What would you do to achieve your dreams? From Homeless to Millionaire

I had the pleasure of meeting this gentleman a few weeks ago. His name is Stevie Williams. When I opened up my May issue of Ebony Magazine and turned to page 8 I immediately recognized him although his head is down on a pictures on his skateboard.

So I turned to page 72 to read about Young Entrepreneurs and was amazed at the tid bit of his story that was shared.

From Ebony Magazine

Stevie Williams, 30 Owner/Founder of DGK Skateboards, one of the top 5 skateboard companies WORLDWIDE (Georgia and California)

"Stevie Williams, hailed as the most successful African-American skateboarder, admits to being called "dirty" all his entire life. Now he's filthy rich and getting paid for the moniker DGK, Dirty Ghetto Kids, a skateboard company he owns that sells decks, wheels and apparel. Founded in 2002, DGK started with four vendors and earned $150,00; today that figure is $12 million."


"Williams always knew he wanted to be a professional skateboarder, so he DROPPED out of high school at age 15 and hitchhiked to Los Angeles in search of a sponsor. "I was eager to win at something, and being an overachiever just mad me a natural," say the father of two. "I was homeless and lived on the street for 8 years before I finally got a sponsor."

This immediately made me consider myself, people in general as well as church folk. Let me preface this by saying that I am a strong proponent of education. However, it saddens me that I bought into the system of go to school, get an education, and get a good job. There are plenty of educated people that are unemployed, broke, or struggling.

I wonder and asked myself I my child decided to drop out of high school at 15 would I tell him you aren't going to amount to anything, you are destined to fail, you have to have an education to succeed in life. Or would I tell him, you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength, as you think so you will become, keep the faith and hold fast to your dreams and 1 day they shall become a reality. I wondered would I support my child in his decision or would I tell him he was making the biggest mistake of his life?

A lot of successful businessmen are dropouts, high school drop-outs, college drop-outs etc or many graduated high school and never went to college. It makes me think about a sermon from Bill Winston about revelation knowledge, knowledge that comes straight from God. He spoke on George Washington Carver, the man who found the many ways to use a peanut. Carver said he would go into a room alone, and sit and pray. He didn't have time to read books and get a formal education he simply need God to reveal to him what needed to be done and how to do it! People were amazed that Carver did not have sophisticated tools of any sort yet he had many inventions.

Are we relying too much on education and the worlds system and not enough on God, His Wisdom, Knowledge, Power and Miracle working ability and His System?

Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials