“Never give up on your dream, just follow it, and use every chance you get on the way.“
All of us have dreams, question is: “Do we have enough power and desire to do it?” What we all have in common is that we all want something better for us, we just have to thrive to succeed. When someone sees me at the moment, of course it looks amazing. You are doing what you love, and you get paid for it. Before all that, it took me a lot of time and will to make it happen. I have been doing design for the past 20 years, but only since 2017. professionally, before that it was just a hobby. I spent a lot of time studing, and fighting for what I want and love. There is always a lot of opsticles down the road to success, parents always think they know what is the best for you, but that is not always the case. In the end it comes to that if you decide to do what you love, you might not hate Mondays as much as you think.
FINDING MOTIVE
What is good to do from time to time is to stop and look for a moment where are you now? Where have you been a year ago? Where would you like to be in a year? If there is a change if you see that you learned more, that you accomplished more than you will have a motive to keep going. Small steps are important, one big one breaks and you feel like you didn’t make it. If my only goal was to work for the Bundesliga, and if I still didn’t make it, I would feel like I’m failing. Of course I would like that to happen one day, but baby steps. I give myself small goals and every day I feel accomplished. Eventually, I will get to the Bundesliga for sure.
YOU NEED TO START SOMEWHERE
In the modern world, it is so much easier to learn something, since everyone has wifi. Everything is so available, just a few clicks and you can find what you are looking for. I just find it hard to believe that nowadays its hard to start something. It was hard when I was trying to learn Photoshop, and you couldn’t find the help you needed. There was no Youtube. Dial-up was the only option to get online, and if you are using it longer than 10 minutes, your parents are telling you to hang up, because they need to use the phone. Even when you do get online, there wasn’t so much information about the topics you needed. The books were very expensive, and even if I could save some money, I lived in a small town, where I couldn’t get what I needed. What I could do is do some research on my own, and try different things to see how something works. Eventually I got to meet some designers who gave me very good tips and tricks, and I used every chance I got to learn something new.
FIELD OF INTEREST
I have begun with sports immediately. I loved to play soccer and basketball and loved to watch it with my friends. There was design involved with music (Heavy metal). Posters and albums were the only motives to try to make something similar. Those two areas are still the most enjoyable for me.
MILESTONE
There were times when I didn’t even open Photoshop for two years, every time I tried, it just didn’t work. I wasn’t lucky. I graduated technical science, as a traffic engineer, and I couldn’t get a job, I was switching from job to job just to pay the rent, and I was wondering what is the purpose of all this. I hate every day, not only Monday.
RETURNING TO DESIGN
One Facebook group popped up. Official Serbian Metallica fan club. I found one old post where it said they are looking for a designer for a T-shirt, even though its old I decided to try my luck, and offered to do it for free. As a result, we were working together for 4 years. I got fulfillment of one of my biggest dreams. VIP backstage tickets for the Metallica concert! I was never greedy at work. I tried to be always professional, and honest about what I can and can’t do. There were some difficult clients, where just talking with them takes all your energy. I stopped working with them, because I don’t need stress while doing what I love. We always learn through life.
THE PATH TO THE GOAL IS HARD
I took the job as a betting cashier. Every job should be done at 100%. There is no shame in working hard, whatever the job is. I waited patiently for my chance to prove myself. I proved I can do design, sport design! Every day I gave 101% of me, so they would keep me since I didn’t finish school for a designer. This was my Bundesliga, my ticket for my CV, my portfolio, Instagram. This way I could finally show what I can do. Be careful what you wish for, it might happen when you least expect it.
PLANNING
You should always keep your focus on the goal. Make a plan on how to achieve results, pick a path, a follow it no matter what. Do your research, follow trends, build your knowledge. The Internet is your garden. Use it.
BE A TRAIN
Take people as passengers, but choose wisely. Choose the ones that are giving you fuel, help, and support to keep going. Appreciate them! You will also have bad passengers, but it’s your train, don’t take them on board, even if they do sneak in, kick them off on the next stop.
THE GOAL
The goal is to get to the Bundesliga someday. But my small goals keep me going. They keep me happy and accomplished. After all, this is my train, and I choose where I’m going.
