Many of you may have seen or heard, I am now following my passion of helping people by becoming a public and keynote speaker, mentoring individuals and businesses to success.
Through the power of storytelling and taking what I’ve learned through my experiences in the U.K. Special Forces and translating it to victories in the market, I am able to help others remember and take back their dreams. Here’s where much of my story began.
At an early age my career prospects were not looking good. From years of bullying my self-belief and self-worth were at rock bottom. I thought I might join the navy as I wanted to sail around the world. However I took a change of direction when one day, in my geography class, my best friend Paul showed me a poster. It was of the Royal Marines! One picture in particular stood out amongst the rest. It showed a group of guys enjoying a beer on a beach, and underneath it, it said “In 1975 the marines took a holiday.”
All I saw was these four guys and that they were a part of a team. I suddenly wanted to be a part of THAT team, and I said to Paul, “how do I join?” His response was, “You just go to the careers office and ask to sign up.” So I did!!
“So what do you want to do when you finish your basic training? There’s lots of careers you can follow once you become a marine?”
The recruitment guy said. One thing I knew I could do well apart from Northern Soul dancing (and we’ll get to that in a future email) was swimming. “I’d like to do that.” I said, pointing to a picture of a diver “Oh join the Special Boat Service?” He chuckled, knowing it’s the hardest training and selection course in the U.K. Forces.
He was looking at me, a small weedy teenager and his evaluation was that there was no way I would ever achieve that goal. It’s really important that when someone laughs at you and doubts you, that you don’t let them steal your dreams.
I believe this was one of the moments that set me on course for an amazing military career. Welcome to my value series, a new blog that will be all about showcasing some of my stories, as well as letting you know what I love to do, which is motivate those through inspiration.
What’s “that something” you’ve been wanting to do, but have put it off?
Let me know by responding to this blog by emailing me at; jem@jemhills.com and you’ll be entered into a draw for a free ticket to one of my speaking events.
