It’s Thursday and time for another “Inspire Me” post! This time you get to hear from an amazing lady named Dana! She has just recently made the choice to follow her dreams and is currently in the thick of a ton of hard work! I feel like Dana and I are a lot alike and I consider her a friend even though we’ve never met face to face. After getting to know her sweet spirit and amazing creativity, I think you too will come to be a fan of Ms. Dana!
First of all, can I just say what a great series this is that Kara and Tim have put together? I mean, really, who doesn’t need a little inspiration every once and awhile. Now you know exactly where to come to get your fix!
So, let’s talk about dreams a little bit. I’m 36 y.o. and only in the infant stages of my dreams. It has taken me the last 10 years or so to even realize what it was I wanted to do with my life. What was it that got me to this point, you ask? Well, there are 4 main factors and I’ll break it down for you in no particular order.
1) Prayer– One day, upon the heels of my daughter learning to ride her bike and tie her shoes all in the same day, she said a prayer. It went something like this…“God, please put new talents in my heart.” Out of the mouths of babes, I tell ya! I liked this prayer so much that I started praying it for myself.
2) Someone believing in me– I have a mentor who called me a ‘decorator’ one day. I was blown away that she viewed me in such a role. I always called her for decorating advice and here she was using that word to describe me?! What a compliment!
3) Kara– Now, the last thing I am is a brown-noser, so I’m not just writing this because I’m sharing on her blog today! Kara wrote a post once about believing in yourself and gave some very wise advice with practical steps to achieve your dreams. She discussed having business cards made and starting to verbalize your dreams and make people realize you’re serious! In other words, take yourself seriously so that others will too. Good stuff, right?
4) Last, but not least, Stripes– I had been in a funk for about a week and I realized my not-so-nice attitude was because I had so many things I wanted to do and I kept telling myself “I can’t.” Well, I woke up one morning and decided I was going to achieve one of those things and get over my “I can’t” attitude. Here’s a little peek at that project…
Days later, I created my blog. Did I mention computer skills are not on the top of my talents list either? This was another huge obstacle that was keeping me from following my dreams. Since I erased the words, “I can’t” from my vocabulary, I didn’t have an excuse anymore. And lo and behold, this computer thing isn’t as hard as I had created it to be in my mind. Have you ever noticed yourself doing the exact same thing?
So where am I now? I officially have a business named Dana Frieling Interiors and a design/inspiration blog called, Make Them Wonder. It’s growing, slowly but surely. I’d love to tell you I’ve got clients knocking down my door and magazine features lined up for months, but that’s not reality. I’m in the sweat equity phase of business. I’ve given myself a year to pour myself into house projects. This may seem like a short period of time, but I don’t want to go broke in the mean time. I hope to prove to others through my projects, that I’m serious and worthy to be hired. After a year, I’ll reevaluate things and reset goals!
Here’s what I’ve got so far…
A huge thanks to Kara for asking me to share my story today. I hope you’ll each take time to pray, go after your dreams and be kind!
Lucky to be a part of your series today, Kara. Thanks so much for having me!
Dana was one of my first blogging friends and is as inspirational with her talented out of the box projects as she is with her kindness and godliness! I’m blessed to have her as a friend!
Dana, it was a pleasure having you over! Have a great day!
Pam, I feel the exact same way! I love our group of creative and caring blogger friends! Such an encouragement every day!
What a great post from the both of you!! Dana is one of my “real life” friends and believe it or not we didn’t realize we had so much in common(aka: a love for everything house and home) until she started blogging. You guys nailed it she is a kind hearted talented girl!!