Jen from Interiors Addict just oozes style so is it any wonder that she found her calling in writing an interior design blog?
Apart from being uber chic, Jen is incredibly down to earth and kind and generous with her both her time and advice to others. And for all those reasons and so much more, it is no wonder Jen has acheived the success she has in such a short amount of time.
And today today Jen shares with us how she turned "losing her job" into the beginning of her dream job.
Apart from being uber chic, Jen is incredibly down to earth and kind and generous with her both her time and advice to others. And for all those reasons and so much more, it is no wonder Jen has acheived the success she has in such a short amount of time.
And today today Jen shares with us how she turned "losing her job" into the beginning of her dream job.
The secret of my success: working hard and being nice to
people!
It's the dream. But very few people get to do what they love
and get paid for it. Those of us, like me, who do, should count ourselves as seriously
lucky. But the thing is, it doesn't just land in your lap. You don't just get
lucky. But it can happen! There are a few key ingredients required and I want
to share them with you, along with my story.
My name's Jen and I'm an interiors addict. There, I said it.
I am obsessed with homewares. I have way too many cushions. I love
arranging and rearranging furniture. And I've been doing all this since I was
about 12. These days I like to think my rooms look a lot better than they did
back in the early nineties...
Two years ago, I started a blog called Interiors Addict. It
was just for me really. I didn't even call it a blog back then. I don't have
any design qualifications, I'm just a serious enthusiast, an addict. These days
it's my full-time job and I have almost 50,000 readers per month. I absolutely
LOVE what I do. I've never worked harder, or longer hours, and it's the first
time I've been self-employed (a serious learning curve in itself), but I've
never been more fulfilled or passionate and it doesn't really feel like work.
Which means I rarely switch off. But why would I? I love this stuff! I've been richer,
but I'm, getting there and the signs are looking good.
So, how did that all happen?
Passion, an unwavering, genuine love of interiors, writing
and publishing (I'm a journalist by background), lots and lots of hard work,
losing my job (yup!) and being nice (more on that later).
About a year into Interiors Addict I worked out it could
turn into something more than a hobby. I didn't really know quite how it
would work out, and it seemed too amazing a dream to contemplate, but if I
wanted to give it my best shot, I knew I had to work my butt off (I would work
the rest out later). That meant working late into the night, on weekends and
every lunch break at work, where I had a busy and well-paid job as publisher
and editor of a business magazine. I juggled events for work, and events for my
blog, I did interviews with people via email and wrote them up after office
hours. Back then, many people didn't even realise I had a job as well as my
blog!
I was trying to pluck up the courage to leave that job of
five years but I'm not very good with risk and I was planning a wedding (hello,
expensive!). I'm loyal and I cared about my team and my magazine and I didn't
want to leave anyone in the lurch without a plan. Behind the scenes, my boss
was planning to close the magazine and make me redundant. To cut a very long
story short, at the time, having my job pulled away from me with no warning was
horrendous. But now I realise it gave me the push I needed. So no, I can't
claim I was brave enough to follow my dreams, but circumstances led me to. At
the end of the day, I still could have gone and got another 'proper' job but I knew this was my best shot at jumping
on the momentum around Interiors Addict and running with it. And I did. And I still am! It often feels like a race,
believe me! Last week I even launched a second blog, Appliance Addict,
with my fiance!
So, to go back to my original key ingredients for creating
yourself that job you really love:
·
Passion and a love for what you're doing: This
is almost a bit too obvious. If you don't really, really love it, live and
breathe it, you won't want it as your dream job. But it's passion that drives
you on and keeps you going when times get tough. And they will.
·
Hard work: There's no getting around this
one. It is hard work. When you work on your own and no longer have a support
team and colleagues to delegate to, you realise how many little things someone
else used to do (pay you, pay the business' bills, recruit, do your tax, answer
phones, make you the odd cuppa, etc, etc). My advice here is to outsource some
of the stuff you're no good at to freelancers. You probably won't be in a
position to employ someone for a long time (if ever) but you can afford to pay
people a few hours here and there and you'll probably get a lot of value out of
outsourcing those things to the experts (you have to spend money to make
money). For me, that's graphic design, web development and advertising sales).
·
Losing your job: Not everyone is lucky
enough (ha!) to get pushed out of their comfort zone and lose their job. But
it's amazing how many success stories come out of people being retrenched. You
probably know a few of those people yourself. If it's you that has to take the
plunge and quit your job yourself, it's both easier and harder. You benefit
from being able to leave at a time when you know you're in a good position
financially (not saving for a wedding, perhaps) and from not almost having a
nervous breakdown through the stress of it all. Equally, you have to make that
big brave call yourself, and consider all the opinions of everyone else trying
to put you off (let's face it, many of them because they'd love to be chasing
their dream too, and can't).
·
Being nice: I cannot stress how important
it is to be nice. It's a small world. If you're not genuine, people will find
you out pretty quickly. If you're nice, and generous with your time and skills
and in promoting and helping other people where you can, these things will come
back to you later, I promise. Word gets around, good and bad. People warm
towards people who are friendly, sincere and real. I think we're all secretly
more impressed by people who hold their hands up to making mistakes and not
being perfect but just getting on with it and work hard anyway.
Thanks Sonia, for letting me share my story! I hope it
inspires a few people!
Don't forget to check back next week for more guests in the Dare to Dream Guest Post Series.
