My 1st Bloggy Birthday
Twelve months ago today I was driving in my car on the way to work, listening to Les Brown, like I always do this time of year and an idea and the name for my next business came to me “Live Full Retire Early”. When I got to work, I ran the idea past my best friend, and he said it was fantastic.
I’d seen and heard so many people sharing their financial and lifestyle struggles over the past few years and I’d felt frustrated, feeling powerless that I couldn’t help anyone. But then I realised I could help people merely by sharing what was and wasn’t working for me.
So I went onto GoDaddy and registered the domain name and started building the website. I was super excited. I started jotting all the things I wanted to talk about, it was a long list, half of which I still haven’t written about. I felt the name Live Full Retire Early was perfect. It wasn’t just about money and your finances but also how to create a lifestyle that you love (without breaking the bank).
I felt I was doing a pretty good job managing my partner and I’s finances. I wasn’t just managing one account, although at times I wish I did as it can get a bit complicated. But over the years I have refined what I do and how I do it, it’s relatively stress-free, relatively! I manage ALL our investment accounts and 4 of our budgets (mine, his, the property rentals and the personal joint one – all are individual)
Over the past few months, I came to realise that what comes naturally to me, doesn’t come as easy for other people. So in June 2019, I decided that I would coach individuals on how to manage their finances; from figuring out their financial goals, to creating a budget, managing their budget and then what to do next (investing). Like myself, other people have that voice in their head which encourages them to go spend money when they are feeling low, which then makes people feel worse as it pushes them further into debt.
I’ve been very fortunate. Despite being offered a place at university, I declined the offer and got a job in my local town. I started earning money very early on, so I never had any student debt. I didn’t feel uni could offer me any more than the ‘real world’ could. Other than drunken nights out. I changed jobs several times and then settled to one which I’ve been at going on 13 years. This job has allowed me to invest money and buy my dream home.
I still have the self-doubt and inner criticism going on, the voice says “why are you doing this, no one is reading, no one cares, what you are doing, this is pointless”, and sometimes I believe it. But most of the time, I ignore the liar within and continue sharing valuable tools, content and stories.
So, to wrap this short post up. I want to say a big THANK YOU to all my clients, readers and followers on social media. Your support over the past 12 months has been incredible, which encourages me to create more tools that will help with your financial fitness.
My aim for the next 12 months is to help as many people as possible, share my journey some more and make you smile (hopefully I did that in 2019 as well).
