// My Story

In bullet points:

  • Went looking for a 2 bedroom apartment to rent in 2007
  • Got lost and ended up buying a $350,000 house on a whim 48 hours later, with no money down, or any idea of what was getting into
  • Went online searching for a budget as didn’t have one…
  • Came across the blogging world and fell in love with the transparency!
  • Started my own personal finance blog (BudgetsAreSexy.com) to have fun and be held more accountable (I shared my monthly net worth reports for 10+ years!)
  • It unexpectedly took off and started making money (20,000,000+ views)
  • Became a full-time, self-employed, blogger ($1,000,000+ made since)
  • Went on to build, sell, and manage a small empire of finance blogs
  • Increased personal net worth from $50,000 to $1,000,000+
  • Won 12 industry awards, including Blog of The Year and Lifetime Achievement
  • Named a Top “Social Influencer” in personal finance & wealth
  • Regularly featured in the media: Forbes, Inc Magazine, New York Times, LA Times, Kiplinger, Entrepreneur, Business Insider
  • Became a Blogging Coach
  • Became a Money Coach
  • Became a Fintech Advisor and Judge (Digit.co / FinCon Fintech Competition)
  • Have helped broker over 100 finance blogs, including all of my own
  • Launched a year-long philanthropy project raising $90,000+ of cash and goods via micro-donations (all filmed a la Extreme Home Makeover!)
  • Launched Rockstar Finance – a curation and community platform with 5,000,000+ views and dubbed a “go-to website for money advice”
  • Launched a popular personal finance and blogging forum
  • Launched the industry’s first searchable financial blog directory!
  • Fundraised $20,000 through a community-driven micro-giving project
  • Sold Rockstar Finance for (low) six figures to free up more room for FAMILY
  • Sold Budgets Are Sexy for (med) six figures to free up more room for LIFE
  • Built and launched a curation site for The Motley Fool: AllStarMoney.com
  • Re-acquired Budgets Are Sexy and came out of retirement! (Lol…)
  • Incredibly grateful for that random twist of fate 15 years ago 🙏

*Last updated: 7/24/2023
**For a list of my failures over the past 15 years, click here