En route to Snowbird, Utah for a winter retreat with the Oakley PBC Ambassadors, I’m sitting next to the most impatient and unprepared traveler and in front of 5 coughing, sneezing and crying children. Each flight I take, I’m reminded that I’m not yet ready for my own kiddies despite being 28 years old. I can’t believe my parents had 2 kids already!
From the very famous to my blogger buddies, everyone it seems is pregnant these days. Kate Middleton, Kim K, Jenna Dewan, Courtney from Sweet Tooth Sweet Life, Jess from Blonde Ponytail and Cara from Cara’s Cravings are all knocked up. Most importantly, my beautiful sister is having a girl in May! I’m so excited to finally have a niece to spoil. I have 2 nephews who live in LA and are so much fun but will never wear a tutu or let me do their makeup. I’m pretty pumped to buy clothes and accessories for the honeymoon baby!
While I’m not ready for my own child, I am reminded when I plop down in my assigned seat how lucky I am and how far I’ve come. My first ever flying business trip was to Utah with Bethenny Frankel during the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.
This weekend’s trip is almost exactly 5 years later. While my success is nowhere near that of Bethenny, it’s been a roller coaster ever since. When people ask me for tips getting started with their own business whether blogging or in fitness, my top three tips are as follows:
1) There is plenty of room at the top. Stop comparing yourself to others. Use your own voice. You are unique and have story only YOU can tell.
2) Don’t mistake your hard work for luck and never stop pushing yourself. Just when I was about to give up, I got the most amazing deal that allowed me to continue blogging. I thought I was lucky and saved every penny not sure when the “luck” would run out. Well, after a trip to Hawaii, two trips to California and now Salt Lake, UT in the past 6 months, I can tell you with certainty that it was not luck that got me that first deal. It was hard work that I didn’t realize. Ever since, deals have trickled and poured in. When you are at your quitting point, that’s when you put in the most effort and the deals happen. When you are on top, don’t forget that and get lazy. The best companies are always finding ways to improve their business and products and so should you.
3) Make your own path. No one hired me to be a full time YouTube Fitness “guru” or fitness blogger. I made it happen. To be honest, I’m still not sure how I did it but I saw how YouTube videos could make money, started making them on my own after doing it for DietHealth for 3 years and then started blogging after meeting Tina from Carrots’n’Cake. I saw that no one (at the time) was doing both. It was hard to convince the blogging advertisers to hire me based on my combined YouTube subscribers and page views but eventually they came around and saw the value. If you are passionate about a certain topic, start a blog. Start making videos. Just do it. Stop procrastinating. It’s a very low cost hobby for an entry point into the market. You just need a computer which you already have and camera.
In addition to my business success since I first visited Utah, I’ve also changed my own health standards. No longer do I love low cal packaged foods and splenda but live for oatmeal, kombucha, kale chips and real green juice among many other things.
What changes have you made in the past 5 years and what changes will you make in the next?
If you found this post helpful, let me know down below. I love knowing what my readers are passionate about.
