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Can we talk about the fact that 2020 isALMOSTOVER?!The end of the year—any year—is always my favorite time.Not just beca...
22/12/2020

Can we talk about the fact that 2020 is

ALMOST

OVER?!

The end of the year—any year—is always my favorite time.

Not just because of Christmas, but the twinkling lights and apple cider definitely help.

But because we are about to get a fresh start. A blank slate. A whole new year.

It’s Heath’s fault that this is currently stuck in my head.

​

Heath and I are obsessive about goals (in case that wasn’t evident already) and these last few weeks in December are a chance to reflect. Rest. Figure out what’s next.

I’ve been thinking about everything that happened in 2020. The good, the bad, the crazy difficult, the first two months of the year, which felt like a different WORLD than the rest of 2020.

One thing Heath and I always do on the blog is to share our year in review on the previous year and our goals for the next. (I’m saving the goals for after Christmas.) Let’s start with the good stuff.

2020: The Good

Travel

Okay, first of all, we spent over a month in Florida last January, and guys, why did we not do this every year as RVers? It was everything I needed in life.

Heath and I switched up our travel schedule this year to fit better with an active baby. This meant staying in places for 2-6 weeks at a time and slowly exploring an area.

We LOVED traveling this way, especially when it meant so many options for enjoying fall across Colorado. I see more leisurely long stays in the future.

Business

The camping industry SOARED this year. Heath and his team grew Campground Booking 244%. (I’m about to turn 30 and I still can never figure out how people calculate percentages over 100, but I know that’s really good.)

And my book, published over three years ago now, outperformed last year’s sales. This could be because so many more people bought RVs this year, but I also think it’s because I took the time to update the book’s content.

(We have a phenomenal guest post from author Lindsey Nubern on how to know if�you should update your book. If you’ve got a book that needs a boost in content or sales, I recommend it!)

Heath & I also got to work with our friends Kara & Nate to plan and emcee their documentary premiere back in January—a lifetime ago! Someone told Heath this year that being an entrepreneur is an excuse to work with friends. We so agree and love any time we can say yes to projects with friends. More of that in 2021, please

A good portion of our business energy this year went toward learning about buying and operating a campground.

We’ve toured properties, met with contractors, talked to realtors, investors, mentors, friends—aaaand we haven’t pulled the trigger on a property yet. We’ve been close—multiple times!—but things keep falling through. So I guess this a good thing that happened in 2020 but also a frustrating and difficult thing.

We have some irons in the fire that we are currently pursuing, but property owners don’t want us making anything public until the ink is dry, so we’re going to be pretty tight-lipped on any property details.

But the actual coolest business thing of the year was probably being on the cover of Rootless Magazine.

This is a total vanity thing, but since I was a kid, I always wanted to be on the cover of a magazine. I thought it would be as the world’s first prima ballerina/pop singer but a magazine issue devoted to being an RV entrepreneur is pretty awesome too

Family

And lastly, pretty much everything about Ellie. This year she learned to crawl. Walk. Talk. Jump. Sing. Dance. The other day she walked over to our advent calendar, pulled out a Hershey’s kiss, unwrapped it, threw the wrapper in the trash, and yelled “more!†before she even ate the chocolate. She’s a genius, and clearly her mother’s daughter.

But as much as I love her, perhaps the biggest win of 2020 was finding childcare for Ellie this fall from a stay-at-home mom in town. There’s only so much work I can do during nap times and now Ellie has a BFF.

Full-time RVing this year, being a full-time stay-at-home mom and running a business, AND trying to buy a campground…it was a lot. And I wasn’t doing anything well. Now I have 20 hours a week that I can be productive on the business, and it feels so GOOD.

2020: The Bad

In comparison to so many others, nothing terrible happened to us in 2020. But we did have some truly hard moments and fell short of goals, because that’s life.

The biggest moment was canceling our conference in March, even though we already had 100+ attendees on-site for the event. What a crazy time.

We talked on the podcast about how we made the quick pivot to a virtual event, handled partial refunds, shipped out t-shirts to attendees, and blazed onward (episode 201).

We haven’t closed on a campground yet, like I already mentioned, which feels like a major fail for 2020 since that was our #1 goal this year. But goals shift and we realized back in July that we needed to find a house first and a campground second. So we will be full steam ahead on a campground in Q1, AND we will finally launch the Campground Startup podcast on February 1st (another project we were going to start in 2020!).

I think one of the worst parts of 2020 for me was feeling like I couldn’t do anything the way I wanted to. And not in an “I want to take Ellie to the pool and teach her to swim, oh wait all the pools are closed forever†kind of way.

I started working on my next book this summer, like really working. I wrote multiple chapters. Felt really good about it. Words were flowing. Post its were everywhere. Stories and memories flooded back to me.

It’s the book I wanted to write back in 2014 when we first started RVing, sharing stories from our travels and what life on the road was like.

But then we were caravanning with friends. Ellie switched from two naps to one. Heath started working more hours to raise money for Campground Booking. Family was driving up from Texas to visit us. I was behind on a course we were launching that needed attention. I didn’t have any child care options, only late nights and early mornings.

I didn’t feel like I had any control over my time.

So I have a few chapters of a book written that I haven’t looked at in far too long, even though I planned on publishing it this month.

This was a big emotional battle for me and a big theme for us for 2020. I couldn’t be a mom, a traveler, an entrepreneur, and a writer all at once. I needed help and I needed to cut back. (This is something Heath has felt too as he is now running a 9-person remote business with employees all over the world.)

Which is why childcare felt like such a big win for me. And why it was the right time for a sticks and bricks.

And so again I learn the lesson, I can do everything, but I can’t do everything at the same time.

So finishing my next book goes on the list for 2021 along with our podcast and our campground. It’s going to be a busy year, I can already tell!

2020: Major Lessons Learned

In addition to learning for the millionth time that I can’t do everything all at once, Heath and I learned a few other big lessons this year.

Life is too short to not do things you want to do, even if you do them badly.

In November, I partnered with my friend Barb of RV Foodie Kitchen to host a nightly cooking show. It was a dream come true.

Except I literally messed up cooking ALL my recipes. And I would’ve done a million little things differently.

But it was really fun.

I did it, even though it was scary. Extra work when I didn’t have extra time. I was not at all equipped or skilled enough to do it. Ellie ate raw batter while I was distracted talking to the camera. I had a million excuses not to try (I’m moving into a house right now, we have friends visiting, I’m not a real cook, the list goes on).

But I still did it. This is a lesson I try to lean into a little more each year: do the things you want to do, even if you’re not ready. I regret never trying more than I regret making mistakes as I go.

Give yourself grace.

I think 2020 taught us all how to give ourselves grace.

How to let go of our carefully constructed plans. How to pivot. How to go with the flow. How to not hold ourselves to metrics or numbers.

But instead, focus on progress.

I didn’t do yoga 365 times, but I did 150 times (thanks to Yoga with Adriene). And that’s waaaay better than last year.

Progress > perfect, as they say.

You do you.

There was a time when I would reply to emails always encouraging people to also try full-time RVing. We loved it so much OF COURSE these total strangers on the internet will have the same magical experience.

​

But over the past couple of years, I’ve changed my approach. Because full-time travel isn’t for everyone. Starting a business isn’t for everyone.

And that’s something we’ve shifted on our website this year. Like more resources for remote work and being a digital nomad in general, instead of only resources for starting a business. You do what’s right for you (and I will post the resources, interviews, and guest blogs from allllll the traveling experts).

This is something I want to do more of in 2021—more guest blogs and interviews with people who are smarter than me.

We are ADULTS.

Heath turned 30 yesterday. I turn 30 in two weeks. (Ellie will never turn 30 as she agreed to stay tiny and adorable forever.)

And we are embarking on a whole new decade of life.

Our 20s were amazing. We met and got married. Traveled more than we ever thought we could. Had a baby. Bought a house. Started a bunch of businesses. Paid off all our student debt.

I expect 30 to be chock full of even more adventures.

More on setting goals and making plans for 2021 next week

Until then, wishing you safe travels, good health, but an unhealthy amount of Christmas cookies. Tis the season!

The post 2020 Year in Review: The Good, the Bad, and Lessons Learned appeared first on Heath & Alyssa.

2020 Year in Review: Can we talk about the fact that 2020 is ALMOST OVER?! The end of the year—any year—is always my favorite time.

Long-term weight management has been seeing a lot of time in the headlines and spotlight over the last while.� Just as d...
22/12/2020

Long-term weight management has been seeing a lot of time in the headlines and spotlight over the last while.� Just as dieting used to be praised as your best health strategy, experts are now looking further into the future. It isn’t that dieting is necessarily wrong as a part of your health and weight control […]

The post Why Long-Term Weight Management is Better Than Any Diet appeared first on .

Long-term weight management has been seeing a lot of time in the headlines and spotlight over the last while.  Just as dieting used to be praised as your best health strategy, experts are now looking further into the future.  It isn’t that dieting is necessarily wrong as a part of your health an...

This is a guest post from my friend Lindsey Nubern, author of 501 Questions: A Travel Game.Earlier this year, I asked He...
21/12/2020

This is a guest post from my friend Lindsey Nubern, author of 501 Questions: A Travel Game.

Earlier this year, I asked Heath, “Should I update my book?” It’s a few years old and there were a few out of date sections that I knew I could get updated in a couple of days. But I wasn’t sure if it would be worth it. Would it boost sales? Would I have to publish a whole new book, or could I just update the file?

Little did I know, Lindsey was working through these same questions as she updated her book. I’ve asked her to write a guest blog on how to know if you can or should update your book.

Enjoy!

Congratulations!

You published your book a while ago and now you’ve had time to see the response. You’ve seen your book gain traction; however, critiques and negative reviews keep you up at night and you’ve been keeping track of a list of updates you want to make on your phone. With another winter of COVID ahead of us, you’ve considered taking the time to update your book, but you haven’t taken the plunge yet.

Here are five things to think about if you should take on this project and if now’s the right time to go for it.

In February 2020, I was in your shoes. My game 501 Questions: A Travel Game had been out for year, the game just had a successful holiday season, and it had received many great reviews and a few critiques that were bothering me.

Also, for a year, I had been flirting with the idea to change the interior from color to black and white. A few months after publishing the original game, I realized I could lower the game’s printing costs and make double the royalty for each sale by simply changing the interior from color to black and white. In January 2020, I was trying to decide if making a second edition was a worthwhile investment of my time and resources.�

Here are five things I considered before deciding to start the second edition. I want to share these thoughts with you to think about if now’s the right time for you to update your book.

1. Are there items in your book that need to be updated?

First, since you’ve published your book, are there items within your book that you know need to be updated? Have any concepts or steps changed? Or, maybe you need to do another read through with fresh eyes to make sure everything is still up-to-date.

For example, my game 501 Questions: A Travel Game includes 180 travel trivia questions that I knew I needed to double-check if the answers were still correct. As I started going through the game’s questions, I found several trivia answers that needed updating.

One exciting change was the question: “Which planet in our solar system has the most moons?†The original game was published in 2018. Back then the answer was Jupiter with 79 moons. However, in 2019 scientists found 20 more moons around Saturn. With that discovery, we now know Saturn has the most moons with 82 moons! I definitely needed to update that question.

2. Have you received feedback you can improve on?

Have you received suggestions from readers or have some negative reviews been keeping you up at night? We’ve all received negative reviews on our books and no matter how many great and kind reviews we receive, the negative ones have their hold in our minds. I’ve received 66 reviews as of writing this, but the two negative reviews I’ve received have stuck with me:

“Underwhelmed: This book is cute and will be entertaining, but the word “book†is really misleading here. It’s almost a pamphlet. The book is very small, flimsy, and almost the size of something you’d find in a cereal box. For $5, this wouldn’t have been an issue and I’d have given this a great review. For nearly $15, this feels like a bit of a scam/ripoff. The book will be fun but whenever we use it I’ll be thinking, ‘I paid $15 for this thing!?’ “

Ouch!

“Not for travel trivia fans: Overall disappointed with this. Bought it after hearing about it on a travel podcast but only one of four sections is travel questions. The other topic areas are general discussion questions like ‘would you rather’ ‘tell me about’ or ‘if you could’. The answers travel trivia questions then don’t give a lot of detail for example for answer to ‘which is the largest continent?’ It just says ‘Australia’ as opposed to ‘Australia which is xyz acres’

Ouch again.

These reviews have hurt.

However, by updating my book, I could make these improvements. I could add more questions and bulk up the game so it’s not as “small and flimsy†but also keep it minimal to pack on trips (keeping it small and minimal was intentional).

And, I could provide more fun information in the trivia answers so we can learn more of the why behind the answers. I also thought, if these two people felt this way and took the time to share their critiques, maybe others felt disappointed when they received the game, too, and that’s not the feeling I wanted customers to have!

Now, after launching the second edition of my game 501 Questions: A Travel Game, I received this review:

“This book leaves my entire family begging for “one more question†every time! We love them all, but our favorite category is challenging travel trivia. We are learning so much! We have laughed together more as we answer and discuss questions than ever before. We have done questions at the dinner table, in the car, and with friends and family. It’s a great resource and there are so many questions, it’ll be a very long time before we get through them all!â€

While negative reviews are a part of selling any product, this is a great chance to address them and improve your book.

3. Can you save money on printing or earn more royalty with a new version?

Is there a way you can save money on printing costs so you can have more flexibility in the price of your book? Or, is there a way you can make more royalty on each sale? Maybe you can change your page count or change your interior from color to black and white.

After publishing the first edition of my game that was printed in color, I realized I could lower the printing cost by half if the game was printed in black and white. With this change, I could have more flexibility with the price of the book like the negative review suggested above. Or, with the book at the same price, I could make double the royalty with each book sale.

Also, since I published my book, I became a mom and my perspective changed. I envisioned every extra dollar I earned going toward my little boy’s college fund and I had a new motivation to be more strategic.

You may think the printing cost between color and black and white would have been obvious to me while I was creating the first edition, but I was so focused on the “fun user experience†with the game that I thought the interior color was important and I was willing to have a higher print cost.

However, after publishing the game and as I was considering changing the interior to black and white, I asked friends and family if they thought the color was important. All of their responses were they either couldn’t remember it was in color even though they’d played the game or they all thought the value of the game was in the questions, not in the interior color. I took their feedback and thought with the right graphic designer, I could make the interior fun even with black and white.

Is there a way for you to save money on printing or increase your royalty on each sale? To see if you could save on printing costs or earn more royalty, you can access KDP’s print cost and royalty calculator here.

4. What does updating your book look like? Update vs. 2nd Edition vs. Volume II

As you’ve gone through these thoughts to consider, you may be ready to start updating your book. However, KDP’s updating standards may determine which path you take: a simple update to your current book’s file, a big update needing a new edition of your book, or a whole new volume of your book!

If you’ve self-published with KDP, you can see how to update your book here. This may give you clarity on what path you’re update will take.

For my situation, I realized with KDP changing the interior from color to black and white wasn’t a simple fix of uploading a new version of the book’s file. With that type of change, I’d have to make a new book as a second edition with its own Amazon listing.

This meant I was starting from scratch with my listing and reviews. That felt like a big undertaking, but with my new perspective, I thought it was worth it and I decided I would slowly work on it during my son’s naps each day.

So, since I knew I was creating a whole new second edition and listing on Amazon, I decided it was my opportunity to change a lot and improve the game based on the critiques the book received. I changed the cover, the interior from color to black and white, the interior design, the trivia answers, and I added 250 questions to the game. Now that the second edition is published, I can see myself creating a Volume II in the future with a whole new set of questions for people who like the original version.

Do you have clarity on how updating your book will look? Is it updating your current file, creating a second edition, or volume two? You can see KDP’s updating standards here and you can always connect with Customer Service.

5. Do you have the capacity for it right now?

We’re coming up on our second winter with COVID, and I’m already feeling a change in my schedule and meeting up less and less with other people outside. Is this a season you may have an extra thirty minutes or hour every day to update your book and work on it? Could you wake up 45 minutes early, stay up 45 minutes later, or spend an hour on Saturday morning dedicated to it? This season of life may already be too much and updating your book may need to wait—that’s okay.

Like I shared earlier, I had trivia that needed updating, I had negative reviews concerning issues I could answer and improve on with the second edition, and I also knew if I changed the interior I could earn more with each sale. This meant I would be making a whole new Amazon listing. It’d be a big endeavor, but I had a feeling it would be worth it.

Do you feel like you can commit a small chunk of time every day or week to you updating your book or creating a new edition?

If you need guidance and accountability, I recommend reading Chandler Bolt’s book Published. He promises to guide you in writing a book and launching a best seller in 90 days. I’ve used this on my journey to launching both my first edition and second edition of 501 Questions: A Travel Game. The book’s given me the steps to take to have the motivation and encouragement to go for it. I also connect every Monday with an accountability partner who’s also working on a book, so we can keep each other accountable to making progress, encourage one another, and problem-solving together.

I started working on the second edition designs with my designer Margo from High Mountain Creative in March and I launched the second edition in November. It was a long and slow nine-month journey. With a little time dedicated every day or week (depending on the week) and with the support of my editor, my accountability partners, and launch team, the second edition is now in the world! We did it!

I wish you the best on your journey of updating or creating your next book whether you’re starting now or in the future!

In the meantime, if you’re looking for fun, laughter, and good conversation on your road trips, around the campfire, or zooming with family and friends, get our new game 501 Questions: A Travel Game Second Edition! You’ll get 750 questions and trivia to unplug, get to know your travel pals better, and make the time fly!

Like Lindsey, I ultimately decided to take a couple of days to read through and update my book. I found typos, fixed things that were no longer accurate, and instead of listing a completely new book, I just updated the book file and cover. I had over 500 reviews I did not want to lose!

As far as sales go, I launched the new updated version of the book early in March:

This gave a major boost in sales (this chart also shows a great COVID dip in April) and sales kept coming in throughout the year. Is it because I updated the book or because everyone bought an RV this year? That I can’t answer. But I’m certain updating the book only helped!

For more on how to publish your own book, check out the courses in our RV Entrepreneur School.

The post Should I Update My Book? 5 Things to Consider appeared first on Heath & Alyssa.

This post may contain affiliate links. See our affiliate disclaimer here.This is a guest post from my friend Lindsey Nubern, author of 501 Questions: A Travel Game. Earlier this year, I asked Heath, “Should I update my book?” It’s a … Read More

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I moved to a new home! For the latest reviews, features, and more. Visit my new Health, Fitness, Beauty, and Lifestyle Blog: The Macho Mom Smartphones and tablets are amazing pieces of technology and what makes them even more amazing are mobile applications or simply “apps.” These computer progr...

So last month we bought a house.It’s huge.I mean life-decision-wise it’s huge. It’s just a normal house in an exceptiona...
16/12/2020

So last month we bought a house.

It’s huge.

I mean life-decision-wise it’s huge. It’s just a normal house in an exceptionally beautiful part of Colorado.

We are no longer full-time RVers.

Which means I feel EXTRA pressure to deliver something unforgettably amazing to your inbox today.

Instead, I’ll just go for something short and honest.

Heath and I both started blogging in 2011 before we even knew each other because we both wanted to be writers. Unlike most RVers with their cute nomadic Instagram handles, we didn’t create HeathandAlyssa.com to share our travels with family and friends back home. (See the comments in our free blogging course to show that that’s why 90% of people start their travel blogs).

We started blogging to write books. Share stories. Because it’s something we couldn’t not do. And if we could find a way to support ourselves doing it, that was our dream job—and one we’d want to keep for decades, not just while we RVed.

So we created HeathandAlyssa.com

Not RVentrepreneurs.com

Not theTravelingPadgetts.com

Not RV.blog, which Heath really lobbied me to buy for some reason.

Heath & Alyssa.

Just us.

So that no matter what we were doing in life—traveling to all 50 states, filming a documentary, hosting a conference, starting a software company, building a campground, living abroad—we would have an outlet to write about it.

We actually did a whole podcast on this decision way back in 2016 (episode 61).

Because blogging, podcasting, writing books—it’s what we love to do no matter what.

Our blog hasn’t been about RVing for a long time. I’m pretty sure the last how-to article I wrote on RVing was back in 2017 when I launched my book. After tens of thousands of words of “here’s the difference between a class A and class C motorhome,” I was pretty tapped out.

Instead, we slowly transitioned to talking more and more about business and the struggles of RV entrepreneurship. Creating a life based on your own rules. Starting a business from scratch. Finding ways to grow your business while working less so you can travel more. Occasionally I’ve thrown in a really important article on how to make tacos in your RV. For the most part, we’re all business.

But in like a fun, not-boring way though.

Which is how our blog (and podcast and newsletter) are going to stay.

Sharing stories from Heath on building Campground Booking.

Talking about how to do big crazy things in your life.

And hopefully telling lots of stories of the big crazy thing in our life next: a campground.

But more on that soon 🙂

It feels like it’s a big transition, dropping that title of “full-timer,” but we’re still the same bite-off-more-than-we-can-chew adventurous entrepreneurs. Except now we don’t have to share a bedroom with a toddler 🙂

I’m really excited about what 2021 is going to bring our way! 🙂

The post What’s next? appeared first on Heath & Alyssa.

This post may contain affiliate links. See our affiliate disclaimer here.So last month we bought a house. It’s huge. I mean life-decision-wise it’s huge. It’s just a normal house in an exceptionally beautiful part of Colorado. We are no longer … Read More

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These vegan Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with walnuts, aka fudgy brownie cookies, are the perfect treat when you are craving chocolate and want a treat in cookie form. These fudgy and tender, melty-chip cookies are reminiscent of brownies, but with more sturdiness and bite to them than a gooey brownie. These Double Chocolate Chip Cookies...

The post Double Chocolate Chip Cookies appeared first on HealthyHappyLife.com.

These super rich and melty, double chocolate, chocolate chip cookies are reminiscent of fudgy brownies, complete with crunchy walnuts. Vegan.

If you’re like most people then you likely want to start each New Year off right, and so this is the best time to consid...
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If you’re like most people then you likely want to start each New Year off right, and so this is the best time to consider how to make your 2021 diet resolution work for you. The key to making this time different is to think of what went wrong in the past. How is a […]

The post Ways to Get Motivated for Your 2021 Diet Resolution appeared first on .

Here's how to get pumped up in order to make your 2021 diet resolution a success you can keep up over time.

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