It was my dream to become a professional basketball player. My hero was Grant Hill, and if you asked me in elementary school about what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would literally say Grant Hill. Throughout elementary, middle, and high school, basketball was my passion. The day before my senior season officially started, the chair was pulled from underneath me. A doctor discovered a stress fracture in my vertebrae. Immediately it seemed as if my dream was destroyed...

Long story made a little shorter, I continued my education at Grand Valley State University to study Advertising and Public Relations. Then, just as my initial dream was taken away the year before, a new dream was revealed inside my freshman dorm. I held a Sharpie marker in one hand and for reasons unknown, picked up a pair of shoes from my floor. Custom-designing sneakers? I knew nothing about the idea, but that did not stop the visions from pouring through my mind. To make another long story shorter, I dedicated over two years to researching and developing this artistic process. During that time, I enrolled in the Entrepreneurship curriculum at GVSU as well as obtained a summer position coaching basketball clinics with the Detroit Pistons organization...

Using my Palace of Auburn Hills employee ID card, I 'snuck' into places where I probably did not belong. After repeatedly acting as if I was supposed to be in the back player tunnels, I willed my shy-self to introduce my newly developed idea to the NBA's biggest stars. From that point should be where the story concluded with a fairytale-ending, right?...

Wrong. How does a full-time college student sell custom-designed sneakers to multi-millionaires who receive countless pairs of sneakers from their corporate shoe company sponsors? That I do not know, could never explain, and at that time must not have not been smart enough to realize it should have been impossible. There is a lot more to this story that involves hard work, persistence, creativity, overcoming obstacles, and everything else that is required to not only chase a dream, but to capture it. I was never able to lace up my own sneakers but instead paved a new path to reach my dream by lacing up theirs...

People often ask "How?" My #1 answer: FAITH. No human being by him/herself could possibly be this 'lucky' to get access to these forbidden areas and to have the players and other important figures embrace him/her like such. The stories are endless in this area - something that requires the right time and place for me to dive into...

I have a TON more to say that can inspire, motivate, and encourage you and others to actually follow the dream. If you have a group, I would love to be able to share more of my story of how dreams actually can become a reality and help you and others achieve them. For potential speaking engagements, please send me an e-mail with your information.

Tyler D. Way