Reflections and Future Directions of Ms. Fiology (Now Recovering Women Wealth ;)

I was born to write. I also love to speak publicly which I don’t think is the norm. Don’t get me wrong, I get nervous every time I speak in a crowd. But I push through it, I dive in, I dig deep, and something inside of me gets all lit up and I inspire others.

I just moved into a little apartment down the road from my job this past May. In the process, I unpacked boxes of things I hadn’t looked at for 4+ years. Previously I lived with my folks, and before that a ministry house so a lot of my stuff sat idle in boxes. In the unpacking, I came across some writings that were like 35 years old:

• Poetry
• Journal entries
• Short stories
• A play
• A bunch of research papers

I kept a few of the good ones, got rid of most (cus who needs more stuff), and held onto the beautiful knowledge that I was born to write. I’ve always found a release and joy in writing. This was my confirmation that starting my blog was the right thing for me to do right now.

Quilting?

I think of my life as an unfinished quilt. I look back at some of the squares amazed that I came through (getting sober). Other squares arouse feelings of extreme gratitude for the opportunities I’ve been given and the family I was born into. Overall, I see a masterpiece in the making. That is my hope for you.

Life is messy, life is beautiful. What were you born to do?

Reflections on 4 Months of Blogging

This blog was born at CampFI Mid-Atlantic and I wrote my first post on April 19, 2018. Amazingly, now I cannot picture my life without a blog. As Angela from Tread Lightly, Retire Early said, it gets into your bones. Sure does!

Initially, I didn’t set any goals for myself with the statistics of my blog. I just wanted to start writing and getting my story out. I wasn’t sure my story would resonate with anyone in the personal finance world, but I also thought it might. Particularly those who may have thought it too late.

You see, I’m a late gamer, I’ve been redeemed from addiction, and turned my financial situation around. I told myself, if there’s anyone out there who is ready to give up, I want my story to get to them. So I started to write.

What happened next took me by surprise.

People Are Mostly Awesome

I’d like to give some shout-outs to the kind folk who’ve helped me along the way.

Firstly, Jonathan and Brad gave me a shot to be a writer on ChooeFI early in the year. It was my first real experience with blogging which gave me the confidence to start my own.

ESI Money for writing an awesome 5 part series on starting your own blog. Each week, I’d eagerly await the newest article and figure out what steps I could take to inch me closer to getting my blog up and running.  I followed a tailored version of his advice for picking my awesome logo. 🙂

Kevin Clack is the man! I met Kevin at CampFI Mid-Atlantic and he basically pushed it past the finish line and my blog was born! Kevin now does my hosting so we stay in communication.

I followed the awesome advice of Military Dollar to get on Twitter. This has opened my world to a great many opportunities.

Miss Mazuma, who I also met at CampFI, introduced me to a bunch of people on Twitter and pimped my blog. Are you starting to realize that CampFI events are an amazing way to meet FI minded people?!

Guy on Fire told me about a FinCon scholarship for new bloggers (see below for the results). 🙂

I got to go down to Dave Ramsey studios and share my testimony and do a debt-free scream.

Vicki and Amy interviewed me for their awesome site, Women Who Money, but I like to call them women who rock!

I wrote an article that got featured on Rockstar Finance.

My buddy, David, who has an awesomely named website, employed my help on a few fiology lessons:

1. Cut the Cords That Tie You Down
2. Don’t Cell Yourself Short

I did my first podcast interview on the Everyday Money Show

I wrote my first guest post over at Thrifty Enough.

With all of this momentum, my writing/editing has gotten quicker. I initially committed to publishing once a week. Now I am publishing twice a week.

Where This Blog Is Headed

I can’t quite predict for sure where this blog is headed but I can tell you this, I plan on continuing to write and produce quality content. I have so many stories to tell. And, of course, as I journey and work towards achieving Financial Independence (FI), I want to experiment and chronicle it.

Additionally, I have some upcoming projects:

A guest post on Wise Mind Money.

This one I’m super excited about – Fred from Money With A Purpose and I are talking about doing something with our differing perspectives

1. Parent of an addict
2. Recovered addict

There’s a potential Ohio Blogger Meet up in the making thanks to Saving Joyfully for connecting Ohio bloggers:

FinCon18

There’s a financial conference that occurs every fall, called FinCon where money nerds from all walks of life come together. So I took a shot and applied for a scholarship to attend. And guess what?? I was one of 20 to win one!! Yay!

I could not be more excited! Each year the conference is at a different location and this year it’s in Orlando, Florida. BTW, if you want to get tickets, go here.

The Plutus Awards occur at FinCon and if you want to get crazy and vote for my blog in the People’s Choice Award, you can do so here.

I will be sharing an Airbnb with some other cool women. I. Cannot. Wait.

I just started dipping my toes into the world of travel hacking. Fortunately, I racked up enough travel rewards points with my Chase Sapphire Preferred card that I was able to secure flights to and fro for 15,839 points total.

Sidebar: when using credit cards I always recommend paying off the balance in full and on time each and every month. If you lack the discipline to do so, travel hacking may not be for you.

Closing Thoughts

Through blogging and sharing my testimony, I’ve had some women reach out to me for accountability. This is where the real magic happens – working with other people. My prayer is the quilt that makes up my life has many squares showing where I was able to journey with others…