Are you a Dreamer? At times do you feel overwhelmed or simply over exhausted from chasing the life you want to live? Well, TV and radio personality Quentin Tre'Veon Harris' new book "Dear Dreamer" will affirm your spirit to keep you motivated during those difficult times.
Lets face it, being an entrepreneur is damn hard! And the journey is definitely not easy. Sometimes you need to hear encouraging words to keep from going insane or better yet, keep from falling flat on your ass once those obstacles hit you like a ton of bricks.
Quentin knows firsthand what it means to be self-made and face tremendous hardships. Originally from Raeford, NC, Quentin dropped everything to move to Atlanta, GA and chase his dreams of being a successful actor and business owner. That trusting moment eventually led to him creating his own business, writing his his first book "The Dream I Chose to Chase", and later feeling compelled to share his story and inspire others to do the same.
His book Dear Dreamer is jam packed with 50 affirmations that will enable you to "Jump start yourself into a new season"! Thankfully, I had the pleasure of speaking with Quentin to explore his creative process.
Why was it important for you to write this novel at this point of time?
“I have so many people who reach out to me and say, “Wow man you encourage me, you inspire me, you’re an inspiration, you’re this and you’re that, how do you do it?” My answer is always, I pray, or I say little quotes and sayings that keep me motivated every day because every day we wake up we don’t feel like chasing the dream. But I always write down something motivation or inspirational, and I was posting them every day…and I was noticing people kept re-sharing it and I was like hmmm. So my business manager was like, “Stop posting them and turn it into a book.”
What can people expect once they pick up your book?
“You’d be inspired to chase your dreams. You’d be inspired to just live life. Inspired to just get up and get it, like 'ohh I need to get up and go to the gym. If I have an interview a 1 o’clock I don’t wanna get there at 1 o’clock. I want to get there at 12:45'."
How important are affirmations to you and why are they important for other people?
“Well affirmations are definitely important to me because I use these tools every single day. Working in the industry, sometimes we literally have to get up and affirm our spirits. We have so many different spirits and so many different attitudes and so many different comments everybody don’t agree, so sometimes we have to affirm our own spirits and remind ourselves why we started, why we’re still here, and where we’re going.
Affirmations are certainly important because you can get so lost on this journey, and if you don’t wake up every morning and meditate and speak positivity over yourself, you can get lost in this journey. Lost."
Is there an affirmation you wrote where you feel like “I did the damn thing when I wrote that!”?
"Oh wow, I haven’t been asked that one yet. Umm…I’ll use an analogy, it’s not one of the quotes, but it’s an analogy that I use that keeps me motivated. I look at people like pitchers and gallons. With your platform and my platform, we are two gallons. We represent one of the same things, but we’re in two totally different markets. I always tell people you want to hang out with other like-minded people, other bosses, other people who are in your field, or people who’ve already achieved what you’re trying to achieve. I say that because if you’re a gallon and I’m a cup, and you spend the whole day pouring into me, by the time we get to the end of the night you don’t have anything to pour into yourself.
And that’s how so many creatives [end] up with writer’s block, and {they say}, “Ohh, I can’t even finish my book.” You know why you can’t finish it, it’s because your hanging around so many other cups all day. You’re pouring into everybody else and you don’t have a homeboy or a brother like Q to tell you that you need to be spoke into. Tonight is a night where I need someone to pour into me, I don’t need to pour out tonight.
If you’re a gallon and I’m a gallon, and I see my brother getting a little low, I can say, “Hey you can take some of what I got back here”. But if you’re a cup, you don’t understand what it means to be a gallon, you’re thinking that we are thinking too big."
How self-healing was this book for you?
"I’m a walking testimony. I still read my own quotes. You know how those girls be on Instagram with Flat Tummy Tea and you know they not using it. This is not that. This is not a paid sponsorship post. No, I’m a walking testimony of my own product."
What is something you want readers to take away from your book?
"I just want you to be empowered. I don’t have like a deep quote or anything to go behind that, I just really want you to be empowered and ya know just shout your boy out, and be like 'Q reading your book really made me think outside the box, it really made me want to get up and hustle, get up and chase my dreams, quit my nine to five or quit school and chase my dreams, or quit living a regular lifestyle and go back to school'. Whatever it is you want to do. I just want people to be empowered because, one, life is short.
And two, it’s so much life out here, outside of Atlanta or outside of your hometown. I’m from a very very country hometown in North Carolina with a population of about 12 people. But if I never would’ve took that leap of faith and moved to Atlanta, I never would’ve experienced any of this. I would’ve always continued to look at it on TV."
Pre-order Quentin Harris' book Dear Dreamer today. Click here.
Be sure to follow Quentin on Instagram: @QuentinHarris
Tune into his radio station via @QintheStreets on Instagram