This year has been something else to say the least! I went from feeling all kinds of stuck in quarter-life crisis mode, to stressing myself out trying to keep busy so that I wouldn’t become a couch potato, and finally …hopeful, ready for more focused and strategic moves in my life. 

In January of this year, I drew up a blue print to point out the direction I wanted my life to go, and although things didn’t work out exactly as planned, some pretty awesome things happened along the way.

I decided to break this post into 2 parts so I don’t overwhelm you guys.

Start A Blog: I knew that I wanted to become a writer, and build an online presence, so I decided to start blogging. Although I’ve been a blog lurker for years, I still had no idea how to begin or what I wanted to blog about.  When I finally started my blog, I actually only shared it with a small group of people because I was ashamed of my terrible writing skills. The biggest reason I decided to market A Summer Moon was because I began to find really helpful resources along the way that I didn’t think was fair to keep to myself. Since then, I’ve gained an awesome community of support, been offered paid blogging opportunities, and have even received a blog award! I still wish my writing skills were much better, but I believe I’ve improved and will continue to improve with time.  I’m also proud to say that my 1^st blog anniversary is fast approaching in January. I’m really excited to see where my blogging will take me in the New Year.

Get A Job: I should’ve been more specific when I wrote this one down. Honestly, at the time, I wasn’t sure if I still wanted to pursue a career in substance abuse (my previous field of work) let alone nonprofit. When I initially put my passions together with career change options I thought the only thing I could do well was eat, and figured maybe I should become a restaurant owner so I tried to get a restaurant job (let’s just say epic fail and I came back to my senses).  I also wanted to grow network marketing business and stay working from home, but I eventually learned that due to the circumstances, (job loss after return from surgery, after divorce, and so much more) that led me to this point in my journey, I am going to have to become a side-hustle Jedi master (Star Wars fan is in the building) so that I rebuild my financial life. So onward with the job search!

Grow My Business: Whew! This is my most exciting accomplishment. While originally, I set out to grow my network business (which I did), I became obsessed with growing a passion based business. I knew my more practical passions circled writing, empowerment, and community development, but I needed to put the pieces together somehow.  I started mapping out where I would like to see my entrepreneurial endeavors go, and it led me to taking my social media hobby to another level. Somewhere along the road, I ended up receiving paperwork that said I was legal business in N J, securing trade name, and signing a legal agreement for a general partnership. A & D Media was born! By the way, thanks to the small business course work I took along the way, my business goals are much more specific than just “grow my business.”

Look for the continuation of this post next week!

Until Next time……. and Merry Christmas !!!!!