True Confession Of A Rat Race Escapee

Two days ago I celebrated my birthday and as usual it was a time of deep inner searching  and reflection for me.  I thought about my journey to the person I am today.  Emotionally.  Spiritually.  Physically.  And financially.  Am I living up to my true potential?  

In 2006 when I graduated from university my goal was to eventually step away from the 9-5 and support myself by owning and operating my own business. It was something I wanted sooooo bad! It was a goal then, but now I can say I am DOING it.  I officially began working from home 7 years ago and never looked back. It was hard, really hard but I had to get off the hamster wheel. I felt so stifled, it truly felt like a  "rat race"

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I made up my mind that I would grind and research and do whatever was lawful to see results!  Along the way I've had epic fails and countless booohooo sessions.  Sometimes I struggled really hard to pay the bills but with the support of my husband, we got through it.  Fast forward 3 years and I found myself separated and alone.  Suddenly I was at rock bottom wondering, now what am I gonna do?  Thankfully I was able to lean heavily on my faith in God which provided guidance and an endless supply of emotional strength. I was also blessed to have support from family and friends and then a little later, God totally restored my marriage.

Out of The Nest

 

Well, every baby bird must leave the nest eventually so 3 years ago year I took a leap of faith.  I moved to a new State, and decided to just do everything in my power to succeed.  I decided go hard with Ebay in addition to my Graphic Design business.  I also set up Etsy accounts as well and created new products.  As time passed my hard work started paying off!  I spent countless hours researching home based jobs, lost money with some of them but learned a lot along the way as well so it was the most beneficial experience as a business person so far.  I regret nothing. 

As I write this, there have been changes yet again in my life. I now reside in my native country. The Bahamas. 

While my location has changed I am grateful that my outlook on life is still the same.  Same Drive. Same Faith. Same Passion to go and get it for myself!

 I am not a millionaire by any standard or affiliate guru or any of those things. I am just someone who learned to support myself from home so I can live the life that feeds my spirit.  Someone who believes any dream or goal can be achieved if one is willing to work at it and above all be honest and diligent. Money can be made and lost in a second but character is the building block of lasting success. 

And so my friends, to your success and mine!

Cherio!

Thought Of The Day

Hope you are enjoying your day.  If you are not, remember to believe in God first and the person he created you to be....have faith and BE BRAVE!

Print available here

Eureka! - Wall Art For The Fashionista

So this week, I had a light bulb moment.  I suddenly had an idea to create some timeless fashion prints.  I did my best to infuse my own personality and originality but I wanted them to be classic and able to be mixed and matched with other wall art so I kept it clean and simple.  Let me tell you, this was so much fun!  Hope you like them.  They are all available at www.alligatorbay.etsy.com

Cherio!

Back To Life - back To Reality!

Back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now....  Remember that popular 90's song by Soul II Soul?  Man, that was my jam, ha ha.  More than that though, those lyrics describe exactly how I feel right now.  You see, last week Thursday my trusty companion, my mac computer, crashed out of the blue.  No warning, just died. 

Let me tell you I was devastated. Incredulous.  Frustrated. All kinds of emotional.  After all, I am a Graphic designer and my computer is literally my umbilical cord.

When I finally calmed down enough to think sane thoughts, I took some time off from work to regroup.  (A small benefit of being my own boss) Well, my Mac had to be replaced so I ordered one right away and tried to forget how much money I was spending.  (By the way that didn't work.)  Then, I tried to figure out what to do with myself in the main-time... Since I had ordered my computer, I had days to wait before it arrived. 

 Let me tell you, the first few days sucked!  Royally.  I was counting down the day, hours and minutes until my computer arrived.  I guess you can say that I was in digital detox......complete with nervous twitches, anxiety and the patience of a junk yard dog. This went on until it occurred to me that when I was on the computer and really busy I always told myself that if I had more time I would complete my unfinished projects, experiment with new recipes, watch some movies I had been meaning to see....and trust me the list of things to do went on.  Hello, free time!  Let's just say that things changed dramatically after that.

And just when I was really starting to have some fun, my new computer arrived. 

 I am happy that it is here.  I am.....kinda. Lol, back to work I go, yay.  And trust me, I have so much to catch up on.  Hopefully though, I will remember a valuable lesson I learned from this whole experience.  My live, my reality, is not in a box...no matter how useful or tricked out it is.  Can I get a Amen!

Have a good week lovelies.

Cherio!