Hello from Miami!

I can’t tell you how nice it felt to walk out of the airport and see blue skies, feel the warm breeze on my skin, and see my dad waiting for me in Miami.

Nothing beats being picked up by my dad and hearing all about the delicious Cuban lunch we were about to have.

After waking up at 3:00 am to catch my flight, I was happy to sit back and let out a sigh of relief- I was home.

But a few years ago, being “home” meant that I was home from college and that I had to work for the summer.

I had really fun jobs working as a summer camp counselor at the Miami Seaquarium, teaching kids all about marine life and rescuing turtles.

I have always enjoyed working with people- especially if it meant feeding sharks and manatees.

Did I just say feeding sharks?

Yes! Me…Ilean…you know the girl with the pink pens and the fluffy dog was feeding sharks on my own!

Such a boss, right?

I have to admit that it was pretty gross and that I was nervous about it in the beginning.

To feed the sharks, I had to prepare a fish (I’ll spare you the details…it wasn’t fancy sushi for sure), tie it to a rope as I stood on a bridge above the sharks, and smack it on the water to attract the sharks.

Fun fact: Brown nurse sharks typically eat fish that are dead or dying. So by slapping the fish on the water, they thought that the fish was their dream dish.

Once one of the sharks grabbed on to the fish, I would pull the fish (with the shark in tow) out of the water for the kids to see from a safe distance.

They loved that part of summer camp. At the time, Miss Ilean was their hero.

I loved my job and teaching the kids. I’m also pretty passionate about marine life, beaches, and saving turtles….

But I wanted more.

I felt a little broken because everyone else saw it as their dream job and here I was wishing for the day that I could do more, experience more, and travel more.

Have you ever felt grateful for where you are but can’t help to daydream about where you would like to go next?

If so, let me tell you something.

You are NOT broken.

Just because things are “good” doesn’t mean that they can’t be great!

Fast forward to today when I have traveled to 20+ countries, have the time freedom to travel to see my family, and get to spend more time with my husband than most people I know…..I can tell you that it’s worth it to dream.

But for dreams to work, you have to wake up and make it happen.

Feeding sharks was amazing but it was not the key to success.

Being successful requires a blend of knowing what you want and having the recipe to making it happen.

I’d like to share with you my recipe for success.

Click here to read all about how to turn what you know into a profitable e-course:

ilean