Southern California Archives - The Atlas Heart

15 Best Gold Rush Towns in California to Visit This Year

January 27, 2023January 27, 2023 by Mimi McFadden

Best Gold Rush Towns in California

Best Gold Rush Towns in California

Find out where the best gold rush towns in California are, plus the best things to do in each one.

23 Best Restaurants in Hollywood, California [Must-Try Places]

January 26, 2023January 20, 2023 by Mimi McFadden

Best Restaurants in Hollywood

Best Restaurants in Hollywood

These are the best restaurants in Hollywood for fine dining, a quick bite to eat, or celebrity spotting.

Best Ziplining in California: 13 Places for Aerial Adventures & Canopy Tours

January 16, 2023December 21, 2022 by Mimi McFadden

Best Ziplining in California

Best Ziplining in California

Soar through forests, over vineyards, and into canyons on the best ziplining spots in California.

17 Best Restaurants in Newport Beach, California [Good Food & Waterfront Views]

January 20, 2023November 22, 2022 by Mimi McFadden

A picture of the famous pier at Balboa featuring boats, restaurants, shops and a Ferris wheel, best restaurants in Newport Beach featured image.

A picture of the famous pier at Balboa featuring boats, restaurants, shops and a Ferris wheel, best restaurants in Newport Beach featured image.

Dine by the ocean at the best restaurants in Newport Beach, California.

The Ultimate Guide to Little Italy, San Diego: Things to do, Restaurants, and Hotels

December 26, 2022October 12, 2022 by Mimi McFadden

little italy san diego

little italy san diego

These are the best things to do in Little Italy, San Diego, from where to eat to the best places to stay.

45 California Redwood Parks: Ultimate Guide to the Best Redwoods in California

January 17, 2023October 4, 2022 by Mimi McFadden

california redwood parks

california redwood parks

This article is your complete guide to the forty-five California redwood parks.

17 Best Ghost Towns in California, from Spooky Old Gold Rush Towns to Abandoned Cities

January 16, 2023September 1, 2022 by Mimi McFadden

ghost towns in california

ghost towns in california

We’ve compiled the best ghost towns in California for those who love eerie old gold rush history.

San Diego Zoo vs Safari Park: Main Differences & Which One is Better

August 31, 2022 by Mimi McFadden

san diego zoo vs safari park

san diego zoo vs safari park

This article is your guide to comparing the San Diego Zoo vs Safari Park, what animals you can see in each park, and how to choose between them.

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%
.
.
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

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. ❤️
.
.
.
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.💃🏻✨

Follow Me on Instagram

Join the Adventure

Get first dibs on travel updates, tips, and deals. Life is an adventure, join me around the world!

HOME
START HERE
DESTINATIONS
BLOG

ABOUT
RESOURCES
CONTACT
PRIVACY

HOME
START HERE
DESTINATIONS
BLOG

ABOUT
RESOURCES
CONTACT
PRIVACY

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

© 2022 The Atlas Heart | Design made in collaboration with Ink & Honey Design Co. + Michelle Robins Creative