A lot of people around us seem to be amazed by the life and experiences we living. Our Scandaleuse's community, travels, photoshoots and projects we had (and keep having) seem to be impressive and people truly enjoy it. We have never received so many compliments and love from friends, family, clients and strangers since we have left France. “You guys are lucky” they say…
Luck has nothing to do with it
When we were living in London, during a cold winter evening, we were talking to a friend from photography school online. He was asking questions about our life in London and was telling us his dream was to go to Australia but felt a bit lost and scared about this idea. We remember him telling us: “you guys are so lucky for leaving Paris, I wish I could do the same but you know my english is pretty bad and living in another country is expensive”. So we told him we weren’t lucky, we just kicked our own butts and took the decision to leave. Don't imagine everything was perfect, when we arrived in London our English was pretty bad, we didn’t have a job and only a few savings.
We could have found every excuses to not go to England because yes it was scary. Instead we decided not to listen to our negative thoughts and booked our ride. And you know what? It was the best decision ever! In 8 years we have achieved a lot in our lives (both professionally and personally) and we have met a lot of wonderful people from all over the world, who helped us make our dreams come true.
But this has nothing to do with luck! We work hard, we take risks, we get out of our comfort zone, we stress, we cry but most of the time we have fun. You know why?
Because we just love what we do and this is the best motivation you can get!
Stop stopping yourself
We all have excuses and fears, obstacles we put in front of ourselves but there is something easy to understand:
if you want, you can.
Don't get us wrong, we are not saying all dreams are easy to realize (most of them require knowledge, money, strength, time and surrounding yourself with the right people), neither we are all born with a silver spoon in our mouth. But even if we don't all have the same financial situation or life benefits, living the life you dream of IS POSSIBLE when you have ideas, projects and a strong will to change.
There is a famous quote from Tony Gaskins that has helped us understanding the power of “I Can” and positively impacted the decision to open our business:
"if you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to build theirs."
The "GYST": Get Your Stuff Done
The first step is the most difficult to take but once you start working on your project, it will get easier, especially if you got a proper organization:
Find your goal
Plan step by step how to make it successful.
Make the steps to do so accessible and specific. It will sounds unreachable otherwise.
Invest or find investors to help you financially
Educate yourself on the knowledge you are missing to achieve your goal. (PS: Libraries in Toronto are free. Just saying.)
Or build a team of people who know how to do what you don't
Spend time on your project. Kiss the procrastination goodbye.
And most important: DON'T GIVE UP!
There are wonderful tools (such as internet and libraries that are full of information) available to help you take the first step towards realizing your projects. And if you don’t know or if you can’t do, don't hesitate to ask people around you for help; you will be surprised to see you are not alone. People will be happy to help you!
Remember, you are the only one who can move things up for your own happiness and future. Don't you want to become the person you desire to be?
Now roll-up your sleeves and go build your mini-empire!