Can 2020 be over yet? Seriously though…this year was and is wild! I thought I’d share some recent pictures on the blog and also give a little more context to the snippets I’ve shared over on Instagram throughout the past few months…not to mention what’s going on behind the scenes.

First off, I’m 27 weeks pregnant now with a baby boy!! I still can’t believe it and probably won’t until he’s here. We have a name (finally!!). It took Doug forever to settle on one, but it feels so right! I’ll announce it in an upcoming vlog:) The girls are so excited for a baby brother! Well, Annabelle is;) Scarlett has no clue what’s coming lol. I’m excited to vlog the transition to three kids, tell you guys how it REALLY is, and share all the nitty gritty things that involve expanding our family.
As I mentioned over on my Instagram, I’ve committed to posting (mostly) vlogs from here forward. A lot of you who have followed me for a while said “you always switch!!” or “yes, do vlogs!”, but honestly when I was debating it, it was more than just simply switching a filming style. I know deep down that saying “goodbye” to searchable content means ending an era of growing and monetizing my YouTube channel, which honestly was so life changing for our little family. For those that aren’t YouTubers, telling yourself honestly that you won’t “try” to grow on a platform that has been my weekly focus for 5 years to focus on other things (I’ll get to that in a second;) means that you are basically ending a business that allowed for so much freedom, self expression, community building, and growth (internally, financially..all of that!).

It’s a huge decision to consciously say “no” to growing a multiple six figure business that basically documents your life and for me that means not treating it seriously and throwing up whatever I feel like for fun or as a hobby. I’ve sort of put my channel “on hold” for all of 2020 to focus on my YouTubepreneur and ICA students and to do 1:1 coaching with Doug. That’s taken up all our time for the last 11 or so months. I always told myself once things were more “automated” in our course business that I would return to being a “YouTuber”, but after a while I started to see the immense freedom that passive income gave to our family that I  started to view YouTube differently. I began realizing that all of 2018-2019 was a hustle game. Hustling to film and push out interesting content…hustling to stay relevant…hustling to negotiate brand deals…go over contracts…research viral topics…the list is endless. As much as I loved it, it was and still is a stressful path as a mom of multiple kids, one that is very rewarding, but also draining. There came a time when I wanted my time back and a time where I wanted to answer only to myself.

Because of that, we took a huge risk, and started our Amazon business in 2018. While that was technically “passive income”, we were still relying on another platform as an income stream, which was something I was trying to get away from. So in the middle of 2019, we invested 5k in courses to learn how to create a digital course (aka my first product, YouTubepreneur) and a few months after a successful launch, we investing 20k more into a coach that would teach us how to make passive income through it (aka a funnel + FB ads). Since then, we’ve completely tripled my YouTube income within the matter of months, it’s 1000x more rewarding helping others and seeing them succeed, and I can finally be the “SAHM” I wanted to be. Not the mom that had to constantly send them to the park to film an integration or hop on several calls with brands or go to bed late editing…or so many other things I didn’t mention. Not to mention the mom that was stressing balls about the “influencer climate” (hallelujah this happened last year and not in 2020!).

Since shifting gears, I’m so much more at peace, less stressed, Doug is 100x happier because he runs it with me, and we can project far out on something that’s not dependent on being “internet personalities” (I LOL at that phrase). Since coaching for over a year, we’ve realized our true passion is helping influencers create online course businesses that gives them a life of freedom we were always searching for as YouTubers.

Shifting gears, I know I mentioned on Instagram that my parents moved…to Mexico! Unexpectedly they decided to retire in a place that wasn’t as expensive as SoCal so now they live 8+ hours away. Luckily, they drive up all the time, but it was super sad. I have high hopes that with our business we will bring them back to the states to live near us in 2021;) Moving so often and experiencing different people, ways of life, etc. has taught me so many things, but at the top of the list is that being near loved ones is where happiness lies. It’s not “good food”, being near a beach, having a fancy house, affordability, or any of that. It’s family and a community, which is what we are desperately craving, especially after 2020!

We still often debate leaving CA, especially because my parents don’t live nearby anymore. I know they can easily live near us if we moved states (it’s cheaper), but choosing a place to live is such a huge decision. I have serious decision fatigue! It’s tormenting! I know we can eventually buy in CA (for my parents and us), but it will be at least another 1-2 years for everyone to live near each other again so right now I’m debating finding another state or sticking it out until I can move them here…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned this year it’s that happiness is a choice and it comes from within. It’s funny because today is a few days after election day and the world is still freaking out (I get it), but I know that no matter the outcome, we will still go back to our lives and have the opportunity to choose happiness. I used to believe happiness comes from outside factors like environment, spouse, job, finances, etc. but it’s none of that and it’s something I have to constantly remind myself of. Just when I feel myself getting frustrated or down that we don’t know where we are meant to live or that no family is around, I have to remind myself that it’s a choice to stay in this frame of mind and I have to be willing to shift out of it. Well, that’s the shortened version of our life story for now;) Until later, check out my vlogs!