Truth: 2024 Was a Really Hard Year

Sharing my truth today because honesty is the best policy. I also want to remind everyone that what you see online is a curated version of everyone’s highlights.

It’s New Year’s Eve early morning and the whole house is quiet. The kids are asleep and Chris is at work. This gives me some time to pause as we prepare to bring in a new year. I’m hoping that 2025 brings great things because 2024 has been a year that has punched me in the gut and made me feel like a failure.

Truth: 2024 Was a Really Hard Year

Backing up to January of 2024, I started the year with such excitement and hope. I had a career that I loved with a company that I was incredibly passionate about. I rarely took time off work, but in mid-January, I did so that I could help my sister who was having major surgery and needed to recover with a new baby at home. Being the dedicated employee that I am, when I was called in to attend a meeting while I was on PTO, I thought nothing of it. While speaking with our paid acquisition team, I received a message from my boss inviting me to attend another meeting immediately following. I accepted.

I found out then that my position was being eliminated right there on Zoom, on a PTO day that I rarely ever used while caring for my sick sister. Talk about a punch in the gut. I was devastated and will never be able to forgive this small company that I had grown to think of as family.

Lesson learned: you are always disposable.

(Another truth: I’m still so upset that I am typing this with shaking hands and tears in my eyes.)

Being the career-driven person I am, I immediately went into survival mode, updated my resume, and got myself back out there. I took on a few freelance gigs and worked my butt off to find a new job. I also got very depressed, started having regular chest pains, and had to double my anxiety medication.

I luckily found a new job in about 10 weeks with a $40k pay increase and sounded like the most amazing dream role. But it wasn’t. It was perfect on paper.

I’m not going to go too much into detail about this role since I cut ties for my mental health close to the end of the year and didn’t stay long, but it’s safe to say that it made me pretty sick. I missed the whole summer with my kids because I was expected to work 9-6 every day, not even being able to bill for a lunch break. I rarely worked out anymore or even ate during the day, but never lost a pound due to the chronic stress.

It was a nightmare and I cried so much, never feeling confident about anything I did. And that is not the person that I am.

So I’ve pivoted.

During the last quarter of 2024, I re-launched Project Motherhood and started a second company called Influencer Secrets Academy, to teach aspiring influencers the things that I had to learn the hard way and show them how to make a full-time income working in the influencer space – something I’ve been doing since 2010.

I teach these amazing business owners to share their truth and that people relate to their personal story, so I wanted to start the year off by sharing my own.

I’m so thankful for such a supportive family, especially my husband, and friends who cheer me on. I don’t want our lives to change and starting a new business and working for myself is not easy, but I feel ignited by it in ways I haven’t in years. I know that this is what I’m meant to do with my life and I’m excited for the journey I’m on. I didn’t think that this was where I would be starting the year off, but I am.

Change can be hard. Pivoting can lead to a lot of anxiety, but I’m making my mark and going all in on this new adventure.

What are your goals for 2025? Are you pivoting like I am?

XOXO,

Allison