By the title your probably shocked right? Don’t judge. I’m just a small town girl trying to find her dream. But this isn’t it. Not right now - Not at this point in my life. I’m one of those type of people that put 110% into their goals in life. Once I see an end goal I give it my all until the challenge is complete and I have achieved what I set out to do. When I applied for Enterprise Placement Year I had in my head that I wanted to become a business woman and most importantly I wanted my designs to be out there in the big world. Little did I know that I did not have an actual business idea which I could write down.
Finding placements in the Sheffield area is pretty hard, theres not much going at all unless you've got a pocket full of cash and can finance living in London for your placement year to be honest. I knew I wanted to stay local, going to London long term wasn't an option for me. EPY seemed like a perfect fix, a great opportunity to learn new things and to focus on becoming an independent business woman.
At the start I wanted to design as much as possible, license my designs to be used for fashion or interiors. Then more options were flung at me, I began to loose sight of what I set out to do (which I did not really know anyway). The past 5 months I have tried and tried taking my business down different routes, I would start one idea make progress then change my mind, This happened quite a few times. I was sick of starting over, sick of not knowing what I wanted to do, sick of not having a long term goal. I was unhappy and my family and boyfriend knew it from the start.
It’s 2017 now and I want to do things that make me happy, I want to do things that will benefit myself and my career and push myself as hard as I possibly can. I knew it was time to make a change, I learnt in the past 5 month at EPY that I am a commercial designer - I work better under pressure, with deadlines, to a brief. But I am so happy I made that discovery now rather than later on in life. I know now what my strengths and weaknesses are and what I enjoy doing. I want to be open minded in my designs, not focus my brand on interiors or fashion but to enjoy what I do, experiment while I can and gain as much experience as possible.
The past 5 month have been tough, I’ve gave it such a good go. Now, Im not a quitter but I’m not a settler either. Im going to push for what I want in life and this is no different. It was a scary ordeal but one I’m so relieved and happy about, Today was the day I quit Enterprise Placement Year.
This is a new chapter for me, I want to focus on work experience. Progressing my career and myself, gaining new qualifications for the rest of my placement year, enjoying myself and to not over think everything I do but to embrace it. For the next 5 month I will be going down a completely different route. But I cannot contain my excited to start back into final year in September, getting back to a work structure, working from briefs, being experimental, pushing my limits, trying new things and putting my new found confidence and business skills into work. Im always going to be a creative soul, but setting up a business isn't for me right now in my life. Maybe one day, maybe doing something completely different. I’m not planning it. Im just enjoying each day as it comes, doing my best to succeed in everything I do and concentrating on being happy.
Don't settle, speak up and make changes to be happy with your life.
