Category Archives: Business

Day 3232 – The Books That Have Changed My Life Completely

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I’ve read so many books but there are a few that have completely changed my life. I wanted to share those with you today! All of these links are affiliate links, which means I’ll get a small percentage of your purchase, if you choose to buy something.

The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Expanded and Updated, With Over 100 New Pages of Cutting-Edge Content. by Timothy Ferriss. This book is THE ultimate reason I stopped photographing weddings. I think it has also impacted how I think about travel. If you want any kind of shift in your life, this is the place to start.

Dream Big, Think Small: Living an Extraordinary Life One Day at a Time by Jeff Manion. I randomly found this book at the library. I’m not even sure why I grabbed it off the shelf. But it completely changed how I think about my goals and dreams. By accepting that even teeny tiny itty bitty baby steps are still moving towards my goals, it helped me to keep working on things every single day.

You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero. I only just recently read this one and it has had a profound change in me already. It helped me to actually go for something I’ve been dreaming about for a long time. It forced me to take action during a time when it didn’t seem “wise” to take action. What’s crazy is that I can already SEE my success in this new project. I finished reading this on April 23rd, and I’m already reading it again.

There are dozens of books that have helped me to change my mindset and my life in many ways, but these three books made the biggest shifts in my life.

What book (or books) have majorly changed your life?

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Day 3231 – Secret To Success – Create A Job

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My original plan for today was International VA day…unfortunately, that is Friday, but I thought I’d carry on this Secret To Success series. Today I want to talk about creating your own job. When I started the work I’m doing now, I was still photographing weddings. For a number of reasons, I was not doing well in generating income. In some of the books I read around that time, they mentioned creating your own job. One of the things I do now is a mostly virtual assistant position for several business owners. It all came about because I casually mentioned that I love the business side of things.

As I’ve learned more about myself and my skills over the past few years, I realized I really do thrive with administrative and organizing skills. And truthfully, I actually kind of love it. I’m thankful for what I can bring to our real estate investing business in how I’ve organized things and ensure our different systems run smoothly and quickly.

So, if you want to create a job, look at the skills that come naturally to you. Sometimes this can be hard to see in yourself, so ask those around you. What you can do doesn’t come naturally to everyone. And don’t downplay your skills. I think that held me back for too long.

Then, go out and find the folks that need your unique skills.

What about you, have you created a job?

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
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Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
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Day 3230 – Secret To Success – Get A Good Night Sleep And Get Up Stupid Early

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One thing that has helped us over the last year or so is getting a good night of sleep. We’ve also continued to get up stupid early. Most days, we’re out of bed by 5:00/5:30. It’s crazy how much you can accomplish by 9:00 when you get up that early. I’ve added a number of things into my morning routine, but I still have time to do it all because of getting up early.

Getting a good night sleep and having a great day starts the night before. We spend time expressing our thankfulness about our life, cuddling, and enjoying each other’s presence (it seriously rocks being married to your best friend….and working with your best friend). We also try to write out our to do lists the night before. It really helps your brain to know what the next day will bring, and to shut off “work brain” by writing things down.

We also try to get to sleep at a reasonable hour…we’re typically in bed by 8:30/9:00. Sure, it’s not super exciting, but the things we have accomplished over the past few months and years far outweigh the “this is a ‘boring’ life” thoughts.

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
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Day 3229 – Secret To Success – Know Your Numbers

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This weekend, Bret and I spent some time figuring out our numbers in our real estate investing business. I do a lot of reporting and tracking so we can get a good idea of how things are working and our success rates. But those numbers haven’t told us everything. So we decided to see our ROI on different lead generating sources. It was really eye opening to see – wow, THIS lead generating source takes more time, but the ROI is UNREAL! Or, oh, I thought this source was really great, but it’s actually not.

It reminded me of a big success secret – know your numbers. I think it’s important for your goals whether you’re talking about your business or your budget. You can’t get by with what you think your budget is. You need to sit down and be really honest with yourself and your spending. One method we use to track our actual spending is Mint. It’s synced with all of our accounts and tracks all of our spending. You can think you spend about $200 a month on gas, but you actually spend $250. Knowing the true numbers is so important.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t easy, especially if you’re figuring this out with your spouse. Actually seeing on the screen how much you spent on Dunkin…or Krispy Kreme…can be a tough conversation. But once you get past that, it’s so so so good.

So what about you? How do you track your numbers? Have you taken the time to learn what they are? Let me know in the comments below.

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
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Day 3221 – The Dark Side Of Freelancing – or – Six Years Freelancing – repost – With Some Updates

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I wasn’t sure what to post today and came across this post in my morning blog review. What’s funny is as I read it, I noticed things I don’t think anymore. I say “It is much harder to make money. I have made more than half of what I made at my 9-5 jobs.” Through things I’m reading now, and some major mindset shifts I’ve had in the last six months, I realize that I was the reason why I wasn’t making more. I am the reason why I am not making more. I’m so thankful for the resources available to help me grow, and recognizing some shortcomings in myself.

But, I will say, the Light Side of freelancing is the growth, the change, and the fact that you can transform yourself at any moment.

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Scrolling through my On This Day today, I noticed I started each post the same “I can’t believe….I cannot believe….etc….I’ve been a freelancer for XXX years” And to be fair, I still can’t believe this is my life, working as a freelancer. Having complete freedom of my days and my schedule. Being responsible for making my income. There are a few things I might change over the past few years. I would drink way less, I would have increased our fees for photography sooner and more gradually. Then again, everything I’ve gone through has made me who I am today, and I really like myself and how I’ve grown. But there are things that aren’t that pretty about freelancing. There are some really hard things.

– It is much harder to make money. I have made more than half of what I made at my 9-5 jobs.
– There are stretches where I don’t shower for a few days. It’s a “well, why bother?” attitude.
– It is incredibly lonely. I can go days without seeing anyone other than Bret, librarians, and cashiers.
– There is a sharp increase of self-doubt.
– Not too many people will understand what you’re going through.
– There will be dozens…hundreds….thousands of people who do what you do who will do it cheaper.

I’ve also been considering how different my life would have been if I didn’t jump into full-time freelance work. Here are a few things I would have missed out on.

– Travel. Hands down, this has been the best outcome of freelancing. I can up and go when I want. I probably would not have taken as many cross country road trips as I have if I was still “workin’ for the man.”
– More time with Bret, stress free. When I was working a 9-5, and building a business on the evenings and weekends, there was very little time to hang out with Bret. And when we would hang out, there was always the tug of things I should be doing. There was always stress.
– I wouldn’t have had the time I have now to help Bret build his real estate investing business. I can devote time now to getting things organized and running smoothly so he can focus on what he does best.
– I wouldn’t have met all of the amazing business owners at meet ups, conferences, and weddings.
– I would have been plagued with lots of what if questions.
– I probably wouldn’t have written two books.

Are there sacrifices I’ve made to freelance? Oh baby yea. But I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Here’s to another 6 years freelancing!

This is from my first wedding as a full-time freelancer. 🙂

originally posted 9/9/17

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel