Category Archives: Business

Day 3393 – What Real Estate Investing Has Taught Me So Far

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It has been quite an adventure, building another business with Bret. We had such a blast working together photographing weddings, but I really didn’t think we’d have another business.

It wasn’t long after Bret started his business that I started to help him with his business. A few months later, we realized the power of embracing it as OUR business and it has truly made a big difference.

I also never saw either of us doing work like this. I always envisioned myself doing creative work, with lots of media. And yet, I keep coming back to administrative work and really thriving. You should see the epically complex spreadsheets and reports I have for our business.

It has been quite the journey so far and it’s only getting better. I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned so far.

– Sometimes you’ll have to do work on vacation.

– Sometimes you’ll have to drop everything to do what needs to be done.

– Sometimes you’ll expect things to go one way, and they go a completely different way.

– Sometimes something you fear the most, will lead to great things (and great income).

– You’ll get comfortable with uncomfortable things.

– You will make mistakes and you will lose money.

– You will have so much fun working with your spouse.

I can’t wait to see where this takes us. It’s already been such an awesome ride so far. 🙂

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Day 3389 – How We Can Travel So Much

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Following this blog any amount of time, and you’ll find we travel a lot. I did some calculations a few weeks ago and found we’re traveling about 11% of this year. That’s amazing and awesome and wonderful. I am SO thankful for the freedom we have to travel as much as we do, but it definitely comes at a price.

As you know, we’re building a real estate investing business, and that has been taking most of our time. We know how much our ROI is for the business, it’s one of those things that will pay us back SO much more than other things. Building any business calls for some sacrifices.

Yes, we travel a lot, but I don’t talk as much about what our trips actually look like. On our Long Island trip, I did most of the driving because Bret was taking calls and working.

On our trip to Canada for a wedding, we stopped at Watkins Glen State Park (a MUST see, I have to say!). We had a few calls to return in the parking lot, so we took care of that and hit the trail.

We had JUST started our hike when we got another phone call. Bret sat down on the side of the trail and took the call. There was a slight embarrassment when folks walked by, but honestly, it’s something I’m mostly ok with. Sure, to the outsider, it looks like we’re not enjoying the scenery and being tied to our phones, but in actuality, taking that call is likely leading to a deal. THAT is worth any “what are those people doing?” vibes we might get.

After Watkins Glen, we headed over to Seneca Falls, the little town that It’s A Wonderful Life is based on. There’s a cute museum with all kinds of memorabilia from the movie. We were sitting in the car for a bit doing some work, made a call and headed in.

We got to look around for about 10-15 minutes and we got a phone call. Bret stepped out to grab it and I quickly followed. We then got back on the road while Bret talked to the caller.

We left for Canada from Maryland around 4:30 am. We stopped off for the hike around 10 am and arrived in Canada at our Airbnb around 7 pm. We ate, did some reading, and went to sleep. Just as we drifted off, we got a call and had to get up and do work. Again, that is likely leading to a deal as well. Again, well worth it.

We ended up sleeping about 10 hours (I can’t remember the last time we did that!….in a bed no less!

Because of a number of reasons, we had a ton of work to do while we were in Canada. So, after our morning coffee, we got to work. All morning and up until we had to leave for the wedding, we worked.

After the wedding, we made coffee and ended up working some more that night. There wasn’t too much work we could do in the morning of the next day, so we were able to swing by the Parliament of Canada, walk the grounds, and grab lunch before driving home.

I think it’s important to talk about the “behind the scenes” of working while you’re traveling. It can be easy to get caught up in this “laptop lifestyle” that folks talk about, and think that it’s easy. While it’s not easy, it is our choice. We knew what we were signing up for and we’re willing to make the hard decisions and tough calls now to have a life we’re dreaming of down the road.

Do you work on vacation?

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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 3386 – Get Smart About Credit Day

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I’m going to share soon about an AMAZING travel hacking course* I took a few months ago, but I wanted to share the link today because it definitely relates to the topic. What’s cool about the course is that it also talks about credit. So why not kill two birds with one stone and get free travel out of it?

Credit is one of those things that can be a big mystery. Thankfully, there are lots of tools out there to help you figure it out and that track things for you. My biggest source of updates and to keep an eye on all of my finances and budgets is Mint.com. I’ve used them for well over four years and have been super happy.

It tracks everything that I spend, I can change categories for things, and I get a very true and clear picture of where we are financially. The only downside with it is that it starts tracking from the day you sign up. So it can take a few months to see your trends. Thanks to Mint, we were able to see how much we were spending on food and gas and other things. Instead of a “well, I think we should budget XX for this” we can definitely say “we spend this much.”

What do you do to keep up with your credit?

*Affiliate link – I will get a small percentage if you purchase the course, at no additional cost to you. Y’all know I ONLY share things that I have personally used, done, and approve of. The course will more than pay for itself with your first bonus. I recently got a new Southwest Business card and will be getting about $900 of free flights because of the bonus.

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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

Day 3385 – Spreadsheet Day!

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Ah, one of my favorite days of the year! As I’ve been working more and more in our real estate investing business, I’ve been doing a ton of spreadsheet work. We have so many leads to keep track of, as well as reports on how things are going. I have pretty elaborate spreadsheets and Pivot Tables set up to do the job. I have to say, I LOVE that Google Sheets has Pivot Tables now, because it makes my job reporting SO much easier. The fact that they update automatically is wonderful.

What’s your favorite thing about spreadsheets?

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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

Day 3373 – The Importance Of Getting Out Of The House As A Creative

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Nearly every week, I meet up with a local custom jewelry designer and have a co-working meeting. What’s really really really awesome is there is some chatting, varying based on the type of week either of us is having, but for the most part it’s a “hey, how are you?” “Good? Great, let’s get to work.” Our headphones go in and we barely talk for a good two hours. Friends, having a co-working friend who will work when you work and not take it personally when you have headphones in, is priceless.

The productivity varies each week too, but most weeks, I get a lot done. I work on my travel blog for the most part, but on some days where I’m really far behind (haha, like today where I’m writing on this blog at nearly 3 pm versus the normal 8/9 am).

As I’ve had this practice, I’ve found how much it really makes a difference in my week. These days, I’m pretty busy with our real estate investing business. So to have a few hours each week to get out is really awesome.

The photo below was taken at our regular stop a few months back. There is such a great vibe here in the coffee shop. There’s never any rush to leave. The staff is really nice and I just love being here.

Do you have a favorite creative spot? 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.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel