Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Paul F NERI. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Paul F, we’ve been so fortunate to work with so many incredible folks and one common thread we have seen is that those who have built amazing lives for themselves are also often the folks who are most generous. Where do you think your generosity comes from?
I’m very grateful for VoyagesLA giving me the chance to talk about a subject that has always been very important to me: Giving back! When I was a teenager, maybe 15 years old, I remember receiving some mail advertisement from WWF ( World Wide Fund for nature}, a major foundation who’s goal is to overall save wildlife and wild places all over the world.
That specific brochure was sharing horrible and heartbreaking stories about vivisection, makeup testing on animals, circus still using wild animals for their show and unfortunately many more…I was shocked to my core seeing those defenseless animals being caged up, mutilated and tortured.
Seeing that brochure, I knew that even if I couldn’t do much in my position being so young, I still needed somehow to help that cause.
My parents were hard working people from a modest background, they taught to my sister and myself the value of money very young so we knew that we had to work for what we wanted in life. They also always let us have pets, from dog, cat, fish, hamster, even a rat pet lol we were raised with animals around.
The following year, I found my 1st job for the 2 months of the summer vacation as a waiter in a small crepe restaurant in my hometown, which was very exciting to finally earn a little bit of money and dip my toes in the professional working world.
I worked all summer and saved all my tips in a big jar that I was gonna give to my parents so they could write me a check that I could send to WWF. In France, waiters get an actual hourly pay and tips are just a little extra, for example 5 euros was a generous tip.. So I saved up about 200 euros that summer, my parents wrote me a check for it and I sent it.
I was so excited to be able to help out and donate a little bit, I know on the big scale of things my donation wouldn’t make a big difference but as we all know, any donation is helpful!
A few years later when I found my 1st full time job, I decided to do a monthly donation to the association, I wasn’t making much but I still wanted to give a little back even if it was just 10 euros a month. I assume like a lot of people, I went through financial ups & downs in my life for many different reasons, so I had to stop donating for a while to focus on personal projects.
In 2015, I adopted my 1st dog Gigi from a rescue shelter, it was a difficult experience in a way because I could only choose 1 dog and there were dozens of them still caged up. I was thrilled about adopting my new dog but I left the shelter very sad, it made me realize that I wanted to help out but maybe on a more local level.
Now that I have my own business making custom woodwork and artistic projects, I use a percentage of each art piece that I sell to go to a 99c store and buy food/treats/toys that I drop off at one of the LA animal shelters.
It’s not much but a little treat or toy to play with can make their life waiting a new home a bit more enjoyable, so I fill up my truck a few times a year and try to bring a little happiness for our furry friends.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve been a home installer specialist for the last 8 years, 5 years working for West Elm & Pottery Barn becoming one of their top installer nationwide, and 3 as self employed with my business “Home Stuff”. From installing window treatments, gallery walls, lighting fixtures…I love being helpful to my customers and fixing or updating their beautiful homes. Starting my 4th year in business, I want to focus this year on creating more artistic projects. I started woodwork and creative painting about 5 years ago and offer those services through my business. Over the last few years, I’ve had the chance to create amazing artistic projects all over the city from a big and colorful outdoor mural in Venice, many art pieces and sculptures, creation of commercial visual displays in Weho, custom home accessories and furniture…
My last creation was a huge 65″x85″ custom painting with a money theme for a customer in Hollywood.
To be honest I never thought of myself as an artistic person, a series of life events and a lot of work brought me to where I am today. Coming from a very small town in the French Alps, if you told me 10 years ago that I’d be creating art pieces in Los Angeles, I would have told you there’s absolutely no way haha
I’m fairly new to the artistic world and still have a lot to discover, but I’ve realized that designing and creating visual projects is really what makes me happy.
From a cool accent wall, a unique piece of furniture, a custom painting…I’m very excited for this year and all the future artistic challenges that may come my way. I’m working right now on a few different projects:
– I just sent a proposal to my councilwoman to be able to do a custom paint job on a street control box,
– I’m creating a home decor collection that I would sell at a future popup shop,
– A whole set of new advertising..
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
That is a very good question! I have been through many challenges and life experiences, I’ve had 3 businesses, I’ve flipped apartments in France, I moved to LA 9 years ago with 1 bag, I’ve traveled to many countries, worked in many different fields.. And after all this, the one thing that always kept me going no matter what is:
“Never give up on your happiness and no regrets!”
I couldn’t give you really 3 examples of qualities or skills to help because each journey is unique and might require a different range of abilities depending on your personal goal and environment. Instead I wanted to share, let’s say ways to approach life and can apply to most of us no matter the parameters of our journey.
1/ Failure is better than regret.
Many times in life I found myself at a crossroad and had to choose between the safe road or the risky road, and most of the time I picked the risky one. One day my grandma told me that in life you regret the things you didn’t do, not the things you did.
Every time I have to make a hard decision, I try to think of every possible outcome from best to worse case scenario
and also consider the potential reward or cost coming from my choice. I’m not afraid to say that I’ve made many mistakes in the past, mistakes that cost me a lot of money, that hurt my pride, that made me loose relationships..but I wouldn’t be who I am today without those life challenges. Everybody messes up, that’s part of life, and it’s gonna suck for a while.
But every time I did I learned from my mistakes, bounced back and used those mistakes to be better in the future.
Taking a giant leap of faith that pays off can also change your life in ways that you couldn’t imagine! Enjoying the fruit of your hard labor is really cool.
And after all that, I can say I have absolutely no regrets! Life experiences, good or bad, allow you to grow and become the best version of yourself.
2/Be grateful for what you have.
I heard a few weeks ago that a recent study shows that the one factor to be happy is being grateful. We all want a better job, a bigger place to live, treat ourselves with cool stuff, a newer car.. Wanting a more comfortable and enjoyable life is completely normal, finding those happy moments no matter what it implies. But if you think about it from a different angle, it requires working more hours, making more sacrifices which ultimately can have a negative impact causing stress on our already stressful lives.
I’ve realized that sometimes taking a moment to breathe and appreciate what you have helps a lot. List the little things you have that bring you happiness and are grateful for.
3/Never give up on happiness:
No matter if it takes years of work, hard decisions and sacrifices, big life changes..Never give up on being happy!
Whether it is a specific career, open that business you’ve always wanted or move to another country, never loose that goal and do whatever it takes to get there.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
A few years ago I read a book that really spoke to me, the author Darrin Donnelly tells the life story of legendary basketball coach Bob Flanagan who wrote letters to his grandchildren giving them the life values necessary to achieve success and personal happiness, the book is called “Old school GRIT”. Grit is defined as the willpower to persevere with passion and a sense of purpose, this book is kind of an instruction manual giving you the 15 rules that will lead you successfully in any endeavor. Coach Flanagan thought that too many people give up on their dreams too easily and avoid challenges instead of powering through them. As I was reading this 155 page book,
I realized that a lot of the values listed were notions that I discovered and tried to apply going through my different life experiences and challenges. We all have different goals, some being more complicated to reach than others, and we all come from different backgrounds but I really think that the way of approaching life described in this book can apply to most of us and can actually make a difference.
I will share with you a few of those 15 rules that even without knowing the back story of Coach Flanagan, you can instantly see the impact they can play in life.
– Rule #1: “Don’t accept your fate, create your destiny”,
– Rule #3: “Embrace the pressure”,
– Rule #5: “Find something you love and stick with it”,
– Rule #10: “Work trumps talent”,
– Rule #13: “Life is a series of wins and lessons”,
– Rule #15: “Don’t quit! Don’t ever quit”.
I’m just a regular guy coming from a 15.000 people city in France who had a big dream and today I’m living the amazing city of Los Angeles creating art pieces and furniture!! I am living the life I’ve always dreamed of and worked relentlessly to get here.
I don’t consider myself an example in any way but if there’s one thing I can tell you (and basically what this awesome book is telling you) is to find what makes you happy, never give up on it and no regrets! Dreams can come true..
Contact Info:
- Website: www.homestuffla.com
- Instagram: HomeStuffLA
- Yelp: Home Stuff
