What took me almost a year to learn I'd like to give to you today for free.

We started Kingdom Dreams in November of 2010. Because I've been doing dreams for a while, I assumed that most people are further down the road toward their dream than they actually are.

We learned the following seven lessons the hard way.

1. It's a long process. It begins with passion and takes years.

Don't get discouraged when you lose momentum. Recognize what the next stage is and who can help you make a breakthrough.

2. It moves in four definable stages.

• Defining passion
• Exploring possibilities
• Building a plan
• Starting it

3. You need a breakthrough to get from one stage to the next.

Going from one stage to the next is hard. You have to confront fear and doubt. You need initiative.

4. Usually a key connection will help you make your breakthrough.

It's hard to do what you haven't done. Most of us need someone to show us how they did it or give us advice or a resource to help us go to the next level.

5. You need a team to help realize your dream.

 You'll be tempted to do it on your own. But most of us only have one piece of the puzzle. We need others to be able to build our dream.

6. You need to know the why before the what and the how.

I'm going to Cambodia in a few days to work on stopping the sex trade. I'm doing that because little girls are living in a private hell and they need to be rescued and loved. That's the "why." We're still working on the "how."

7.  20-somethings struggle to believe in their dreams.

Most of them are stuck in stage 1 of the 4-step process and won't make the effort to get unstuck.

8. You move toward your dream by serving someone else's dream first.

The way to fight fear is by getting some experience working for someone who knows what they're doing. Get a one or two year apprenticeship before you start your own thing. It will save you time in the end.