Bulletproof Way to Always Get Ahead in Life

by ajohnson | Jan 29, 2019 | Blog, Health, Life, Opinion

 

Yep, bulletproof ways to always get where you want in life.

Whether that’s getting in your life, or making a difference in the world, never settle with where you are right now.

Never become so comfortable in your space and life that you forget that things can change in a second. Always strive for more and be looking in your peripheral for what’s coming your way..

Now, I realize these may be bold statements to make, and maybe go against everything you’ve ever been told.

“Stay in your lane and focus on the tasks at hand. Don’t worry about what’s ahead, finish your tasks now and then do that after.”

Or something to that affect. And maybe it was only me they were talking to…?

I don’t recall exactly, but I do know that where I am in my head versus where those people are in real life are quite different. No one but you knows how and when to be satisfied. And if what you are seeing in front of you in life is different than what you are seeing in your dreams/imagination/headspace, then change it!

Only you can do that.

No one else can.

I can tell you that when I was at my lowest point, when I was donating plasma just to keep food on the table for my little girl, I was envisioning a day where we wouldn’t ever have to do that again – a day where we’d never have to worry where our next meal was going to come from.

When I was drowning in debt trying to make a better life for us and didn’t know if we’d make rent, I was keeping in sight the image of a better life. One that didn’t involve needing to worry about money or where it would come from. One where we could do and buy and go whatever and where ever we wanted.

I sold things out of our home that we didn’t need. I cut off services that weren’t critical to our survival. I worked extra jobs and found ways to increase our income so we could get out of the situation we were in.

Situations and hard times are only temporary as long as you see them that way. Today, more-so than any other time, the opportunities to get ahead and create a life you want are ENDLESS. It simply takes getting out of your comfort zone to make a difference.

I’m writing this blog at 6 am because the inspiration came, and I was up anyways. If I tried to store this for later, it would be gone out of my head. Personally, I’m more productive in the mornings than the afternoons. I do all of my research and important things in the morning because by 2 pm, I’m done working for the day, and switch (for the most part) fully into mom and wife mode.

Because I created that. I wanted to spend time doing homework with my girls and taking them to swim lessons or dance or whatever that ends up looking like down the road. Each and every day is a little different depending on when my husband is traveling or home, but I know that in order to keep the life I want and my vision alive (because I’m still not there yet and my vision has grown and developed into more) I have to do things when everyone else is still sleeping or at school/work.

I digress… back to the ways you can get out of and ahead in your situation.

There are so many ways for you to make additional income, if that’s what you are needing right now. Just yesterday, we found that you could make a pretty decent income by becoming a ‘charger or juicer’ for these new motorized scooters from Bird and Lime. Now, if you don’t live in or near a big city, this may not apply and you won’t have ANY idea what I’m talking about.

If you have technical or administrative skills, and have a computer, you could offer to support someone who owns a business virtually as tech support or a Virtual Assistant from the comfort of your own home.

If you are good with words, or love to share your own journey, you can write for a platform called Medium and receive payment for your words being read by other readers. Other sites that you can offer your services on are Fiverr and Upwork.

The opportunities are endless for you to get out of your situation. The question is, do you want to?

Listen, the economy is the economy and unfortunately, we live in one today that is as messed up as the wind on a spring day in Indiana – great one second and the next it’s ice cold. So do yourself a favor and don’t get so comfortable and believe that you would never get fired or you can change the outcome of your life next year. Do it now, while you can still get ahead, and before your dreams are dead.

What do you think? Good ideas or no? I’d love to know what you do to get ahead in your life.

 

xoxo,

AJ

We bought a house!

We bought a house!

by ajohnson | Jan 25, 2019 | Blog, Home

Or a Fixer…

Or something like that!

{I originally wrote this back in August 2018 and never pushed publish. So there are a few updates to add} 

On May 24th, 2018, we finally completed the American dream. We became homeowners after a 3 year journey!

You are probably expecting to see fully done amazing photos, but that’s not the case. We bought a 1976 house that was still stuck in the late 70s and could have been considered antique.

It took so long because my hubby is in an industry that is similar to Real Estate, so the market is always being watched. And I wanted a fixer and he wanted a move in ready home.

I should also add that at the start of the 3 year journey, we had just opened a local gym (neither one of us knew anything about the Gym space aside from working out in one ourselves) along with just having our baby and getting married. We did, however, find a house that we fell in love with and put an offer out, the week of our wedding, and it got declined. So 2 days before our wedding, our agent called back and said the seller was going to consider our offer because the original couple had to back out because of medical issues. So we had an up and down battle from the beginning. We go on our honeymoon excited and happy the hunt is over… Fast forward to December and closing and the bank says they won’t approve our loan……. talk about heartbroken. So we were kinda gun shy for a while and the gym was taking a TON of our funds until we decided to sell it in late 2017 allowing us to get back into the home buying game.

Anyways, we (mostly me) looked at several houses, and I’m a feelings and vibe kinda gal. And I LOVE looking at houses and the design, choices, and possibilities. So we had offers in on other homes, but they didn’t feel right or work out until this one.

(Also – if you need moral support while going through this process or just to vent and be sad about an unaccepted offer, I’m your girl.)

And our budget was as little as possible.

 

So, Mamma won! (Because happy wife, happy life, right?!)

Annnnnd because it sits on a 1 acre lot in the city and has a detached garage that Steve loved…

But also has horses for the neighbors, so it was a compromise for sure!

That’s one tip I have in this whole experience. Learning to compromise on what isn’t the most ideal, but not things that are absolutes for you. 

We knew we wanted a big lot and house, with a good price, and the additional garage was an added bonus. The horses were not ideal, but the neighbor is older, so they won’t live there forever either. 

The first few visits to the house, I thought I was in an episode of Fixer Upper – trying to bring an old house up to date. Or so I wished.

But the more we got into it and the vision and possibilities presented themselves, we knew we were going to be in a bit deeper. And longer.

Because lets be real, what you see on TV is SO FAR from the truth of how long the project actually takes. At first, it was fun and exciting. Then it was a lot. Now, it’s still a lot.

Now, 6 months later and still waiting on the permits it’s still a lot.. but we’ve made a bit of progress in areas that we wouldn’t have thought to do in the beginning and our floor plan is going to be incredible! 

But I don’t know that I’d recognize the same house if we didn’t document the journey. We’ve made 2 mortgage payments thus far, and will pay at least 2 more before we can even think about moving in.

We’ve made 7 payments thus far, and are still waiting on our building plans to be approved before we can start putting the place back together.. which could be at least 4-5 months.

And this was just the first weekend of demo!

It’s way different than from the beginning, but the vision and possibilities are becoming more of a reality, and I’ve learned so much in this part of the journey.

Huge changes right?! I will continue to update as the progress keeps going and we make decisions as to what we should do and companies we are going with so you can get ideas.

xoxo,

 

AJ