“Two Hundred Sixty-Two Thousand Eight Hundred Minutes”

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear.
five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.
How do you measure, Measure a year?
(“Seasons of Love” from RENT)

WOW! Off the Record – A Lifestyle Blog is 6 MONTHS OLD TODAY! It’s been alive 252,800 minutes! No April Fools joke here. I birthed this baby on October 1, 2020, with my very first blog post. I began working on this baby just a month prior, planning, learning, stressing lol. With each passing day, week, and month, I feel I have gotten better at this blog writing thing, this website managing thing, and this social media engagement thing. I learned A LOT over the past 6 months, I published 28 blog posts, and have been blessed with 50 loyal subscribers!

Maybe sharing my life off the record will help you dig into your passion, navigate your purpose, identify what brings you joy outside of your day job – whatever that may be, and push you to be your unapologetic self daily. Or maybe it will just bring you a good chuckle every other week. But I hope the main takeaways from this blog are you feel uplifted and supported, and in turn you will uplift and support someone else.

“Introducing Off the Record – A Lifestyle Blog” (My very first blog post!)

How I’m feeling right now, in no particular order:

• Surprised at how consistent I have been with my blog and social media posts
• Proud of myself for the endless times I forced myself to step out of my comfort zone
• Shocked at how much support I received thus far
• Excited for what will occur over the next 6 months
• Scared for what will occur over the next 6 months
• Ready for what will occur over the next 6 months
• Appreciative of all of the feedback, advice, and guidance I received thus far
• Grateful for God’s continuous covering and orchestration of my steps
• Challenged by my creativity and ideas on how to keep good content coming
• Loved.

I’ve resided in the same city for over 8 years. I’ve worked at the same place for over 5 years. I have lived in the same apartment for over 3 years. When I enjoy something, I am not going to change or leave that thing if I don’t have to. I know it has only been 6 months, but I cannot put into words how much I truly enjoy writing a new post every week, selecting a new photo to post on social media throughout the week, and engaging with others daily.

Some people may already know that I originally started this blog as another one of my side hustles (I’m the Queen of side hustles, but I have been better at focusing my attention on things that truly matter lately). Last year my mind went down the rabbit hole (for the hundredth time) of “how to make more money.” I wasn’t going to try to get a second “real” job that required me to clock-in and be somewhere at a specific time again. I tried that when I first became a public defender and that was no bueno! A public defender’s workday doesn’t always end at 5:00pm. I explored some online and work-from-home gigs, but those also required a specific minimum number of hours a week, which again I cannot always guarantee I will have the time or energy to outsource the same amount of work weekly. So what else was there?

Here comes my best friend Google (and God)! I stumbled across blogging as a business. Blogging is also something that has popped up over many people’s social media feeds in the pandemic; “start that podcast, sis!” “what are you waiting for? the time is now! how to start a blogging business.” It was natural to have those ads target us while we’re stuck at home with umpteen hours of free time on our hands. At first, I didn’t know if I should take on this project because, as stated above, I can never predict how much time/energy I will have after a workday or a workweek to do anything besides sip wine and sleep. But I devoted the 10 days I was visiting home in PA in September to getting this thing started! Maybe my characteristic of wanting to prove people wrong is what drove me to follow-through with it. I wanted to prove myself wrong!

I joined a Facebook group where a couple who made thousands of dollars A MONTH from just blogging (like this was their day job yall! like, what?!) provided a 5-day crash course on starting a blogging business. I took the course and it was extremely helpful. They showed us all the ropes — how to pick a hosting agent, select a website name, choose a niche, write a post, all of it! It took me longer than 5 days, but I told myself that on October 1st I was going to launch this thing and I kept “progress not perfection” at the forefront of my mind. Voila! My side business, Off the Record – A Lifestyle Blog, became a reality!

A business is usually defined as something that brings ya money. Guess how much money ya girl made over the past 6 months from this blogging business? … Yup, zilch! Nada! Zero dollars. But guess what else? (here comes the cheesy line) I was paid in moments, experiences, and opportunities that have been so VALUABLE and PRICELESS. I should add to my above list of feelings “amazed at how long I devoted to a side hustle that did not produce monetary benefits” lol. This is the first time I actually took the time to financially invest in myself and follow-through with something that brought me joy outside of work/school. Guess what else? TODAY I AM LAUNCHING MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! It is premiering tonight at 7pm. Check it out 🙂

The past 6 months have been so good to me and to my well-being. I hope that the past 6 months have also been good to you, and I hope that over the past 6 months you were able to read at least 1 post that you could relate to and left you either inspired or motivated. Thank you for being here!

How do you measure a year? Do you measure it by all that you have accomplished? By the times you failed? By the opportunities you missed? By the lessons you learned? By the dollars you made? By the laughs you had? By the names of the cool people you met? By the amount of tears you dropped? By the things you started? By the moments that made you step out of your comfort zone?

Happy 6 Months, Off the Record!

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” — 1 Timothy 6:10 NIV.

Moni Jay, Off the Record