A couple of weeks ago, I asked you to choose between three episode topics, and while the location episode won last week, this topic about hugely ambitious goals came in a very close second at 41%. I’m excited to dive into this because there’s a beautiful connection between embracing your location advantage and allowing yourself to dream impossibly big.
This episode was inspired by something that happened in our first Base Notes community live Q&A session. One of the members shared a brilliantly ambitious dream – the kind that might make others think “that’s unrealistic” or “that’s too big.”
But when I heard it, I found myself getting genuinely excited. Because I know that those impossibly big dreams aren’t just exciting and motivational, they’re actually essential for building something extraordinary.
The Dream I Didn’t Dare Share
I started my first creative business, a flower brand, delivering weekly bud vases to local rural pubs. If you’d told me then that within a few years I’d be creating installations for the V&A, working with Dior and Hermès, designing the flowers for Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding, or that my work would be viewed by billions of people worldwide, I would have thought you were completely mad.
But I had that impossible dream. I just learnt very quickly not to say it out loud.
From those very first days delivering bud vases to country pubs, I had this secret, enormous vision of where I wanted my business to go. I dreamed of working with the brands that inspired me – the luxury names that represented the absolute pinnacle of design and creativity.
It felt embarrassing to even think about it, let alone say it out loud. Who was I, working from my kitchen table in the countryside, to imagine competing with established London florists? Who was I to think global luxury brands would want to work with someone who’d taught herself floristry from a book?
But I held onto that vision. It helped guide every decision I made, even when I couldn’t tell anyone about it.
And what I discovered is that impossible dreams don’t make things harder. They actually make everything clearer.
Why Small Dreams Keep You Small
Most creative entrepreneurs set what feel like “reasonable” goals. Maybe double their income this year. Perhaps add one new service. Possibly expand to the next town over. These feel achievable, manageable, realistic.
And that’s exactly the problem.
When you aim for 2x growth, you think in terms of doing more of the same, just slightly better. You optimise what already exists. You make incremental improvements. You stay safely within your current capacity and comfort zone.
But when you think in terms of 10x, or in my case, going from local pub flowers to royal weddings and design work viewed by billions, everything changes. You can’t just do more of the same. You have to completely reimagine what’s possible.
When you allow yourself to dream impossibly big, several things happen:
Your perspective shifts entirely. Instead of thinking “How can I get one more client like my current ones?” you start thinking “What would I need to become to attract my dream clients?”
You make different decisions. When I was dreaming of luxury brand work, I couldn’t justify cutting corners on quality or presentation, even for those early pub contracts. Every project became practice for the bigger vision.
You notice different opportunities. When a client asked if I could do something more elaborate than I’d done before, I said yes immediately because it moved me closer to the work I envisioned, even though I’d never done it before.
You develop faster. Big dreams force you to grow into them. I learnt more, took bigger risks, and pushed myself harder because the vision demanded it.
You become more interesting. People are drawn to others with compelling visions, even if they seem unrealistic at the time.
The Amazingness of Impossible Goals
Big dreams aren’t just exciting and motivational – they’re strategically powerful in ways that reasonable goals simply can’t match.
They force innovation. You can’t achieve 10x results with current methods, so you’re pushed to find completely new approaches. When I was dreaming of working with luxury brands, I couldn’t just make my existing approach slightly better – I had to develop an entirely different level of artistry and presentation.
They attract different people. Ambitious visions draw ambitious collaborators, clients, and opportunities. The photographers, stylists, and other creatives I started working with were drawn to the bigger vision, not just the immediate project.
They create natural differentiation. While others compete for local or small opportunities, you’re building towards something entirely different. This means you’re not competing on the same terms as everyone else.
They generate resilience. Small setbacks don’t derail you when you’re focused on a massive vision. Getting turned down for one project feels less devastating when you know it’s just one step in a much larger journey.
They compound over time. Each step towards your big dream builds capabilities that enable the next leap. The skills I developed working towards luxury brand partnerships opened doors I couldn’t have imagined when I was just thinking about local growth.
The Dreams Creative Entrepreneurs Don’t Say Out Loud
I’d love to share some of the big dreams I hear creatives mention quietly, and why they’re not as impossible as they seem:
“I want to work with major brands, high-profile clients, or prestigious institutions.” Here’s the thing – they need creative partners too, and authenticity often trumps established connections. They’re looking for fresh perspectives and compelling work, not just familiar names.
“I want my work featured in prestigious publications, galleries, or venues.” They’re always looking for fresh perspectives and compelling stories. What you think makes you unqualified might actually be what makes you interesting.
“I want to build a business that operates internationally.” Online connectivity makes this more achievable than ever. Your unique perspective can travel anywhere.
“I want to be known as the go-to expert in my field.” This comes through consistent, distinctive work, not credentials. Expertise is built through doing exceptional work repeatedly, not through having the “right” background.
“I want to charge premium prices and have clients happily pay them.” This is absolutely achievable when your value genuinely justifies it. The key is building towards that value systematically.
The question isn’t whether these dreams are realistic. The question is: what would you need to become to make them inevitable?
How to Hold Big Dreams Without Losing Your Mind
I know what some of you might be thinking: “This sounds overwhelming. How do I hold onto these massive dreams without feeling completely paralysed by how far away they seem?”
The key is learning to hold two things simultaneously: the impossible vision and the practical next step.
Keep the vision private initially. Share it only with people who won’t diminish it with their “realism.” I learnt this the hard way – well-meaning friends and family can inadvertently talk you out of dreams that actually are possible.
Let it guide your decisions. Start asking yourself: “Does this move me towards or away from my bigger vision?” This single question will transform how you evaluate opportunities.
Break it into impossible-seeming milestones. My path had many steps that each seemed unreachable from the previous one. From pub flowers to small weddings to larger events to editorial work to luxury brands – each step seemed impossible until it became inevitable.
Stay present with current work. Excellence in small projects builds the foundation for bigger opportunities. Those bud vases taught me everything about creating beauty, understanding client needs, and delivering consistently.
Document the journey. You’ll need to remember how far you’ve come when the next leap feels impossible. I wish I’d kept better records of those early moments when each new level felt so out of reach.
When Big Visions Change Industries
There’s something amazing that happens when creative entrepreneurs think big – they don’t just transform their own businesses, they actually shift entire industries.
The photographer who dreams of redefining wedding photography ends up changing how the entire industry approaches storytelling. The designer who envisions working with global brands brings fresh perspectives that influence international design trends. The consultant who aims to work with major corporations brings creative thinking into traditionally rigid environments.
In my case, bringing the concept of countryside flowers to luxury urban events opened opportunities for so many other rural florists who could tell their own version of that story. When you successfully position yourself at a new level, you create space for others to follow.
Today, as I’m working towards my current dream of supporting creative entrepreneurs at scale, the people I’m working with are going on to achieve their own extraordinary growth and finding new love for their work. Your impossible dream is more than just about you – it’s about the unique contribution you could make and all the people you could support, help, inspire, and open opportunities for along the way.
The Permission You’ve Been Waiting For
Your biggest dreams aren’t too big. They’re probably not big enough.
The creative industry needs people who think beyond current limitations. It needs entrepreneurs who envision entirely new possibilities. It needs individuals willing to bridge gaps between traditional approaches and extraordinary outcomes.
Your impossible dream isn’t self-indulgent – it’s necessary. The world needs what you’d create if you allowed yourself to think at that scale.
Those bud vases I delivered to rural pubs were the very first step in learning to create something beautiful, understanding client needs, and building the foundation for everything that came after.
Your current work, no matter how small it seems, is the foundation for your impossible dream. But only if you allow yourself to dream it.
The difference between creative entrepreneurs who build extraordinary businesses and those who stay stuck isn’t talent, luck, or connections. It’s the willingness to envision something so compelling that it pulls them forwards through every obstacle, rejection, and moment of doubt.
What You Can Do This Week
This week, I’d love you to do something that might feel a bit scary. Write down your big dream. Not the “realistic” version. The one that makes you excited and terrified in equal measure.
It doesn’t have to be perfectly thought out right now – it can change as you’re identifying your unique strengths and business goals. But for it to evolve and feel right, it needs to start somewhere.
Then ask yourself:
- What would someone who achieves this dream do differently than what I’m doing now?
- What’s one small decision I could make this week that aligns with this vision?
- Who do I know who’s operating at a level closer to this dream, and what can I learn from observing them?
- What’s the next “impossible” milestone that would be a step towards this bigger vision?
Don’t worry about telling anyone else about it yet. Just let yourself hold the vision and see how it changes your perspective on current opportunities.
Moving Forward
Your impossible dream is waiting. It’s been waiting for you to believe it’s possible.
If you’d love to read more about this topic, I realised I was working towards 10x rather than 2x goals when I read the book “10x is Easier Than 2x” by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy. It’s a great read, and if this episode has sparked some interest, it’s definitely worth exploring.
Next week, we’ll be diving into that third topic from our poll – persistence. Because I know that when you start dreaming bigger and reaching for these ambitious goals, you’ll face rejection and silence. That’s absolutely normal and happens to everyone. But there will be plenty of yeses in there too, and persistence – done in a way that feels comfortable rather than pushy – is what makes those yeses happen.
Your impossible dream? It’s absolutely possible.
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