountant. She gave me Bob Zarlingo's name; I called him and set up a time to meet and discuss some office space in his building. I wrote him a check that first meeting for $2400.00 for one year of renting a closet-sized room to "make us official."  I had an office, I got a Colorado phone number, and the first week of January of 2016, I got an Air B and B, rented a car, and started my new life.

From my Air B and B, I called my new friend and landlord and asked, "You stated you had a road map in our meeting." Bob was replicating his business in Phoenix and had an idea how we might be successful. Bob said, "be at this address tomorrow at 7:00." So I got up and went to the location and met 25 business owners. During that meeting, I got five business cards, and from those five business cards, I found a company to purchase by March of 2016.

In April, we leased an apartment and spent one week a month in a duplex with our cousin. She had the place three weeks to herself; we were there one week, we split rent and looked for "where we wanted to live" while in Colorado. In October of 2016, we bought a condominium downtown in the Golden Triangle district; we closed on the company in March of 2017 and found it effective to fly back and forth every week between our Colorado Condo and Indianapolis home.

In July of 2018, we bought our dream home on a mountain top in Morrison, Coloardo. We used the house as a "weekend getaway." We would spend our week at the condo and go to our mountain top chalet each Thursday through Sunday. My partner and I would fly back and forth for four years, spending the first and third week in Colorado and the second and fourth in Indiana. It was exciting, but when our world was hit with a pandemic, we had to make a hard decision. Did we stay in Indiana or go to our Mountain top for a couple of weeks to slow the spread.

We didn't return to Indiana for five months; we moved out of our condo and rented it to our daughter, who had joined our firm selling for us in Colorado, and another new teammate who joined us the week before the start of the pandemic. Then, finally, in late 2020, we went back to Indiana for three months, and a good friend remodeled our mountain home. So we now live two months on top of a mountain, one month in Indianapolis, we began Air B and B'ing our Indianapolis home when out west.

The challenge I faced was moving 1187 miles from home. How do I succeed in a market that I do not understand? How would I integrate into a new community? Would it work? Well, it did work, and I'm here to tell you that if you can dream it, you can do it. There are no limitations in life, only those you create in your head. My life is magical, and I'm here to share that your magical life is just a decision away, no matter who you are or where you live.

"Magic exists. Who can doubt it when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind, and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live."
— Nora Roberts