That’s exactly what happened to us just in less than three years after starting our blog The Savvy Couple.
Today I am sharing our awesome story to motivate and inspire you!
How This All Started
Growing up we couldn’t be more of your typical boy and girl next door. High school sweethearts, ready to take the next step in our lives to follow our dreams that we had since we were both kids.
Kelan and I both have unique moments that we can remember back to when we were very young that had a big impact on shaping our dream jobs.
Kelan’s Law Enforcement Dream
It all started when Kelan as a 7-year-old boy.
Kelan, his brother, and mom went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. On their way out, he found a $50 bill on the ground. Ecstatic and jumping for joy Kelan felt like he struck gold!
They went to the car and Kelan could not stop staring at the $50 bill. He turned it over and read the words “In God We Trust”.
Kelan immediately looked to his mom and said they had to turn the bill into the police station. The police officers were very proud of him for doing the right thing and told him they would contact him in 90 days if no one claims the money.
90 days came and went and Kelan got the call. His mom brought him back to the police station.
Kelan received a police hat, badge, and the $50. A local newspaper caught wind of the story and he made it into the town paper. He felt like he was Superman and his dream of being a police officer and doing good in the world was born.
Brittany’s Teaching Dream
My mom ran a daycare out of our home when I was about 5 years old.
In our basement, we had a school room that the kids and I played in. I, of course, played the role of the teacher every time. None of the other kids were allowed to be the teacher. To say I might have been a little bossy was an understatement.
Before the kids left for the day, I made sure they turned in their papers to me. I spent the rest of the night putting stickers on the top of the papers, tidying up the classroom, and placing the library cards back into the sleeves in front of the books.
To say I knew I wanted to be a teacher from a young age was also an understatement!
Entering Adulthood
We worked extremely hard to make our dreams a reality after graduating from college. Kelan graduated with a B.B.A with a concentration in finance and I hold a M.S. in education. We were both ready to finally pursue our dream jobs.
After bouncing from job to job, Kelan finally got hired by our local sheriff’s department as a Jail Deputy and I landed a position as a fourth-grade teacher in a neighboring public school district a few years later. We reached our “dream jobs” by the age of 25.
Both working in a New York State union we couldn’t be more set for life. We had amazing health benefits, retirement accounts, and large pensions.
Why would we ever want to quit our jobs when it seemed like we had everything going for us?
Two words, happiness and freedom!
The Hard Truth About Adulting
Our dream jobs, unfortunately, did not pan out to everything we thought they would be.
Kelan and I were working opposite shifts. We rarely got to see each other. He worked nights and I worked days.
Even on his days off he still had to keep the same routine so his body would stay in sync to his current schedule. Kelan was also being forced to work overtime and our time together was getting pushed farther apart.
As a teacher, I had every holiday off, summer break and many other days off. The dream work schedule and we LOVE our vacations!
But having different work schedules didn’t allow us to travel as much as we liked to. The worst part was not even having holidays off together.
The brutal work schedule, forced overtime, and stress of working in a violent environment caused Kelan to fall into a horrible depression. Something he has never come close to dealing with before.
He convinced himself that he was stuck working at a job he hated. He was unable to see any way out.
As a wife, it was so difficult watching my husband fall deeper and deeper and begin to turn into a person I didn’t recognize.
All I could do was support him and remind him to put his faith in God to turn the situation around.
Financial Responsibilities
Kelan, like most 20-somethings in America, could not just leave his job. It just wasn’t an option due to our financial situation. We had over $40,000 in student loan debt, our mortgage for our house we just bought, and all our monthly expenses.
For me, I was just getting into my career. I was taking substitute teaching jobs here and there but had no real leads on full-time positions. The market in New York is tough! We were relying on his income to support us.
If you couldn’t tell already Kelan and I are best friends. We have a very unique relationship and have been called “the goofy couple” many times.
We do everything together and are often inseparable. Having the stress of one income, debt, and not seeing each other we knew this is not how we saw our life going forever.
We needed something to change. We needed to start taking action!
We Took Massive Action
Change never happens overnight!
You have to dream big, make a plan, and take action every day until you achieve it.
Kelan needed to get out of working in the jail. It was a danger to his mental and physical health. As I said, he could not just quit.
Luckily God opened a door when a close friend randomly joked about working for him at our local Christian college.
It was the perfect opportunity for Kelan to get back on his feet and find his identity again.
He took a massive pay cut going from $25+ per hour to $13 per hour. But we trusted God it was the right decision knowing we could find other ways to make extra money.
Kelan has always had an entrepreneurial heart. Starting his first side hustle flipping items on eBay at thirteen years old.
Searching For Ways to Make Money Online
We started searching the internet for ways to make extra money. We wanted something we could do online and make an extra $500 per month.
In our searching, we came across normal people who started a blog and were making a great income each month. We were super skeptical at first thinking it was way too good to be true.
But then we came across some individuals that were openly sharing their blogging income reports. We were hooked!
Starting Our Blog
In July 2016, we decided that we were going to start our own blog. We asked ourselves, what is something we are both passionate about that we could talk about forever?
The answer, personal finance and our blog The Savvy Couple was born!
At first, our blog was just a hobby we enjoyed doing together.
It wasn’t until nine months later when we were offered our first blog sponsorship for $100 that we experienced first-hand money can be made online with a blog.
For some reason, we felt bad taking $100 so we talked them down to $50! That story is for another time.
Kelan Asked to Quit His Day Job
Kelan came to me after the $50 sponsorship and asked me if he could quit his day job and run the blog full-time.
I could tell he was super excited and passionate about it so I couldn’t say no.
He quickly learned how to make money online freelancing.
Within two months he more than replaced his income with tutoring online and blogging.
I helped work on the blog nights after teaching and on weekends and holidays. We hustled our butts off!
We also cut back on expenses everywhere we could. I had to say good-bye to cable and I started cutting more coupons.
Our Blog Started Taking Off
From the day Kelan quit his job, I could sense our life-changing. Our blog continued to grow and provide for us in more ways than we could have ever imagined.
Our blogging income continued to grow quickly allowing us to pay off our remaining $25,000 of student loan debt in under 5 months even with having our newborn baby girl.
Our next goal was to have our blog make $10,000 per month for a consecutive six months. We did and God gave us a very clear sign that we were BOTH suppose to quit our jobs and work from home on our now six-figure blog.
When we made over $43,000 in a single month we officially crossed into the territory of those famous income reports we read about three years ago that we thought were unrealistic.
Kelan and I made my entire years teaching salary in a single month with our blog!
If this wasn’t a sign from God to have us both home working on the business then we didn’t know what was.
We put our complete trust in God and I quit my job as a teacher.
We Created Our Dream Life Before Turning 30
I no longer have to wake up, get ready for work, make my lunch and then head out for a 20-minute commute. A 20-minute commute is nothing to complain about, but no commute is better!
I no longer have to schedule visits to the restroom around a schedule. If you know any teacher, you know this is a constant struggle.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved every minute of being a teacher. But I love every minute of being with my family more!
Life is too short.
We have such a fun routine now that I am a full-time blogger too!
Kelan and I are both routine people. We like structure in our life. Now that we are home together we don’t just sit around binge Netflix all day.
We would never have had the success that we had if we didn’t put hours into our business. Work hard – play harder!
The flexibility that blogging has brought in our life is pretty incredible. There are not many other jobs you could say that offer this much flexibility.
When we roll into the gym around 8:00 am we are blessed to be the only ones there. While working as a teacher and being a full-time mom, I never got to the gym.
The other week we had to take Kallie to the doctor and we didn’t have to plan to take off work. Every time they had available, we could take.
We are looking forward to searching for last-minute discounted plane tickets and taking off to wherever we want. The blog is going to bless us with a lot more travel in our future!
Spending more time with my family is the biggest reason why I made the jump.
Join our private Facebook group The Savvy Couple Community to get the support you need to find your freedom in life!
How to Create Your Own Dream Life?
Stop Caring About What Others Think
One of the biggest reasons people don’t take action in life and chase their dream is due to the fact they care far too much what others think of them.
This was a huge hurdle for us to overcome as well! Switching jobs, taking a pay cut, living well below our means, and taking risks were all things people judged us on.
The moment we realized it does not matter what others think about us changed our lives.
Dream BIG
Close your eyes. Picture your life five years from now.
Are you still at the job you are at now? Are you where you want to be financially? Are you living your best life?
Before you create a plan, you need to think with the end in mind.
If it makes it easier, write down your goals and aspirations.
Maybe you are someone who likes to make a vision board. Do whatever you need to do to keep your eyes on the target.
What is your WHY? What is motivating you to make a change?
Create a Real Plan
After you have your vision for your life, you need to create a plan and layout the steps you need to take in order to reach those goals.
In order to make a successful jump to full-time blogging, you need to have some things in place before you put in your two-week notice.
- You should have at least 6-12 months of living expenses saved up.
- You need to make sure all your debt is paid.
- Be willing to make money as a freelancer and have a backup plan.
You also should look into freelancing and other ways to make money online while learning blogging basics.
Take Massive Action
Dive in the blogging world and start getting yourself familiar with bloggers and resources.
Actionable steps to take now:
- Subscribe to blogs you love and look up to
- Follow bloggers on their social media
- Listen to marketing/blogging podcasts
- Read blogging articles
- Purchase your domain and hosting
We would have never made it this far without the blogging community and the incredible mentors we had along the way.
Join our FREE Facebook support group Blogging with Purpose and click here to start a blog now.
Hustle Your Butt Off
Blogging is NOT a get rich quick scheme. It is the most challenging journey Kelan and I have ever had.
The learning curve is big and it takes a good 6 to 12 months to really understand how to run a successful money making blog.
With that being said if you are willing to learn every day, treat your blog like a business and have a good work ethic you can be successful.
Brandon Gallie’s blogging income case study does a great job of giving the rundown on how you can expect your income to look when blogging.
Year 1 – A complete grind and getting over the massive learning curve.
Year 2 – Starting to figure it out, building an audience, more consistent income.
Year 3 – Breakout year, massive growth, focusing on strengths, income skyrockets.
You need to learn and hustle your butt off every day in order to find success.
Invest in Yourself
When we made that first $50, we didn’t go out to a restaurant and have dinner to celebrate.
That $50 was invested right back into the business.
Blogging is just like any other business, you need to spend some money to make money.
Fortunately, the first year of blogging can be very affordable.
Paying for small things like hosting, premium theme, social media scheduler, and maybe a course or two.
The best thing you can do is treat it like a business from the start and invest in your education. That is exactly what our course Bloggers’ Secrets helps bloggers do.
Make Enough Money to Jump
Most likely you’re not going to be able to quit your job after landing a $50 sponsorship.
Take it one step at a time.
- Cut all unnecessary spending
- Save a 6-12 month nest egg
- Grow your side hustle into a legitimate income
- Start considering your options
We never even considered having me walk away from teaching until we could prove to ourselves our blog could support us.
For us, that was making $10,000/month for six consecutive months. Then we hit paydirt not once but twice with a $27,000 month and a $43,000 month.
That was when we knew this was in Gods hands, this was His plan, and we needed to listen.
There is no reason in today’s digital society you can’t make a full-time income working from home.
We get all get one precious life to live. Chase your dreams and live with no regrets!