Journey: From Dream to Reality

Hi everyone, it’s Kadie from Design by Kadie. Today I’m sharing the process I went through in order to chase my dream and pursue a freelance career.

This year has been a learning year for me career wise. I found myself in a position with great opportunities, but I was having a hard time finding passion in my work. There was even a point that I considered that I may have chosen the wrong profession and losing my love of design was where I drew the line.

I started filling up every spare moment taking on freelance work and found that it was something I jumped out of the bed at 4 a.m. for, and spent every moment thinking about. I loved the collaborative feeling of working with my own clients and brainstorming with them about creative ways to tell their story, and then solving the problem from concept to completion. I found that a huge source of my inspiration came from the people I worked with and that the world is FULL of people will incredible ideas and I could be a small part of making them happen.

People tell you not to rush into things too quickly, and I agree. I would tell myself every day that I was paying my dues and sticking out a position to learn all that I could. Then I hit a point where I felt a huge pull to chase my dream and to start living with conviction. I spent hours talking to my family and close friends to make sure that it was a calling and not a decision based out of fear. And every single person I talked to said one thing: “Do it.” So when the opportunity came my way, it was something of a no-brainer.

After a coffee date with a good friend of mine, I realized that things would look very different once I decided to really pursue a career in freelance. I needed to hone in on what kind of design I liked and fine tune some key skills. I was all over the place as far as dreams go, and I made a list of questions and gave myself 30 days to answer them.

1. What do I want to share with the creative community?

2. Do I have something unique to contribute to the conversation?

3. Why do I want to blog?

4. How often would I post?

5. What kind of imagery am I drawn to?

6. Which five words best describe my design style?

7. What are five big dreams I have for my career?

8. What is my color palette?

9. What kind of imagery would I produce?

10. What kind of clients do I want to work with?

11. What have been my five favorite projects I’ve done over the last year?

12. How much of my personal life do I want to be public?

13. In what areas do I want to collaborate?

14. What defines Dallas’ future in creative community?

15. How can I inspire others?

16. How will I utilize social media?

17. Who is my biggest inspiration?

18. Which blogs do I read daily?

19. What do I want to be known for?

20. How will my journey into freelance ultimately benefit others?

Today I am freelancing and working with clients on brand and web design projects. I have started blogging again with a rush of excitement and feel like I have something to say again. I have plans and dreams and projects ahead that I never thought I would get the opportunity to be a part of. Was it easy? Absolutely not. There are still nights I lay awake in panic wondering what’s up the road and if I can keep up this momentum. But I’ve loved every minute of seeing God work in my life in such a direct way that I could never question that He had a plan all along. Everyone has dreams, but it’s up to me to be disciplined enough to pursue them.

Remind yourself often.

When I was able to answer a few of the questions, I put together a visual representation of my answers. I framed them and hung them above my desk so that if I ever questioned why I was doing this, I would remember. Find a way to remind yourself why you are doing what you do. And if you don’t know, start asking the hard questions.

-post by Kadie Smith