Danny Guselli: "The one job offer that I wish I said yes to"
Have you pondered over a moment in life where you could've said 'yes' to a job or opportunity—but didn't—and how that might've changed your life?
This has always been my 'what if' moment.
Making big life decisions isn't always easy. The answer can be as clear as day, but sometimes things can get blurry when you are in the thick of a life decision.
Today, Danny Guselli recalls a moment when he felt like he missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
A conversation about a job or business opportunity you wished you had said yes to took Danny back to his early teens.
Danny comes from a football background, and naturally, when a big club comes knocking, the ideal thing for any up-and-coming player is to answer the door.
But when Danny was approached by one of the biggest football clubs in the world, he was forced to say 'no'. He was just thirteen years old, and his parents felt he was too young to move to the United Kingdom.
When I was 13 years old, I went on trial at one of the biggest football clubs in the world, Manchester City. I was offered a contract to join their academy, which, as you can imagine, was a massive opportunity and a huge accomplishment. My parents said, 'You are too young to move there as a 13-year-old.' Come home for a year, and then go back at 14, and then we can make a decision from there.
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Moms and dads can relate to Danny's parents' decision. They put his well-being before the big offer, and rightfully so. But it was a key moment in his life that could have taken his life down a completely different path.
"I went back at 14 to a re-trial. After the re-trial, the academy director said, 'In the year that we trained at home (South Africa), we have not seen an improvement. You are as good as what we have, so why should we offer you a position when we can take a local boy?'" said Danny.
He said it was "a very hard pill to swallow as a kid".
"This has always been my 'what if' moment."
Can you imagine?
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