Fighting fascism wasn’t on my 2020 Vision Board. All I wanted to do was go on vacation and meet someone new. Clearly that’s unlikely to happen. Typically I do a year in review at the end of the year or the beginning of the new year. But, I literally feel like I’ve lived a lifetime in the past 5 months and since July is the mid-point of the year and this is my birthday week, Leos RULE other signs drool! I thought I would share some insight into how this year has been professionally and personally. This is also an opportunity for me to access what has been working and what hasn’t been so far this year.
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Debt Repayment and Other Money Matters
I’m in the tail end of paying off my unsecured debt. Literally weeks away and truth be told I’m exhausted. I actually paid off an old credit card in March and that was a wonderful feeling. In the past 8 years as I paid off my debt there would be times when I just felt like throwing in the towel and just staying in debt. I totally understand why people give up. This process has been exhausting emotionally as I work through my money mindset, habits, and navigate through entrepreneurship. I’ve literally questioned my sanity.
But, as we deal with the economic fallout from the Coronavirus I just find myself thinking-thank God I paid off that $60,000 and I’m not dealing with all of those creditors. If you’re thinking about paying off your debt all I can say is today is the day to start the process. Because years from now taking that action will put you in a much better financial position. Once I pay off the remaining unsecured debt, I will still have student loans. But, focusing on 1 thing vs. focusing on 30+ things is a totally different experience.
I’m earning more and that has been a blessing. It’s also interesting to note that the less debt I have the more money I make. Something that I will have to do a show about sometime in the future.
Business
Because I already worked from home, many aspects of my daily life didn’t change. I still focused on growing my income, in particular my passive income, via an affiliate strategy/course sales/coaching/ebooks/and sponsorships to name a few revenue streams. Then, I mindfully added freelance clients who were in alignment with my energy and earnings expectations. Here is what happened in the past 5 months.
- I did 18-20 podcast interviews. During the weeks around when the Black Lives Matter protests happened things got…a little confusing because there was so much coming at me. I’m still discovering emails that came in during that time that I missed.
- I launched the Make Money with Ebooks Academy in April. Yes, during the pandemic and people bought it. It’s an incredible value and combines the course with an ongoing membership. It took almost two years to figure out the right approach to helping people get their books out in the world. Lesson learned-Be bold and people still buy when you think they won’t you just have to be intentional about who you’re targeting and not being tone deaf.
- I was a speaker or contributed to the following projects:
- Podthon-A collaboration between WOC Podcasters and the Asian-American Podcasters communities.
- Financial Boss Summit-BGFM
- She’s Blogging-A blogging course launch
- I CampFi
- Fuel Your Influence-That event is being held in September 2020
- I added several high paying freelance clients that are energetically in alignment with me and my brand and are great to work with.
- I was a podcast mentor for the second year in a row for the From the Margins to the Center podcasting program creature to nurture women of color in podcasting. I loved working with my two mentees and I will share links to their content when available.
- I spoke at CampFi in-person.
- I wrote two books-they weren’t good as pandemics mess with creative energies.
- I made more money.
- Michelle is Money Hungry had the most downloads ever in a month.
- Michelle is Money Hungry website had the most page views in a year.
- I was a mentor for Thinkific’s mentorship program and worked with 5 course creators on their coursesz.
- Was profiled in CNBC!
- Grew all of my social media feeds by staying consistent. And, yes, that included sharing how I feel about politics/power/race and money. Consistent with the conversations that I’ve had on my platforms for years.
Lesson learned from this: Pay attention to what you say “yes” to and be mindful about managing my professional energy. Right now I’m very mentally tired.
Personal
This year has been hard personally in ways that I least expected. Besides being quarantined for almost three months the following happened.
- 2 friends were diagnosed with cancer. One of those friends was diagnosed the week Colorado locked down.
- Another friend passed away from Cancer at the beginning of July.
- I quarantined alone and was left with the knowledge that moving forward I want to double the amount of time I would like to spend with the people in my life. And, understanding that compared to other people, I spend a lot of time with the people in my life.
- I was doing a work trade with a local gym that I signed onto 2 weeks before quarantine. During normal circumstances I would probably still be doing it. Lesson learned: pay the money, save my time.
- Letting go of starting working towards my weight loss goal until I’ve paid off my unsecured debt. I don’t want to shift my focus and this is my summer body.
- I’ve started meeting more people and having deeper conversations and connections. I love this. In fact, I was a regular at coffee shop and then when things opened I began going to my Deskpass co-working space. I saw one of the gentlemen that I met at the shop who told me that they had been worried about me and he was so happy to see me. It was so sweet.
- I’m left with a deeper appreciation of the life that I live here in Colorado.
- Visited Salida, Colorado for a quick staycation
- I went on a 3 day backpacking trip and at the end of the trip we saw moose!
- Joined some great hiking/outdoor life communities
- Have short staycations scheduled for the rest of the year that include:
- Going to Breckenridge in August
- Going to Telluride in September
- Camping in Sand Dunes National Park at the end of October
- 98% of the events that I was supposed to attend were either cancelled, moved online, or delayed until next year.
- Like 99% of Americans I’m unable to travel outside of the country and have around 10 -15 countries in the world that I would even have access to. And, I’m really pissed off about this.
- I’ve reworked all my goals with December 2021/January 2022 as the time I would like to reach them.
- A community that I’ve been a part of since 2012 had a come to Jesus moment and I’m still reeling from it.
- I want to see my grandma, but she lives in another state and has compromised immunity. I’m working through the logistics of how I can see her without endangering her health. Driving from Colorado to Illinois is out of the plan.
- I protested and will continue to protest for my rights and other people’s rights. I’ve protested since I was in high school so this is nothing new.
The Next 6 Months
The first part of the year was WILD and unfortunately it seems like the year may continue to be intense moving forward. For me, I’m looking to simplify, simplify, simplify moving forward.
- Spend more time with people! Socially distanced while wearing a mask.
- Give myself grace during these stressful times. I understand that I’m moving at different pace and so are the people around me.
- Attend and support the Elevate Influencer event this August. It’s geared towards people of color who are financial influencers. However, there is content also being created for the communities that we serve.
- Start working on “Money on the Mountain 2021” I’m making the official announcement in early August. I will share the theme and how I’m crafting the event with COVID in mind.
- Continue to grow the following:
- Email list
- Podcast downloads
- Income
- Help more authors via Make Money with Ebooks Academy
- Begin growing my Square State project
- Slowly begin working on weight loss again. Stress eating is real! My goal is to be able to wear a Carnival outfit at Carnival 2022
- Take 4 months off from recording podcast episodes in August/October/November/December both as a host and a guest. I will spend the month of September recording more content. I have a TON of content that just needs to be edited and shared.
- Attend the 20 Books to 50k conference in November
- Take November 20-January 4th off from social media
Are you tired? I’m tired LOL! What were your last 5 months like? Have you continued to work towards your goals?
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Although you mistakenly reached out to me I’m thankful. I really enjoyed listening to your podcast. You were so honest about your energy and you shared your truth. Thank you.
Hi Karen! I laughed so hard when I realized my mistake. Thank you so much for your patience with me and thank you for listening to the episode!