"I'd like a one-year supply of Red Bull to fuel the all-night energy needs of our volunteers. Your support of our mission will create a lifesaving impact for many people throughout the Bryan/ College Station area."
I clicked send on an email to Red Bull's regional leadership and immediately started crafting an email request for another corporate partnership. Next up, PrimeCo cellular.

It was the Spring of 1999, and I was relentlessly building momentum for the launch of CARPOOL at Texas A&M University. Despite countless naysayers, it was clearly put on my heart to create a full-blown 501c3 nonprofit to reduce drunk driving throughout Aggieland. Leveraging the leadership capabilities of my friends and the "God's-plans-are-bigger-than-your-obstacles" approach, I set out every day to make progress towards our program launch date in September.

I needed a ton of help. I recruited a team of dreamers from all sides of campus to serve as the founding executives for CARPOOL. I was bold with my asks, promising each potential leader a very arduous, sleepless, and often thankless journey ahead. To a person, they were optimists with a propensity for action and an unteachable desire to take on tasks that were difficult and meaningful. I am not sure I would have persevered without the "get-it-done" crew, who made space for me to deploy my Tom Sawyer skills on potential partners.

As my plans became more public, the naysayers got louder, too. I was told that I would have to raise a small fortune to pay for an operational headquarters, vehicles, cell phones, food, gas, insurance, and more, and that no one would just give me the stuff we needed. We knew those were critical components for success, and I had no fear in asking for large-scale donations and gifts-in-kind.

Having previously lived in my car as an adventure with friends and getting all of our meals for free by making direct asks at restaurants nationwide, I was fearless in the face of these falsehoods. Some people love to help and just need to be asked. Others are not in a position to offer aid, or they don't feel connected to your mission, but their rejections are never personal. The bottom line always remained - you won't receive what you don't request.

With the CARPOOL leadership team in place in place, my outreach effort went into full effect. In the span of just a few months, I successfully secured the following:

• A year's worth of meals for the 50 members working every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. That's 150 college kids fed every week for almost 30 weeks of the year.
• 16 cell phones with unlimited minutes from PrimeCo (texting wasn't really a thing back then)
• A 2-bedroom apartment solely dedicated as the operations hub of the organization. Later, we upgraded to a 4-bedroom apartment for operations, AND I secured another apartment for my personal living needs.
• One-third of the cost of our rental cars through Enterprise Rent-a-Car (this partnership defied all logic about what was possible, but God saw it through, and it continues today)
• Furniture, computers, candy, and more for the CARPOOL headquarters
• And yes, a one-year supply of Red Bull. The stack of cans was so massive that it required its own storage closet.

From that list, you'd assume we were used to getting what we wanted and that the roads were paved with smooth Yes's.

Not true. The rejections came hard, quick, and often. Every other rental car company told me my request was impossible. Restaurants and fast-food places acted like I was crazy. Someone had me drive out to their company's headquarters to pick up a donation, and when I arrived, I was given ten keychains. I spent more gas money driving out there than the keychains were worth. Disappointed doesn't even begin to describe my reaction to that one. I promptly handed those out to strangers on my drive home. Many of my more exotic requests were rejected as well, like the time I asked for 150 pairs of Vans tennis shoes in our signature lime green color, to which I promptly received a generic rejection.

But guess what. No one ever talks about all the times I was told "No".

Instead, the CARPOOL history books highlight the amazing partnerships and ever-growing support from organizations like Slavacek's Sausage and Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

The lesson I learned by making bold requests continues to influence my work today. That is exactly why we are able to work alongside many of our favorite brands and join forces with companies like Howdy Homemade Ice Cream to bring partnerships and mission-aligned investors to the opportunity ahead.

• Make bold requests.
• Celebrate the responses, positive or negative.
• Remain optimistic with a propensity for action and a desire to take on tasks that are difficult and meaningful.

And remember, you'll never receive what you never request.