Three Year Blogiversary and $1,000 Cash Giveaway

Hello everyone and happy Monday!

August marks my third year of blogging. You can click here and read my very first blog post, which is rather embarrassing for me to share.

The other thing I'm embarrassed about that you can't see when clicking over to that old post is the way my website used to look. One thing I regret not doing is screenshotting the way my blog has looked over the years so that I can laugh at myself. I have had some pretty bad designs that I made myself because I was too cheap!

Luckily, all you can see are my beginning blog posts…

I first started blogging on Blogger (don't make my mistake, read why you should start on WordPress) on August 10, 2011. It was just a few days before a vacation, and I remember even though I was only a blogger technically for 3 or 4 days, I was on my blog the entire time we were on vacation.

I remember Wes being confused about the whole blogging thing.

And I bet he had no idea what would come from it.

Blogging has been a very positive hobby/business for me.

My life has greatly changed in the three years I've been blogging. Just three years ago, I was a full-time MBA student and also working as a financial analyst. I was working and attending school which meant very long days for me. My days were jam packed and my friends and family would often complain about not being able to see me much.

Now, I'm out of school (graduated with my MBA two years ago this month) and I am a full-time freelancer. I am happier than ever and I love the career path I am on right now.

Back then, we also had a decent amount of debt. We were continually spending more and more money because we were unhappy with our jobs and the only thing to really make up for that in our eyes at the time was to spend more money because we “deserved” it because of the stress we had from our jobs.

Now, my student loans are completely paid off and we are working on our spending. We are not perfect, but we are improving.

It's also been positive because I have been able to hire my sister for some of the tasks I need done, and she is able to make some side money as well.

Thank you.

I personally want to say thank you to all of my readers, friends, and family. Without all of you, blogging would not be the same. I appreciate all of you, and I enjoy reading the awesome e-mails, tweets, and messages I receive each and every single day.

The blogging community is amazing!

Giveaway

To celebrate my 3 year blogiversary, I am having a giveaway. I will be giving away $500 cash to two winners, for $1,000 total!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

EDIT: I have chosen and contacted the winners. They were Samantha and Heather. Please come back in the future because I will have another great giveaway.