Do you want a roadmap that shows you how to follow your dreams?
Do you know what your passion is — the one thing that makes you giddy when you think about it, the one thing you’d never get tired of doing?
Amy Howard’s book A Maker’s Guide, that I was given at the Haven conference, touches on all of this.
A Maker’s Guide has become my absolute favorite book! It’s so encouraging, and a complete guide for asking yourself the right questions of finding and pursuing your passion.
“A Maker’s Guide” is a Roadmap for Entrepreneurs and Creative People
I’m back from a wonderful, inspiring trip to Memphis to meet this lovely lady, Amy Howard, her husband Gene, and the Amy Howard at Home team.
She knows how to follow your dreams — she has created an empire from nothing.
She sources, restores and builds luxury home furnishings, and she also provides makers with artisan-quality paint products and training.
She invited an amazing group of 14 DIY bloggers to tour her new home and to learn everything you can do with her paint products in an all-day workshop.
I already wrote a posts about her stunning home, but with this post I have one goal: to inspire you to find your purpose in life, and TO PURSUE IT. Follow your dreams!
Find What You Are Meant To Do — And Do It
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience – read more here.
Back to Amy Howard’s book A Maker’s Guide.
Do you know what your passion is — the one thing that makes you giddy when you think about it, the one thing you’d never get tired of doing?
When were were all going around and introducing ourselves, including Amy, one thing became absolutely clear: we have all found our purpose.
We figured out what we were meant to do in life, and now that’s all we want to do.
All of us screamed out: “This is it!” when we discovered blogging and DIY home decorating. We are passionate about it, and talking about it brings us to tears, literally.
We just love what we do that much.
Do you feel like that giddy and energized about your job?
I know many people in my life, family members and friends, who haven’t even figured out what their passion is.
Maybe they have never allowed themselves to really look inside themselves to find it, or can’t focus on one thing, or don’t think they deserve to dream, or think they wouldn’t be able to make a living with their dream job.
If you can’t figure out what your purpose is, then you can’t pursue it — and that is the biggest tragedy.
So many people are stuck in jobs they hate and go through life being miserable. Don’t let that be you!
If you know what you are meant to do, I want to encourage you to pursue it. Finding it is half the battle.
I feel so blessed to know what my purpose it: I hope to encourage you and show you that you can create a beautiful home and live a healthy lifestyle, even on a budget.
Why be stuck in a job you don’t like — you might as well go after what you love! Life is short, and you owe this to yourself.
You deserve to dream. Don’t worry about what other people might think or say. That doesn’t matter — you matter. They’ll get over it, trust me.
Several of the other bloggers told us that they were forced into a career they didn’t love because it offered the money that thought they wanted, and three of the bloggers started blogging in their 50s. They are all much happier now.
If I would have let other people or doubts hold me back when I packed two suitcases to move to America 23 years, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
I knew it was the right move for me.
Follow your intuition; it’s usually right. Don’t live someone else’s life — live yours to the fullest!
You are unique, and your dreams and dream job will be unique. Figure out how to make money with your passion. Find how you can make the biggest mark while you are here.
Ask yourself:
- What can I do better than anyone else?
- What is the one thing that sets me apart?
- What do I want to be my legacy?
Don’t let concerns about money stop you. You will become an expert in your field because you love it so much that you want to know everything about it, and the money will follow because you are so good at what you do.
Plus, people can sense that you love what you do. They’ll want to be around that kind of positive and inspiring energy, and will want to hire you or buy what you have to offer.
It’s not a coincidence that there are so many talented artists selling what they make on Etsy and bloggers with a huge following — they are doing what they love, and it shines through.
I’d much rather make less money from a job I love and stay at home raising our son than take on a $100,000-a-year job in New York City that requires an hour train ride back and forth and drains me every day.
People want to be around happy, fulfilled people who are great at what they do.
It’s a business book for creative people, a “Letter and Roadmap to Creative Entrepreneurs,” and I’ve been taking it everywhere since I got it.
By now it’s full of notes about my goals for Dagmar’s Home and my novels.
I have gifted it to many of my friends who I think are stuck in a boring job and have so much talent to pursue something else.
What’s better than getting a roadmap with step-by-step tips to follow your dreams?
The book guides you through the steps you’ll need to create a thriving business. Creative people are often not very good business people — because we’d rather create than be distracted with administrative stuff.
I can relate.
Amy’s book helps you to “edit” and “focus.” She stresses how much you need to work on both: the creative and the business side, with many suggestions and tips.
I’m very inspired by Amy — she followed her heart and makes a living with what she loves — so you can imagine how honored I was to be invited to be one of the Amy Howard at Home Bloggers.
Everyone was so lovely, and we all really bonded during those two days.
Here is my post about using her One Step Paint to change our dark green cabinet to a beautiful light blue.
You can totally transform not only furniture piece, but also fabric, glass, and even metal with her products!
Here is the link again for the book.
