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Central Coast

18 Best Restaurants in Cambria, California [Must-Try Places]

February 9, 2023January 31, 2023 by Mimi McFadden
Best Restaurants in Cambria

Here are the best restaurants in Cambria for casual dinners, fine dining, tasty breakfasts, and stunning ocean views.

Categories Central Coast Tags Central California, Food, San Luis Obispo County Leave a comment

31 Best Restaurants in Monterey, California [Seafood, Italian, Vegetarian, and More]

February 3, 2023October 27, 2022 by Mimi McFadden
best restaurants in monterey

From stunning views to local gems, this is your ultimate guide to the best restaurants in Monterey.

Categories Central Coast Tags Central California, Food, Monterey County Leave a comment

24 Best Big Sur Hikes to Explore One of the Most Beautiful Areas in California

February 2, 2023June 6, 2022 by Mimi McFadden
best big sur hikes

The best Big Sur hikes that showcase the natural beauty of this unique coastal paradise in California. 

Categories Central Coast Tags Big Sur, Central California, Hiking, Monterey County Leave a comment

25 Best Restaurants in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California

February 3, 2023May 26, 2022 by Mimi McFadden
best restaurants carmel featured

The best restaurants for a casual lunch with friends, afternoon drinks with your dog, or a romantic dinner with your significant other in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Categories Central Coast Tags Central California, Food, Monterey County Leave a comment

34 Things to do in Carmel, California in 2023 (Ultimate Bucket List)

February 3, 2023March 24, 2022 by Mimi McFadden
Things to do in Carmel, California

The best things to do in Carmel-by-the-Sea to get the most out of this charming Central Coast town.

Categories Central Coast Tags Bucket List, Central California, Monterey County Leave a comment

17-Mile Drive Road Trip Guide: How to Make the Most of Your Trip

February 2, 2023March 9, 2022 by Mimi McFadden
17 mile drive road trip guide

Get the most out of the 17-Mile Drive with our ultimate guide to the best stops and things to do on one of the most scenic drives in California.

Categories Central Coast Tags Central California, Monterey County, Road Trips Leave a comment

52 Things to do in Monterey, California (Ultimate 2023 Bucket List) 

February 3, 2023February 15, 2022 by Mimi McFadden
best things to do in monterey, california

The best things to do in Monterey, from sightseeing and whale watching to where to find the best restaurants for a romantic sunset dinner.

Categories Central Coast Tags Bucket List, Central California, Monterey County Leave a comment

Big Sur Camping Guide: 12 Best Big Sur Campgrounds in 2023

February 2, 2023February 4, 2022 by Mimi McFadden
Big Sur Camping Guide

A guide to the best Big Sur camping spots, including tips for visiting one of the most beautiful areas in California.

Categories Central Coast Tags Camping, Central California, Monterey County Leave a comment

Morro Bay Camping Guide: Best & Most Scenic Morro Bay Campgrounds

February 1, 2023January 13, 2022 by Mimi McFadden
Morro Bay Camping

A detailed guide to the best Morro Bay camping, including the most scenic campgrounds and what to expect at each campsite.

Categories Central Coast Tags Camping, Central California, Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo County Leave a comment

26 Things to do in San Luis Obispo, California | Ultimate Bucket List

February 1, 2023November 9, 2021 by Mimi McFadden
best things to do in San Luis Obispo, California

The best things to do in San Luis Obispo, California – from hot springs to vineyards and where to eat, stay, and play.

Categories Central Coast Tags Bucket List, Central California, San Luis Obispo County Leave a comment
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Since it’s that time of year for reflection and Since it’s that time of year for reflection and goals, I just finished tallying up my budgeting spreadsheets. Here’s a look at The Atlas Heart’s growth in the past four years, and our projected growth for 2023. Letzzzz go! 

✨2019✨
Annual revenue = $4,787
Total pageviews = 256,245

✨2020✨
Annual revenue = $12,600 
Total pageviews = 349,658

✨2021✨*started working on TAH full-time 
Annual revenue = $66,797 
Pageviews = 872,919 

✨2022✨
Annual revenue = $194,974
Pageviews = 2,386,618 

✨2023 (Projected)✨
Annual revenue = $470,000 
Pageviews = 3,600,000 

✨Milestone Goal (projected to reach by 2025)✨
Become a million dollar business

💰Breakdown of income💰
Ad revenue = 56.5%
Affiliate revenue = 43.3%
Products = 0.2%
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Happy New Year!! ✨🍾
Even though I’ve been running my website since 2 Even though I’ve been running my website since 2012, it always used to be my passion not my main source of income. 

It was a way of sharing my experiences and perspective about the places I traveled. I never had a business plan or looked all that much into how to make money from it. 

Over the next six years, I went from bartending to running a somewhat successful consulting business as a freelance marketer that still allowed me to travel and work remotely. 

Although I always imagined being able to make a living from my website, it honestly seemed unlikely that I’d be able to make money from something that I enjoyed so much. 

It wasn’t until 2018 that I started teaching myself SEO and invested in numerous courses. 

It took another year after that to start looking into how to monetize my website, and that was only after I lost one of my biggest clients and my monthly income was cut by 80%.

I thought it was as good a time as any to finally give it my best shot to create a successful blog that supported me. 

I started building up a monetization strategy, intertwining my SEO skills to start making a little more money, one month at a time. 

And then seven months later, March 2020 happened. And we all know how that went for the travel industry. 

l was very close to walking away at that point, but I had seen how much growth there was in just seven months before everything came tumbling down. I couldn’t unsee that potential. So, after three months of a lot of languishing,  I kept working on my site, more determined than ever. 

It took another year and two months after that to finally be making just enough to end all my client work and start focusing on my website full time. I wrote an income report a month after that in June of 2021.

It was called “How I made $6,598 from my blog in June 2021.” When I wrote that article, I had big goals to hit 100,000 page views in a month before the end of the year (which I did!) and to make over $6,000 in a month again. 

Secretly, I was hoping to double that amount by the following year, but looking back, I probably should’ve dreamed bigger. 

Continued in the comments below👇
11 fake ring boxes later, @suneelj1 finally gave m 11 fake ring boxes later, @suneelj1 finally gave me the real one today on our favorite hiking trail in Berkeley. 💍❤️
2 years since our first date. ✨❤️ My first i 2 years since our first date. ✨❤️ My first introduction to Suneel was coming across his profile picture on OK Cupid where he was ungracefully balancing an Oreo on his face. He hasn’t stopped making me laugh since.
We’re feeling 22! 💃🏻🎉🎶. . ✅Vaccin We’re feeling 22! 💃🏻🎉🎶. 
.
✅Vaccinated + negative COVID tests for everyone the day of before the party. 
✅ Fancy on top, casual on the bottom.
✅Piñata, beer pong, rage cage, karaoke, confetti party poppers, midnight countdown, and all the food. 
✅ A memorable NYE with some of my favorite people. ❤️
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.
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Happy 2022!! 🎉💃🏻🍾✨
In May 2021, I finally took the leap. I decided to In May 2021, I finally took the leap. I decided to end all client work and start working on my website full time. Since then, it has been a wild ride. It’s mind-boggling to finally see something grow into what you’ve always imagined it could be after 8 years of dreaming about it. 

In 2021, I published 87 posts. I finally learned how to delegate better, hiring one VA and three writers to create a team of brilliant and talented women beside me. Site traffic grew by 149% to around 870,000 page views for the year (averaging around 93,000 per month for Q4). Annual revenue grew by 300% and included hitting a new benchmark - our first five-figure month (with many more to come)! I also explored so many new corners of California in the name of research, including the Channel Islands, Pinnacles National Park, more of Big Sur and the Bay Area, and even tackled my biggest adventure yet - hiking the Trans-Catalina Trail over 5 days. 

My goals for 2022? There are too many to name here, but just know that it will be a year focused on growth and chasing big things. 2021 was a taste of what could be, and this year I finally feel ready to hit those big milestones I used to only dream of (a consistent publishing schedule, six figures, and well over 1M page views before the year is done). 

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!! Let’s go kick some ass in 2022.💃🏻✨
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