A Word About Never Giving Up on your Dreams…

I wish I had been one of those kids who knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. I always had lots of interests and an uncanny ability to fall into rabbit holes of information that made me feel like I should go in one direction or another, but in the end, I didn’t follow any direction after high school and I became stuck for a number of years.

A lot of people who know me have no idea that I dealt with an extremely debilitating mystery illness for over 15 years and this seriously limited by ability to stay in college and work a 9 to 5. I finished my degree online almost a decade ago because it was a personal goal of mine, since I was the first person in my family to go to college, but honestly, I didn’t think I was going to live long enough see any benefit from earning a degree. Eventually, my illness was diagnosed and treated, and my life improved dramatically, but I had lost a lot of time. By this time I had become interested in gardening and the whole topic of native plants and gardening for wildlife, and eventually I realized that I wanted to get into landscape design, but then I had my daughter and everything got put on hold once again!

Now, almost 5 years later, I’ve been looking into Landscape Design courses near me and even went to an open house last year a at nearby college, but I learned that even a 2 year Associates program would be expensive and would require a lot of time to commute and actually take the classes and labs. As a stay at home mom, I don’t have a ton of free time or childcare (or money!), so in-person school is not an option for me. Still, I never gave up hope of finding a reasonably priced online program and that’s a good thing because a few weeks ago I finally found one!

NYIAD: A lifeline!

I found out about the NY Institute of Art & Design, an online school based in Manhattan, NY. They offer many certificate programs in a variety of fields and also offer technical courses like Autocad. It seems their most popular program is their Interior Design program and there are several successful designers and bloggers who have taken that course. The school is accredited by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) and it has a good rating on Trustpilot.com and other review sites, so I decided to check them out and signed up for the Landscape Design course. The program was about $850 if paid for the course upfront or $1000 and change if paid in monthly installments. I didn’t want to commit to paying in full in case I didn’t like the program or if by some crazy chance it turned out to be a scam, so I signed up for monthly payments and was able to start the program for $59! There are 6 units total and I was able to access all of unit 1 and they sent me a textbook in the mail all for $59. I have 18 months to complete the course.

It’s important to remember that this is not a degree program, so it’s not as in depth and you don’t have professors holding your hand throughout the program. There is a professor that grades your projects and that you can communicate with, and there’s an online student forum where you can ask questions, but for the most part you’re relying on your textbook and on yourself to understand the material. If you are used to taking classes online and want a basic foundation in Landscape Design or any other programs they offer, I think it’s a great starting point to launch a new career.

I debated whether I should share this information since I know there is a certain amount of stigma when it comes to online certificate programs (which is classist and elitist btw) and I obviously want to be taken seriously once I start offering design services, but then I thought of all the people out there who follow me who might be feeling stuck right now due to illness, job loss, being a stay at home parent, or any other life circumstance. They deserve to know about this lifeline. Yeah, it’s not a Harvard degree but it’s a legitimate certificate program and there is no shame in that! As I mentioned earlier, many successful interior designers have taken the NYIAD course so the material and knowledge is there, what matters is what you do with it! Never give up on your dreams, or rather, never give up on yourself ❤️.

By the way, I am not affiliated with NYIAD and I am not paid to post about them but I do have a referral code/coupon which gets you $50 off your course and gets me a small commission. Courses are 20% off til August 4, 2020. Sign up today! Enter code: GAJDZCHIHDG to get $50 off any course.