I truly believe that it is never too late to start a brand new chapter of your life. I’m turning thirty later this year and I have huge ambitions of the future. I honestly feel like I’m just getting started! Maybe it’s taken me until now to really figure out what I want to do, how I want to live my life and who I really am. That might sound a little bit lame but bare with me okay…

I guess what I mean is that I have a very clear idea now of what I want both personally and professionally, and I’m ready to work mega hard for it.

So work wise, I would say I’ve had two careers and endless side hustle jobs.
Job number one ; Dancer.
When I was nineteen, I graduated from dance college and I was a professional dancer for three years. Before getting a dance job in a musical, I worked in a restaurant, a clothes shop, and I also did a few commercial modelling gigs too. Whilst working in the theatre I discovered my passion for photography. (This was about four years prior to the birth of instagram.) I invested in a fancy camera and two lenses and some studio lights. I used to photograph my friends, dancers from the show, my niece and nephews and sometimes I’d take candid snaps of strangers too. I remember photographing my friend Lucy at my house one day, Rob came home to find that I had transformed our living room into a ‘studio’. The sofa was in the hallway and I’d tapped paper over the windows to block out the light. I’m very grateful that he has always been incredibly laid-back as well as very supportive of my creative adventures. I set up a photography website and it become a side job that I really loved. I suppose I never really stopped taking photographs but nowadays, I mostly take photos of Jude and photos for my blog. (selfies don’t count!)
Even though I’d never call myself a photographer, I know that those years snapping my mates really taught me a lot. I used to read books about cameras, I’d watch YouTube videos about shutter speed, aperture, photo composition and editing. I discovered a love for curating beautiful images, capturing a persons vibe and story telling. Now of course, I have this blog to share my ideas, and as well as creating images for my own social media, I also create images for brands too. So I guess it was all good practice.

Job number two; Personal Trainer. After leaving my life in the theatre, I became a Mummy and later studied to become a personal trainer. Initially, I thought I’d like to lead bootcamps and fitness classes for other mummies. I’ve always loved fitness and sports. At school, P.E was one of my favourite lessons and sports day felt like the Olympics! I knew that I would be happy working in the fitness industry because I had a genuine interest and passion for it. Anyway, I guess I didn’t know at the time, that years later I would be an ambassador for adidas, one of the biggest sports brands in the world or that I would fall in love with running and complete the London Marathon. I guess I’ve just always been open to taking on new challenges and to be honest I never really had a specific plan. I just kinda went along with opportunities that felt right. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had to put the work in. Three years training at dance college is no joke. Then when I retrained, I spent a year studying anatomy, physiology, first aid and nutrition. Ever after I had the qualifications, I had to set up my own fitness business, hire a studio, self promote, build a client base, teach the classes, and at that time my son was only two years old, so it all had to fit in around nursery and Robs work too.

I guess no job is easy and whether you work for a company or you’re a freelancer, essentially, you will succeed if you’re willing to learn and to work harder than your competitors.

If you have a passion, a skill or maybe just a great idea, don’t waste it. All the jobs that you’ve done before, have given you the tools that you need now. It’s easier than ever to learn. We have libraries full of books and they have computers with free wifi. There are unlimited resources online, ebooks, youtube tutorials, google! I mean come on. Do some research, put the hours in, work hard and do whatever it is that you really want to do. As I mentioned at the start of this post, I’m going to be turning thirty soon, and I’m just about to start a brand new venture alongside two of my best friends. I can not wait to share it with the world but for now we are working away in silence. We’ll be launching in September this year. Who knows what the next ten years will bring, but I know what I want to do and I’m not going to settle for anything else. I know that I have the skills, things that I don’t have a clue about I will learn or get advise, and I’m gonna work for it every single day. Inevitably, life may have some unpredictable set backs, but I don’t accept imperfect circumstances or my own excuses.

If you’re reading this and you feel like you want to start your own business, change careers, record a song, start a blog, whatever it is… do what you want to do and remember, you’re never too old, it’s never too late.

For some more practical tips on productivity and motivation, head to my previous post, REAL TALK click here.