Thriving Blog & Life
“You need to choose ONE niche,” is a statement I roll my eyes at. I believe having multiple passions is a gift & we should honor it. And what better way to embrace all of it than with blogging?
Not many understand that the blog is a starting point. An easy point. It’s something people can understand. It’s not expensive to start, and you don’t need that much technology either.
You get into the community of not only blogging, but also of business & entrepreneurship too. And little by little, you grow that blog into a business. Blogging is an entrepreneurial journey. And an entrepreneurial journey is a quest for personal growth. Blogging = Personal growth!
I grew up believing I didn’t have a voice worth listening to. And even if I tried, no one would listen. Imagine a mousy, little girl hiding behind the wall – that was me. It boggles me, today, that I was even like this! Well, well, well, how the turntables.
After a traumatic experience, I decided to take the bull by its horns and finally do the things I’d been too scared to do. So I dipped my toes into blogging and since then, have grown it to the business you’re now seeing today. Was it easy? Nope. Is it possible for others? YES!
I got my start in blogging with Xanga (anyone still remember that?). My name was X_crying_quiet_tears_X. Yep. EMO as heck. I created another GIF blog for users to copy & paste GIFs into their own blogs. It wasn’t much but I grew my first little following. This began my sporadic journey of beauty, fashion, food, and photography blogs.
After blogging across different platforms like Blogger & Tumblr, I finally bought my own domain and I started this blog (the one you’re seeing now!) and started blogging about my travels & travel tips. I learned as much as I could about blogging, marketing & business and grew my 27k following in 2 years.
I decided to offer social media management services from the skills I learned to grow my blog. I had my first speaking opportunity within 3 weeks of starting. And in 3 months, I had no idea I would be making more as a social media manager than my full-time admin job. So I quit, and embraced the flexibility of working from my parent’s home in Guam and my boyfriend’s (now hubby) apartment in Okinawa.
While working as a social media manager, I got an opportunity to host a travel TV show. Apparently, they found me through Instagram and found my travel blog. I got paid to do what I already did on my blog but with a bigger team & audience and was able to host the show from Philippines, Vietnam & China. Balancing this life with social media management & running my blog was a HUSTLE. Enneagram 3 as they come.
Entering the era of lockdowns mixed in with moving to a rural German village for my husband’s work, I decided to throw out the hustle grind of “having it all” and saying “yes” to everything.
I was too stressed & could never accommodate my needs. I was exhausted from people pleasing & no longer felt aligned with the trajection of my life. I had been living a great life and many would love to be in my shoes but I wasn’t exactly happy. What was the point of all this?
So I put my head down and explored what I truly wanted.
I decluttered my life, from my kitchen cabinets to my business. I started creating from my heart instead of creating for others. I switched from social media management to education, video editing & design.
Today, I feel more aligned and grounded than ever. And now I’m here to help creators fulfill what they want to get out of blogging. I’ve had quite a journey and a lot of experience, and I’m ready to share that with others.
Straight talk & compassionate conversations, five-year plans & baby steps, self-improvement & vulnerability, expanding life & simplifying workflows, honoring intuition & dishonoring excuses, getting in action first in order get clarity.
Overly planning & forever researching, choosing one niche & withholding creativity, people-pleasing & changing who we are for others, doing things the “right” way, and saying “yes” to things that don’t serve us.
Filming & editing a video, coaching my students, surfing, gardening, cuddling with Kimchi & Mochi, and singing my butt off in the kitchen while baking a rustic loaf of bread.
Matcha is life.
Beach all day!
Tomatoes on toasted bread
Uniqlo & Daiso
“Farmer Wants a Wife”
ENFP
3
Early bird all the way
Siargao, Philippines
Pomada (w/ calamansi)
Baking bread
Farm life
Guam & Manila
Pinay