#8: Lucy Feagins – Taking the Leap to Create Your Own Path with the Mind Behind The Design Files

Join Kristina as she speaks with the delightful and incredibly inspiring Lucy Feagins – stylist, writer, editor and super-passionate creative mind behind The Design Files, Australia’s most popular design blog and a true one-stop design and inspiration hub.

Lucy is a wonderful example of how making the decision to pursue something you’re passionate about can lead you down a true path of success, even if it’s a completely different direction to what you had imagined for yourself.

Lucy started The Design Files blog in 2008, before the world had even thought about the likes of Instagram or Pinterest.

What began as a fairly low-key passion project for Lucy after she finished university – working her way through a freelance career in set design in the film Industry – has now become the ultimate design, trend and inspiration resource for us all.

Despite always imagining she would pursue a career in film, it wasn’t long before the little blog that she had been chipping away at on the side became her main focus, and The Design Files grew to become her true passion and purpose.

A mother of a busy toddler, a wife and the founder of a hugely successful business, Lucy reminds us how no matter how successful we become, we always need to take the time to set goals, plan and think about the next step when working on our dreams.

In this wonderfully refreshing episode, you’ll discover…

  • How, by jumping out of your comfort zone, choosing your own path and following your passions, you can open up a world of opportunity and success
  • The importance of surrounding yourself with people who can mentor you and help you to achieve your dreams
  • How writing down your goals and dreams and setting a clear plan of action is vital to achieving what you want

...and so much more!

 

EPISODE OVERVIEW

As the much-loved and recognised Editor of hugely popular The Design Files,  Lucy Feagins has grown her blog from a personal creative outlet, which she began back in 2008, into an incredible business which now boasts a highly engaged community of readers and social media followers.

With a passion for original content, high quality photography and videography, The Design Files and its team of eight staff today, pride itself on sharing wonderful stories, documenting beautiful spaces, and keeping readers informed about creative happenings Australia wide.

But before this, and well before the incredible phenomenon of The Design Files began, before Lucy even considered a career in publishing, she was a little girl who loved all things creative.

Often organising her little group of friends to create fun magazines using her mother's photocopier, it seems only fitting that Lucy would end up working in the creative industries.

After completing a Bachelor of Creative Arts at Melbourne University, Lucy entered into the hard-working and incredibly competitive world of film and television set design, interning for free and battling the freelance contract world to pursue her career goals.

However tough this field had been, it was here that Lucy learnt first-hand many of the skills needed to succeed in business today, making it an incredibly invaluable training ground for her. After seven years, Lucy began to feel a tad disillusioned and felt that the opportunities to progress in film were becoming few and far between.

This was around the same time she'd started to work on a little personal blog in her spare time. This blog grew into a true passion point for Lucy and ever so gradually it began to take over her film career.

Eventually, after declining a huge contract, she decided to give this little blog her all and has never looked back.

Empowered by making the decision to change direction and take a chance on something she truly loved, Lucy discovered the power of  leaving behind something that was no longer her focus and realised that simply starting something, despite not necessarily having all the answers, can set you on the path to success.

By choosing to follow her heart and jump out of her comfort zone, Lucy was able to create the incredible business we know as The Design Files today.

One thing you'll notice in this episode is Lucy's honestly and sincerity. She may be a hugely successful business woman who grew a little blog into a huge national brand, but she is also the first to admit that she faces many challenges and moments of uncertainty as her career, business and personal life grow and change.

Constantly inspired by the world around her, Lucy is a self-proclaimed perfectionist who now juggles motherhood, family life and her incredibly successful business on a daily basis. And she openly admits that a balance often feels out of reach – making her just like many of us in search of the ultimate synergy between work and personal life.

After many years in business, creating a life she loves, Lucy shares with us the lessons she's learnt around goal setting, the importance of following your passions, making a plan, setting yourself up with the right mentors and surrounding yourself with the right team in order to achieve whatever is is you want to achieve.

"I really related to a lot of the challenges Lucy mentioned around growing a business and staying true to your values, but also the importance of goal setting and connecting with people who have strengths in areas that can help you." Kristina Karlsson

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