I only started thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, while I was travelling over in South America. I finally had what I craved; peace, quiet and the anonymity of being a traveller. I was away from home, away from my friends and family and finally found time to think.
Sitting on buses travelling through, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and eventually all the way to Rio. I had the time. I had nothing else I needed to do apart from think.
Deciding my future didn’t happen in an instant it was a gradual process, that’s taken time and been evolving ever since I started Tough Girl Challenges. I can remember back to having the initial idea; the excitement and the fear.
What were people going to say? What would they think about me? What if I fail?
What if? What if? What if?
I was plagued by doubts.
I started writing blog pieces from May 2014, I started working on my brand from August. It took me another four months to put my website up and out there for everyone to see.
Ever since I’ve been adding to it, taking away, making changes, realising it’s ok to be me. Slowly but surely I started to add to the blog. I put my heart into my blog, and I kept thinking, this is it, with this next piece it would be the one to take Tough Girl Challenges viral!
Since March 2014, I’ve been looking for a way to make a living from what I do. I’ve written and published three books, I give motivational talks, I’ve started a podcast which is listened to in over 152 countries around the world. I’ve been nominated for awards and reached the final for the Audience Appreciation Award and the Influencer Award for New Media Europe. I was highly commended in the UK Blog Awards in 2016. I was semi- finalist in the Panache Modelled by Role Models. I was a regular panelist for a local TV station. In April 2016 I headed off to run the Marathon des Sables and in late August I ran Hadrian’s Wall.
I love what I do. I’ve done it for over two years, making a loss every month as I put out the podcast and free content.
I knew it would be hard, I knew it would be difficult and I was prepared for that. I was ready for those challenges.
I know I’m making progress and I’m growing, but its not happening quickly enough and there’s no date of when or if, Tough Girl Challenges will be financially successful and will be able to provide me with a living.
To all intents and purposes I’m doing everything right.
I’m putting out good quality content every week, I’m promoting on social media channels. I’m consistent, I’m on brand. I know my mission. I have a plan which I’ve been executing. I’m doing all I can think of and more and it is working. All my numbers are growing each week. My podcast is in the top 17% of podcasts globally. I’ve had over 170,000 downloads, my Instagram, twitter, Facebook is growing. It's all growing. It's all going up. It's all going in the right direction.
I just don’t know how much longer I can give it?