StartStories
Stories about STARTers!
Meet the Generosity Project Winners!
Great ideas are typically sparked by two unrelated events. For The Generosity Project, it was a combination of an anonymously donated ticket and a Chick Fil A drive thru. Who would have ever guessed that those two events would spark the birth of #STARTJoy? Casey Lewis, who is passionate about being generous, witnessed these two random acts of kindness, and an instant question came to mind. “What if we could be generous, and as a START Experiment community, join together to send one person to the conference with all travel expenses paid?” Quickly, the idea moved from “what if” to “how can we make this happen?” The goal was simple: raise $1,000 to send a START Experiment member to the START Conference with airfare, hotel, and a conference ticket. Casey and his team planned to raise the money in one week. However, in the first 90 minutes of the crowd-sourcing campaign, the project was fully funded! It was incredible. Jon Acuff encouraged STARTers to keep moving forward. The new goal became #Drivefor5. Sending just one person to the conference seemed inadequate – the new goal would be five. From the leanest of pocket books and from those overflowing, the donations poured in. Donations came from people who were already planning to attend the conference, and also from those who knew it would be impossible to attend. Donations even poured in from people outside of the START Experiment, as well as from Jon Acuff himself! EVERYONE invested in each other. The Generosity Project revealed the true heart of the START community – full of open, accepting, and GENEROUS people who want to make an impact on the world. Today, you get to meet the #STARTjoy Generosity Project scholarship recipients. It’s a chance to see what the judges saw in them. You may also see your own dreams in theirs as you celebrate their opportunity to jump start their dream next week. May Bohon – Fort Worth, Texas They do things big in Texas, right? May’s dream definitely fits that description. May’s dream is to work for Dave Ramsey and help more people get out of debt. “I told Jon in front of 50 people that my big risk is to become his coworker.” May is currently hustling hard on her dream. She has been a faithful #5club member, consistently waking up at 5am. She wrote and posted more to her blog in the first six weeks than she did in the entire previous year. She is also working through physical therapy, and signed up for a graphic design course this fall. “I will learn new ways to hustle, especially from Dana Tanamachi, Jeremy Cowart and Jeff Goins. The Start Conference will help me pursue the creative side of our beautiful world. Meeting more Lampo people will teach me how to be a valuable candidate for their creative team. And, meeting fellow STARTers will keep our unstoppable community moving!” May desperately wanted to attend the conference, but she was forced to make a tough decision. She had to choose between her own debt snowball, which she and her husband have been diligently working on, and the conference. She made the wise decision to put her debt snowball before the trip. But now, thanks to the Generosity Project and #STARTJoy, she will get the best of both options! Malori Fuchs – Frisco, Texas Malori is punching fear in the face while her husband is deployed in Afghanistan. She has an audacious goal of officially becoming a Quitter in the next nine months. She writes about living the Warrior life. Her dream is to help other military wives/fiancées/girlfriends know they are not alone. She also hopes to help non-military families understand what is like to have a family member serving in the Armed Forces. She wants to help people realize that they can be a warrior, too. She wants to help people learn to be passionate and fearless when they are fighting for what is important in their lives. “As tough as dealing with...
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He was known as “Fat Ben.” As far back as he can remember, Ben Dempsey was overweight. He remembers the bullying. He remembers the hiding. “I didn’t like being outside, didn’t want to be around other kids. I stayed in my house and played video games. The more you hear you’re not good enough, the more you believe it. I just didn’t think I amounted to much.” As Ben grew up in Atlanta, his father tried to encourage him to get involved in sports and change his diet, but the lack of confidence shut down his efforts. He finally tried out for the wrestling team and earned a spot in the heavyweight class. But his Freshman year in high school, he broke his hip. At 5’5” and 152 pounds, the strain on his body was too great. He was a homebound student for the rest of the school year. By that fall, his weight jumped to nearly 200 pounds. Life was an out-of-control rollercoaster, spiraling ever downward. He dropped out of sports his sophomore year and refused to try again. There was one place where Ben did feel important – in caring for others. His senior year, he earned certification as a nursing assistant, and he went on to pursue healthcare as a profession. As a physical therapist, he again came face-to-face with the reality of his own health. “Folks would ask me ‘why should I take care of myself when you don’t?’ I didn’t have an answer. You just don’t see it until there’s that thing – that one defining moment – when the walls come crashing in.” For Ben, that moment happened in 2009, when he became a follower of Jesus Christ. The more time he spent in scripture, the more he began to understand his worth. In July, he and his wife Elizabeth decided to enjoy a day at Six Flags. “I am a huge Superman fan, and that year they premiered Superman: Ultimate Flight. I was like a little kid – so excited. We waited in line for an hour and a half. And when it was time to ride, I couldn’t get the harness to fasten. It just wouldn’t reach. One of the workers came over to help, but nothing worked.” Humiliated and angry, Ben watched as his wife rode the ride. He even found the manager and told him “you need at least one fat guy ride in this park.” He wanted things to be different. He wanted to feel normal. On the morning of July 22, he woke up with a resolve he’d never felt before. It was time to change. “I wanted to be healthy for my wife and my step-son Chris. But more than anything, I had to be healthy for me. I wanted to live. So that morning, I chose to start.” As an adult, Ben had tried popular diets, but he just wanted to be done with it all. He would lose 30 pounds and gain 50 back. The idea of working to lose weight was overwhelming. But at 360 pounds, suffering from hypertension and depression, he knew he had to do more than simply lose weight. It was time to jump in and live a whole new kind of life. His starting point: confront a serious addiction to soft drinks. “I would drink 8 to 10 sodas a day. I knew the only way to quit was to go cold turkey. I knew that if I couldn’t stop this one problem, I wouldn’t succeed at anything.” That first week, Ben lost 12 pounds. That single modification led to even more changes. With his wife’s help, he changed his diet. Then he started to walk. At first, he couldn’t walk five minutes without gasping for air, but Ben didn’t give up. Five minutes became 30. Thirty minutes became 2 hours. Then Ben decided he was up for a true challenge. “I was determined to do the Peachtree Road Race – the largest 10K in the world. My goal was simple – I wanted to finish it without dying. I...
Read MoreInternet Entrepreneur // Sean Nisil
Sean Nisil My risk during the first round of the START Experiment was to move from a hobby blogger to an Internet Entrepreneur. For me, the biggest shift was in how I approach what I’m doing with my blog. In the first 24 days of the START Experiment: I was featured on a large financial blog providing some tips on kids and money. I started a professional network of business men and women on LinkedIn dedicated to pushing their Start risks forward into their careers. We’re now almost 200 members strong. I made a number of great relationships which continue to grow. I interviewed one of my blogging role models, Jeff Goins, and am working with him to set up a book tour in San...
Read MoreDream Career // Brittany Gross
Brittany Gross Technically, my start started three months ago, when I decided to quit my job and move to Nashville to pursue a dream career. When Jon Acuff asked for risk takers, I knew I really didn’t have much to lose, and I was proven right. In the process of accountability, wise words, new friends, mentors and peers, I was able to apply and land a full-time job which uses my degree in radio. As a bonus, I was able to land a part-time job in concerts, which is my dream area of work. Beyond the fact that I achieved my risk, I was able to connect with others in my new hometown and re-ignite old...
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