A drywall contractor and friend, Erik Schouten, just told me a great story. Erik trained a kid named Jake 15 years ago to finish drywall. At that time Erik was working as a drywall finisher and writing lots of songs and performing as a musician. The music biz didn’t take off for Erik, but his drywall business did. Erik also developed one of the best new construction products, shown in the video below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nbiKLkhgeE

The story Erik told me, though, was about Jake. With a winning personality and a solid work ethic, Jake was in demand as a drywall finisher. But Jake loves to longboard surf, especially in exotic locales. Turns out that drywall finishing is an internationally valued skill.

So for the past 15 years, Jake has finished drywall in the UK, Brazil (where he met his wife), Costa Rica, New Zealand and a few more. Finishing drywall has allowed him to live an exotic lifestyle…always in search of a new place to surf.

Don’t let your dreams get crushed by what everyone else says and does. Develop your skills and you get to choose.