5 Key Benefits of Influencer Marketing for Your Business

With over 500,000 active influencers on Instagram alone, you can find an influencer that will fit with your brand perfectly.

Just because someone has a lot of followers doesn’t mean they are going to be a good fit for you. Using the benefits of influencer marketing and how to use it to your advantage is key before you get started.

Continue reading this article to learn how influencer marketing works and the top benefits of influencer marketing for your business.

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1. Connects Person to Person

While your brand might be the coolest out there, let’s face it — we love people! We want to connect with people over brand almost 100% of the time.

For instance, if I am looking for an amazing workout, I would much rather watch a video from an influencer like Jenny Fisher and Andrea Lopez than going on YouTube and finding a magazine that paid someone to demonstrate the workouts. I want to know more about the person and how the workout is working for THEM!

When you’re trying to motivate yourself to workout, heading over to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or another platform to see what the influencer is posting will help you get a good boost.

When your brand recognizes the power of promoting through a person that has a relationship, a whole new world is going to open up.

2. Small Spend – Big Return

If you’ve looked at how much it costs to hire an influencer you might have just spit your coffee on the screen.

Small spend! What?

Yes! You’re just looking in the wrong places.

Micro-influencers are a great way to get started when you don’t have a lot of money in the budget for influencer marketing. While they might not have a million followers or fans, even a few hundred loyal fans can make a big difference for your brand.

3. Influencers Boost SEO

You want your company to rank in the search engines, but if you’re not getting attention on social, you’re missing out. When your website has good social signals from trusted accounts, this is going to give you a boost that could be just what you needed to pass the competition.

4. Provides True Value

Your Instagram ad might not add a lot of value. If it does — good on you! But it’s hard to add a lot of value when you’re trying to get your message across quickly.

One of the major benefits of influencer marketing is that influencers create content that is going to help your potential customer. Even if you do nothing else, you at least know that you’ve helped someone that may buy from you in the future.

5. Conversions

Have you seen people visiting your website, clicking out of the cart and you just aren’t sure what is going on?

Using influencer marketing can help you get these people off the edge and into buying mode. If people aren’t sure if your product is good or not, but then they see one of their favorite influencers using it, it’s going to be a no-brainer to go spend their money at your website.

The Shining Benefits of Influencer Marketing

Now you know about the top benefits of influencer marketing and you can get to work on your first campaign. It might take a little while to get into the groove, but once you do, you’ll see how it can help your business.

Do you want to learn more about other marketing topics and beyond? Go through the site, find your favs, drop a bookmark and come back soon!

Taxes for Freelancers: 10 Must-Know Tips for a Stress-Free Tax Season

Jessica Lauren Vine

The U.S. now has more than 56.7 million freelance workers and many don’t understand taxes for freelancers.

I’ve been a full-time freelancer since before 2010, so saying I do have a clue about this is an understatement BUT this is NOT tax advice. These are just tips and you should speak to a professional if you aren’t sure about something.

Before we get into the taxes for freelancers tips, I do want to answer a couple of important questions that I had when I first got started. I will also let you know why this matters.

Do I have to file taxes as a freelancer and how much money do I have to make to file my taxes as a freelancer?

As a freelancer, if your gross income is $400 or above, you have to file taxes. You shouldn’t assume that the IRS knows there are expenses that reduce your income. If $400 comes into your business PERIOD, you need to file or you can get into trouble.

While you won’t get in trouble if you don’t owe taxes or if the IRS owes you a refund, do you really want to bank on your tax skills? Just file.

When I say trouble above, we are talking fees out the wazoo and the longer you take to take care of those pesky taxes, the more those fees are going to be. #facepalm

Are freelancers self-employed?

You may have heard that the self-employment tax is 15.3% and you want to know if you’re self-employed as a freelancer. Yes, you are self-employed as a freelancer.

Now that you’ve got the answer to some of the most commonly asked questions when it comes to taxes for freelancers, let’s get into those tips!

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1. Know Your Business Structure When Dealing With Taxes for Freelancers

As a freelancer, you need to know your business structure to know how you’ll be paying your taxes.

While business structure can be confusing when you’re starting out, it’s important to get this right as early on as possible.

As a sole proprietor, you are the one that is responsible for all profits and debts.

As a partnership, you’re in partnership with someone and it can either be a general or a limited partnership.

As a limited liability company, you get the benefits of a partnership without being personally reliable like you are as a sole proprietor.

As a corporation, it’s a little more complicated and most freelancers don’t opt for this structure, but if you want to — have at it. Just make sure you understand what it entails.

2. Keep Track of All of Your Income

Organization is your friend. Don’t fight it.

Whether you keep records physically or you have online records of your income, make sure they are organized so you can easily access them. When tax time comes around, you need to be able to easily show where your money came from and how much it was.

You may have some 1099s from clients but if you’re like me, you might get paid through PayPal or other payment methods.

While PayPal does give 1099s to some of its users, you have to have at least 200 transactions and a minimum income amount to get a PayPal 1099.

If you can’t get a 1099 from PayPal to show your income, go into your transactions and filter all income transactions from clients and then screenshot each of those pages of transactions as proof of income.

3. Use a Tax Software or Accountant to File

Goodness me, please don’t try to file your own taxes. Just don’t.

Why not?

Because having a tax professional or a tax software on your side to defend what’s on your taxes in case of an audit can really put your mind at ease.

If you do your own taxes, your only defense is that you didn’t know and most of the time — that isn’t going to fly.

4. Ready Yourself for the Self-Employment Tax

If you weren’t aware of the 15.3% self-employment tax, this can come as a real punch in the mouth.

You can pay these taxes quarterly, so it makes it a little easier going out or you can pay it at the end of the year in a lump sum.

5. Consider Making Estimated Payments

As we stated in the point above, you’re going to have to pay self-employment taxes. Each quarter, you can pay estimated payments which make it a lot easier for you at the end of the year.

On April 15, June 15th, September 15th, and January 15th, you can pay what you estimate your taxes to be for that quarter. As we said above, you don’t have to do this but if you don’t think you can stomach paying the whole bill at once, this can be a good option for you.

6. Understand Deductions

If you don’t understand what you can deduct from your income for expenses, you might be overpaying in taxes. Here is an example of some things but don’t forget to ask a tax professional if you aren’t sure.

Marketing
Advertising
Travel for business
Office furniture
Computers
Software
Services
Supplies

If you have other expenses that you believe are related to your business, don’t assume since this can get you into big trouble if you’re audited.

7. Consider Claiming the Home Office Deduction

Since I live in an RV and don’t have a dedicated space, I’m not able to use the home office deduction, but you should look at the requirements and see if it is available to you.

8. Know If You Will Contribute to a Retirement Account

You might not feel like you’re making enough money to contribute to a retirement account right now and you might be right. If you can’t survive off your income and contribute then at least keep it in mind for the future.

There are a few types of retirement accounts you can consider as a freelancer when you’re looking at taxes for freelancers and investing in your future. These are:

Solo 401(k)
SEP-IRA
IRA

9. Categorize Your Business Expenses

I decided to put this at the bottom since most people aren’t going to go to all this trouble and will probably just drop a box of receipts on their CPA’s desk, but as a best practice, you should categorize your business expenses.

The better your records are, the more tax savings you’ll be able to enjoy.

10. Consider Using an HSA (Health Savings Account)

Having an HSA allows you to pay for qualified medical expenses on a pre-tax basis, which means that you’ll be able to cut your tax bill. Before you get excited, you need to research how HSAs work and how they can help you.

Now You Understand Taxes for Freelancers

Good on you for getting through all of this and getting a good grip on taxes for freelancers. Now it’s time to go out and take care of those taxes.

Do you want to learn more about personal finance and other important topics? This site is full of articles that are well-researched and brought together to help you live a happier and healthier life.

Check out some of the other articles on the site, drop a bookmark and come back soon.

How to Secure Local Leads for Your Business

Jessica Lauren Vine

Are you looking to secure local leads for your business but aren’t quite sure how to do it? Ninety-one percent of marketers say that lead generation is their number one goal.

While lead generation will always be a priority for marketers, it’s getting harder and harder to cut through the competition. Customer journeys are getting longer and ad spending is increasing, making it more difficult for marketers to know where to spend their time.

Luckily, there are some tried and true strategies to help you secure local leads. Read this guide to learn how to secure local leads for your business.

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Focus on Local SEO

Improving your local SEO is one of the most important aspects of local lead generation. SEO, also known as search engine optimization, is the process of expanding your presence on Google and other search engines.

The end game of local SEO is to drive more people to your site, therefore, increasing the chance of conversions. With local SEO, you’re focused on ranking locally rather than nationally.

To improve local SEO, you can:

Improve your site’s internal linking structure
Make sure your website is mobile-friendly
Incorporate optimized keywords throughout your site
Write engaging and informative blog posts
Create a Google My Business Page

For example, if you own an HVAC company, you can use a service like the Hoth to create blog posts and improve your local SEO reach. Learn more here at https://www.thehoth.com/solutions/hvac/leads/.

Create Stellar Landing Pages

Landing pages are web pages that are specifically designed to turn people into leads. They’re an essential component of any lead generation effort.

A landing page always contains a contact form that a visitor fills out in exchange for something else. After all, you can’t expect a prospect to dole out their name, phone number, and email address with nothing in return.

Typically, the items you offer in exchange for contact information are content-based – think white papers, e-books, exclusive newsletters, or webinars. However, they don’t need to be content-specific. You can also offer discount codes or free product offerings.

Offer Discounts and Coupons

Speaking of discounts and coupons, they’re also another great lead generation tactic. To drive your lead generation with discounts and coupons, focus on offering new customer coupons.

You can offer these coupons online or in-store. Once you have them created, you can distribute them via email, social media, or current customer referrals. It’s also a good idea to create a banner ad for coupons on your website, as this will entice customers to buy your product right away.

Start a Referral Partnership

One of the best ways to generate new local leads is to start a referral partnership with another local business. With this strategy, you’ll receive a percentage of the revenue you generate from a referral to another business and vice versa.

This strategy can work for a wide array of businesses. For example, if you own a yoga studio, you can set up a referral partnership with the health foods store next door.

Generating Local Leads: Time to Get Started

As you can see, there are a lot of great strategies for generating local leads. Now, you just need to put these strategies into action. For more local lead generation tips, check back in with our blog!

How to Make Sure Your Online Business Stays Alive in 2020

Jessica Lauren Vine

how to keep your online business alive in 2018

While many small businesses don’t make it past their fifth year, you want to make sure you know how to make sure your online business stays alive in 2020. I originally wrote this post in 2018 and I will continue to update it each year with the best business strategies for the year.

Continue reading this article as I share success tips for your business for 2020 and beyond.

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How to Make Sure Your Online Business Stays Alive in 2020 – Must-Dos

No matter how scared you are to learn new things, you have to start branching out. Of course, it is going to be difficult to learn new things if you aren’t already somewhat skilled in that area, but if you want to remain on top in 2020, you are going to have to learn to go with the flow.

Now let’s get into what you need to do.

Make Sure Your Business Is Stable Without You

You don’t want to create a business that needs you to run. To make sure that our business continues to be successful in 2020, you want to put systems and people in place so your business can run successfully without you.

Below is a really good video from Dan Lok that goes over building business systems for your business. He hits some points that are a little sensitive for many people, so make sure to give it a listen.

Make a Decision for Your 2020 Business Year

You should already be well on your way with what you are going to do with your business, but let’s face it, a lot of people still have no clue as to what they are doing next week let alone for the entire year of 2020.

The place where people get stuck and go backward in their business is when they do not make any decision. It’s like they are in limbo. The best thing to do is pick a strategy and if it is wrong, that is going to come out soon enough and show itself and you can change what needs to be changed.

Create a Winning Online Marketing Plan

The most important thing you need to remember is that you have to become a marketing master to get noticed online. You can’t go lax on your online marketing plan if you want to be successful online. There are thousands and thousands of other websites that want people’s attention and you need to get to work to get eyeballs on your content.

Content Marketing

In 2019 and into 2020, there’s a lot of competition but there are things you can do to get noticed. One of the things you have to do for your content marketing plan is to create content that is truly helpful for people.

Sometimes you’re going to want to put out content that is okay instead of great content, but please don’t!

That content is not going to do well and you’re going to harm your good reputation.

Think about the platforms that you want to target and give the people on each of the platforms you choose what they want. People viewing Instagram are in a slightly different mindset than those on Facebook and even more so when you look at people on LinkedIn.

PPC

If you don’t know what you’re doing with PPC (pay per click) marketing, you can sink a pretty penny into your campaigns. Before you get started in this area, either hire someone to teach you or hire a company to do the ads for you.

PPC is a great way to get your message in front of people quickly. If you lack patience and want to get your message in front of people quickly so you can keep your business alive in 2020 then this is a good option.

Facebook Ads

Facebook ads can be an inexpensive way to get more people to your offers. As more businesses venture onto Facebook and start using ads, it is going to get more expensive, but right now — it’s not bad at all!

Again, if you don’t know what you’re doing — hire out!

SEO

SEO (search engine optimization) is when you optimize your page to rank for a certain term that you want it to show up for in search engines.

Investing time or money in SEO is a wise strategy for the years coming and can continue to bring you long term success.

Learn what SEO techniques are currently working and put them into practice right away to start building up your organic search traffic.

Social Media Marketing

With billions of people using social media, don’t turn your nose up at it. You might think it’s only for socializing but it’s a great way to build a relationship with your potential and current customers. You’ll also find people are more than happy to click through to sales pages and often buy after coming to your site from social media.

YouTube Marketing

Almost 2 billion people use YouTube and you need to be on the platform. Even if you don’t want to be on camera, you can create great videos by using PowerPoint slides or screen captures. Get creative and get some videos on YouTube for your business.

How to Make Sure Your Online Business Stays Alive in 2020 – Now You Know

Now you know how to make sure your online business stays alive in 2020. Use these tips to keep your business going for many years.

Do you have any tips you’d like to share with your fellow business owners or a question? Feel free to drop them below.

Saying Goodbye: How to Know When to End a Relationship

Jessica Lauren Vine

when to end a relationship featured image — Couple Relaxing

Knowing when to end a relationship can be difficult. Whether you’re talking about a romantic relationship or a friendship, these connections can form very deeply and work their way into our identity.

You’ve been through a lot together but there’s got to be a reason that you’re questioning your relationship, right?

Even if you still love that person, that doesn’t mean that the relationship should go on. Continue reading this article to learn more about when you should put an end to a relationship.

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When Small Things Add Up to Big Things

Something terrible doesn’t necessarily have to happen in a relationship for you to start noticing it’s coming to an end.

It could be one thing after another after another or the same small thing over and over again. If you notice these things are wearing you down, it’s time to take a closer look at the relationship.

As relationships age, it is easy to fall into a certain type of comfort and start taking each other for granted. The things we once thought were unspeakable, that we would never do to that person, we do them and vice versa.

When Deal-Breaker Behaviors You Didn’t Know About Show Up

If you find out there are deal-breaker behaviors going on and you didn’t know about them at the beginning of the relationship, it may be time to say goodbye.

People are oftentimes very good at hiding their true nature until they have safely embedded themselves into your life. Not only that, they might have started these bad behaviors during your relationship.

Some of the common things that might be deal-breakers in your relationships.

Hidden criminal record
Unmentioned child
Undisclosed divorces
Addictions (Current or past)

And there are any more you can add to the list depending on what you’re willing to live with.

Check Out This Video About When to End a Relationship

I found this amazing video by Brendon Burchard about when to leave a relationship and if you don’t already follow him, you totally should. His story is amazing and I love his message.

I want to go through some of the important points he went over below and give my take on them. You should also watch the video. He has a great way of explaining things.

Yeah, I know — the thumbnail is a little harsh with “When to quit on someone”, but it is what it is.

My Take on the Points in the Video About When to End a Relationship

I’ve ended my fair share of relationships and it’s not always been fun but I agree with what Brendon said in the video above. I am going to explain it my own way but I’m really glad I found the points in the video.

1. When There is Abuse

This is a major one and I don’t only think physical abuse is a good reason to end a relationship, but I believe mental and emotional abuse is a good reason to end a relationship.

And that goes both ways. If you’re abusing someone or they are abusing you — get out. You don’t want to be that person.

In this article, they actually go into 6 different types of abuse:

Physical
Sexual
Verbal/Emotional
Mental/Psychological
Financial/Economic
Cultural/Identity

If you’re experiencing any of these types of abuse — leave the relationship now.

Repeat Failed Discussions

If you’ve spoken to this person about a specific issue of extreme importance multiple times and have shared back and forth about your feelings and needs, and you just can’t get it together, it might be time to go.

When you can see that neither of you is going to give on the matter and it’s making you both miserable, why continue to stay and have the fight?

I don’t believe you should just bail on someone because they are “negative”. There are a lot of people that say you should do that and I love that Brendon points out that you don’t need to bail on someone because they aren’t 100% positive and happy.

3. Repeated Neglect

If the person in the relationship never does their part in the relationship, it’s time to say goodbye. If you’ve made the requests, had those discussions and they keep failing over and over — that’s it. There’s no reason to let people make you feel useless.

4. Repeated Lies

Worse than neglect, if your partner, friend, employee — whatever. If they keep telling you one thing and doing another, it’s time to tell them cya.

If you aren’t sure if they are lying to you, you might want to take a look and see if they are lying to others. If they are lying to other people, they are lying to you.

5. No Appreciation

Even if people say they appreciate you but you don’t feel appreciated, that’s not a healthy relationship. Talk to that person and tell them how you feel and if they still don’t come around, don’t stay in a thankless relationship.

It’s sad when you’ve invested a lot in a relationship, but that’s not a good reason to stay in a relationship.

When to End a Relationship – Only You Know

While we’ve talked about when to end a relationship, you’re the only one that really knows when it’s time to go but the above things are definitely signs that you need to strongly consider removing that person from your life.

It’s never easy to remove someone from your life, especially if you feel like you owe them something. But if it’s not working for you, it’s probably not working for them and it’s time to let things go.

What are your thoughts?

Have you dealt with things like this before?

Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

Get Happier! Buying Experiences Not Things

Jessica Lauren Vine

buying experiences not things featured images

Did you know that buying experiences not things could be the first step to achieving more happiness in your life?

While things can be helpful and enjoyable, I rarely light up again after the initial opening of the thing I bought. On the other hand, when I go experience something amazing, I light up every time I think about it and retell the adventure.

Continue reading this article to learn more about why you should spend money on experiences instead of things to experience more happiness.

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The Trend of Less is More

I read this article about Millenials choosing experiences over things and I started feeling a little less like a freak of nature.

When my family and I decided to hit the road and live the full-time RV life, some of my friends were not super supportive because they didn’t understand how or why I would do this.

How dare you uproot your family and travel around the country.

After we started this lifestyle, I started realizing there were a lot of people out there like me that were ready to live with less. Around a million people actually live in their RVs full time.

Here is a video of our RV tour and this is after we upgraded a little bit from our previous space. And btw, we are going to upgrade a little bit more. We are glad to live with less but sometimes you find out your current less is a little too little. hahah

When we lived in our house with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, we barely used the thing and I was always working so hard to pay for it.

Now that we live a life of less, I feel much happier and healthier and I am able to enjoy my kids.

Nothing Can Replace an Experience

I have to say that one of the biggest reasons to spend money on experiences instead of collecting things is because experiences can’t be replaced.

It makes sense to me to rent things that you don’t use regularly and only buy things that we are going to use on a daily or at least weekly basis.

Since we can work anywhere that we want to and more people are able to do this, why would we want to buy a house when we hardly ever stay there? All of the repairs and upkeep and — bleh!

I would rather spend all of that money on doing things like going to the Grand Canyon or going up Skybridge in Gatlinburg, TN!

Less Stress When Things Are Simple

When you keep your life simple and don’t own a lot of things, it’s much less stressful.

I watched these guys below and while I’m not planning on going that far, it was very eye-opening.

When something I own breaks or there is some problem with someone, it’s super stressful.

I have to pay someone to fix it or figure it out myself.

If I don’t own it, I let the person that owns it take care of it because that’s the deal.

Easy.

Focus on What You Value Instead of Buying Things

If you’re like me, you value family — a lot.

I would rather do things that are simple and enjoy everyday life than spend years of my life traveling for business and never seeing my family.

While I don’t judge people that do that, it’s not the route for me.

I’d rather homeschool my kids and work as a writer and internet marketer doing what I love.

When you own a lot of things that you have to pay for, you don’t get a choice. You have to work work work to pay for all of the things you owe on.

Debt can be a very harsh master.

Check Off Items On Your Live List

While most people call it their bucket list, I really don’t like that. I call it my live list.

Creating a list of things you want to do and looking at the list stay the same year after year can be very depressing.

You’re saddled down to all of your things. You can’t possibly do anything because you have to work weekdays and weekends just to pay for everything.

When you focus on buying experiences not things, you’re going to be able to check more items off your live list and that gives you an amazing feeling of accomplishment and excitement.

And don’t worry — you won’t run out of things to do when you’re buying experiences not things. The world is so big and you are going to continually find new things to do.

Expand your live list, go out there and experience the things that matter to you most and watch your level of happiness soar.

Buying Experiences Not Things – For the Win!

Now that you know more about why you should be buying experiences not things to live a happier life, what can you do about it?

You are likely tired of the lack of money ruining your life and don’t even notice all of the things you have that are draining your finances.

Think about how many times you’ve had to have something fixed or spend money on maintenance.

Do you want to learn more about living a happier and more fulfilled life? Read through the rest of my blog and you might want to check out this article specifically – How to Live on a Budget Without Being Miserable if you want to start budgeting but don’t want to hate it.

I Feel Useless: How to Overcome Feelings of Worthlessness

Jessica Lauren Vine

I feel useless.

Have you ever said this? Or maybe just thought it to yourself?

I can tell you that I’ve felt this I feel useless way more than a few times. When I was feeding my family Ramen noodles for lunch and supper every day going after a goal I believed in at that time, I felt useless. Totally useless.

When our electric got cut off because I couldn’t bother to look at the due date because I was afraid that we weren’t going to have the money to pay the bill — I felt useless.

If you’re feeling useless, it’s not abnormal and there is a way out. Continue reading this article to learn how to overcome feelings of worthlessness.

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Start Your Morning Off Right

If you don’t win your mornings, the rest of the day is going to be a runaway train. You’re going to get to the end of the day and feel like you didn’t accomplish anything and that’s when that worthless feeling really creeps in a lot of the time.

Wake up a little earlier in the morning and give yourself time to breathe and think about the good things you want to happen.

Practicing self care in the morning is a great way to start showing yourself that you care. If you don’t take care of yourself, that feeling of worthlessness is only going to grow.

Your self care plan might be different than mine and that’s okay. You have to decide what is going to work for you in the morning.

I like writing out morning pages and letting all of my demons out on paper or on my morning pages app on my iPhone. I also have a cup of hot tea which I find very soothing. Sometimes I also meditate which is very calming.

Even if you can only take 10 or 15 minutes for yourself — do it. Just try it for a couple of weeks and see how you’ll start to feel better about yourself.

Help Someone Else

One of the fastest ways to feel good about yourself and stop the feelings of uselessness is to help someone that is in a worse situation than you.

It doesn’t have to be anything big.

Say something nice to a stranger and make them smile. Hold the door for someone or find a volunteer opportunity in your community.

For me, this blog is one of the ways that I give back. I want to share hope with you and anyone else that takes the time to read these blogs. My heart goes out to people that feel helpless, hopeless, useless and worthless.

If you’re a writer then you might consider sharing your journey and your steps out of these feelings to help other people.

It’s great for accountability.

Do Mirror Work

I watched this great video by Marisa Peer and I am going to share it with you below. I was going through such a terrible time and feeling so down about myself when I saw this video and it was super helpful.

I wrote “I am enough” on my mirror in the red lipstick like she said to do in the video. And I told myself how amazing I was and it felt stupid for a really long time but then I started feeling better and things in my life started changing.

It may not have been all due to this but it definitely did have something to do with it. Give it a watch.

Create an Evidence Book of Your Awesomeness

When someone gives you a compliment, when you accomplish something that you’re proud of or if you can think of anything else that makes you feel good about yourself, write it down in an evidence book.

When you’re feeling low and you’re feeling useless, open the book and remind yourself who you are. Remind yourself how amazing you are.

This evidence book can be your lifeline when no one else is there to tell you how amazing you are. You can read this book to keep your awesomeness fresh in your mind.

Set a goal to have so many things written down in your evidence book and set appointments with yourself to sit down and read through the book to keep yourself feeling good.

Practice Gratitude to Stop Feelings of Uselessness

An attitude of gratitude will help you start to feel the goodness of your life. You’ll start to see there are good things in your life and you’ll start to focus on them because you’re practicing gratitude.

Practicing gratitude just means to sit and feel grateful. You might even write down what you feel grateful for in your gratitude journal.

The more grateful you feel, the less useless you’ll feel. You’ll start to see that you’ve done a lot, helped people and brought good into the world.

Stop Saying I Feel Useless – For Good

Now you have some tools that are going to help you stop saying “I feel useless.” It’s time to live your life and feel happiness and wholeness again.

You have control of your life and you can start your first steps toward feeling good about yourself. Maybe you’ve never felt good about yourself before. If you haven’t, it’s an amazing feeling — I guarantee it.

If you’re feeling good now and you’re out of the I feel useless stage, why not drop a comment of encouragement for someone else that’s feeling down?

Also, if you have seriously bad feelings and want to hurt yourself, please contact the National Helpline and talk to someone that can help you. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. The world needs you here, so make the call and get the help you need.

It’s Time to Go! – 9 Eye-Opening Reasons to Travel

Jessica Lauren Vine

Analytical people like you and I need reasons to travel. We have to have a little extra push to get out of our cozy comfort zones and live our lives.

While we know we only have one life, it can be easy to keep putting it off until something happens. But we have to stop that — it’s time to go now!

Continue reading this article to learn about the reasons to travel and how it can benefit your life.

Contents

1. Gaining New Perspectives

When you travel, it is an opportunity to see yourself and other people through different eyes. If you’re always in the same place talking to the same people, it is easy to develop a bias and think that’s the way things are everywhere.

One of the biggest reasons to travel is to learn about the world and to learn about yourself. Even if you’re just making your way to the next state over or a connecting country, you’ll be able to learn so much about your fellow man and who you really are.

2. Having New Experiences

Having new experiences is one of the most enjoyable things you can do. If you only do the same thing over and over again, life can get very boring and I believe that’s why a lot of people get depressed.

Is this all there is to life?

No! Go out! Travel and see that there is much more to life.

3. Enjoying New Foods

If you love food the way that I do, you have to travel. You’ll be able to learn about different recipes and what is normal to other people.

When we were in Maine, it was crazy how many signs I saw with lobster, lobster, lobster. That was one of my favorite places to visit and I know we are going to go back.

The scallops were definitely a favorite when I went there but I probably wouldn’t have ever tried scallops had I not been traveling in Maine!

4. Bond With Your Travel Mates

If you’re traveling with a friend or family member, this is a great way to bond. You’re getting to experience these new foods, places, and people together. For years, you’ll have so much to talk about and remember and the more you experience together, the closer you’ll become.

5. Develop an Open Mind

Staying in one place is the best way to develop a closed mind. Traveling opens your mind by allowing you to see and experience what others see and experience as a normal part of their lives.

What you might have seen on television or heard from a friend might not be true after all. It might just be their take on things.

You’ll notice differences in cultures even if you’re traveling within the US and if you venture outside the US — get ready for some real shockers if it’s your first time.

6. Travel to Make Massive Memories

Traveling allows you to create memories that are solid. When you travel somewhere to do something, it is easier for you to remember it.

Remember the time when we were RVing and visited Florida and we saw Lu the Hippo at Homosassa Springs near where we stayed in Crystal River, Florida? I do! That was February 2018.

Since you’re learning new things and seeing new places, these memories are going to be vivid and will stick with you for years to come.

7. Connect With New People

When you stay in one place, you’ll likely keep seeing the same people and talking to the same people. When you travel, you may have some travel mates that come along for the ride but you’ll also meet new people that live in these locations.

It’s a lot of fun to meet new people while you’re on the road. You never know what you might run into.

8. Meet People With the Same Interests

When you’re traveling, you’ll meet other people with a love of travel. It’s so fun to share travel tips and talk about the things you’ve done. You’ve likely seen a few of the same places which will give you something to talk about.

9. Learn New Languages

Depending on where you’re going, you might need to learn a new language to make it easier to navigate. When I went to Mexico, I did my best to learn some Spanish quickly but — I’m honestly just now really working on Spanish seriously and learning it.

While you might want to get yourself to learn a new language, if you plan on staying put and never going anywhere that you can use it, you likely won’t be motivated enough to make it happen.

These Reasons to Travel Are Enough

While these reasons to travel are enough, give yourself your own reasons. Think of things that are going to keep you going when you want to stop.

Traveling looks glamorous when you’re watching it on the travel channel and it can be glamorous! But on the other hand, it is also a lot of work. You’re going to need some reasons to keep traveling and feel free to bookmark this post and come back again when you’re needing some inspiration.

Why You Need a Self Care Plan and How to Practice Self Care

Jessica Lauren Vine

When you’re creating a self care plan, know it doesn’t have to be bubble baths and massages — but it can be.

With about 33% of people in America reporting they feel stressed, you know there are plenty of others out there that are maxed out and feeling the pain but not saying anything about it.

Continue reading this article and learn why you need a self care plan as we go over these reasons to practice self care and how to do it.

Contents

What Is Self Care?

Before we get too deep into why and how — let’s look at what self care is.

Self care is something we do to take care of mind, emotions or physical health. While self care sounds simple, it isn’t easy for many people because life is busy and the easiest person to push to the back burner is yourself.

You’re taking care of everyone else but you are running on empty and about to burn out. Practicing self care is a must if you want to live a fulfilling life and stick around to help others for many years to come.

You should know that self care is not something we do that makes us feel bad. If you hate working out, if you force yourself to work out, that isn’t self care. That’s getting what you need to do done.

Self care is something that makes us feel good and replenished. Make sure you don’t get it twisted.

Why You Need a Plan

Life can get extremely busy. Almost every moment of the day is spent achieving and working harder so that we can do more, buy more or be more.

If you don’t have a self care plan in place, it’s very unlikely you’re going to do anything to refuel yourself.

I’m guilty of falling out of my self care routines from time to time but I don’t beat myself up about it. I notice where I fell off the path and I hop back on and get back at it.

As a mom of 4, it can be hard to focus on myself and make a plan for self care but here is what I do, personally, when I am taking care of myself. These are in no particular order.

Take a 30 minutes nap
Read a romance novel
Watch a Netflix show
Write in my journal
Go for a walk

There’s more but these are more normal go-to’s and make a major difference in my life. I have to remind myself that I’m allowed to relax and enjoy life. I’m a recovering workaholic and that’s not always the easiest thing to do.

Create a self care plan that works for your lifestyle. If you’re really busy, maybe you only have one or two days a week that you can devote an hour to yourself. Make it happen and don’t break that appointment with yourself.

Having a self care plan takes the guesswork out of what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it. One of the biggest stressors in our lives is trying to make decisions on everything. If you make the decisions beforehand, you’re saving yourself a lot of stress.

Love Yourself Enough to Do It

If you don’t love yourself, you’re going to find it very difficult to give yourself self care. You’re going to want to stop and you’re going to feel some guilt.

Take some time to look yourself in the eyes in the mirror and see what an amazing person you are. I don’t expect you to love yourself instantly but it’s a good start and if you keep working on it daily, you’re going to love the person you see in the mirror.

Best Practices for Creating Your Self Care Plan

Don’t just create your self care plan in your head. You need to write your plan down and put it where you can see it.

List the activities that you find appropriate for self care and then put any objections you can think of. Do you think that you don’t have enough time? Aren’t worthy? Or something else?

Put all of those limitations down and then look at them closer and see if those things are really true and how you can overcome them.

If you’re coming up a little dry on ideas, it is likely because it’s been so long since you’ve allowed yourself to have fun. Go back to when you were a child and think about the things you liked to do then.

You might not like all of these same things anymore but you could find some gems that you really did enjoy but you just stopped doing them over the years.

Did you love to dance? Maybe you used to read books and you haven’t picked up a good one for a while.

Think of as many things as you can and at least explore these things and commit to yourself and your self care plan.

Putting Your Self Care Plan In Practice

It’s not always easy to practice your self care plan. Life will try to get in the way. Guilt will try to come and take over.

You’ve got to let those things go and take it one step at a time. The more you practice self care, the easier it is going to be for you to breathe and enjoy yourself while you’re doing it. So, if it feels a little weird at first, that’s okay.

Just keep going and learn what a good self care routine looks like to you.

What are some of your favorite ways to practice self care? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know. 🙂

How to Live on a Budget Without Being Miserable

Jessica Lauren Vine

Wondering how to live on a budget without being miserable?

The average American is living in $38,000 worth of debt and that is excluding their mortgage. Most people are paying enough money on debt that they could be paying a second mortgage. And many people are also paying a second mortgage.

That’s a lot of debt!

If you’re tired of being in debt and you want to learn how to live on a budget without being miserable, you’re in the right place. I used to think that being on a budget meant you couldn’t buy anything or do anything and I didn’t want to have anything to do with that.

Maybe you’ve thought the same thing.

Continue reading this article to learn more about budgeting and how to live on a tight budget without feeling bored or deprived.

Contents

Stop Trying to Keep Up With Other People

The kiss of death to any budget is trying to keep up with other people. You might see a friend or family member going on a vacation to an exotic island or another appealing place.

It’s easy to try to justify spending money that isn’t within your budget to go on a trip to keep up with them and feel better about yourself.

You never know how much money they spent vs how much debt they went into to go on the trip.

Instead of putting yourself in a tough spot by going on a vacation you can’t afford, save money and pay cash for the vacation and learn how to live on a budget.

Don’t Forget to Budget for Fun

Why would you keep working and working if you never got to have any fun? Neither you nor your family is going to stay on a budget if there isn’t fun involved.

You don’t have to do things that are super expensive to have fun. You can go bowling or go to a discount movie and you aren’t going to break the bank. Just make sure that you have it in your budget to do these things. You don’t want to go into debt to do activities.

If you don’t have the money in your budget to do it — don’t do it.

It’s worth it to get a side hustle and do a little more work to pay for the fun you want to have.

Do a Cut Your Expenses Challenge

When you give yourself a challenge and only make it for a month or even a week, you might be surprised at what you can live without.

Some of the things that you might not notice that are eating away at your budget are:

Sodas
Snacks
Coffee
Alcohol
Cigarettes
Gum
Dollar store and thrift store finds

While these things might not cost too much, if you’re not tracking what you’re spending very carefully, it is easy for your budget to get away from you.

I use a spending tracker app on my iPhone and there are similar apps for other devices. I know exactly what I am going to spend each month and I stick to it. I even overestimate on categories that might fluctuate a little bit.

You can also create a miscellaneous part to your budget so you don’t have to dip into savings if something not so awesome happens.

If we don’t spend our miscellaneous budget, we put it in savings to go toward something that we want to do or something that we want to buy.

When you get to the end of the month and you’ve seen everything that you didn’t buy that you normally would, you might have a couple of hundred bucks. Put it in savings or even put it toward next month’s fun activities budget to reward yourself for being disciplined and not wasting your money on short-lived pleasures.

If you’re tired of being broke, this is a great step in the right direction.

Learn to Love Cooking

I have to say that we’ve never been a family that goes out to nice restaurants to eat much at all. But we’ve been guilty of stopping at fast-food spots and eating off the dollar menu. After drinks and everything, you’re looking at 20 – 25 bucks depending on where you’re going.

While it’s like – ah, it’s the dollar menu — good job, you! It’s also like, hmm… that just blew our budget out of the water. lol

Now our food budget is where we can spend a certain amount of money per month but we also have one time of going out to eat a nicer place than Taco Bell or McDonald’s. Maybe Zaxby’s? 🙂

Cooking saves you so much money. Eating takes a lot of cash whether you’re eating in or out when you’re a family of 6 but cooking makes all the difference.

My hubs went to school and became a certified chef so I am freaking spoiled. hahaha But you don’t have to do that. I cook alongside him even though I’m not as great as he is.

Be Proud of Your Budget

Before I started budgeting, I used to feel terrible when I couldn’t go to places and do things when people asked me. Now, I just know whether it’s in the budget or not.

If it’s in the budget then I go and if it’s not, I just say — ah darn, not in the budget this month. I appreciate the invite though!

There’s nothing to be ashamed of when you’re in control of your financial life and you learn how to live on a budget.

After our truck and RV upgrade, our next goal is to get out of debt and save money so we don’t have consumer debt. Debt for a business is a whole other story and maybe one day we’ll do that but consumer debt — gag!

How to Live on a Budget With Joy — Now You Know!

Our home is usually a pretty joyful place and I don’t feel like we are missing out on things because we’re on a budget. I feel the best I’ve ever felt even though I tell myself no many times when I want to make impulse purchases and spend money I don’t have.

Now that you know how to live on a budget with joy vs living on a budget and being miserable, you can get started. It took me a long time to get to where I am now and if it takes you a while — no worries. One step at a time. 🙂

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