Chris Cyr

The business of following your dreams

[chris25rs]

Having coached numerous first time business owners and having run a few businesses myself I can vouch for everything in this video. The biggest problem is how do we teach this skill to those who are unlucky enough to not get this taught at a young age?

My mom gave me these tools and I cant put into words how much I owe her for her sacrifices. All I can do is make her proud. THANKS MOM!  

[chris25rs]

SEMA!!!

One of the items on my bucket list was to attend SEMA. This past week I was able to make that happen. Since starting with Team O'Neil i have started to build relationships with a number of big name businesses. When after talking to a few people who asked if I was going to be at SEMA I pulled the trigger on going out to Vegas. 

People use the term "game changing" or "life altering" pretty loosely but that is best way I can find to describe what happened at SEMA for me personally and for Team O'Neil. We made so many contacts and opened so many doors I didn't even know existed. 

I also had the first experience of someone asking me if I was...ME (Chris Cyr). Some one spent time looking out for me hoping they would get the chance to meet...me. I have worked my ass off since I was 19 and have been doing what ever it takes to be successful but it was extremely humbling to have someone walk up to me and ask if I was Chris Cyr. 

So many great things happened in Vegas and as things happen over the next year you will see changes at Team O'Neil that started this last weekend. 

[chris25rs]

My First Racing Experience

I did my first two events a few weekends ago(Nov 2-3). I did a TSD rally and a Rally X race. 

A TSD rally (Time, Speed, Distance) is designed to have you arrive a specific points at specific times down the hundredth of a second. There are two people in the car, one driver and one co-driver. The co-driver reads notes, makes calculations, and keeps time. You receive one point for every hundredth of a second you are fast or slow to the check point. One of the legs of the we were able to come in 5 hundredths of a second slow. We came in third overall out of 7 people in our class. 

The next day there was a Rally X which is a race setup with cones in a dirt parking lot. Its all based around driving the course as fast as possible with out hitting the cones. When you are waiting in between races you stand at a corner and call in if a driver hits a cone. Everyone in the racing community is extremely helpful and makes it easy to join in. Needless to say I didn't do very well but I did have a great time. I will be doing it again for sure. 

[chris25rs]

2013 Rally America 2WD Championship Team

[chris25rs]

On Set

This week I got to experience my first TV show filming on Team O'Neil property. It was very interesting to say the least. After talking with Sarah I have decided to pursue my filming career I would have to be the guy who makes all the decision. The most frustrating thing it to see them make changes on the fly when if they followed the plan for the beginning everything would have went better. 

Now I have yet to see the final product so I'm not sure now it will play out but it has not been smooth on set. I wish I would had counted how many times I had to say no. They started asking people other questions when they found Tim likes to say yes. Suddenly they stop asking me questions. 

Tomorrow is the last day of filming and it should be a good final run. I cant release the show info yet but be watching in early 2014 for Team O'Neil! 

[chris25rs]

Moving again

10 months after living in Boston we moved to Northern New Hampshire. Since we started living together the longest we have lived in one house is 2 years. While this move we do plan to move again once we find a house to buy (since we are renting) we are looking to plant some roots. Mainly for me to continue to pursue my dream. Things we have learned from moving so many times... 1.If you have storage space keep your boxes 2. Take pictures of everything before you move in and after you move out. (We still have never received a full deposit back) 3. Just give it/ throw it away. You know your not going to use that college toaster ever again 4. Get a hand truck aka dolly. It will save your back and save you a ton of time 5. Less trips = more productivity rent the bigger uhaul ( we went with Penske, less $) These are just a few things we have found over our 7 moves.

[chris25rs]

Kevin Spacey urges TV channels to give control to viewers (by telegraphtv)

This is a great interview that points out the courage for change. I enjoy a number of TV shows including Breaking Bad and I prefer to wait until Netflix releases the entire season. 

It's a crazy business model to give people what they want! 

[chris25rs]

Great morning from the Team O'Neil World Headquarters!

[chris25rs]

Hardest thing

What is the hardest thing you have ever done to follow your dreams?

When I was 16 years old I fell in love with the sport of Rallying. I spent most of teen years dreaming about winning the lottery or having a superman style hidden talent for driving cars. I just need a chance to see if I had “it.” My dream got put on hold since both of those things didn't happen.

At the request of my family I went to college after high school. During sophomore year I was in Economics with a few hundred others when a clip board for a summer job came to me. I put my name down and forgot about it. 24 hours later I received a call and after a few weeks of interviews I started my first franchise business with College Pro. I saw this as a great way to get more money to start my rally team.

At 19 years old I was running and managing my own business. For personal development that summer was the most valuable experience of my life. I also made more money that summer than any of my friends. As important as my rally dream was I had met a girl (Sarah) and she swept me off my feet. I took most of my profit from my first year running my business and bought her the biggest diamond I could afford. I don’t regret that decision for a second.

The rest of my college years I worked my ass off. I hardly partied in college and I woke up earlier on weekends than I did during school days. I found I loved owning my own business and being the boss. Running a house painting business I had no passion for the product but I saw the bigger picture. I knew all the skills I was learning I could start my own rally team.

I graduated college in 2009 with unemployment at the highest levels since the great depression. I was one of the few who landed a job 6 months before I graduated. I was careful not to put lucky in the last line because luck had nothing to do with it. I worked as a General Manager with College Pro which meant I hired, trained, managed, and coached first time franchise owners. Again nothing to do with my dream of rallying but looking at the bigger picture I had a job and I was developing more skills. Without a doubt one of the hardest jobs you can have. College Pro prides itself on developing business leaders and the full time staff positions are designed to constantly push you outside of your comfort zone.

After moving to Boston from Denver I started to really feel the weight of my job and my lack of passion for the product. I had also lost the drive for my dream since it was 10 years ago I created my dream and I felt I wasn't any closer to achieving my dream. But Sarah didn't let me give up on my dream of Rallying. She told me she knew I loved it too much to give up on it and she wouldn't let me give up (Thanks babydoll).  

A few months later the marathon bombings happened in Boston. I was working so much that I wasn't able to be in Boston that day but the frailty of life hit me pretty hard. I had to find something I was more passionate about so a few days later I decided to email any group or company I could think of associated with Rallying. Honestly my list consisted of three places. I hastily put together an email describing my experience and passion with business and my desire to apply it toward rallying. I did hesitate for a second before hitting the send button but “hey what’s the worst that could happen?”

The owner of Team O’Neil Rally School, Tim O’Neil, emailed me back within 24 hours. We talked by phone a few days later and a few days after that I came up to the school. Long story short(er) I’m now the General Manager of Team O’Neil Rally School and Sarah is in the process of moving to New Hampshire from Boston. I’m helping Tim manage a team of 5 rally cars and a school where we teach people how to rally.

While in the pursuit of my dream Sarah and I have been living apart and see each other on weekends. I was thinking about our situation and that is how I came up with the title for this post. It got me thinking about everything I/we have sacrificed for my dream. I have learned so many life lessons in the past year and one of them is truly never give up on your dreams. It might just be there waiting for you tomorrow.

-CC