Happy August y’all! Do you like the alliteration in my title? 😉
We’re only three days in, but I am loving August so far. Yesterday I woke up with a smile on my face, enjoyed a quiet morning savoring my cup of coffee, and started work early. I got right into some nitty gritty aspects of my business, and it was awesome! It’s wonderful to feel good about sitting down to work every day, instead of stressed out. What a game change from a few months ago.
August is a busy month for me. I’m traveling for 10 days, planning and preparing for fall travel adventures, and starting an interview series!
I’m headed back to the East coast for ten days this month. A very good friend is getting married, and I capitalized on the chance to escape the Austin heat for a while! I’ll spend two days at the wedding with childhood besties, then bum around seaside towns in New England for the rest of my time. My boyfriend will join me for a few days, so we will be doing the requisite family introductions. Grown up times ahead!
August is split pretty evenly between working my butt off and taking some time to enjoy myself. This East coast trip has been in the makings for a long time. I’m so excited to get back to my roots. I want to soak up summer in the Northeast because it’s truly a beautiful thing.
I also want to jumpstart my business. All throughout this year I’ve been asking myself ‘what do you really want to do with your life?’ I’ve wrestled with feelings of dissatisfaction at every job I’ve had, and I’ve never made any real money. That’s a powerful combination that can lead to some very bad feelings.
I’ve spoken before about dealing with anxiety and depression a few years ago. Taking this leap into self-employment is flirting with some of those emotions again. Obviously, I would like to avoid feeling like I’m drowning in failure all the time. By taking a lot of time to really sit with myself and find out what I want to do, I’ve found not only an answer but a course of action.
I want to tell stories. I always have. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a child. I’ve realized over the past few years that my passion for storytelling has a specific focus: I want to tell women’s stories.
Women have been suppressed in almost every culture throughout history. Yet in every century, every decade, there are stories of women who defied the odds and achieved incredible things. Female heroes span the history of humankind.
Those are the stories I want to tell. I want to find the everyday female heroes, the female badasses out there, and tell their stories.Â
I’ve started a new project to do so. I’m interviewing female entrepreneurs about how they started their business, and what their journey has been like. As a woman who was forever changed by taking control of my financial life, I want to highlight the financial journey these women are on. Where did their start-up capital come from? What tools are they using? How have personal financial goals been affected by this move?
Women and our relationship to money is a complicated thing. My project aims to unravel a little of that mystery and help encourage and guide other women to start their own journey to reclaim their money.
I’ll be traveling around the greater American West this fall, in pursuit of these badass ladies who are out there doing the damn thing. I’ve already set up a few interviews with women I’m stoked about, but feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments! Who out there is killing it and needs her story told? I’ve set aside four weeks for travel and plan on hitting seven states: Utah, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Washington.
The rest of August is dedicated to finalizing those travel plans and preparing for those interviews. I’ll be incorporating these interviews, as well as advice, tips, and tools I use in my own business, into my site throughout the fall.
To keep everyone updated on these exciting changes, I started a newsletter! I pinky promise it’s one of the rad ones, not one of the annoying ones. Sign up on the front page to get stories of my upcoming life on the road, the best strategies I’m using to grow my business and the best pictures this girl can take. You’ll only see my name pop up in your inbox when I’ve got something truly important to say.Â
What do y’all think? Any travel or business tips for me?
Kara Perez is the original founder of From Frugal To Free. She is a money expert, speaker and founder of Bravely Go, a feminist financial education company. Her work has been featured on NPR, Business Insider, Forbes, and Elite Daily.
Sounds like an excellent start to the month with plans to make it absolutely amazing. Enjoy your travels and I can’t wait to see where the interview series takes you!
Thanks Penny! I’m really excited about the series. I’ve got some amazing professionals lined up, covering all sorts of career paths. Big things ahead!
I vote for Cait Flanders! Can’t wait to read the interviews! 🙂
I’ve struggled with anxiety from time to time, too. When I start to feel anxious about all the work I face, I try to focus on how lucky I am to have the opportunities I do and meditate.
Cait is such a hero for me! Anxiety is a tricky beast. I can sometimes walk myself out of it, and sometimes it dominates my mind. I’ve got a much better grip on it than two years ago, but the ups and downs of freelancing can be hard to stay calm through.
Dangit. Claudia took mine! I’m excited to read the series!
Thanks Maggie! Two for Cait, must mean something…????
Great minds! 🙂
Can’t wait to read the series! I’d vote for Paula at Afford anything. http://affordanything.com/about/
Even though I’m not into real estate investing, I love reading her blog, because she’s got a great writing voice.
Anxiety can be tough to struggle with. I went through a funk lately and realized i’m getting anxious about work and the big reorg that is now going to span 2-4 months. yippee…. Just keep focus and worry about what you can control and mostly dismiss the rest. 🙂
Great recommendation! Also an area I could stand to learn a lot more about. That work situation sounds stressful. Deep breaths, and taking things as they come is the only way to get through it. We got this!
Nice one Kara. I look forward to reading these stories. It sounds like you’re on a mission and I’m sure we’re all goingood to learn something from these ladies. A great story is a great story no matter who tells it in my book. Enjoy your travels.
Thanks Martin! Hopefully I’ll have some good stuff for you this fall.
Ahhh this is so exciting – congratulations Kara! I cannot wait to read this series, that sounds amazing. I’m going over to sign up for your newsletter now! (If you ever have Mailchimp questions I feel like I’ve learned everything the hard way, lol, happy to help if you ever need it – although for the most part it’s pretty straightforward!)
Thanks Des! Look at us, all grown up bloggers now. We’re not the new kids on the block anymore.
man so excited for you! that sound so amazing and awesome! I’d be a mess being on the road that long but that seems to be your jam! 🙂 Hope everything goes spectacularly!
Traveling this long is a first for me, but I’m so looking forward to it! Having a purpose with the trip is essential to me- otherwise I would wander aimlessly and spend way too much money. Thanks for the well wishes!
I LOVE alliteration! Almost as much as semi colons.
And I love your idea of focusing on women entrepreneurs. Some great suggestions up above already.
This title was an accident and then I realized what I’d done and was sooo proud of myself! I’m also a semi colon fan. I wish people knew how/when to use them!
Can’t wait for your interview series, sounds like it will be amazing!
I’m so excited about this interview series!! I’ve been looking for something like this – it’s always interesting to know *exactly* how someone got to exactly where they are right now. Not this glossed over “I followed my dreams and now my day looks like this!”.
The really, nitty gritty details like “I waited tables for ‘X’ years, I met so and so who introduced me to this other person that ended up being life changing, I stopped doing ‘Y’ 2 years ago and focused more on ‘Z’ which paid off big time, then I a year later I got a write up in ‘X’ magazine that launched me to a different level, etc. etc.” are what’s really interesting to read.
Best of luck, enjoy your travels, and I look forward to reading your series!!
Thank you! Yes, that’s exactly my plan. People gloss over the most important and helpful stuff. Hopefully I’ll shed some light on it for us all!
Yes! Can’t wait : )
[…] myself over the last two months. Do I really still want to hit the road for four weeks by myself? And interview random women about their work lives? And then build a whole huge site around those […]
[…] changes coming to this blog, designed to help me reach that next level of income. Get ready to see that interview project I’ve been working on, and a lot more tools designed to help my fellow low-income people reach for their dreams. […]