pursue your dreams: juliann of mint for hue

Pursue Your Dreams is a weekly mini-series brought to you by a handful of talented handmade artists, bloggers, small business owners, and ladies who are chasing hard after their dreams. The series focuses on 3 insights they've learned about staying inspired, dealing with negativity, business tips, blogging, setting goals, marketing yourself, and more!

Hi, I am Juliann Ford and I am the designer behind

Mint for Hue

, a custom design shop. From wedding stationery, birth announcements, party invitations, wall prints, small business branding, and more, I have a passion for anything and everything design!

Since graduating college, I knew that I wanted to create a site where I could showcase my work, grow my passion, and connect with more people. Long days at a "real" job, planning a dream wedding, to the million other day-to-day tasks were always my excuses as to why I never had a design portfolio or website. But last year that all changed. I got the boost I needed after being laid off from my first "real" job of four years. There was a bit of panic at first but then I felt so relieved, excited, and unstoppable! I knew immediately that it was a blessing in disguise in so many ways. And Mint for Hue was born later that summer.

I came across Jenny's blog this past fall and I'm so glad I did! Her work is stunningly beautiful, her fashion is flawless, and her blog is always relateable. Not only that, but Jenny has a heart-of-gold and she is someone that I truly admire in so many ways. Thank you so much, Jenny, for featuring me on your blog. I'm so honored to share a few things that I have learned while pursuing my dreams.

1 // Just Start

I think the hardest part for me was to start. I didn't know where to begin, what to spend my time on, what made the most sense, who I wanted my audience to be, how I wanted my brand to feel, which social platforms would I use, to have a blog or not. The list went on and on. And then once I got started, I changed direction too many times to count. I scribbled, erased, deleted, and restarted. I jumped from one idea to the next, never really finishing the first. I went in circles for months. It finally occurred to me that this wasn't going to get me anywhere. I just needed to start.

Through that, I learned that sometimes it's okay to figure out things as you go. You don't need to be 100% finished to launch your site or begin marketing your business. After all, small and big businesses alike are constantly reinventing themselves, making themselves better, and growing. As creatives, we spend so many hours over-analyzing, researching, perfecting, and comparing ourselves to one another instead of actually doing. Especially with social media, it's hard not to compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel. We often are our own biggest critic and stand in our own way of fulfilling our dreams. You need to be okay with learning the process, not having all of the answers right away, and figuring out what works best for you. Remind yourself that everyone starts somewhere. You will make mistakes, you will get discouraged and frustrated, but that's all part of learning and growing your business. You don't always need a plan; sometimes you just need to breathe, have a little faith, and just start! Maybe it'll turn out to be more than what you had ever dreamed! But you have to start to find that answer.

2 // Be You

Be true to your inner self. Take a look at who you admire and why they inspire you. I guarantee a lot of it has to with who they are as a person, their outlook on life, how unique they are, and how relateable their story is. People like to connect with people; it's reassuring to know that others think and believe the same things you do. Even if it's a recent hiccup or challenge that you have faced, that is what makes you real and you won't believe the amount of support you will receive by opening up. It takes courage to be vulnerable, truthful, and honest - and it's amazing how empowering vulnerability really is.

Continue being true to yourself through your work. We see so many beautiful things on social media outlets making it hard to stick to our roots and who we are as an artist. Trying to replicate something or someone will only leave you discouraged. I'm not saying to not try new things. It's refreshing to explore new creative outlets and see where it may take you. You never know how it may inspire you! The truth is, we all draw inspiration from somewhere and admire others in our niche, but do you ever stop to think about the people who admire you? Focus on everything that you have done, how far you have come, areas where you do succeed, traits that make you you. Be confident in who you are, what you do, and what you stand for. You never know who idolizes you.

3 // Be Passionate

I never really understood why my husband would talk about his job all day, every day. We could be talking about something completely random, like our favorite ice cream (and man, does this guy LOVE his ice cream) but then he'd completely switch gears and talk about work. And he wouldn't stop. Honestly, it frustrated me. Why can't he ever unplug? Can we just talk about nothing for a change? Why does he care so much? It's just a job. But now I fully understand because I found my passion, too, and I am now the one who's constantly talking about work! I can't stop thinking about my goals for the year, what to do next, how I can grow and connect with more people, how to better myself and my business. It's really amazing to have this sort of feeling. It's something I've never had before and it's something I can't explain.

Being passionate sounds obvious. Your passion will be seen through your work so you need to have drive, determination, and a whole lot of fire within you. You will have days of high highs filled with proud tears and days of low lows filled with doubt and fear. You will put in more hours than you ever imagined but that won't matter. When you have this passion that's set on fire, it doesn't feel like a job, you want to do it, and nothing is going to stop you. Even the not-so-appealing duties won't affect you: paperwork, tracking invoices, marketing strategies, pricing configurations, website analytics. This has been a pleasant surprise to me; it's a good change of pace, keeps things interesting, and I am really enjoying the non-creative side to my business. If you have this fiery passion in your heart, you will learn to appreciate and actually like the not-so-appealing stuff, too. Because at the end of the day, you will do anything to succeed.