Music Mondays - Accidentally In Love
Accidentally In Love
On Friday’s podcast, I am talking to Philip Taylor who runs the blog PTmoney.com, but more importantly is the founder of the financial blogger conference, FinCon. When I reached out to PT a few months ago to be a guest on my show, I assumed that he would want to talk about creating a wildly conference from nothing, or leaving a CPA career to become an online entrepreneur or his experience after 8 years of financial blogging, but to my surprise, PT wanted to talk about real estate investing.As PT shared with me during our podcast interview, he became an accidental landlord after he purchased a new home and decided to keep his original home. After a few years of this, PT realized that real estate investing is something he enjoys and is getting better at with each tenant and situation he tackles.
It’s funny how we can accidentally fall in love with new careers, ventures, and ways to make money.
A few weeks back on my podcast, I interviewed my friend Jenn who planned on a career in a think tank solving problems in the Middle East, but accidentally fell in love with corporate finance after a temp job led to something more permanent. My hubby planned on a career in aerospace engineering working for Lockheed Martin, but then accidentally fell in love with teaching after tutoring people in physics during college.
My Accidental Love(s)
Blogging
For me, I accidentally fell in love with blogging and now podcasting. When I started blogging about 18 months ago, I mostly did it out of rebellion. You see, in my 13-year career in financial services, I was never allowed to have a public blog because of compliance concerns, so as a means of rebelling against those 13 years of silence, as soon as I left that world, I started the blog.Like most bloggers, I spent my first three months of blogging writing for a few family members and some of my close friends. (To this day, my mom still doesn’t read my blog.) After about three months of writing, though, and commenting on other sites, my blog community began to grow. By month four, the blog started to feel like my first job and financial planning was my side hustle despite the fact that I made no money from the blog.Eventually, though, the blog led to financial opportunities like writing for my friend DC at Young Adult Money, Money Saving Pro, and then AOL Jobs. Last year, my freelance writing, which came as a result of the blog, earned me over $10,000. The blog has also given me the opportunity to promote and sell my book, Train Your Way To Financial Fitness, and then it led to me attending FinCon where I decided to take on podcasting.
Podcasting
I am now four months into podcasting and I realize that I love it as much as blogging. Podcasting gives me the opportunity to chat with people whose stories I find fascinating and whose stories will hopefully inspire my listeners to fall accidentally in love with something. In addition, podcasting has led to new clients and relationships for me that have not only enhanced my life financially but emotionally as well.
Accidents are Good
A former mentor of mine advised me to enjoy a very difficult point in my career because I would learn from the experience and it would ultimately lead me to something better, and he was right.The bad experience ultimately led me to where I am today, accidentally in love with a career and side hustles I never imagined having 5 years ago. The downturn in the aerospace industry led to my hubby accidentally falling in love with teaching. The bad job market in 2008 led to my friend accidentally falling in love with corporate finance, and a home purchase led to PT accidentally falling in love with real estate.You never know where life is going to lead you next, but remember to stay open to all possibilities for it’s in those unexpected moments that you will fall accidentally in love, and if you are really lucky, that love will lead you to money or at least money making opportunities.