This Time I Mean It
Since early 2000s, I’ve been chasing one dream: build a business that makes enough money so I never have to drag myself to a 9-to-5 again. But honestly? It wasn’t even just about the money at first. I started my first business because I loved fashion, like head-over-heels, not just as some hobby, but as something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life.
And for four years, I did some things I was genuinely proud of. Then the business couldn’t sustain itself, so I quit. What I didn’t realize was that quitting fashion would send me into a full-on identity crisis. I had to grieve a version of myself. Dramatic? Maybe. But when your passion is your personality, losing the business feels like losing yourself.
So I did what any sensible person does when they’re lost: I pivoted. Repeatedly. I turned my hobby of making lipsticks into a handmade cosmetics business on Etsy. I bought handbags and apparel from wholesalers and sold them in my Shopify boutique. I tried print-on-demand. I tried all the things. But nothing, and I mean nothing, ever made me feel the way fashion design did. Not even close.
In the meantime, retail jobs kept me afloat. It doesn’t pay much, but it’s the only career I’ve ever known, so whenever I needed a job, there it was, my humbling little safety net. The problem? Working any job is deadening to my soul. (Yes, I said what I said.)
So here I am. Back at it. In my late 40s, single, no kids, and honestly? I’ve decided that if I’m going to be single and child-free, I might as well funnel all that energy into building a life I actually want. No more waiting, no more wandering. I’m talking about a full-on lifestyle business, Ali Abdaal-style, where financial freedom isn’t just a pipe dream. It’s my actual reality.
Here’s where things stand: I’m graduating with a Bachelor’s in Business in May 2026, which will free up a significant chunk of time to go harder on this. My personal goals right now include hitting my first weight loss milestone (trying to get to Onederland), buying my first home, and getting a new car. Oh, and escaping my current apartment, because over my dead body am I staying here one day longer than I have to. California is expensive and I refuse to end up working two full-time jobs at 55 or 60 years old just to survive. Moving to another state is a possible plan b, but it’s very much the last resort.
So Here’s The Plan, For Real This Time
My income goals: $5K per month to start, with the ultimate target being $9K–$10K per month. The vehicles to get there? YouTube monetization, paid newsletter subscribers, print on demand apparel, and digital products aimed at helping other POD sellers. It’s a lot. But I’ve watched what feels like thousands of YouTube videos about making money online. I’ve done my homework, even when that homework was mostly the same information recycled into a new dramatic thumbnail.
Seriously though, have you noticed that? You click on a 45-minute video with some wild facial expression on the thumbnail, a 100k a month claim, and twenty minutes in you’re like, “I’ve heard all of this before.” Eventually I learned to filter the noise and found a handful of people I feel I could trust. My mentors-from-a-distance are: Sean Cannell for YouTube strategy, Sabrina Ramonov for AI, Modern Millie for Instagram and social media, and Nicolas Cole for paid newsletters. These are the people I’m betting on, studying their methods and testing if I can replicate the results.
Step 1: Get Monetized
As Sean Cannell famously says, “Punch fear in the face and press record.” So that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Yes, I know YouTube AdSense alone won’t pay all the bills. But getting monetized matters to me for two reasons: it’s a concrete milestone that directly translates to income, and it’s been a personal dream ever since YouTube pulled the rug out from under me when they changed the Partner Program requirements to 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. I’m getting that back.
Step 2: Content, Content, Content
The plan is four videos a week, posted twice a week on YouTube, then chopped up into short clips for Instagram because why make one piece of content when you can squeeze it for everything it’s got. Pinterest gets its own separate content dedicated strictly to driving traffic to my print on demand apparel shop. And yes, I will absolutely be using AI to help me keep up with all of this, because I’m ambitious not superhuman.
Step 3: Analyze, Adjust, Repeat
My weekly target is $750, building toward $1500. I’ll be reviewing analytics consistently to figure out what’s landing and what’s flopping, then doubling down on what works.
Step 4: Consistency, No Matter What
This is the big one. Whether things are going great or completely sideways, I’m not stopping. Because if I do, I’ll blink and suddenly I’m 55 saying, “So.. hey guys, I’m going on this journey… again.” I refuse. There are years I can’t get back that were lost to fear, fear of failure, sure, but also fear of success. That one’s heartbreaking. To get everything you’d ever want, only to lose it all. That kind of thing I wouldn’t be able to recover from, I’d imagine.
But here’s the good news, and yes, we’re ending on a high note. Once I’m consistently making $665 per week, I can cover fees, set aside taxes, and still net $500 a week. That’s the cushion that lets me stop white-knuckling it and start actually building. New products, more content, affiliate commissions. I’ll be trying it all.
So subscribe, follow along, and let’s see what happens. Any framework or workflow I find that actually works will be going straight into my paid newsletter for subscribers to download.
Stay tuned, this story’s just getting started.