PERSONAL: Woman Of Many Hats (All The Jobs I’m Investing My Time Into)

I’ve always been a girl who needs to stay entertained. The good thing is that it doesn’t take much to entertain me. Simple things like a rubber band could keep me busy for hours! I like mixing it up and spreading out where I invest my time. I like a little bit of everything you could say!

Some of you who have just started following me might have wondered if I’m a full time blogger. The answer is no, but the thought of blogging excites me enough that one day I hope to make blogging a part time job. Blogging is on the list of jobs I want to attain! Others of you who have been following me for awhile may have lost track about what I do. I want to lay it out for you here.

I wear many hats right now and I wanted to let you into my life a bit more on how I spend my hours. I’ve had many different jobs over the years. I’ve picked strawberries for an organic farm, I’ve cleaned public school busses (I got $50 per bus and I could clean 2 per day!), I’ve worked for 3 different catering businesses, interned at 3 different churches (Same denomination), and that has brought me where I am today!

1) I am a Personal Trainer

A lot of my family members are in the health field. My sister, mom, cousin, and aunt were/are all nurses. My two uncles are pharmacists. My aunt is a physical therapist. I’ve always liked learning about the body and liked my anatomy/physiology classes when we would focus on bones and muscles. I also like helping people. The only problem was that I didn’t feel the calling to be a nurse and I was thinking about pharmacy school, but that involved too much chemistry for my liking.

After taking some bootcamp classes, I fell in love with helping people stay motivated and exercising properly! Many people told me that I should be a personal trainer because I was so good at motivating them. I brushed it off at first, but then I discovered that I liked learning the WHY and the science behind exercises. There are so many benefits to excersise and creative ways to apply excersises that made me fall in love with it.

I decided to get my certification for personal training through NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) since they were the most credited program to go through. I studied online for 6 months and went to a local testing place to take my exam. I lived at the coffee shop pretty much everyday studying. I took my pup, Huntlie, with me and she curled up on the flannel I laid out on the floor for her and got ALL the attention her heart desired from the rest of the customers (I had just rescued her at 4 months old so she was a prime attraction). When I was ready, I took the test and passed the first time! It was such a relief!

As soon as I got my certification, I applied to a few different gyms. I wanted a position at this new gym near me, but they weren’t hiring at the time so I ended up getting hired as a personal trainer and “fit desk” attendant at the YMCA.

I’ve trained the nicest clients! I loved teaching them how to use equipment the correct way, to reach their goals, and design workouts for them to do at home. I’ve made them push themselves in a way that they appreciated. It was neat working one on one with them.

Between clients, I work at the “fit desk” which is where I answer any questions people have about the equipment, handle emergencies (a couple people have fallen on a treadmill or dropped weights), clean all the machines, and welcome people with my friendly smile. The people there are like family to me now. I’ve gone on outings with some of the members outside of the gym and they have come to my church to watch me preach sometimes. It’s not the best paying job and has some crazy early hours, but I love seeing the people.

2) I’m A Photographer

My first camera was a red metal Samsung digital camera. It was sleek! I loved it! I would take photos of everything and post them on Facebook (I never had a MySpace). People would leave comments saying how good they were which then prompted me to take more! I had that creative eye!

I would have my friends over and siblings come pose for me as I got into portrait shooting. I loved doing them. Soon, people started contacting me and asking what I charged for my photography. I had no idea because I was just playing around. Undercharging, I took family photos, senior pictures, prom portraits, professional resume photos, engagement pictures, sports team arrangements, and even a few weddings!

I’ve upgraded cameras since I first started. I now have a Canon Rebel T3, a Canon Powershot G16, a Canon Powershot SX740 HS (what I shoot with on a daily basis for my blog), a GoPro, and a couple polaroid cameras for fun! I’ve never taken a photography class, but I learned on my own how to edit using free software and apps. YouTube teaches you many things!

I have a page on Facebook and an account on Instagram now displaying my work and I get clients here and there for a little side hustle. It’s so fun! Check out Krystallization Photography.

3) I’m A Pastor

I was called into ministry at age 16 during a special youth retreat called Deco-Tec. I’ve always gone to church, but I didn’t really have a connection with Jesus. I was REALLY shy as a kid because my self confidence was really low. I was homeschooled but I wasn’t isolated since I went to church and a CO-OP with other homeschooled kids once a week. I just decided that talking just let others know how dumb I thought I was. Many other homeschooled kids would always try to correct me every time I answered a question in class, even though I usually shared a correct answer. They just wanted to outdo me. If you wanted to be popular in a homeschool setting, it wasn’t based on looks, it was based on your smarts. If you had both, then that was just a bonus (some exceptions, but that is just how I felt).

Anyway, when I went to the retreat with my best friend, we were treated with importance and other kids would just come up to you and start talking to you. Everyone had a friendly face and shined brighter than anything I’ve ever known. I was used to hearing boring sermons and having to sit in a wooden pew doodling just to survive the hour. I actually loved hearing about Jesus from the speakers who were on fire for Him. To them, it wasn’t a religion, it was a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus.

At the end of the weekend, I felt the Holy Spirit for the first time and shared in a microphone, which I totally would not have done if it wasn’t for the Spirit’s nudge, about what Jesus was doing in my life. I cried all the way home and felt called to be in ministry. I didn’t know what kind of ministry, but I just knew.

I started volunteering at my church and discovered my passion for worship and youth ministry. I learned how to play guitar over Christmas break one year and used that talent with the worship team. They needed a guitar player and, even though I wasn’t that good, they still used me every week. That led into teaching the middle school Sunday school class, which I loved even more! The kids would tell me that I was the best teacher they ever had and I loved it when they started to recall what they learned from my lessons.

My pastor, at the time, seen my passion and took me to leadership trainings, which led me to start the ordination process through the Church of God (Basically, we believe the Bible is true and if you have a relationship with Jesus by loving God and people, you are saved). The 3 year process took me 5 years to fully complete since they made me start over once they switched to online classes instead.

While working on becoming ordained, I also went to Bethel College (now called Bethel University) in Mishawaka, Indiana located by Notre Dame and graduated with a bachelor degree in Youth Ministry/ Adolescent Study and a minor in Biblical Studies.

Right after graduating from college, I got a summer internship at First Church of God in St Joseph, Michigan where I worked with around 30 youth. I then transferred to Clarkston Community Church in Clarkston, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit) where I was a youth intern/director with a student ministry of 200 middle school/high school youth. The youth pastor there taught me so much and I gained lots of experience for 3 years living in the homes of church members and working at the church.

Now, I am was recently hired at Anchor Church in Stevensville, Michigan where I am an associate pastor focusing on the student ministry. With God’s help, I’ve grown the ministry from 2 to almost 20 regular students! They are all really good kids and I still love teaching them about the love of Jesus. I can’t meet with them on a twice a week basis (once at school and once during the week) due to the social distancing and travel ban right now so I’ve been reaching out to them by creating TikTok messages and challenges lol

4) I’m A Blogger/ Influencer

I’ve had a blog for awhile. I was trying out different cites but wasn’t too serious. It all started when I created an Instagram account and was going to do a 365 Challenge where you post a photo everyday for a year. While I was looking into ideas of other accounts doing the same challenge, I discovered some bloggers and influencers. I followed a few and became enlightened and inspired by them. That is when I realized I wanted to be serious about blogging.

I researched the snot out of blogging and influencing! The more I found out and learned about it, the more excited I got about the industry. The same advice kept popping up saying to “just start” and you will discover your brand along the way. So that is what I did. My personality is all about jumping into things I think would be fun!

I get bored doing the same thing awhile easily, so I was worried that the almost 10 years it would take to develop my blogging brand would be a challenge. Over a year later, I am still at it! Since blogging combines all my loves, I feel like I will be around for awhile.

Blogging is a slow process. I am mainly into blogging and influencing because I have a love for fashion/styling, writing, photography, and developing relationships with others. It is so much fun to release my extra creativity through my blog and Instagram feed. I am not paid to blog. It is more of a hobby, for now. Brands are starting to reach out more frequently and I am receiving some gifted pieces in the mail that I will be reviewing and posting about, which is exciting! I hope to be accepted in the RewardStyle program on the LikeToKnowIt app so that my love for styling and influencing takes off even more!

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting me by clicking that FOLLOW button either on my blog website here, and/or on my Instagram account. You are all helping me to achieve my dream. I get stoked over ever like and cherish every comment you leave me. Brands look at my statistics and that is how I get to work with them. Maybe one day I will get paid to do what I love and for helping all of you find cute, casual outfits that you adore wearing!

5) I’m A Home Improver

My dad buys houses from auction for really cheap and fixes them up to either sell or rent. He hires me to help him do repair work and gives me painting jobs (I have pretty much painted every room of the houses he has fixed up). I have a good eye for design work so he asks me my opinion about how to upgrade rooms.

Once the houses are ready to rent, he takes care of the rest until they move out. Most of the renters that we have, leave the place a mess so I’m hired to repaint and clean. It keeps us busy and takes the rest of my free time.

I like this job because it is super flexible and I am able to pay my parents off for my loan I owe them. One of the houses we are fixing up, I may move into! It has that cozy, vintage feel and a pretty porch. I will be painting the whole outside this summer.

DO YOU HAVE MULTIPLE JOBS? I WOULD LOVE TO LEARN ABOUT THEM! FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A COMMENT TO SHARE!

Let me know if you have any further questions about my crazy life or just want to chat! I love getting to know you all!