Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Campbell.
Hi Danielle, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
It was about eight years ago that I first heard the words “van life.” I had never heard of it before but started reading and following along the journey of van lifers at the time. It was a life that intrigued me – one of mystery, freedom, and adventure. Travel has been a huge part of my life since a young child, and van life seemed to be one mode of traveling full-time. It was always a dream in the back of my mind, but I never truly thought I would be able to follow that dream.
I didn’t understand how to make a life that was so out of the norm happen.
Fast forward to 2020 when the world shut down. I was a teacher at the time, so things changed drastically as we started teaching from home and adapting to a different way of life. For me, Covid provided an opportunity to see how different my life could be if I chose to go down a different path. It was a moment of clarity that demonstrated how much pressure society puts on us to conform to expectations and the “typical” path. In 2020, I realized that path was no longer for me – I knew I was meant to pursue a different passion. I made it a goal to buy a van within the next year, and in April 2021, I had the van in my possession. I found a remote freelancing position, quit my job, moved home, and my dad and I built the van with our four hands alone without knowing a single thing about it beforehand – electrical, woodworking, plumbing – all of it.
I took off on the road in May of 2022 not knowing where life would take me. It’s the biggest leap I’ve ever taken – a leap completely into the unknown and different from anything I’ve ever lived. Over the past eight months, I’ve grown more than I thought possible and learned more about myself than some people do in five or 10 years. As I live and travel in my van, I continue to follow my dreams of being a content creator and business owner of Stumbling Upon Serendipity. I love life’s serendipitous moments, photography, telling stories through writing, and inspiring others, and I truly hope my journey inspires others to follow their dreams.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Absolutely not! There have been a number of bumps in the road to get where I am now, but what road doesn’t have bumps!?
It took me years to follow my dreams – it wasn’t easy to drop everything with every step being one further into the unknown. I had no idea what I was doing but kept moving forward in blind faith. To me, I would never regret trying and failing, but would always regret not taking the chance to know and feel something so much greater.
Quitting my job was the first challenge as it was the only career and way to make money that I had ever known. Then there was the obstacle of simply learning how to build an entire home on wheels from an empty beat-up cargo van. It wasn’t without blood, sweat, and tears – that’s for sure! Since being on the road, there have been numerous obstacles as well. I’ve broken down three times – two transmission failures and one dead alternator. Not only is this a difficult thing to deal with in general, but my entire home was “broken.” I spent 20 nights in hotels over the span of those three breakdowns working as much as possible to pay off the thousands of dollars of repairs they each were.
In terms of building my business, Stumbling Upon Serendipity, while also paving my own life path, it’s a lot of learning and a lot of growing – a lot of “nos” before a single “yes.”
Van life and entrepreneurship are not easy lifestyles. But to me, they are worth everything.
I am grateful for every bump as they have helped pave the road for my unique story. Not only that, but the bumps are what build character – without them, the road and journey wouldn’t be what it is. It’s in the challenging moments that we learn to appreciate the good ones that much more.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I do a myriad of things as an entrepreneur! On one side of things, I am the creator of Stumbling Upon Serendipity. That used to just entail a small blog but has since expanded to be my entire business: my Instagram and TikTok accounts, YouTube channel, and content creation business. I post blogs and content about travel, destinations, van life, and mindset to inspire others. I work with brands across my various platforms that have missions I love to promote and support. I have recently begun to expand into commercial photography as well, which is one of my favorite aspects as I love being able to tell a story through a photo or video.
On the other side of things, I work as a freelancer. I am a copywriter and editor for a few clients. I create content for companies, manage a few clients’ social media channels and platforms, and provide coaching for social media. I am currently trying to further expand into the coaching realm as I love working with people and providing insight and advice from my journey so far whether that be about mindset, van life, travel, entrepreneurship, or freelancing.
On this journey, I am most proud of simply getting to this point – of following every dream I have that pulls me to it.
I love that I listen to the pull because so many people don’t. I am a self-taught entrepreneur, photographer, and content creator. I am proud of my determination to grow in all aspects to be the best version of myself that I can be. I believe that my ability to allow myself to dream and follow my dreams unequivocally sets me apart from many people
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I truly believe that my determination to follow my dreams and the courage to do it are the most important qualities I possess. You hear it all the time – if you were on your deathbed and had to look back at your life, would you regret anything? My biggest fear is lying there wondering, “well what if I had just tried?” I refuse to let that fear come true.
I want to know where following my dreams will take me – I believe we all have dreams for a reason. They can lead us to our greater passion and purpose – even if we don’t quite know what that is yet and even if our dream is just a mechanism to get there. If I take the necessary steps to follow my dreams, then I won’t regret anything – even failure because at least that shows I tried.
My brother likes to call my thought process “deliriously optimistic.” I used to be offended by that, but I’ve realized that being in a state of excitement about every aspect of my life and what is to unfold before me if I let it be is one of the biggest gifts I can give myself. I view every day as a new opportunity and a new chance to chase my dreams just a little bit more.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stumblinguponserendipity.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stumblinguponserendipity/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stumblinguponserendipity
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf5JCncWHyI1xFR8JtRqmDg
