We were lucky to catch up with Julie Diaz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Julie, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

There is a lot of advice out there about what it takes to be “successful.” And all of it is valid. But in order to truly achieve success, you must define what “success” means to you and what that looks like. I think that success requires an incredible amount of self-awareness, authenticity, grit, and most importantly, adaptability.

These are all important because authenticity helps you stay in alignment with yourself, self-awareness helps you maintain clarity and vision, and grit gives the edge to roll up your sleeves and get work done, especially in the challenging seasons.
But adaptability is the most important trait, in my opinion, because we live in a time where everything is constantly changing and evolving.

Being adaptable helps you become a person that listens and takes in new perspectives. It encourages you to learn, to reshape your thinking, it helps you connect with others, it opens doors and helps you pivot so you can evolve and recreate yourself, your business, or your goals each time it’s necessary.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started in the out-of-home advertising industry right out of college in 2009. It was during the recession and graduating into that workforce was brutal. I was grateful to have found a job and I began as an assistant and worked my way up to manage my own projects. Over the years I invested in the relationships with the people that I worked with because I enjoyed being the person that made everything happen. And to this day, it is so rewarding to see that my clients trust me with their work because of my ability to manage all the moving parts so that it all is executed smoothly.

When an advertiser comes to me, they are looking for someone who can turn their advertising project come to fruition. I help them reach their goals from end to end; from the graphic design to the print production, and to installation, whatever their need is. I help execute their vision by taking the project duties off their hands so all they have to do is say “yes.”

My clients have so much on their plate that it is a joy for me to be able to take the stress off their shoulders and turn their rough drafts into a reality within the allotted time frame.

What sets me apart is that I provide a “boutique” experience and my clients hire me because they feel that their project is safe in my hands.

I am most proud of the relationships I have nurtured.
These aren’t just numbers, dates, or data in spreadsheets.
Behind the brands and projects, these are people who just want to do well in their jobs.
And it is so important to me to be able to maintain the human aspect throughout the lives of these projects because we all need a little kindness when we are feeling the pressure of a deadline.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’m a creature of habit. And I was so used to my routine and my comfort zone in the job that I had had for many years that doing anything different was too scary for me.
So I remained in place, for years.
There were some challenges at that job that pushed us to go fully remote and I was looking forward to it.

But in January 2020 my boss at the time announced that he was retiring.
So all the plans we had of going remote were then canceled.

I was so scared because not only was that unexpected, but I had not been in the job market for years.
And not only that but I had just become a single mom during that time as well.
My professional life was not the only thing taking a hit.
Living in my comfort zone suddenly wasn’t so comfortable.

I felt I had to make a big, scary decision because I felt such a connection to my clients that I didn’t want to let them down.
I needed to do something.

Do I take the relationships I built over the years and go into business for myself?
Or do I go the safe route and just find another job?

I was chatting with a friend about this and she tells me something I will never forget.
She says “you’ve been playing it safe and look at where that left you. What do you have to lose?”
And she was right.
I decided that I would build a brand new life for myself.

It was a major pivot, and I went from working for someone to working for myself in a matter of a week.
Little did I know that in 2 months’ time, because of COVID 19. I would have to make even more pivots.
All of 2020 was a lesson in pivoting.

But going into business for myself was the most important one.
This risk I took changed the entire course of my life.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the lessons I had to unlearn is that entrepreneurship is not all about the hustle. There are certainly times when you have to have all the grit and work extra hard, and there are other times when you just have to surrender and trust yourself.

It’s nowhere near as easy or as glamorous as it is portrayed.
Some challenges require you to take a step back, trust yourself, and surrender to the process.

When I first got started I was solely focused on sales and how many projects I could juggle successfully.
And pretty soon, I had the opportunity to bid on a big project for a new client that was a step up from my normal workload so I was excited to take on the challenge.
I did end up getting the work and I was over the moon!
However, I was in no way ready for any of it.

Little did I know the amount of work and the number of challenges this project would bring.
Once I started the project I saw that this was something that was either going to “make or break” me.

In my efforts to meet the client’s needs I found myself bending over backward and betraying my own boundaries in order to keep them happy. And still, the challenges kept piling on and nothing was going in my favor.

I took a moment to breathe and decided that the best thing to do was to give them several options and let them decide what would work best for their team, and one of the options included was parting ways.

This was not normally something I would do because I take pride in my services and I was determined to retain the business.
But my gut was yelling at me to “let it go.”
This was a great experience, and I was grateful for it.
But no amount of hustle and bending over backward is going to appease someone who wants to leave.

I presented them with the options and surrendered.
I trusted that whatever the outcome, everything would be ok.
And they came back and said, “there’s no else we’d rather work with right now.”

That was something I never had to worry about before but working for yourself brings on a different kind of stress.
And the fact that I surrendered to the process at a time when my brain was telling me to do otherwise made me believe that hard work is not always the right answer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.luxemediaworks.net/
• Other: email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Lilly Martinez