How is it already 2019?!? I know people say this every new year but I feel like last year flew by. I had a lot of personal and professional changes in 2018 and I’m happy to say it was a fun and exciting year all around. I'm seriously freakin' pumped for 2019 and I can't wait for everything I've been planning.

A quick recap of 2018…

The beginning of last year was a whirlwind of weddings for me. I went to five weddings within four months, all of which we had to fly out of state to attend and three of which I was actually in the bridal party. They were all so much fun but it was a bit of a hectic start to the year. I felt like I was constantly struggling to stay on top of my work at my full-time job, and my side hustles, and trying to take care of myself at the same time.

The summer was thankfully slower for us. I got a promotion in May which came with a lot of extra work and some travel so that plus my side hustle kept me busy for most of the summer. We just focused on hanging out in NYC and enjoying all of the activities and fun that comes with summer in the city because we knew we were leaving in September. I mentioned this in my post about taking my side hustle full-time but basically, at the end of 2017, we decided that I would leave my full-time job and become self-employed. For us, that meant leaving NYC in order to decrease our living expenses while I built my income.

September was a huge month for us. I officially left my full-time job, we packed up all of our belongings into a rented SUV (including the dog), and we hit the road! We stayed at our parents’ houses in Florida for the rest of the year while we shopped for, bought, and started renovating an RV. That’s right people, Hustle & Flo is going mobile! We decided that while we did want to decrease our cost of living (in case you didn’t know NYC just a bit pricey), we weren’t quite ready to settle down. We considered moving to a different lower cost city but in the end, we decided we wanted to explore the country for a few years, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do! You can follow along on our travel journey at carpedinos.com.

Looking ahead at 2019…

We’ve finally arrived in 2019 and this year is shaping up to be just as exciting as the last. We are continuing renovations on our RV before we hit the road in March. From there, we’ll travel while working remotely for the next couple of years. I can’t wait for both the adventure of traveling and the adventure of running my own business. I’ve been thinking ahead about how I can grow my income and expand my business to better serve side hustlers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners.That includes developing some standardized packages, as well as continuing to offer custom packages for my digital and social media marketing services. I’m developing a new launch funnel for my online course, Straightforward and Simple Marketing for Small Business Owners. And I’m offering a new service geared towards small businesses that need a beautifully functioning website with just a few pages (think local brick and mortar businesses like restaurants, nail salons, etc).

I also decided to try making a Word of the Year in addition to my normal goals and intentions I set every new year. My Word of the Year is mindful. I am trying to be more mindful in my business by creating new products and services for my target audience. I want to grow my business in a way that works best for me rather than just focusing on scaling as fast as possible. Mindful also means thinking more carefully about what I eat, how I support myself through meditation and yoga (and all other things Woo), and being more mindful about my sustainability and decreasing my carbon footprint.I am so pumped about 2019 and all of the changes and adventures it holds.

What are you most excited for in 2019?