More Money Podcast - 080 Why 2016 Was Crazy Wonderful: A Year in Review - Jessica Moorhouse

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, and welcome to the last episode of season three of the Mo Money podcast. This is episode 80. And I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Thank you so much for joining me for this very special solo episode to wrap up the season, to wrap up the year. This is going to be my last episode for 2016. And so I thought it was only fitting that I do a solo episode that was kind of a little bit of a reflection, a review on 2016, because a lot of stuff has happened this year. And I actually before this episode, I had to write them all down because I knew I wouldn't remember them off the top of my head. And I even bought myself this really cute new notebook that says, and so the adventure begins dot dot dot. And well, I have another solo episode planned for

Starting point is 00:00:52 the first week of season four of the Momente podcast. And I feel like if this is going to be a little bit of a clue for what that solo episode will be about. But that's all I'm saying about that for now. Okay, so I am looking at my ridiculous list. It's not in order. It's just a bunch of scribbles that I entitled it, Good Things That Have Happened To Me In 2016. I really, I think I did a lot this year and i really didn't spend much or any time really

Starting point is 00:01:28 reflecting on the stuff that i've done accomplished um and like i always think it's very important to obviously have goals i set you know myself some life goals some personal goals and financial goals every year and i always write about them uh you know, kind of the first week of January on my blog. But, you know, I think it's just as important to frequently, not just like once a year, so I need to work on that, is to look at how you're doing and really just write down what you've done. You know, sometimes it's like you've done lots of stuff that's not on your list, but that's okay because life evolves, it changes, some of those things are irrelevant, or sometimes there's just better things that have happened or you come up with new goals mid-year. So that's totally fine. So anyways, I just kind

Starting point is 00:02:15 of want to just chat about what I have been up to this year. And let's start with, I guess, the big thing that happened that I spent a huge chunk of my time over kind of the Christmas holidays in 2015, a year ago, was rebranding my whole brand, I guess. I was Mo Money Mo Houses for like four years and it was a ridiculous name and I was sick of it because I was getting older and no one knew what the reference was. And I'm like, I'm going to change it. I'm just going to be me, Jessica Morehouse. I'm going to take that risk of just being a personal brand without a blog name. And so I spent a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of time creating a new brand. And I'm not even sure if I really talked about what that meant. But I basically did everything myself, not to toot my own horn.

Starting point is 00:03:14 It's not because I'm a control freak. But the main reason, honestly, was I'm cheap. So if I can do something myself, I will instead of hiring someone. I've gotten a bit better at that throughout the year as I've made more income from my personal brand really than I can afford to invest in other people to help me. But for this, I think in the year 2015, I don't think I've talked about this or even written about this, but I think my side hustle money was about like $7,000. So that's not a ton of money to play with. And especially when you're talking about redesigning your website, getting a new logo and just completely rebranding. So that means like colors, what's the feel, what's the tone, who's your

Starting point is 00:03:58 audience, everything. So I kind of just did that all myself because I wanted to save the money and I, I also needed to work through what I wanted. Um, I don't know if it would have made more sense to like have someone else with an objective opinion, but it seems to have worked out years past, years past and a lot of awesome stuff has happened. Um, a lot of opportunities have come my way and yeah, I'm very grateful for all the stuff that's happened this year because I know for a fact that I don't think any of these things would have happened. All these opportunities wouldn't have come my way if I hadn't spent that time rebranding. Unfortunately, because I did do that over like Christmas holidays last year, I didn't really, I was, I probably was the least fun person to hang out with at my parents' house during the holidays, but I'll try to make up for that this Christmas and be a lot more fun. But yeah, so I did all of that. And that was very scary because I was really afraid of, I don't know, people just not liking it or not getting it or not, you know, kind of showing me

Starting point is 00:05:01 the results that I really hoped it would give me. But that's kind of the risk you take doing anything new, isn't it? And I think it was, you know, a success in itself by just doing it. Because I think, you know, a lot of the reasons people, you know, don't even try is because they're afraid to fail. I was absolutely afraid to fail. But I think I just, I don't know, I just tried. I'm like, you know what, instead of humming and hawing over this for a long time, like I usually do when I have big ideas, I'm actually going to take action and do it. Because what's the worst that can happen? The worst that can happen is no one cares. And then what I have a full time job, I can just like focus on that. Luckily, that, you know, it did go off well. People really respond

Starting point is 00:05:45 to what I was kind of putting out there, you know, started doing different things with the podcast, with the listener series, um, which I'm so glad I did. Cause it's, it was, it's honestly been like the most cool thing I've done all year. Just talking to you listeners, uh, you know, who have these amazing stories, amazing tips, and just advice on how to manage your money, how to tackle your debt and all these great things. So I really, yeah, that's been like a really proud thing I've done. I'm very proud of myself for doing that. No, I'm not proud of myself. I am. Whatever. I'm proud of myself. And I'm also proud of you for the listeners who have reached out to me to be on my show and have let me record our interviews together.

Starting point is 00:06:29 I really appreciate that. It's been really awesome and inspiring. Okay, so beyond the rebrand, which was a big thing I tried to do, I think another really crazy thing that I did that I'm like, oh, yeah, wow, I can't believe that was this year was I took a big risk and reached out to some of the guests for this podcast that I've been like fangirling over for years. And that includes Rob Carrick, Gail Fass Oxlade and Bruce Celery. And, you know, there's a bunch more, obviously, but those were I think, the ones that I would just I just I've been looking up to them for so long. And you know, they're kind of celebrities. And I was just really like, oh, what if they say no? And they said yes.

Starting point is 00:07:08 And we had some amazing conversations. So I think that's actually a pretty cool thing that I did in 2016. And, of course, another kind of huge thing and I'm excited to share is I have now officially surpassed 100,000 downloads of my podcast. I think I'm closer to 150 now, actually, which is pretty cool for having a podcast for I believe it's a year and a half now. So that's a lot of freaking downloads. And I yeah, it's been a lot of work. This podcast has been super rewarding, but a lot of work. But also just probably the best thing I could have done. Honestly, there's more people that I think know me for the podcast than my blog

Starting point is 00:07:51 even though I've had my blog for over five years now. So that's actually really, really cool. And it's honestly helped lead to a lot of cool stuff in the media that I've never gotten attention by the media as much as I have in this year. And like in November itself, I was able to be on TV, on the radio, I was in a magazine, online, of course, and in print news, which is pretty cool. I mean, that's kind of one of, you know, one of my big goals is to be known as a personal finance expert and to be kind of, you know, given that title for people to really respect you and believe that you are this expert,

Starting point is 00:08:32 you do have to, I mean, obviously do a lot of stuff and create a lot of good content and help people and all that kind of stuff, which I've done as well. But it's also like getting that media attention. And once kind of the media, you know, says that you're a personal finance expert, it's like, okay, well, they've said that. So it's, you know, kind of true. So that's, I've been, I don't know, it's been a pretty cool thing. I'm totally that nerd that whenever I'm in the paper or anything like that, I like cut it out of the, I buy the newspaper and then I cut it and then I put it on my fridge because it's kind of a crazy thing

Starting point is 00:09:06 from this girl who went to film school because she was too afraid to ever be in front of the camera. And now I don't know what happened, but it's kind of a crazy ride. I guess another huge thing for me too was another crazy thing is just doing public speaking a bit more. This is something that

Starting point is 00:09:25 I haven't really done for a number, I mean, a number of years, like 10 years, something like that. But I kind of realized in order to, I don't know, just reach other people and really kind of spread the awareness of personal finance to promote financial literacy. I have to get out there and talk to people. And so one of those ways is doing public speaking. So I've been able to do that. Well, first at the event that I threw in September, the Millennial Money Meetup, which is also a big accomplishment. That's a whole other kettle of fish. And then I spoke at FinCon. They have an Ignite night where you do a five-minute speech about whatever you want. And I did that.

Starting point is 00:10:10 And it was a really packed room. And that was quite intimidating but super fun. And then I recently spoke in Toronto for a speaking engagement with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario about mortgages. And I actually had the best time. It was so, so fun. I actually did record it. So I'm still deciding whether I should put it on YouTube or not. I still have to just review the footage and see how, how good I was or not good and then make the decision after that. But, um, so yeah, public speaking also. So I also wrote down on here, um kind of, it's kind of crazy, but it's like, I think I got over two major fears of mine.

Starting point is 00:10:52 Fears that like were so, like they were crippling to a point. So the first one is I got over my fear of talking to people, obviously, because I have this podcast. This podcast has actually helped me a lot. Who knew, right? But yeah, I think it's helped me a lot in getting comfortable talking to a lot of different people and just knowing how to, I don't know, not be awkward because I can be awkward sometimes, obviously. And also, I kind of got over my fear of being on camera. And I think the podcast absolutely helped with that. But also, I have been doing more videos for my YouTube channel. And yeah, kind of, it's just one of those things. And it's like, it's obvious, like,

Starting point is 00:11:36 it's not like rocket science. Everyone knows this. The more you do something, the more you practice it, something, the better you get. But it's easier said than done. And what, you know, you don't really know that until you actually do it. And that's, I think the big thing that I've, uh, yeah, kind of learned this year is take action. You don't, cause you know, life is short. You don't know how much time you have. And I, I don't want to, I know as I get older, I don't want to regret anything. Uh, I don't want to, I don't know, as I get older, I don't want to regret anything. I don't want to miss out on things just because I was afraid. So yeah, I've been doing a lot of things that have terrified me. Of course, one of the things that I still haven't done, which I will accomplish in 2017 is getting my full driver's license. I still have, I have a license, but it's a limited one. I think I can only have like one passenger in the car and everything like that.

Starting point is 00:12:28 So I still have one test to do and pass, and then I'll get my full license. Yay! Not really looking forward to that, but it's one of those things that I should really get done. I'm 30, so this is a bit ridiculous. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. Another kind of, these are kind of boring things, but I'm proud of myself for actually

Starting point is 00:12:56 finally doing. I got my Nexus card. So whenever I go to the States, I can kind of go in the short line. It's been something I've said that I was going to do, I think, four years ago. So finally did that. Check that off the list. I also got life insurance. Woo! Preet Banerjee is so proud of me. I tweeted him, just like I said in our podcast episode.

Starting point is 00:13:19 But it did take me a little while, didn't it? It took me like a year to get, maybe a bit over a year um and it was super easy to get once you just again take action and do it but a wing but a boom you got life insurance and now you're you're protected so uh i'm glad i got that and also lastly a will super exciting stuff but also like very adulting stuff that i'm proud that i've done i know those done. I don't have to worry about, do you have a will? Yes, me and my husband do have wills. And I'm very proud to say that. And speaking of my husband, we celebrated three years married and three years

Starting point is 00:13:59 in Toronto. And actually, fun fact, the day we kind of officially met, or kind of first meet cute, was on New Year's. And this New Year's coming up, we'll actually be celebrating 10 years since the day that we first met and then fell in love at first sight. So that's pretty crazy. 10 years. What happened? What happened with those years? Wow, that went by really, really, really quickly. Really quickly. A little scary how fast life can just go, isn't it? I guess also another huge thing, probably one would say maybe one of the biggest things this year for me is me and my husband bought our first place. We bought a townhouse in the city of Toronto. And honestly, it's so funny to even think people are like, oh, so you're staying here for a while? I'm like, I guess so. It's just the first year we lived here, I'm like,

Starting point is 00:15:05 yeah, we'll probably move back to Vancouver pretty soon. Then the second year, like, oh, we'll see how it goes. And then as the third year, like we're almost finished the third year, I don't know. I just stopped thinking about moving back to Vancouver. That's not that that's never going to happen, but it's not so much that I'm holding onto that. I almost felt like it was kind of holding me back from really giving Toronto a chance to really giving it a chance to put my roots down here. And so I'm excited to, I don't know, finally have roots. And I felt like, I feel like I haven't had roots since I left my parents. That was quite honestly, I've just been, I mean, I don't even know how many places I've lived quite honestly, since I moved out of my parents, but you know, it's, it's nice to have roots.

Starting point is 00:15:46 It's nice to be a homeowner, quite honestly. And, again, I'm pro-rent. But if you can afford it, it is really nice to own. And we didn't buy too much house. So we're not house poor or anything. And I really like our place. And I'm very excited to hopefully in 2017 have a bit more time to to really you know make this place our own we've just been so busy lately we haven't even had a chance to uh paint the walls colors that we like

Starting point is 00:16:13 or we've you know just kind of started getting more furniture to kind of fill up certain areas and uh so we still have a lot to do but that will be next year's problem. Oh, yeah. Another thing that I feel like I'm still – I mean, not that it was like the best thing ever, but it was something on my bucket list. I'm so glad we did. We'll have to go back. But a big kind of accomplishment this year was me and Josh, my husband, have been talking about going to Paris for years. It's just always been a dream of mine to go there. I've always dreamed since I was a kid in French immersion going to Paris and being able to speak French with the locals and go to all the fancy museums and

Starting point is 00:16:57 just like be a Parisian for a little bit. And so we were finally able to cross that off our bucket lists this June. And the reason I said it wasn't the best thing ever was it wasn't the best vacation ever because we both got violently ill. Like violently. And we still made the best of it. We still like did all the traditional kind of Paris things like Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre and, you know, all those things. But also it was raining every day. There was massive floods it was during the paris floods um uh and yeah we were just really sick the whole time so yeah

Starting point is 00:17:33 looking forward to kind of a redo on that one but i'm still like even still even though like we felt so bad when we were there we actually still like, I still have like just almost fond memories. Like I almost forget how sick and terrible some of the nights were because I just like, I don't know. Sometimes, you know, when you have a memory, you just remember the good, not the bad. Even though that happened like only six months ago, I kind of only remember, Hey, remember when we did this? Remember we ate this or whatever. I kind of just remember the good stuff so maybe let's just yeah let's pretend it was just a fabulous trip with no no sickness or no um crazy things that happened um let's see what else we got on here do do do do do well i guess one accomplishment and again i will kind of you know you'll have a better idea of why i'm talking about this in kind of the next solo episode in

Starting point is 00:18:28 season four. But I am kind of excited to share and I don't really do like spending reports or income reports or anything like that. But this is the first year that I've ever made the most kind of side hustle money that I ever have. And that's, you know, a big reason why me and my husband decided to rejig our budget. We were splitting everything 50-50. Now we do 60-40 because I was making, you know, all the side hustle money and then my full-time job income and it just made sense. But that's, it like literally exceeded what i ever thought i could do so that's yeah it's kind of like oh well that's pretty neat so i'm excited to kind of explore that more in the new year um because i have a lot of uh projects and uh exciting things uh that i'm uh looking forward

Starting point is 00:19:21 to sharing with you and uh the new year What else? Oh, yeah. Well, because of that, actually, because of the side hustle doing so well, this is actually the first year I've actually been able to afford to invest in my business and really consider it a business. I call it a side hustle, but honestly, at the end of the day, it is a business. I actually did register my name as my business name. So it's legit. But finally, I've actually been able to spend money on my business. And the reason I spend money is to improve my business, to continue to grow. And I really do believe when you put money into your business, you'll get more back. Obviously, you have to be strategic and not just spend money on stupid stuff. You have to be really careful what you spend your money on.

Starting point is 00:20:10 But I've definitely spent money on a bunch of different, I don't know, like software applications. I've actually hired someone to help me with Pinterest, which I've always wanted to get better at that and really ramp up so I can drive more traffic to my website. And I just don't have time to do Pinterest. It's a lot of work. And so I actually have hired that out, which is crazy. I've never hired an external person to help me with my business. And so that's kind of the first thing that's kind of cool. And yeah, everything that I'm really using for my business has been helping my business.

Starting point is 00:20:47 I started using FreshBooks to keep all of my invoicing and expenses all in one place and so organized. I absolutely love it. I've been using lead pages as a way to kind of capture emails and make nice looking landing pages. It's helped me a ton and it's grown my email list like crazy. And what else have I been using? A whole bunch of other things. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of really great things that I was actually like the reason I kind of brought

Starting point is 00:21:20 that I was before I hit the record, I was going through because I'm a bigner. And this is what I do on the weekend for fun. I was basically putting all of my expenses for the year into Freshwick so I can see what the tally was and, you know, just compile all my receipts. So when tax time comes, because it's coming, I'm going to be super ready. I mean, I know that sounds so nerdy, but I've actually had a great time doing it. So very excited. So if you need something to organize all of your, you know, business stuff, I highly recommend FreshBooks. That's a free thing. I'm not even sponsored by FreshBooks in this episode, but just a shout out to them because I really like them. What else have I done? I feel like I've done more than on this list or maybe, maybe not. Maybe I haven't. Oh, one thing I've actually done looking at my list is I started a Facebook group called the Money

Starting point is 00:22:12 Life Balance Group. And I'm excited to do more with it in 2017. I did just start, I think, in the spring. And again, if you want to join it, basically, I want to create some kind of online community on Facebook I'm part of a bunch of different Facebook groups and there it's so amazing the stuff that you can learn from each other the community the relationships you can create online just through Facebook groups is amazing so I wanted to create my own group that was about you know kind of keeping the conversation going you know always making you think about personal finance so it's not just like something that you never think about that we can all like share our ideas and

Starting point is 00:22:49 questions and learn from each other. And, uh, yeah, so we're close to, I think 500, uh, members so far, which is pretty cool. I always room for more. So if you'd like to join, it's just facebook.com slash groups slash money life balance and I will let you in so you can join the conversation. So yeah, I was actually kind of scared to start my own Facebook group because, well, it's kind of the same reason I was really terrified to do my first event. I was afraid no one would show up or no one would care and you never want no one to kind of come to your party, right? But luckily, a lot of other people were interested in joining and creating a community of people where it's like a safe space where you can talk about your money and your money situation without any judgment. I think that's very important because I think the big reason people don't like talking about money is they don't want to get judged.

Starting point is 00:23:49 And I wanted to create a space where that is not an issue. And in that similar vein, actually, I think this is going to be the last thing from my list is I'd say the most positive, good thing I've done this year is I've made some awesome new amazing friends this year um I've absolutely developed some friendships that I already had and grown them and just gotten better friends with lots of people I've um been communicating with like online or in person but I've made I think this year I probably made the most new friends, which, and again, lots of them are through online. But I met a lot of awesome people when I went to FinCon this past year. And really, because I really, you know, made that my mission is to meet as many awesome

Starting point is 00:24:36 people as possible to really network like crazy. And I did. And it's been so rewarding. There's so many beautiful, hopeful, supportive, nice people in the world and it's been super rewarding. I'm so thankful that I've been able to meet some of these people and really consider them my friends and they're totally up for helping me and I'm helping them and we're collaborating and you just feel, I don't know, just like the world isn't as small as the city that you live in or as just feel, I don't know, just like the world isn't as small

Starting point is 00:25:06 as the city that you live in or as big as, I don't know if that's even a saying. I'm terrible with sayings, by the way. I once told my husband, you know the saying like bull in a china shop? I couldn't remember what the animal was. I'm like, yeah, it was like a rhinoceros in a china shop. He laughed hysterically. He's like, you were the worst with sayings like it's true um but anyways what i'm trying to say is uh i yeah i definitely put that on my list because i did meet some amazing people this year um and it's been probably one of the coolest thing i've i've done all this year and i'm excited to continue that in 2017 and also just you you guys you listening to this show right now. I've met through my listener series so many amazing people. And it makes me feel, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:25:53 just super connected. And I hope I'm doing the same for you. You feel a bit more connected by listening to me and maybe meeting other people that are listening, other people in my Facebook group. And that's kind of, I think, a big focus point that I'm going to have in 2017 is to really focus on creating and building communities centered around personal finance, a happy lifestyle, a balanced lifestyle, because that's super important to me. It's what really keeps me going and keeps me positive, especially during these dark winter months and it's so depressing out there. So that's definitely something I want to focus on for 2017.

Starting point is 00:26:32 But yeah, I guess that's kind of the end of my list. Thanks for listening to my solo episode. I haven't done one of these in a little while, but thanks for listening to my list of all the good things that have happened in 2016. There's probably a lot more. And if I remember any, I'm going to put those in the show notes, which you're going to find at jessicamorehouse.com slash 80. But on that note, this is my last episode for season three. The last episode for 2016. I want to wish all of you a very happy

Starting point is 00:27:06 holiday season. I hope that you've enjoyed season three of the podcast. I know you're going to really love season four. And thank you again, just for listening, for supporting me, for subscribing on iTunes, for giving me a review, for, you know, emailing me or tweeting me, for basically, you know, reaching out and letting me know what you think. Because that's really, you know, it makes me feel like, oh, people do care. People are listening. People do want to learn about this just like me. So I really do appreciate all of that from you.

Starting point is 00:27:43 So thank you again and you know uh i'm i'm excited to share some interesting and big news in the new year but i'm gonna keep my lips sealed until then but uh yeah until then i won't see you next wednesday uh the newest uh the next episode uh for the podcast the first episode in season four, will be Wednesday, January 11th. So make sure to check back here Wednesday, January 11th for the first episode of season four. And have a fabulous holiday season. Have a fabulous New Year's. And make sure, if you haven't done, hopefully this episode has inspired you to take

Starting point is 00:28:25 some time. Just take an hour. It didn't even take me an hour. It took me like 30 minutes to write down all of these. Get a notebook and write down all the good things that have happened to you, all the good things that have occurred in your life this year. Write them down. It'll make you feel really, really, really good. I'll tell you, I was having kind of a mopey day today, just getting some work done and not having so much fun. And then I'm like, no, no, no, I need to write down my list of things so I could do my podcast episode. And I feel a million times better. So definitely encourage you to do that. And on that note, see you later.

More Money Podcast - 080 Why 2016 Was Crazy Wonderful: A Year in Review - Jessica Moorhouse

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