Everyone walks a different path in life and sometimes our paths cross with incredible people. Hey Queens, I’m Athena. An RVP for Crowned For Success and the owner of RelianceLegacy.com. For today’s post, I’m doing something a little different. I invited my friend, Mia Medeiros, Owner of Ooze Studio, to join me for a Q&A.
Mia is an entrepreneur who owns multiple businesses and is a mother to three kids. She started her career in graphic design after school at 13-years old! Mia decided to following through on her life’s calling and started her first company at the age of 24. After 25-years she discovered life had other plans for her and Mia made a huge life changing decision. She decided to make a lateral shift in her current field to find her second life’s calling. I asked Mia four questions to provide another perspective on what it means to go on a journey of finding your second purpose.
Another Point Of View
1) What or why did you feel you needed to find your calling again?
“I have been in Graphic design for over 25 years, starting at the bottom as an assistant, then to being my own boss (since 2005) as a Creative Director and Chief of Creative for a small tech company. It was suggested to me, a few times, I would do well on my own so I decided to take the leap and I loved it!
I loved it so much, I overworked and wore myself out on it I think. Things I used to look forward to had became tedious and impersonal. The tone had changed and once that happens, it’s nearly impossible to get it back. It all became so grueling and not creative enough for me. Don’t get me wrong, I still respect it and love graphic design, marketing and events, but my roles became something different, more marketing focused and corporate, more stressful.
It began to feel like something in me was dying.
I needed more creative freedom, and I also began to crave giving back to the community. So… I decided to give up job security ($$$) for creative freedom and to find something I could do on my own, that I loved as much as the first business.”
2) What process or steps did you have to work through to get to your next step?
“Finding my new calling was the exact opposite of being thrown into my first career and love of owning a Graphic Design company. I called it my “creative crisis,” but my therapist said it was a true mid-life crisis because I had already experienced so much with work.
For the first time ever, I was not able to visualize my future self or what I wanted to do, which meant I could not plan or set goals and I was stagnant. For a go-getter, avid planner and multi-tasker like me, it was my torture!
I had to act…
I wrote down everything I wanted, and I don’t ever settle. Knowing I needed to do something creative, hands-on and serving the community. I knew I wanted to inspire others, work with kids too, motivate people, help with making a healthy mindset and mostly, have fun! (Not like the serious corporate world of commercial design and marketing).
It took three years of soaking up anything and everything that interested me to see what it would spark? It also took: one very full brainstorming journal, The Société workbooks, many masterminds, webinars, skillshare classes, long talks with business and life coaches, a psychologist, family and friends, watching Netflix documentaries, getting two accredited ‘psychology of color‘ course certifications, attending one Adobe Summit (for marketing), one health coach certification, a yoga workshop, a pregnancy, a remodel and volunteering as an art docent at my kid’s school… to realize my next dream. It was SO HARD, but I plugged away in search of it. I was go go go until I had my third child and was forced to chill. I mean, a LOT.
The universe was telling me to stop and be still.
I think it was a combination of all this, and then giving so much to my baby (my office, my time, my sleep) that I needed to get back to me. Although, it had to be the truest version of me, like when I was a kid. I worked through some self-discovery and this led to me wanting to take back my painting hobby and looking into building a studio, then I thought, well shit… why don’t I open a studio for everyone, and Ooze Studio was born! Now, it’s all I can visualize and I am obsessed with building my new vision right.”
3) Did you feel your first business was your purpose/calling or was it a stepping stone to your purpose now?
“I absolutely feel the first business I owned, Project Temple, was my calling… in so many ways! I can’t begin to describe the wealth of knowledge I gained from lessons owning it. It lead me to my current company, Axidome, which was a continuation of PT, but also a stepping stone for realizing my thirst for more creativity and the new big idea of opening an art studio. Everything leads to something! Now I have too many ideas.
A Second Perspective On Finding Your Purpose
4) What are a couple tips you can offer someone looking for their purpose who needs to work through uncomfortable blocks?
“Tips I can provide are: keep digging! Look at everything you want to do and learn as much as you can about all of it. The process of elimination was important to me because I have so many heartfelt interests.
Also, one of the best things I heard while on this journey was, “what would you do with your life, today, tomorrow, in business, if there were NO judgments?” That was big! So, if there were no such thing as judgment from outsiders, or yourself, what would you do?
Someone said, “If you wake up thinking about it every day, then that is probably your calling, so do it (or something like that)!”
What’s Your Perspective?
Athena here, I’ll wrap this awesome Q&A up with a couple of my own inputs and takeaways. It really touched me when Mia said in answer one, “It began to feel like something in me was dying.” I personally have felt this way in jobs that weren’t bringing any meaning to my life. My internal flame would burn out and I never knew why. So I would do what a lot of us naturally do, find another job and repeat the same pattern and get even more frustrated. Does that sound like something you might have experienced or have gone through?
Lastly, when Mia said in answer three, “Everything leads to something!” I couldn’t agree more! My entrepreneurial journey did not start off as a blogger. I was even off of social media for over two years. Now look at me, I’m all over social media. Just because you start in one place doesn’t mean that’s where you have to stay! Thank you so much Mia for your story, courage and passion to help others with your creative gifts. Until next time queens!
Connect With Us
Send me a message on Instagram, @athena1029, if this blog post resonated with you. Remember to head over to my blog RelianceLegacy.com for more guidance on how to find your purpose. Lastly, be sure to show Mia Medeiros some LOVE on Instagram, @ooze.studio.ca, and message her directly if you have any questions about her journey or about Ooze Studio. Mia’s website: https://www.ooze.studio/
