Sharing Your Story (Plus a FREE Prize for YOU!): Daniela Allen Urbani Jewelry

This week I am bringing you the story of Daniela Allen, owner and artisan of Urbani Jewelry where she designs one-of-a-kind custom jewelry pieces. 

In addition to sharing her story with us, Daniela has generously offered this one of a kind, Hammer Copper Tag Necklace. To be entered to win you just need to do 3 things:


1. Like Big Dreaming Entrepreneur's Facebook Page & Urbani Jewelry's Facebook Page
2. Tweet out this post or re-post to your Facebook Page
3. Comment below with your full name and email stating you have done all 3.


Want a bonus?
Sure!

If you also sign up for my newsletter-make mention in the comments that you did-and you will get a bonus entry plus my FREE Gift!


So easy, only takes minutes and you can win this gorgeous one-of-a-kind necklace. The winner will be announced next Thursday here on my blog!
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1. Tell me a bit about your background. How did you get into designing jewelry?

I’ve been into creating through art ever since I can remember.   I remember some of the happiest moments as a little girl have been in art class.   It may have been a piece with paper mache or one of my jewelry creations.   I’ve carried this throughout my life and it’s no different with one of my jewelry pieces.  Each piece represents a glimpse of my personality.  I try to incorporate meaningful pieces that inspire an emotion.

While studying at FIT in NYC I took an elective jewelry design class which captivated all of my senses and thought it was a great way to intertwine both my passion for design and accessories.

2. You mention on your shop how you combine beautiful vintage pieces from the US and Chile to create one of kind art-what are some of your favorite places for inspiration? 

Chile has to be my strongest inspiration for all my creations.  Going to Chile sooths my soul and helps me get centered on the creations that I want to portray.  Whether that be a color, an emotion or an inspirational piece that will be drawn to that person.

The second strongest inspiration is in a nature.   The way the colors mesh together in a flower or the way a tree intertwines with another is poetic and I would like the person who buys my pieces to be inspired by this.  

I also love to combine both of these things with a one of a kind vintage piece found in local antique stores.  There is something to be said of an old piece combined with a new piece.   I love to see an old piece and rethink of all its possibilities and the meaning that it could hold.

3. What is your creative process like? How do you get started and then work the project through to completion?
This is probably the hardest part of all my creations because every piece is so personal.    I first start with an emotion I want to convey and think of all the wonderful things that inspire me.   I think about the combination of colors and the vintage piece and make it into a story.   I want my buyers to feel special when they put one of my pieces on.   Each piece incorporates my heart and soul.  It’s part of my passion.

4. What unique touches can customers of your shop expect? (ie do you package items really cool, offer a decorative card etc.) 
Each customer can expect a meaningful message and the knowledge that each piece has my heart and soul into them.  I hope that upon receiving one of my pieces they will quickly fall in love with them.

5. What are your favorite materials to work with? 
For now I love to work with natural items.  Items found on my walks in Chile and items that I find around local vintage shops here in the United States.  But, metal is probably the item that I would love to work on some more.  That is why I have chosen to take some jewelry metal workshops to expand my knowledge further.

6. What’s your favorite piece in your shop right now? 
Now that’s a hard one because they are all my babies.  But if I had to pick one it would have to be my inspirational pieces.  The pieces which already have a word written on them to remind us of love or to believe.  Those pieces are the ones that move me the most.

7. Tell everyone about the giveaway piece, The Hammered Copper Tag Necklace How was it inspired and how did you choose this as the giveaway? 
This piece inspired my while on a trip to La Serena, Chile.  I was on the plane scribbling some design ideas and I remembered how nice simple lines can be.   I wanted to convey the simplicity and complexity of the world that is why this piece has nothing else added to it.

8. What’s your goal for your jewelry line? What’s the next big thing we can all keep a look out for? 
My near future goal for my line is to make a move into one of the local shops in town.   I want to make people smile though my jewelry.  As for my far future goals maybe to see one of my pieces on a stranger as I walk pass and think hey she is wearing one of mine.  
I am going to start working with metal and my customers should definitely be on the lookout for one of my metal custom inspired piece.

Big Dreaming Entrepreneur: Niall Doherty from $50 Blogs

1. For those who may not know, you are traveling the world-without flying, all the while working to build a sustainable business that will allow you to work from anywhere with an Internet connection. How did you come to decide this and what were the reactions of friends and family? Did they think you were crazy or did many of them get it?

First of all, thanks for taking the time to put together these questions for me :-)

I'd known I wanted to travel for several years, and eventually I decided to take the plunge and just go for it. I saw a lot of other people online who were doing the self-employment thing from the road, and I figured they had nothing I didn't have or couldn't learn. So I quit my nice 9-to-5 job and started figuring it all out. That was 18 months ago, and even though it hasn't exactly been smooth sailing ever since, I have no regrets about my decision. It's been one big adventure and I continue to learn and grow every day.

As for friends and family, they thought I was pretty crazy, but I'm lucky in that they've always been happy to support me as long as I'm following my dreams and not hurting anyone. I'm not sure many of them really "get it", but that's okay. My lifestyle doesn't have to resonate with everybody.

2. Did you travel much before? If so tell us about those trips and how they differed from this one.

Before I quit my job I'd been to a grand total of five countries in almost 29 years of living. So I wasn't well traveled by any means. I was quite independent though, having moved from Ireland to the US for three years. That was a great experience. But as regards culture shock and unplanned travel, I was pretty green.

3. How do you keep yourself going? I am sure there are days for you where you just want to sleep in, no blogging or work of any kind-what keeps you motivated, inspired and moving forward?

I love this life I've built for myself, so that keeps me motivated to do what's necessary to maintain it. If I don't work, I don't get paid, and then I have to go home and live with my parents. Much more fun to be hopping on a boat across the Persian Gulf after ten life-affirming days in Iran.

That said, I do try and give myself a break every now and then. If I really don't feel like working some day, I'll be my own best friend and allow myself some downtime.

As for blogging, I see my writing at Disrupting the Rabblement as something of a legacy project. I get frequent emails from readers thanking me for some words that made a positive difference in their lives. Knowing that my writing can have that kind of impact is hugely inspiring.

4. How did you transition from the 9-5 to being self-employed? I always find this detail so important and yet it’s left out of a lot of people’s stories. I think this part is what makes others realize, “hey I can do that!” It seems the stories we hear a lot of are, “Well I was a gazzillionaire lawyer who decided to sell the Bentley and travel the world in my yacht.” I think what many people miss is that EVERYONE can make the transition if it speaks to them-they just may have to plan more. Tell us your transition story.

In many ways I feel like I'm still transitioning. I've gotten to the point now where I can comfortably earn enough each month to cover my expenses, mostly from freelance web design work. The next step is to go from self-employed to business owner, so I'm no longer trading my time for money. That should afford me the flexibility to take extended time away from my laptop and go have more travel adventures.

But let me tell you how I arrived at sustainable self-employment. It took me about a year, but I could have done it much faster if I had skipped experimenting with passive income initially and got busy freelancing from day one. I think it's important in the early days to just make money any way you can. Get some income flowing, and then feel free to experiment with passive income and the like. Resist the urge to put the cart before the horse.

Once I put my passive income ideas on hold and started offering up my web design skills, momentum started to build and within a couple of months I had clients chasing me instead of me having to go hunt for them. My rates have doubled in less than six months.

I did have two advantages though. First, my blog had a decent following, which made it easier to get the word out about my services. Second, I already had some marketable skills, since I worked professionally as a web designer back in the cube farm.

For anyone reading this who doesn't have those advantages, I suggest you consider signing up for a course like Sean Ogle's Location Rebel, which gives you access to a connected and supportive community, and helps you build marketable skills quick-smart.

5. How does it feel to be living your dream? Is it a realization that “hey I am doing it!” or do at times, you still feel like you are working towards it?

A bit of both. Sometimes I do pause for a moment and shake my head in disbelief, or just bust out in a big stupid grin. In many ways I am living my dream. At the same time, I do still feel like I'm working towards my true ideal. As mentioned, I'd like to transition more into being a business owner. As it stands currently, if I take a week away from work, I don't get paid that week. The trick is to appreciate how far I've come and enjoy where I am while working towards an even better future. I like to think I'm doing a good job of that :-)

6. What advice do you have for others who want to drop the 9-5 and make a huge life change. Things you would do differently perhaps or things you wouldn’t change for the world?

A few things I'd suggest:

1) Trust yourself. As Christopher Robin once told Winnie the Pooh, "You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

2) Surround yourself with positive, supportive people. Ideally, some of them will already be living the type of life you want for yourself.

3) Make friends with change and uncertainty. You'll be spending a lot of time with both of them.

4) Experiment and persist. In the long run, you can't fail if you keep doing those two things.

5) Move towards your fears. Think of them as signposts, pointing the way to your biggest breakthroughs.

6) Rock on with your legendary self ;-)

"I quit my 9-to-5 job in November of 2010 and have since become a self-employed vagabond, pursuing my passions and helping other people escape mediocrity while I travel around the world without flying."-Niall Doherty

Sharing Your Story: Carolyn Elliott

I had the pleasure of interviewing Carolyn Elliot back in January. The opportunity to chat about her book, “Awesome Your Life”, her coaching services and how she has managed bring the “awesome” into her own life was one of my favorite interviews. Her easy manner, crash honesty and clear passion for life, art and poetry made me feel as if I was chatting with a dear old friend. 

Explaining that while working towards her doctorate, Carolyn found herself dissastisfied with the world of academia and academic pursuits. A world she had spent much time in and that had formulated many of her aspirations and drive, she now had begun to question. In the process of trying to heal her own suffering, she writes,

"the reason why my creative conflagration sometimes sputtered was not because I've ever been blocked or because I had a uniquely wicked childhood, but rather because I had mistakenly imagined that the purpose of creative work was to entertain or impress, when really its purpose is to make heaven manifest on earth. I realized I’d been playing small-­‐-­‐and yes, by playing small I mean aiming to get on the best seller list or win a Pulitzer. Such goals are dry and dull because they're structurally part of the rather lame universe we habitually participate in-­‐-­‐ the one where struggle and competition are normal, where some folks win big while others lose, where some get to be glamorous artists and authors and others are confined to drudgery.”

As a teacher of poetry, Carolyn wanted to share what she believed is the most important part of poetry and that is, “life is poetry.” We are all, “living our legends” and experiencing our epic tales and that the poetry of others can help us get in touch with that.

For a suffering genius, the world can seem cold and uncaring and the pursuits of its occupants, meaningless and contrite. Longing to bring forth something unique and solely their own, they keep their genius hidden-often to the detriment of themselves.

Without preaching, without painting a rainbows and ice cream view of the world, Awesome Your Life brings forth practices and visualization that all suffering geniuses can use to bring a bit of awesome into their life. A workbook reminiscent of “The Artist’s Way” by Julie Cameron, the reader is able to take into practice exercises that will start the shift necessary to make substantial changes and manifestations in their daily life.

In addition to her book and blog, Carolyn offers “low-cost coaching” saying, “I don’t pump people up to meet goals– I help folks question and dissolve the fearful stories and patterns that generate their stress and pain and keep them from living in joy.”

To learn more about Carolyn Elliot, her book and her coaching services visit her website at AwesomeYourLife.com