
Jamila Souffrant 0:00
You're listening to the Journey to Launch podcast, A 2020 Year End Review and Lessons I Learned from This Year.
Intro 0:10
Welcome to the Journey to Launch podcast with your host Jamila Souffrant, as a money expert who walks her talk, she helps brave journeyers like you get out of debt, save, invest, and build real wealth. Join her on the Journey to Launch to financial freedom.
Jamila Souffrant 0:45
Hey journeyers, happy early New Year or happy new year depending on when you are listening to this. I am Wow. Like I'm so excited to be rounding out the year with you what a year it has been. Oh my goodness. And here we are. And so for this episode, I wanted to pull back the curtain and share with you some real numbers of what Journey to Launch as a business has been able to do this year. I'm super proud of how far I've come. And I want to share that with you guys in hopes that I can inspire you, whether you're a business owner or not just inspire you to go after whatever your dream is. And to basically show you just the real right behind the scenes of what is taking to run Journey to Launch. So I'm going to actually be sharing my numbers, how much Journey to Launch made this year, like the gross income, how much we spent this year as a business and then share some more insights lessons, I've learned things that I hope to do in 2021. And I'm wishing you that you also are reflecting and thinking about your year, right. It's been a tremendous one on many fronts, and so I'm happy to share the behind the scenes of my year with you.
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If you want the episode Show Notes for this episode, go to journeytolaunch.com or you can click the description of wherever you listen to this episode to get the full episode show notes. Now if you are a new listener to the podcast or OG journeyer I've created a jumpstart guide to help you on your journey to financial freedom. It includes the top episodes to listen to the stages to go through to reach financial freedom, resources to help you, and so much more. Get it for FREE by texting launch to 33777 text launch to 33777 or go to journeytolaunch.com/jumpstart to get your guide for free right now. Okay, let's hop into the episode.
Okay, okay journeyers Hey, hey, hey. Now I thought I would record a year end review of Journey to Launch the business and give an update on my own personal journey to financial independence. So if you are completely new to my work and to the podcast to give you just a quick background, I started Journey to Launch really the Chronicle my path to financial independence I thought that I would reach my financial independence number meaning I have what I considered enough saved and invested for myself and my family to be comfortable where I did not have to work in corporate America or actually work at all so we can literally live off of our investment and my husband's income because my husband still planned to work but with that it kind of involves you know me working still full time. I had a very well paying job was on the path you know climbing the corporate ladder and then find out about financial independence people retiring early quote unquote, and was intrigued and said, you know what I'm going to try and do that. Why not, you know, my husband and I, together, we had healthy incomes. And I've always been really ambitious. So I started journey slosh, to chronicle how I was going to reach that in seven years at the time, I was 33, when I kind of initially put that stake in the ground and made that my goal, because I wanted to do it by 40 years old. And then, you know, as I started doing Journey to Launch much more often and it quickly morphed into just like this thing I did on the side to share my journey to wait a second. This is actually something that is pretty powerful, that can change lives, changing my life, you know, I can lean into this and have this be a vehicle that also not that it just helps me reach financial independence, but it allows me to do something I love while making money. And yeah, if it replaces what I do full time, and I can now really enjoy what I'm doing, then this is like the path I should be on. So fast forward, after I started Jounrey to Launch, I started to set myself up so that I can quit my job. So in 2018, actually left my six figure job to do Journey to Launch full time, which was scary as hell, anybody who is an entrepreneur, or who is thinking about making this leap, it's definitely not an easy decision. Because you know, by that time, I had just had my daughter. So a mama three wife, we have a mortgage, we have responsibilities, things that need to be paid for. And my husband is a teacher, and he earns for you know, for a teacher, he earns good money. But I always say if it was the opposite way around, and like I was a teacher, and he worked in corporate America, that would have been more ideal because like I had the higher income trajectory, meaning I had potential to make a lot more money in my career. So walking away from that was a big deal. But we did decide, like we and I and I talked about this in a previous episode, I look in the link in the show notes. But how I prepare to quit my job. So it wasn't just like a last minute decision. When I found out that I was pregnant, when I knew that I wanted to journey to launch full time, we did make provisions we did save to be able to take this risk and to do this. So I'm giving you that whole background to bring you to where we are today.
So 2020 marks the second full time year that I've had in full time entrepreneurship. So I quit my job in 2018, after I gave birth to my daughter, like right after my maternity leave, which was in the fall of 2018. So I was entrepreneur full time. But you know, I was still kind of not a new mom, because that was my third baby. But you know, fairly, my baby was an infant. And so I consider like, full time entrepreneurship like this is my second year doing this, because 2019 was the first full year of entrepreneurship. And then 2020, which is this year was the second. And I want to share basically how this year went. And one of the reasons why I want to share it is because you know last year, I shared on my also on the podcast, I did like a year end review. And then I also like did a post on Twitter and Instagram. And a lot of people were inspired by it because I shared my actual numbers. And in that post in 2019, you know, I shared that Journey to Launch as a business, the business brought in about $81,000 in 2019. My expenses were about $55,000. And our profit was about $26,000. Now, I did not pay myself in 2019. So that was one of the things that we set ourselves up for when I took this leap is how could I build up the business without worrying about having to pay myself so we had to save up enough money to cover our expenses, our household expenses to do this. And so, and I talked about this in the episode, which I'll also link in the show notes. And in the post that I made that wow, like, you know, I know, the business made 81,000. But like Jamila did not write like it sounds like you know, if you're not an entrepreneur, you're not familiar, like when you see like, you know, someone selling a product or business saying that they earn six figures, really six figures is not a lot of money, if your whole business is on earning that because you you know there are going to be expenses, there's going to be taxes out of that you're lucky if depending on how the business is run and the type of business you're getting 20% of that, right if you're not setting yourself up, right. So when I had broke down the math in the previous post for my 2019 year end, I think it worked out to less than minimum wage, like all the hours that I put in that I came like that my net profit was so after expenses, after taxes, there was a little profit, but actually, you know, I did not pay myself with that. I kept it in the Journey to Launch account bank account because I knew I wanted to reinvest that. And you know, I share that people were like, thank you for sharing the real deal of entrepreneurship because you'll hear people be like, Oh, I earn six figures. And entrepreneurship is so great. And I'm like listen, it is great. The fact that I was able to do this, I'm doing this. It is a I wouldn't say a luxury because this is hard work, but I'm very fortunate to be in this position to be able to do this.
But to be real, making money, like it's a totally different game, when you are in business for yourself, when you are essentially selling yourself, right, like when I worked for a company, I could kind of just coast. I mean, I feel like I did a good job when I work that, you know, my company, but you know, really like, I don't have to put myself on the line to sell something, I don't have to be as vulnerable. Like, in a lot of ways. If you are working in a corporation, you do have to kind of make sure you're networking and it is a form of selling yourself and being vulnerable, but not the way it is when you have to sell a product. And you're asking people like face to face, hey, I have something I've made. Do you want it? And you literally can like see people just like No, I don't. There's nothing that brings you just more realness and clarity and rawness than being entrepreneur trying to like make money and sell something. So I shared that. And I was like, wow, like, you know, I appreciated that you guys appreciated the truth behind like, what that year was like, for me, and it was a great year 2019. I mean, I hit a million downloads that year, Journey to Launch started, you know, it started to even like do better in terms of downloads and recognition. And so it definitely was a great year, but I knew that 2020 like I had to step it up. Because if I had continuous years where my net profit was like $10,000, or I couldn't pay myself that I could not do Journey to Launch going forward. Because at the end of the day, I'm not financially independent, yet, we need this income, you know, while we saved up a lot of money, to help sustain ourselves, because my biggest thing was not feeling pressure to make money, you know, like not just doing whatever and taking whatever deals that come my way. I want it to be very selective and have integrity about how I run this business. So while that is true, and we have, we had a healthy runway, in order for me to really be selective with what I did, me not earning money or making money couldn't last forever. And it was such a mindset shift for me, you know, I went from both of us, my husband and I working and bringing in good income and being able to save so much money, we saved the 169,000 in two years two. And so we saw our our savings go up every month, right. And our investment accounts go up every month when we were both working. And then to switch to me an entrepreneur, like we had to pull from our savings every month, which was the plan. That was what it was for, because we knew that was gonna happen. But it was such a mindset shift like wow, this is actually depleting. And so and I knew that we had about two years to be able to do that without Journey to Launch making any money. But I knew that like, Listen, if you want this to last, if you want to be able to impact people the way you want to, then you have to step it up, or at least this needs to earn money. This is not a charity. This is not a nonprofit, you know, so 2020 was that year for me. And I knew that I wanted to earn money, you know, with my own products, and with brand partnerships and sponsorships. So the podcast and you know, speaking and all these things. So I had an idea of what I wanted to do, I already had some of those products in place. And so it was about executing. And one of the things that I said I was going to do at the end of the year, no matter what happened was I was going to share the numbers again, just like the cut forward because people like Okay, did you do well this year do Jamila?
And the answer is yes. So Journey to Launch did very well. This year, I'm super proud of it. Journey to launch made over $250,000 this year. Like it kind of sounds surreal to say that, and I want to be clear Journey to Launch made over $250,000 this year, that's like a quarter of a million dollars. Like that sounds insane to me. And the reason why I felt like I needed to share that part. And I'm going to go and break down the numbers and how I got there is because part of me almost felt more comfortable sharing the lower number in 2019. And there's probably some blocks around that right like cuz me sharing the lower number and then I barely made money is kind of like the underdog story. Right. Like, you know, here I am feeling like I'm doing this great work and I am but you know, I'm grinding it out. I'm doing it. You know, like, this is like the hustle and people relate to that. And sharing that I like made a little over $250,000 like over like a quarter million dollars this year as a business. It kind of feels like oh my gosh, you're not really the underdog anymore. And part of me related a lot to the underdog story. And it's so interesting how we, how we relate especially when it comes to money like you know, we said we want more and we want the abundance. But sometimes our identity is tied more into other things because we get celebrated like as the underdog, right. And I started thinking like this whole week, the last couple weeks as I was thinking about sharing this, how at certain points like even at like $25,000 of revenue as a business that's still like peanuts compared to even some other entrepreneurs in this space or, you know, in the personal finance space, right. But there's levels to it, it's way better than I did last year. And then probably what some people are doing and were able to do this year. But you know, relative to other people, that's it's still, you know, still a growing business, right. And I talked about this with Saundra, a couple episodes ago, where she was kind of coaching me, Saundra Davis through what 2020 look like for me. And like being, you know, proud of the moment and you know, basically, yes, this was a good year. And I was like, well, I can't just share like, not the bad year, but I can't just like share the lower number. And pretend like 2020 wasn't a good year for me, not that I was pretending. But I also have to show the outcome of the work the outcome of walking in your purpose, what that does, and it says something that I'm aware of. So here's the thing, too, as you look at your own life, and how you feel about money, how you earn money, how you feel about the money you earn, is too sometimes you don't always have the answer, but you can reflect on and see your blocks. And so I realized that for me, earning more money, while that is the goal, that's what I want to do. That's why I feel like it's inevitable based on the value I feel like I bring to the space, it still feels like kind of weird to say that I earn or Journey to Launch earned that much money. So I was like, you know, if I shared when it wasn't that great. Or when I was like on the come up, I need to share like this part too. Because hopefully in the same way that kind of inspired you when I shared the lower number in 2019 like this will inspire you as a you know, maybe potential entrepreneur, or some of you guys have just rooting for me from the sidelines. I know a lot of you guys listen, because you want you know, help with your finances, and you want to reach financial independence. And I think through my story you see yourselves you know, like you relate, I relate to you, you relate to me, we are on this journey together. And so some of you really just want to see me win. And so I was like, I need to share this because I do feel like this was like a big year, and a breakout year for me, and why I like I have to share both sides.
Now, when we were talking, Saundra was coaching me. I said, you know, yes, it's great. And I was feeling this. And this is why there's like always going to be something else I'm telling you journeyers is always gonna be something else. Because here it was last year saying, Oh, you know, I want to earn six figures, I want to earn more than six figures. So this year I did that. And now my concern or not concerned but you know, the thought is in my head, can I keep this up? Because like it's one thing like if you have a job that's paying you six figures and you kind of know your job is pretty stable, you can expect that you'll get that six figures going forward right like unless you know there is something crazy that happens. pandemic, recession, I know, a lot of people's jobs were impacted, right. But as a business owner, especially like for me, and I'm going to break down kind of like the sources of my income. It's kind of scary, because I'm like, Can I replicate this in 2021? Can I keep up this growth, just in terms of like percentage wise, from 2019 to 2020, the business earned 217% more 217% more. So that's over double, almost triple what it earned in 2019. The business and in the same regard, which this is pretty cool, which is why it was such a great year is because remember, it's not just about revenue, guys, revenues, what the business earned was, there's a lot of things that come off the top so Jamila Souffrant did not take home 200 and something $1,000 in my account, because it costs money to run a business you have expenses like your contractors, employees, I don't have any employees like full time I just have contractors, but you have taxes, you have just up just like systems like for me to run my email list is a couple $1,000 a year. You know, like when I have email lists, I send out emails for me to host podcasts or to host my membership, all that comes with fees, right. So you have all that right. But the cool thing about this year compared to last year is I kept my expenses pretty much around the same ballpark.
So in 2019, I spent about like $55,000 in expenses for the business and in 2020 to date. So this is like I'm recording this in early December, there may be some other things I expense because I you know, expensing it is good for your tax write off. And there's some things I need to buy I'm at maybe about $62,000 for the year, so only 13% more that I spent in 2019 than I did in 2020 which is pretty cool, because then my profit is pretty spectacular compared to 2019 so you know 2019 our profit was like $26,220 our profit is $195,000. Now that does not include my owners pay so what I paid myself and taxes. So you know, this is the interesting part because as you're running a business you're growing it you're thinking about Okay, how much more you I put back into the business? How much do I pay myself I'm pretty conservative. person. So you know, even though I started to make money this year, and here's the thing, okay, here's, I'm gonna pull up the stat, I'm looking at my fresh books, I use fresh books like to track my numbers. I just told you, I made like a quarter of a million dollars this year as a business. Let me tell you something in the first six months of my business, I was like seeing like, almost low couple $1,000 a month, in profit to negative things started to pick up for me actually, like the last six months of the year. But those first six months, like, I'll tell you, I'm looking at January, actually, it's I'll do a rolling amount. By the time I hit, let's say, like, may like a rolling from January for February, March, April, May, I had a profit of like, 3400. Like, there are months where I was like losing money, like I was, I had to spend more than came in, like, there were months where the entire income was like $1200 in the first couple months. And you know, what's crazy, I wasn't even that I was concerned. But I wasn't that concerned, because I knew that there were things in the works, that I had a plan. But like the first six months, like I'm looking at this chart here, they were like, oh, my goodness, like what is happening. But I kept the faith and kept grinding to get to the number that I am now.
But for me, you know, the biggest thing was okay, now that you are able to like have this income. Now what right like so when I started to now get the income, what do I invest back in. So there were times where I had to invest in like, I had to pay the people that were helping me. You know, I have a assistant/ Podcast Producer/ she does. She helps me with everything Johana. And I have Shaina. So I hired my sister, in the later half of the year, or later part of the year to help me with a bunch of projects she's doing like everything too. So you know, I have a podcast editor, Emily, like, all these people are helping me with the business, I couldn't like stop paying them, or just because Journey to Launch wasn't making money, right? Which is like the big purpose of also making sure like you're saving up for these things, if you're starting a business, you know, and for me, it was important to be able to pay people because I knew like, especially going back to the earlier days is that I couldn't spend all my time doing all the work that it takes to do this by myself, or I would never progress, I would never grow because I would never have energy, especially with a pandemic, and the kids being home for most of the time, like I had to consistently be able to pay people.
Okay, so I want to break down kind of like where the sources of income came from, I'm going to do in percentages, just because some of this also involves brand partnerships that, you know, I'm just not at liberty to say how much I'm earning from them. But I do want to give you percentages, and then talk about what I want to do in 2021, what my goals are in terms of changing up these percentages. So fun, the total amount that you know, I earned or Journey to Launch earned products. So my products, I would consider these other things I directly sell to you, right you listening I my goal is to make a service or product that helps you that you want to buy directly from me. And so with that, that accounted for about 18% of my income. So I have the FI course that's a Journey to FI course, where I help you map out your journey to financial independence. I launched that as a separate products later that like in the later half of this year. I have the Money Launch Club. That's a membership community that's like for ongoing support, tools and help. And then I did have a high ticket group coaching program that I ran at the way beginning of the year, I don't do that anymore. My ongoing two products are the FI course and Money Launch Club. But with the group coaching included, that sector of my business gave me about 18% of my income, which is pretty good. Now, most of the other things that I'm kind of composed it were things like speaking and writing. So it wasn't a big part of what I earned this year. But it was about 4% speaking and writing podcast. So it's kind of hard to break out just podcasts on sponsorship. Because sometimes some of my deals or the capital of collaborations I do aren't like includes podcast sponsorship, but just for some strict podcast sponsorship, it came out to about 4% sponsorship and brand collaborations that actually came out to 31%. So these are where, you know, brands hire me to or partner with me to spread their message for me to promote something that they're doing or a campaign on my platform. So whether that's through the podcast or through social media, and I did get my biggest partnership that I absolutely love, which was DCU is DCU. You know, they've been partnering and sponsoring the podcast, I've been writing articles for them. So that was pretty amazing. And then my affiliate income has been 42% for the year. So the affiliate income the biggest part of that was the collaboration with Teri of Trade and Travel. And so all that together, made 100% of the quarter of a million dollars that Journey to Launch brought in for this year, which is pretty amazing, you know. And what's interesting is, while I am so appreciative of like the higher so the the ones that brought in the most money, the affiliate partnerships, and the sponsorship and brand collabs. I mean, that was like, almost 75% 74% of the business this year. I, I love it, you know, but I actually want to increase the percentage of income that my direct products bring in, that is like, my main goal going forward over the next couple years, because while I love partnerships, like you know, working with Teri, and while I love working with brands and partners, that to me is an I don't have much control over those partnerships, meaning these brands are these companies, they can have changes in budget, they can have a change in direction, Teri might say, hey, I want to like go travel the world and not doing this course anymore, right like, and that would drastically impact my income, right. So my main goal is from these these sources of income, to really pour back into my business to create more income from my own product streams, because I have more control over that. Now the thing about that is it takes more time to build up that source of income. So I have more control over because it's my course I have like quality control and control over the curriculum and, and the way I deliver it, which is great. But in my opinion, so far, it's been not harder, but it takes more work to build that up. And so the other money that's like, you know, you know, bigger streams of income, it's not actually it's, you know, some of them can be a lot of work depending on what the project is. But it's not as long of a setup as what I'm trying to do now with my own product. So growing the FI course enrollment, growing the Money Launch Club, all those things. So I thought I would share with you and break down the percentages of just the income that I brought in.
And then I also want to go to expenses, because that would be just interesting to share, like, where the expenses side of things come into play. And last year, I spent a lot of money on training, and education. And you know, I am big on making sure like you're investing in yourself. So I like to walk the walk, like I'm telling you to do in terms of investing in yourself. So in 2019, I bought into some coaching programs I invested in myself. But for 2020 I knew I wanted to execute. So I have all these things at my disposal. Now you know all these amazing resources that I invested in last year. But I knew that if I just kept buying courses, and I didn't execute them, then it would be pointless. So I did not spend as much money this year on education at all my highest expenses were contractors. And I feel really good about that. Like my goal would be to hire people full time eventually. But even though I don't have anyone full time right now, like my team, first of all, they're amazing. They are absolutely amazing. And it's not really like it's not often that you find contractors, right people who are not working for you full time who have other clients that care about like your work. And I feel like I've fostered, we fostered such a good team so far with everyone that works with me. And so I feel proud that like this is,This is consistent income that I can guarantee my contractors who are on board with me. So I talked about hiring Shaina a bit as a contractor later this year, and she came over and she like she took over a couple other roles that other people were doing that just kind of moved on. You know, I had Jill Jill was my community manager in the Money Launch Club. She's moving on and Shaina came in and took some most of that responsibility from Jill, I had Acquania, who was working on my show notes for the podcast, Shaina is also doing that now. Even social media marketing, like Shaina has more on that. And I have like a million other things that I need Shaina it to. And like then Johana helps him a lot of the operational side of things with a podcast she helps me with. So like I have a team that's like working really hard to help support your launch and grow it. And so I feel like it's my duty to be able to consistently pay them. Because maybe that's not their full source of income, but they're, you know, they have families, they have goals, they have things they want to do. And so I want to help support them in that. And so I feel pretty good that I was able even in the beginning months when like Journey to Launch was like losing money, I was still able to pay my contractors and my people. And my goal, hopefully in the future is actually hire some people maybe, you know, people on my team already, like into full time positions as we grow. So contractors were a big part of my expenses. And then everything else was the you know, other expenses it takes to run the business, all the things that you know, you maybe not like you wouldn't notice if you're not an online entrepreneur, but things like paying for the network that the Money Launch Club is on paying for the network or the platform that the journey to FI courses on those are 1000s of dollars like a year paying for the email list, you know, and as the email list grows, the cost to host that grows. Right so there are a bunch of expenses that come along. with it. And again, everything else, you know, wasn't much traveling. So I did play around with Facebook ads this year. So if you've seen me stalking you on Instagram or Facebook, you can thank Glynda she's been helping me with my Facebook ads. So I was I've been playing around with that towards the later half of the year. But yeah, so my expenses were pretty reasonable compared to what my income for the business was. So because of that I was able to pay myself. So starting on in the summertime, I said to myself, okay, when I knew that contracts, were coming in, the things were kind of looking up for the business, I said, Okay, Jamila, this time you start paying yourself because one, you're not going to pay yourself, you just, you won't be as not excited or motivated. But at some point, you also need to start seeing a payoff in what you're doing. Especially because I was doing Journey to Launch, so long, right. And so I talked about the psychology of seeing my savings account, dwindle every month, because we were pulling from it to pay for things or to pay for our expenses. And I knew that if I couldn't see a correlation between what I was doing and Journy to Launch and me earning money, because I deserved to earn money, then the fuel the fire, the fire within me would would start to dwindle, right. Like you do need like some sort of return and satisfaction and return on your output. And also feel like it's really important for me to walk in my truth in terms of how is it that I'm telling you guys listening to me that you should earn money, you should go demand your worth, and give your best and find ways to earn more and be abundant. When I'm not doing that for myself? Like how could you trust me as as a leader, right? Like how could you I just feel like it's so it's not congruent to the message that Journey to Launch is about. And so I was like, you have to start paying yourself, and you have to start paying yourself well,
especially now that you know, now that you see that things are coming through that you know, you're on track now. But to hit a certain amount, like you have to start paying yourself. So one of the biggest things I did do was start paying myself in the summer, and I even gave myself a raise. So because I'm so conservative, I said to myself, okay, let me start with a little amount. And then I said Jamila, you can pay yourself a little bit more. And my biggest thing was whatever I was paying myself like it had to be consistent. And it had to be some money in the bank like to pay me going forward. So I couldn't pay myself like $3000 month and have zero next month, wanted to make sure that I could smooth out my payments to myself. So that was really big for me, I'm in terms of like being able to pay myself this year. So not only like paying my people to make sure that they were good. But like Jamila if you're not good, then this whole thing breaks down. If you can't sustain this business, and you can't pay anyone, if you can't sustain this business, then there is no podcast that what happened to the journeyers, right. So it became about me, right earning money. But I knew that then if I could earn more and be happy and earning more than I could then pour more into my community into you guys.
Okay, so I want to talk about the business itself now. So 2020, you heard the numbers, a great year, I was able to pay myself, which is great, but I want to talk about more. So the business itself, and some of the things that we were able to accomplish as a community. You guys are amazing. I mean, I could not have done this without you guys in terms of the support and sharing the podcast and sharing the content. So let's just go over some amazing wins this year. So yes, we hit a quarter of a million in revenue for the business. I won the Plutus Awards for Best Personal Finance podcast. So plutus they basically honor the top content producers in the personal finance space. And so that's whether that's from video content, the podcasts, blogs, and so this year, I won Best Personal Finance podcast was which was pretty amazing, because I literally remember coming into the space three years ago after starting the podcast, and being nominated as best new personal finance podcast, and being in the category with like podcasts or seeing like the other categories of people that I used to like listen to and read before I started Journey to Launch. And so to be at the stage now where like you know, I'm winning on word like this, and there's so many amazing people in the space doing amazing things as an honor the podcast also hit 2 million downloads. So we're over 2 million downloads now. But yeah, we hit a major milestone over 2 million downloads. super proud. This is an independent podcast so really like it's just me. And this mic I know sometimes my sound is janky in general, Emily, my editor she does amazing but I'm talking about the way I record like I literally right now and in my room in the dark because it's getting dark and I don't feel like getting up and turning on the light. Or I'm in my kitchen. This is really like getting it out the mud like this podcast in terms of just like scrappy, the scrappiness that I created this podcast with the tools that I use for this podcast. And so to hit 2 million downloads without like a major network, and major backing is amazing, super proud of that. And again, most of that is you guys. So word of mouth is the best way to this podcast grows. And so that's from you sharing it with your family and friends, you sharing it on social media, whatever, like that is the best way that this podcast can grow and it may take a little longer when it grows that way. But that means is sustainable growth because the people that journeyers that are joining me right now you listening like you're in it, you're in it because like you get it, it's not like, you know, I'm just here just for like, for a quick win, you know, like you're invested in a journey or invested in yourself because you're listening to the podcast because a friend recommended it, because you're not following me or maybe on my newsletter. So amazing.
Oh, featured on the apple homepage. So the apple podcast homepage, you know, this podcast was featured two or three times on that, meaning when you go to your purple app on your iPhone, you would see like Journey to Launch, which was amazing, because again, as an independent podcaster when you go to Apple podcasts a lot is the people that are mostly featured are from big networks, because they have the reach, they have the money, they just have the platform to be featured and things like that. So for Journey to Launch be featured was amazing. on Apple podcast homepage.
Like I said, I'm super excited that I'm able to pay my contractors and especially my little sister so Shaina, you know, she is a creative, she's a dancer. She studied dancing in college, but she's super technologically smart. You know, I'm not so not just like dancing like and creative in that way. But she's also like, into like technology. And she has so many big dreams, right. And so for like a lot of creators and dancers and people in that space. And shes into fitness. So she teaches a lot of fitness classes was she was impacted a lot this year, by everything that happened with the pandemic. So I just feel like super honored to be able to have her on my team. Now hopefully she stays forever, even though I know she has her own goals to help her. You know, like while she's helping me help her feels really good. So I'm really excited about that.
Also, I took new brand pictures. So if you saw the amazing pictures that I've kind of been sharing for the past couple months, I spent some time in the fall and September taking pictures, and they came out so great. Let me just give a shout out to the photograph team and like the team that helped put that together. So I will share in the show notes. Kind of like the reels I created an Instagram about it. But I had also style by Elsa helped me with my outfits which I would not have picked on my own. I had Taylor or mamaphotog on the picture. She was amazing. I had Tara Lauren as my makeup artist again, I'll tag all these people in the episode show notes or the reel that I share. And then Shaina. I had Shaina as my assistant that day and my movement director. So the pictures were a big deal. Because the last time I took pictures, my hair was longer. So you know, here's the thing, I have short hair. Now, I think I'm planning to keep my short hair for a long time, because I just it's less work. But the older pictures that everyone saw me before were like years ago, it was like, you know, I took them when my middle child Luke was like a baby. And so I was like, Okay, it's time for updated pictures. But I was kept putting it off, kept putting it off. And what happened was, I decided that I finally needed a new website. And as I went down the road of getting a new website, it came very clear that if you're going to do a website, you need new pictures. So what started out as me just needing a website and just trying to do that turned into Oh, no, no, you need a whole new project of getting like new pictures to go with this website and to go to get updated social media presence. And so I did that. And that was like, actually one of like, my major accomplishments this year was just doing that, because it turned out to be a bigger production than I thought. But it was worth every penny. And I'm so glad that I was able to get that done. And you know, it's crazy, because technically, you probably should be taking pictures like at least once a year. So I'm like, Oh my gosh, I have to do this again next year, but we'll see.
Okay, also with the new website, so I'm hoping by the time this airs, I have a new website, I'm not sure. But I'm working with an amazing website designer Shirley T and she's really really good things always take longer than they need to or just because it's just with technology, website design, but I think we're getting there but I'm not sure that it'll be out. So just keep checking back the journeytolaunch.com is getting a facelift and it may have one already by the time you are listening to this. Another like great thing that happened or is happening this year is the magic of affiliate sales. So partnering with Teri was a total blessing for me and the business but also for journeyers that decided to basically take her course. So I knew of Teri on the internet right. Like, I knew her. Like from being in the personal finance space. I knew she had a course. And when I finally said, Okay, I'm going to interview her, I had no clue that it would turn into the relationship it is now I just thought, okay, she has a really cool story. And oh, yeah, this is course she has, but okay, whatever. But when I interviewed Teri on the first episode of the podcast, and again, I will link that in the show notes, the first episode. It was like probably one of those episodes that I got, like the most immediate feedback from like, Wait a second,
who is this lady? Jamila, what is her course about? Because she, you know, she Tero talked about being able to quit her job and learn to trade and travel the world. And so when she talked about that, and if you heard her episode, if you've been listening to this for a while, and then you may have heard her on the podcast already. But you, when you hear her talk, you're like, oh, my goodness, like, there's just something about her right. And so when I spoke to her even afterwards, and even after the interview aired, I had this thought, and here's what I want you to also pick up for your own lives is that the thought I have about to invite Teri to be like an affiliate or to be a mutual partner in like, the affiliate program that she has. It was like a fleeting thought. What happened was a few people like either emailed me or in my DMS asking me about Teri's program. And I was like, Well, I don't know, you know, like Teri needs to answer these questions. And so I remember writing Teri and saying, hey, Teri,
I'm getting so many questions about what you do. Do you mind us do like doing a joint webinar together for your program? And by the way, if you want to listen to Terry's original episode, that was Episode 154. So that's the first episode she was on. So I thought that episode, you know, I just had a thought, you know, maybe I should just like, ask her if we should do something together to inform my audience, on what her program was about, like, who it's good for, and all these things. So Teri, and I, we set up that webinar/ class to educate my audience and I, at the time, I had no idea the outcome would be what it was. So we set up that class, I think that happened in July, the first class we did together, and so many of my audience bought Teri's course. And of those people that bought, like, I'm telling you, like people like my sister, so Shaina actually bought the course. My best friend in real life, like Shaleia bought the course, like I had so many people that actually knew, by the course, even one of my friends, she didn't tell me at the time, she told me months later, like, Hey, I actually bought Teri's course, too. And I didn't realize how much of this was a tool that people wanted in my audience. And that's the thing with affiliates, right? So sometimes you can, you know, you can affiliate for a lot of different things. It can be like a, like a product. Me, I'm affiliate for YNAB, which is a budgeting app, right? So like, basically, if you sign up with my link, for YNAB, I get a couple dollars, right? And so you could do that with different services, which is great. I mean, think about when you recommend, you know, you get those emails like oh, refer a friend, you get $5. Like, if it's something you love, and they love to not only do they get $5 off, you get $5. Right. So that's kind of what affiliate is. But you have to, for me, I want to be really careful about who I partner with who I introduce my audience to, and especially with something like trading, right, because trading is not something that I am well versed in, in terms of the way Teri does it. And so, if I'm going to introduce my audience, to someone, especially because my audience, you guys, you you trust me, you like me, so if I'm vouching for someone saying, hey, this person look at you know, their course, is something you should look into, I need to make sure that this person is going to treat you the way I would treat you is gonna like deliver you amazing, amazing results and do the best of their ability to teach you what it is that you paid for. And so that's why I like before, I really haven't done course affiliates. Right. So what Teri though, it was just like a thought that came up. But I wanted I said let me follow my gut to explore this. And following it just I mean, it was true, because not only was it just like the success of the partnership, but it was a success from the students from journeyers, who actually took her course. Now I haven't taken her course yet. I hope so one day I will but I have not taken it yet. But I've had people who I'm very close with, hence sister, best friends, other friends, people who are in the Money Launch Club, people on my list, who have taken her course so after, you know, people who had enrolled in from that July class taken her course, and was just like, Oh my gosh, like this was me. This is everything I needed wanted, and more. And so I was really excited about the prospect of how I was able to connect you guys with someone that had an expertise in something I didn't but it could be helpful for you to reach your own goals, right? It's another way to reach your goals. And Teri says it herself. I say it constantly. This is not a quick, rich program like get rich program where you know, I'm only going to spend two minutes on the classwork and go trade. No, this is in depth training and support for you to be the best that you can be in this. And so if you want to hear again, the episode that Teri was originally on, it's Episode 154 was the original episode. And then I bought her actually back on Episode 172, where she did an update because she reached Financial Independence. And she talked about that and buying her home in cash. And then actually had a roundtable discussion, Episode 173. So actually brought on actual students who did her program. So one of them did include Shaina and Crystal and Shamessia. These are people who actually were going through her program and sharing the real results. So they weren't earning, you know, a million dollars, you know, in a day, but they were learning it and they were they were willing to come on the podcast and share their experience. So that was Episode 173. So I say all that to say is that because you know, working with Teri and expanding more into affiliate was a big part of my income this year. And, you know, the it's crazy because I thought of the idea and almost didn't even act upon it, you know how we all get these ideas or thoughts and we're just like, you let it pass and you know, something else happens. And sometimes, you know, we think the magic, like the big moments in our life where like there's gonna be fireworks.
But a lot of times, you know, they're not, it's not as obvious there's a little pulling, there's a thought there's a seed that is planted. And all you have to do is water the seed doesn't have to sprout right away. But fall, you know, what are the seed, follow the clues, follow your heart, your intuition, and then that's what then allows that that tree, that little bud to bloom. And that's how I felt about this whole idea or relationship with Teri because honestly, it almost didn't happen. And so I love being affiliate for Teri, if you want to check out Teri's course you can go to journeytolaunch.com/teri, we are probably going to do some more things in 2021. I want to even have some more creative ways to prep journeyers for taking her course if they're interested. So stay tuned for that if you want to learn more, but I just thought that that relationship, especially as a business person, because she does so well, not only in her personal finances, but as a business owner, that she's able to earn a lot of money, but also earn it with integrity is super inspiring. That whole experience was just amazing this year for me.
Also, most recently, I was featured on Good Morning, America. So GMA three. So it's the Good Morning America that comes on at 1pm. Eastern time, but it's still Good Morning America. Okay. And that was so cool. And again, like these things, it's crazy when you know when people work in certain areas or for like the people who worked at Good Morning America, when they reached out to me, they're so nonchalant. They're like, do you want to go do you want this segment, I'm like what, of course I want to do this segment. But it's like I love how the people who are like in a position to like almost change your life are so nonchalant about it, which is kind of pretty cool. And they were really nice. But I was able to do the Good Morning America, GMA three segment hosted by Amy Robach and TJ Holmes, and I talked about basically how to save for the holidays how to, you know, buy gifts in a way that can save you money and gift ideas. But what was really cool about it is that they were able to share the podcast, they were able to share a little bit of my story in the beginning. And the fact that the podcast hit 2 million downloads. So I thought it was a really nice way to include my personal story while giving the tips and think that's been my biggest kind of media hit, you know, so far. And what's even more special is the day that that aired, that actually was my stepfather's birthday, so he passed away last year. But you know, the segment got pushed back, it was supposed to happen a few weeks earlier. And they happen to then schedule it on his birthday. And I just thought it was like not a coincidence that it happened that way. So I just thought the whole experience was really, really cool. A couple other things about the business, you know, come on, like also survived the pandemic. So was able to still run journey's launch, during this pandemic, with the kids at home, which was not easy. Not easy at all. You know, luckily, I do have help. So my husband, you know, he's a teacher, but when things hit and he was home too that was obviously helpful. I do have my aunt who you know, helps with Blake the baby for the most part. And so like, you know, I had support, but it was still really emotionally and mentally hard. Because I still felt like I had all these deadlines and things I had to do. And then but also now I'm home and like my whole routine is kind of like messed up and the kids need my attention. And there's virtual learning and you know, not my kids are like, Why do I have to sit here and do this right. So it was a lot but kudos to you parents for doing that but in terms of the business to be able to still do all the things I did with the business was awesome.
Okay, and then just in terms of like saving, so the way I run the business side for Journey to Launch meaning, like how money comes in, I used to profit first system, I hope to have the author and I always say his name wrong. Mike Michalowicz, which Did I say that right? I use his system in terms of how to every dollar that comes in, there's a certain percentage that goes to taxes, and to owners pay into expenses and to profit. And so I've been doing that for the past year. And with that system, and being able to basically take the money that came in, I actually have enough money saved up because I'm super conservative, enough money for at least 10 to 12 months of owners pay. So I set myself up to where even for the next 10 to 12 months out, I can consistently pay myself the same amount of money, it's in a savings account. Same thing with my expenses for the business, we have about 11 to 12 months of expenses saved up for the business. And that feels really good. Because that means I can still run this with integrity. Meaning like, I don't have to take everything that comes in, I can say no, if I don't want to do something or rent a product or, or sell a certain thing, I don't have to because I haven't the money saved up. Now, of course, one of my kind of biggest things and I'll talk about my 2021 goals is figuring out how to sustain this growth like I don't, I shouldn't say that I'll take any blessings that come. But I'm not hung up on I need to earn a million dollars next year. That's not where I'm going. I want sustainable growth. And so for me, if that means earning the same amount, even if that means maybe earning less, and maybe because there's some lessons learned and things I did, but it even feels better, that's fine, too. I just want it to be sustainable, and I want to be happy doing it. Money is not a driving force. For me, obviously, there's a security factor, I want to be able to at least like you know, cover and contribute to you know, our expenses as a family and to do the things that I want to do. But now you know that I have like a healthy savings account that I could pay myself and I no longer have to pull from our savings account from our personal account, I can, you know, use the owner's account to pay myself that feels really good. And so I'm about trying to figure out, Okay, how to sustainably grow this business in a way that feels good and having the money saved up for the owners pay and for our operating expenses. And you know, making sure I'm saving for taxes, like a front feels really, really good.
Okay, so I want to move into like personal finances, it's gonna be really quick, this part, but I do want to share that I was able to max out my 2019 Roth IRA. So I did that in the beginning in 2020. My plan is to also max out my 2020 Roth IRA. So remember, like starting Journey to Launch, we were not really able to invest anymore, because all the money that we had coming in had to go to our expenses, when I took a break, that's what when I took a break and I no longer worked at my corporate job. So being able to finally invest again, you know, feel so good. So was able to max out those Roth IRAs. One of my goals, I have not done it yet. So you can call me on it, if I do not update you in 2021 is opened up my solo 401k and put a little bit of money into that. Again, I paid myself for the first time this year, even gave myself a raise. So once I started paying myself for like that first month, I was like wait, I can't afford to do a little more. And so that felt good. And then just like little things like that, for me still leads into personal finances. So I actually hired or we have someone to come in and clean the house every other week, which feels so good. It's like one less thing for me to worry about. I got way back into my health and fitness. So at the beginning of the year, I you know signed up for the gym, I was like back on my thing. And then the pandemic and it closed and so I was feeling really just like also out of it. And then I discovered running and I talked more about running on my personal Jamila Souffrant Instagram but and I honestly it's like cold so I have not wrapped my head around running in the cold. But running and like looking and getting back into my health has been really clutch for me. And even like the hiring like the housecleaning that comes in, like those things like are actually me investing money in myself investing time to myself. So even when I wasn't running, I found these amazing like areas to walk them that are not too far from me. These parks, the public parks that are beautiful, they have trails and hills and it just makes me feel like I'm not in the city. So doing more things like that, during like this year has really helped me because I found more of a balance than I did years before where it was just work, Journey to Launch and the kids. I'm you know making myself a priority. And by doing that, and even if that means investing and spending money, that's fine. Again, it's about how can I buy my time back so that I can show up as my best self here for Journey to Launch on the podcast, as a mom, as a wife. So I did a lot more than in 2020. I plan to do a lot more that in 2021.
Okay, let's talk about 2021. Like, what are my goals? What am I trying to do? Well, listen, as I said before, I don't need to continue the same growth that I had. No, the business in itself, like, almost increased, like 217%. In terms of business income, I don't necessarily expect or want to do that, again, if the good Lord says that, that's what's gonna happen, I'll take that too. But I really, really want to do it in a sustainable way. So it's more about how can I continue to earn money in a way that feels good, that serves my audience, that allows me to live the life I want to live. And so we talk about financial freedom and financial independence, how can I experience that freedom and those options while I'm on the path? So even as I haven't, you know, a business, not to put myself on a treadmill, again, like I quit my job to escape a treadmill of always having to work and not feeling happy. And while
there, you know, at the end of the day, you have to do you have to do things you don't want to do sometimes, right as you're running something and building something. But really, how do I do more of the things I want to do in 2021 make money in a way that feels good, that is effortless, right? That is one of my goals. And so part of that also is still leaning into more of my products and services. Because once again, I love the partnerships. And I love the affiliates, it's more about things that I have a bit more control over. And so I'm looking to hopefully grow that and help more people serve more people, the people that I had go through my journey to FI course that first round that I ran only. So previously, before the journey to FI course was included in the money launch club, I decided to separate it, because I realized that it was just too much for people to do at once. And I was also undervaluing what I was giving. And so the journey to FI course is now a standalone product or, or course that you can take. And the next time I open up doors will be in January. So if you want and open up doors, meaning the next time I enroll the next cohort where we do like coaching, and this essentially will help you map out how you get from point A to point z on your financial independence journey, the first round of students that went through that, oh my gosh, the feedback, the transformation, the impact that the course and our time together, that we had was amazing. And I'm just like, this is the kind of thing you need to grow and give more to people because I know there's lots of, you know, courses and products about budgeting and maybe even investing, learning the basics which which are important. But when you hear about the concept of financial independence, and you think about where you currently are, there is a system, there's a way there's a path that you have to think about to get there. But then how do you make it a flexible path? How do you make it one that you feel like, Oh, well, the concept of financial independence sounds great. But is that something I can actually do. And so this course allows you to see that, yes, you can but gives you the concrete tools, and information and support to help you map it out, like how much you need to save, how much you need to invest, what's the mindset you need, what things you need to change and habits that you need to do right now to get you to where you want to go. So I'm excited because more people need to know about this more people need to go through this program. And so it's something that I want to grow into as in 2021, I also want to help and serve more members through the Money Launch Club. So that's where you get more ongoing support. So if you like the podcast, so I do coaching calls, every month, there's a book club, there's a community, like a safe community where you can connect with other journeyers, that's the Money Launch Club. So I want to be able to grow and serve more people there. So if you want to get on the the enrollment list for the journey to FI course you can go to journeytolaunch.com/ficourse. And if you want to get on the waitlist for the money launch club, you can go to moneylaunchclub.com. Although journey to FI, that course is the best bet in terms of being able to get into money launch club, because that's what we're going to be opening first in January as a class with coaching sessions and all that. So look out for that.
I also want to hire more people and very well, maybe contractors, maybe someone full time. But while I love that my team is so like small, like everyone does everything. And that's what happens when you're like running a business from the bottom up. Like you just take on multiple hats, but I'm hoping to you know, have people with specific expertise possibly help in certain areas to help grow the business. So I'm looking forward to doing that. Again, I'm also looking to think about some physical products. I don't want to overextend myself, you know, I learned that you know, in the third and fourth quarter that my brain works like I have so many ideas and sometimes trying to pursue those ideas are just not smart because I'm stretching myself too thin. So I'm thinking through what a physical product could look like, you know, for those people who need more hands on approach to mapping out their goals, and merch, and that's the thing I was looking into too. It's like, Okay, what about some merch for people in terms of, you know, just want to show some brand affinity, you want to declare to the world, you're a journeyer. So that might be some things in 2021. It's not like one of my main priorities, but we are looking into it. Other things on my list is, I still want to write that book. You know, I talked about in earlier episodes that I always felt like a book was in my future, and I've had more confirmation than ever about that recently. And so I'm still leaning into that. And we'll see what happens, maybe something happens in 2021. Oh, my goodness, this is getting long.
Okay. So overall lessons that I hope you got from this, that you can hopefully apply to your journey and your life. One, you can have it all, but you just can't do it all. So me, doing all the things is not sustainable or healthy. And that's for anyone. And sometimes you feel like you're in the position where you need to do all the things. But if you can, and maybe will involve giving up income or spending more, which you should look at as an investment, like it's okay to hire people, whether that's in your business or in your household, you know, like a household, like a cleaner, or maybe a babysitter and help with your kids. But you have to let go, the idea that you have to do it all and it has to all be done your way. It's something I did this year, and it helped tremendously. So you can have it all, but you just can't do it all yourself. So get some help. The other lesson I learned was say no, and protect your space. I did a lot more of that. This year, I said no to a lot of things. And you know, I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes I felt like wait, should I have said no, I'm missing out on this opportunity. You know, hustling and saying yes to everything is what helped me get to where I am. But what got you here won't get you there. So you have to be very selective and careful, like there will be some seasons in your life where you will say yes to things that you normally wouldn't. But as you level up as you grow, you'll have to start saying no and protecting your space. And so I can imagine that in 2021, I'll be saying no, to a lot more things and people in maybe it'd be opportunities that at one time, I would have said yes to but for now, in order for me to grow, and really use my time wisely Say no more often. That's what I learned this year. The other thing was keep filling up your joy tank, whatever that means. And it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. But if you remember that you used to love to read like I used to love reading when I was younger, or you like bubble baths. So you like you know, exercising and running or walking, keep filling up your joy tank. Because if you don't do that, all your efforts will be in vain in terms of how you earn money, even how you spend money won't be in alignment, because you might be trying to just compensate for something, when really you need to get back to you like what makes you happy. So me filling up my little joy tank was really important, especially during this year and the pandemic. And so I encourage you to continue doing that. And if you're not make space, make a budget for it. And then also really not caring what people think of you. So that's gonna be my last kind of lesson this year, is that there are some things that I did even say no to people, right. I was like, Oh my gosh, I kind of think that I'm not a nice person or that I think I'm better than them. But I had to let that go. As long as I said it, you know, in a nice way and with integrity. If I turn someone down, then it's my prerogative, even with you know, some of the ways that I chose to earn money this year, affiliate partnerships, there were some people who like reached out to me and said, You know, I wouldn't do Teri affiliate partnership, because you know, people are gonna lose money. And what if you're responsible for that? And in my head, I'm like, wow, I'm, you know, I'm glad you're concerned. But I've done so much work to educate my audience, and stress. And even Teri, you know, about the right way to earn money in trading is and that it's about taking your time and doing making sure you're taking the precautions and letting go of the idea that someone out there thinks that I am not a good person, or that I'm doing the wrong thing of how I'm choosing to run my business, like what's something I had to do. Because as long as I know, my intention that I'm doing it with integrity is like what matters. So letting go of this idea that people are not going to like everything you do, letting go the idea that you need approval, even showing up on social media more even showing up on the podcast more like I'm doing. I did a little bit more solo episodes this year, I plan on doing a lot more, but just letting go of the fact that you know, you think people are just gonna criticize you, because most people and that's you listening, I believe, want to support you. And so letting go of the idea that you know, they're just looking for you to make a mistake, that they see what God sees in you what the universe what, what the stars are aligned, what you've been brought to this earth for. So I know that was pretty long. But I hope that you got something from my 2020 recap, I again cannot believe what a year 2020 has been. I know for some people, it's been a really tough year. I mean, it's been challenging for almost everybody. But I know more challenging for others, for some than others. So I want to continue to encourage you on this journey. And on this path, I am so happy that you are here with me. I can't wait to see what 2021 brings for you, brings for me, brings for this world. And whatever you do, just don't, don't give up. You keep on going.
Okay, Journeyers, I hope by sharing my numbers that helped you and whatever journey you are going through. Thank you. Thank you, once again, for sticking with me throughout 2020. You know, this is right before the New Year, depending on when you're listening to it, or really, maybe right after, but we are entering a new year, a new opportunity. And I for one, I'm excited about what's to come and couldn't have done any of this without you. So thank you for continuing to listen. Thank you for continuing to support and I hope that I can continue to pour into you to educate to inspire you on your journey to
Okay, now it's time for DCU's money Tip of the Week. This is where I share a helpful money tip that you can use to manage your money and reach your goals. This week's money tip is set a financial goal that you can measure is the perfect time to set a financial goal that you can achieve in the new year by making it measurable. So make your goals smart, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely, so that you can have more clarity on what it is you're trying to achieve and that you can measure your progress towards that goal. So for example, if you have a goal to pay off debt, get specific about that goal and make it smart, set how much you want to pay off and by when a non specific goal would be I want to just pay off debt. A more specific and SMART goal would be I want to pay off $2,000 worth of credit card debt by 12/31/2021. For more tools and information to help you on your money goals, check out dcu.org
If you want to check out the episode shownotes that's where you can get links to anything that's mentioned, and even get a transcribed version of this episode that you can read. Go to journeytolaunch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode. Now you can also still grab your FREE journeyer jumpstart guide by texting, launch to 33777 or go to journeytolaunch.com/jumpstart.
If you want to support me and the podcast and love the free content and information that you get here, here are four ways that you can support me in the show. One, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you listen, whether that's Apple podcasts, that purple app on your phone, your Android device, YouTube, Spotify, wherever it is that you happen to listen, just subscribe so you're not missing an episode. And if you're happening to listen to this and Apple podcasts, rate review and subscribe there. I appreciate and read every single review. Number two, follow me on my social media accounts. I'm at journey to launch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And I love love love interacting with journeyers there. Three, support and check out the sponsors of this show. If you hear something that interests you, sponsors are the main ways we keep the podcast lights on here. So show them some love for supporting your girl. Four and last but not least, share this episode this podcast with a friend or family member or co worker so that we can spread the message of journey to launch. Alright, that's it until next week, keep on journeying journeyers
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In this week’s solo episode, I’m sharing the behind the scenes numbers of how Journey To Launch did this year; income, expenses & profit. We increased our business gross revenue by 217% from 2019 and I want to share how I was able to accomplish that incredible growth. I’m also sharing the lessons learned from 2020 and my goals for 2021 I’m sharing these numbers so that I can be transparent about my journey as an entrepreneur to inspire you to go after your dream and make whatever excites you in your life happen.
2020 also marks two full years on my entrepreneurship journey and I am so proud of the milestones I am able to share with you today.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How much Journey to Launch made in 2020 and the profit breakdown
- Why I started Journey to Launch
- How I was able to quit my job in 2018
- How I can be selective and work from a place of integrity
- Wins and milestones Journey to Launch has accomplished this year and much much more…
Special thanks to DCU for sponsoring the episode! Learn more about DCU by clicking here.
Other related blog posts/links mentioned in this episode:
- On episode 61, I shared about quitting my job: Why & How I Quit My 6-Figure Job & How This Affects My Journey To Financial Independence
- On episode 132, I talked about my 2019 Year End Review & How Investing In Yourself is The Greatest Gift.
- On episode 185: Give Yourself More Credit & Honor the Journey; A Personal Coaching Conversation w/ Saundra Davis. It’s a unique episode because Saundra gave me a personalized coaching session and helped me clarify 2020 as a breakout year for the business.
- The next two episodes were with Teri Ijeoma of Trade and Travel and a roundtable discussion I had with her students and journeyers. Episode 154 was How Teri Ijeoma Quit Her Job to Begin Trading Full Time and Travel the World. Episode 172 was also with Teri on Reaching Financial Independence, Buying her Dream Home in Cash & Amassing a $2 Million Portfolio. Then, Episode 173 was the roundtable discussion with Shaina, Crystal, and Shamessia: Learning Swing Trading as a Side Hustle to Pay Off Debt, Save & Reach Your Money Goals (Real Experiences from Real Journeyers).
- Here is the Instagram post that I shared on Twitter about my 2019 Year End Review of gross revenue and expenses for my first year as an entrepreneur running Journey to Launch.
- Lastly, in this Instagram post I share the amazing team that I mentioned in the episode that helped me with my photoshoot in late August. I tag the photographer- Taylor, stylist- Elsa, makeup artist- Tara, and my assistant/ movement director- Shaina.
- If you missed enrollment join the waitlist for my FI course.
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- Check out the Journey To Launch Podcast index here which categorizes all of the Journey To Launch podcast episodes by subject. Now you can binge on your favorite topics or type of episode.
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