Leisure Ladder Climber

I remember when I was pregnant with my daughter and told my partner I was interested in being a stay-at-home mom. He shut that idea down immediately. He wasn’t going to pay for me to stay home and “do nothing but raise the baby.” But I was not looking forward to having a daycare raise my child either so without his assistance in that regard I knew I’d have to set myself up to be the kind of hands-on parent that I wanted to be.

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I quit my day job not long into my new life as a mom and moved back in with my father as I figured out how I was going to do this. Not long after that, a job opened up for me that offered part-time hours. I was able to leave at 3pm each day and it was only Monday-Thursday so Fridays were a free day for me. This was perfect. I had income but my baby wasn’t away from me all day either.

The work-at-home mom seed had now been planted. I had to figure out a way to earn income without slaving away for long hours outside of my home. When I truly thought about what I wanted for myself in terms of my career, there were no titles that brought me joy. I was in marketing, but the title of Marketing Manager or VP of Marketing did nothing for me. So what did I want to do?

Deciding My Life Path

One thing that’s been a constant in my life is my love for creating content. I am a blogger by nature and love to share my stories and experiences with readers via these journal-type entries. Having an interested audience meant I could try out all my different interests and report on them here. I got joy from sharing and my readers were always happy to indulge me.

In 2018 I chose to finally lean into that. I quit what was my last corporate job, marketing manager for a fast-casual restaurant chain, and decided to try my hand at making a full-time living online. My daughter was 8 at the time and I was the only one physically present and truly always in her corner. I had managed up until this point to carve out jobs that would allow me free time to show up for every concert, swim meet, karate tournament or whatever else she needed me for. And I was ready to show up full-time for me.

But as anyone knows, working for yourself doesn’t equate to working less hours. In fact, I was now working much longer hours, I was just doing it at home. I found myself still isolated from my babygirl. She’d be in her room on her tablet while I slaved over the computer trying to make sure all our bills were paid.

For five long years I would go through the highs and lows of trying to carve out a full-time income online. There were some amazing wins but also some times when I had to once again move back in with my folks. Something had to give. That’s when I made the decision to leave Jamaica and pursue a nomadic lifestyle.

Leisure Ladder Climb

That still didn’t fix my problem because moving out the country doesn’t automatically fix your mindset and habits. But it did cause a bright light to shine on some issues that were clearly holding me back. Moving out the country was one of the best things I’ve done for myself because I can finally see a clear purpose for my life and I know I’m on the right path.

And now, I can finally say that content creation is starting to pay off big time. I am earning enough to live off of and I am continuing to grow so that my income also continues to grow.

Being able to do exactly what I want to do with my days has allowed me to ask myself, what on earth do I want to do with my days? And so I’ve been trying out new hobbies and activities and sharing all of that online. As people enjoy these stories, my platform grows and I’m inspiring others to live a little more of a wholesome life.

I almost can’t believe I’ve done it but I am earning income for living a fun, freeing and fulfilling life. It’s almost unfair. But I get to share that with folks and I truly hope it inspires others to seek a little more fun and freedom in their own lives too.

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