Do You Have a Dream?
It’s a Mountain I Can Help You Climb
Trail 2: Growth
What’s your dream? Maybe it’s a role change, launching a business, hitting a funding target, masterfully completing your next project, or living with healthier balance.
Big Goals, Real Obstacles
It’s normal to have big ideas—and just as normal to avoid the hard work it takes to make them real. Many of us keep nudging dreams forward on a “someday” list. Some call a big dream a BHAG—a big, hairy, audacious goal (popularized by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras). I prefer a different picture: a tall, rugged mountain.
Is there a mountain of a BHAG on your list? I’m glad you’re here. I can help.
You Are Here: Right Where You Need to Be
I learned to start where people are, not where I wish they were. Years ago, in a small church basement—no Wi-Fi, no slides, just twelve neighbors in a course on breaking generational poverty—I taught job-search skills. I shared stories of persevering through lean years, illness, and career pivots. A woman I’ll call Maddie kept raising her hand: “We’re going to be friends.” “We’re going to spend time together.”
Afterward she said, “I just want to be around you. You can teach me a lot.” Five years later, she’s a close friend and coaching client who set healthy boundaries, rebuilt her life, and is exploring work with kids and animals. The joy of watching people climb—one steady step at a time—is why I do this.
From a Llama Pasture to a Thriving Campus
Before founding Adve (pronounced ADD-vay), I spent years in professional communications using creativity and common sense to solve complex problems. A nonprofit needed $9M to purchase land for a future campus. Skepticism was sky-high—it looked like “just a pasture with llamas” (a tax strategy), and people couldn’t picture the impact.
I created a tongue-in-cheek investigative-reporter video series. My quizzical reporter voiced the blunt, reasonable questions everyone was already thinking—and got clear answers. Humor captured attention. Suddenly, people could see the future. We exceeded the goal, bought the land, and later raised $50M+ to build the campus. A sticky story turned dry detail into inspiration that spurred confident action.
Small-Town Transformations
Later, I moved from a big city to a small rural town. My husband met hundreds of makers at local farmers markets. They needed marketing support, so I left corporate communications to help our neighbors’ businesses thrive.
That work led a local co-op to ask for help. Together, we refined their story into a compelling case that won a $2.4M state grant to build out a community-owned grocery store in a rural food desert. Clear strategy plus simple storytelling can change daily life—in a family, on a team, across a community.
Why “Adve”?
I’ve climbed big mountains in my career. That’s why I named my firm Adve—short for adventure, rooted in the Latin adventus, meaning to arrive. I help people level up—to arrive at the life and work they’ve imagined.
A Life-Long Journey
For me, arrival isn’t a finish line. Yes, when you achieve a big goal, you pause, breathe, celebrate the view, and rest (we’ll talk about healthy rest in a future post). But arrival is also an opportunity—a steady moment on level ground to consider where you’ve been, what you learned, and which trail to take next.
Consider Adve Your Basecamp
I built Adve as a basecamp for ambitious climbers like you—a place to mine my experience, clarify your values and passions, and gather the resources you need for the next ascent. Adventure is what follows: we map new terrain, choose the smartest path, and support you as you reach a summit that once seemed impossible.
Stay connected. Follow this blog and connect with me on LinkedIn so we can keep climbing—one wise, doable step at a time.
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