It’s that time of year when I love looking back on the past 365 days analyzing what worked, what didn’t, celebrating milestones and goals achieved, and understanding what could have been done differently as other goals fell short. I hope this is insightful or helpful whether you find yourself in business or just celebrating another year gone by. This is my 2022 recap.

Before I get carried away with January goal-setting, I love looking back on the year that passed and gain perspective, write down lessons learned, and celebrate all the wonderful things that took place. 

2020 looked very different in terms of world events, it’s still been a year full of blessing, joy, and growth. And while that’s all true, it’s also been a year of lessons learned the hard way, tough moments, and times of thinking “should I just quit?”

Since I started my business back in 2016, my office has been in the same room of our house. A small, corner room with 2 windows, now next to the baby’s nursery.

I love having a dedicated office in the house because it really helps me mentally separate work from home– even when it feels the same! It’s just nice being able to turn off the lights, close the door, and be “done” with work for the day.

Last year, 2019 was my first year as a full-time entrepreneur as a brand and website designer. And it was amazing. Ups and downs that you can read all about here, but basically working from home and doing work that inspires me everyday is such a blessing and I love it. Well, my world is about to change…

As I sat in my chair behind my iMac in my little home office, a wave of excitement shot through me. I was in charge of my whole day. Not only that, my whole year. 2019 would have so much to teach me, but in this moment, I felt freedom and joy at the expansiveness of the week, the work I would get to do, and the control I had over my life.

It’s March, and that means that R Artspace is turning 3 years old! Kinda crazy that it took almost 3 years of side-hustling to get to full-time status (If you wanna read about that journey, head over to this recent post). But in light of recently going full-time, I would love to share some misconceptions I had about working from home and what actually happened.

Just 10 days ago Fawad and I were enjoying London in all it's beauty. It was a perfectly sunny day and the city was excited (the Royal wedding was taking place the next day) and we were enjoying the aromatic flavors and tastes of Dishoom restaurant. It was the culmination of our 26 day European adventure and we would be departing the next day on a 5:50 AM flight.

Ya know, daydreams are a fun past time. But sometimes, when you write those dreams down, talk about them, then take the steps to make them happen, they actually become a reality.

This month marks 2 years since I started R Artspace. It’s a little crazy to think about. It started as a side-hustle and that’s what it is today but I’m not as worried about it as I was back then. Ok, it comes and goes… but at this moment as I’m typing this, I feel great about it.

For those of you who don't know, a side hustle is referred to when talking about a business you nurture "on the side" to your full-time day job. At least, that's what it is for me. I feel like in today's day and age, a lot of millennials think that it's sexy to have a side hustle or to be an entrepreneur, and don't get me wrong, it's fun, but it's also, maybe not as glamorous as one might think. But we'll get into that.