Starting Over in Real Time with Aimee Allen

This week, we get into some real time moving updates. From purging, to selling furniture, and making sure my luggage is within Emirates weight limits, there is a lot to do and 1 more week to go before the big move back to the US. On top of that I did some research on US and UK trademarks and what I found out actually upset me. I have to switch gears in my initial trademark plans. Lastly, if you are curious about what my Amazon listing looks like, click on the link here. And if you end up buying one of my beach bags, send me a DM on the IG page linked below! I would love to hear from you! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

I am back! I have accidently been out for almost a month. It was not intentional, but I didn't have have a laptop for several weeks. There is a lot to catch you up on since the last episode. This week we recap what has been going on for the last several weeks. Between Amazon trademarks, recording content, and finishing my last day of work, there is a lot to catch you up on. subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

This week I share with you my experience of buying my company's stock options that I was awarded by company. I had no idea what I was doing at first, but I finally figured it out. I explain that process to you. Spoiler alert: it was kind of scary to go through it, but I am happy it's all done. I also have 2 more weeks left at work!! It's going to fly by and there are so many mixed emotions around leaving. Lastly, there are 2 big announcements this week!! Let's get into it! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

In this episode, I had to make sure my beach bags were ready to be picked up by the courier! He was scheduled to come pick up the beach bags on Saturday morning, so I had a deadline to meet. This meant I had to make sure all the barcodes were added to each and every beach bags. I had to make sure all the boxes had the correct number of beach bags. AND, I had to make sure to print the correct shipping labels for the boxes. The courier came to my apartment on time and took all seven boxes away. They are on their way to the amazon warehouse now! What do I do now. Your guess is as good as mine, it's time to figure that part out. Stay tuned! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

In this episode, I face payment errors in paying off my school loans. Then it was time to get the beach bags ready to send to Amazon. First, I had to print UPS barcodes for each beach bag, then I had to figure out what the Amazon storage limits were. Finally I was able to confirm a courier to come pick up my shipment to send to Amazon!! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

This week we go through my struggles of self motivation, and making sure I find balance in life. Saying yes to balance gave me the opportunity to test out my beach bag with my friends. Also I finally submitted my product listing to Amazon. Next step is to send the 200 beach bags to the Amazon warehouse. Stay tuned! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

This week I share with you the experience that I had when trying to get Amazon product images made from a freelancer I found on Fiverr. It was not a good experience so I walk you through the entire thing. I will also share with you on the Instagram page link below the different product images the freelancer sent me throughout the rounds of revisions he had to do. Lastly, I'm about to spend over $60,000. It's scary spending that kind of money but I guess this is what real adult thing looks like. subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

It is True!!!! In 8 weeks I will no longer be working in my 9-5 job! It is both exciting and scary at the same time. This week, I share with you the list of things I achieved which made it feel like I was ready to take the next step. Goals to achieve before I quit my job: 1- Get my 10 year- Golden Visa for Dubai. CHECK! 2- Do egg freezing and have my work insurance pay for it. CHECK! 3- Book and attend all my important doctor's appointments and regular sessions with physios and therapists. (Take full advantage of my health insurance while I can) CHECK! 4- Receive my full annual bonus payout for the 2023 working year. CHECK! 5- Attend my last Annual Sales Kick off conference in the US (free flight home). CHECK! 6- Get approval to get my 2024 annual flight home paid for by work. CHECK! 7- Start working on a side hustle and launch it. CHECK (ongoing)! 8- Save as much money as possible for the last 1.5 years. CHECK! 9- Save enough money to pay off my school loans in full. More on this later. CHECK! 10- Save enough money to pay $25K to buy my company stock options. CHECK!! Reach out on the IG page linked below to share your thoughts!! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

This could very well be my last time going to the annual kick off conference for my company. Things are up in the air this year. After getting my finances and other life admin things organized while I was home in Austin, TX, it's time to head back to Dubai and get back to work. I am not ready for that. subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

This week, we had to get ready to fly to Atlanta in the US for a work conference. From trying to shop for wintery clothes, to having an appointment for my MRI, getting the dogs ready for me to be gone for 2 weeks, AND... almost missing my connecting flight from Houston to Atlanta, you will join me moment by moment. Stay connected on IG, as well! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

With the stickers and thank you card finally ready for pick up from the print shop, it is finally time to get to work on these 200 beach bags. 14 boxes worth of beach bags have been waiting for about 6 weeks for this moment. This weekend I sit down on my living room floor and start unboxing, unwrapping, and repackaging 200 beach bags. I never thought it would actually take this long. ...I might need some help. subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

This week, I was able to get my product photos professionally taken. Thank goodness, because me trying to do it on my own was a big flop. Not everyone can be a professional photographer without any experience whatsoever. And that is something I learned first hand. I now have professional product photos to go through and it's finally time to get my amazon product listing images created. Yay! This weekend was time to get my side hustle Saturday on... but somehow every time I sat down to work on something towards the side hustle, I got in my own way. My procrastination skills were next level this weekend. How do you manage to get ahead of procrastination? subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

I have three more steps to finish before I can get my beach bags listed on Amazon: 1- Get my stickers and thank you cards printed and re-package 200 beach bags. This will cost me $191. 2- Get professional product photos taken and have 10 product images edited. This will cost me $109. 3- Pay for a freelancer to create my Amazon product listing images, which includes infographics, lifestyle photos, etc. This will cost me $158 dollars. After these 3 steps are all done, I will finally be able to official list my products on Amazon and ship them to the amazon warehouse! Thank you for following the journey! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

This week, it was time to take product photos! I give it a good shot by creating my own mini photo shoot set up in my living room. I think it would work out perfectly until the photos were not coming out like I thought they would. I reached out for help and the responses I got were surprising. Feels like fate. Check out my IG page linked below to see my mini photoshoot set up! Let me know your thoughts or if you have any advice. subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

I went to 2 different print shops to get some quotes for the things I want to print as part of my packaging. I designed a thank you card that I will add to each and every beach bag. I also want to use my logo and create a large sticker that I will use as part of my packaging. I will need to print 220 of these two items separately. I didn't expect the cost to be cheap, but I got two crazy different prices from the two print shops I went to. The first print shop quoted me 600 AED for 220, 10cm by 10cm thank you cards, printed in color and on card style paper. Thats over $150 for just the thank you card. They also quoted me 30 AED per each sticker that I wanted to print. So for 220 stickers, that would 6,600 AED, which is about $1800. That was a crazy amount of money to spend on stickers. The second print shop I went to visit quoted me 300 AED for the same thank you cards, and 400 AED for the same stickers that I wanted to get. That is a total of 700 AED, which is $190. When you spread out that cost per beach bag, that add .90 cents to each bag, and that feels a lot more reasonable. Next thing to figure out is product images for Amazon. Stay tuned! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

There is something that arrived at my front door on Christmas Day! It was the best Christmas present I have ever gotten myself. Now it's time to do the following: 1- figure out my plans for packaging 2- get quotes from a few suppliers 3- figure out how I want to design my thank you cards 4- get ready to take some product photos 5- find a freelancer to design my Amazon product listing images. (That is a skill!) Keep following the journey of starting a side hustle in real time! (...and actually on the side.) subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

In this episode... - my mom shares her feedback on my new beach bag design - we talk about what my next steps are - we talk shipping logistic options - we compare selling on Amazon vs. selling on Etsy vs. selling independently - we brainstorm ways to best kick start her business idea and more! And of course, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!!! May your 2024 be your brightest year yet! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

In this episode, my mom and I keep talking about her business idea, but for some reason, I start getting into the concept of capitalism and sustainability and can't seem to stop myself. It was during this conversation with my mom, that I start opening up about thoughts I have had recently, but have not been able to express them out loud until now. How do we merge the goals of being an entrepreneur and being sustainable? How do we ensure our own goals and dreams do not leave a negative impact in this world in the long-term. This journey has opened my eyes to thoughts I never could have planned on having, but in this episode, I am realizing that this is actually an important topic for me. I don't have the answers, but I think starting with the awareness that something should be done is a good step. Now it's time to start thinking more in those terms and find ways to take action towards being a sustainable entrepreneur. What are your thoughts on this topic? I'd love to hear it! Send me a DM in my IG page linked below. subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

In this episode: - I got the flu!!! I was struggling the last week, so much so that I didn't have any energy left in my body to publish an episode last week. So last week I took a sick week of from posting! BUT WE ARE BACK! We are on the recovering side of the flu now! Thank God! - My mom share her business idea with me, and it was definitely not what I expected to hear. Did she just offer me a job? I don't know... you tell me! Let me know your thoughts on my mom's business idea!! Share your feedback in my DMs! My IG page is linked below. subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!

In this episode I recap my second and final week back home in Austin, Texas. It was Thanksgiving week and after 8 years of skipping Thanksgiving back home, it felt good to celebrate the holiday again with my family and friends back home! Also, Alibaba did refund me my duplicate charge, but not fully. Listen to the episode to hear what happened and how I had to fix it again. Lastly, my beach bags are done and now shipped to my apartment!!! So exciting! Time to keep going on the side hustle next steps! subscribeFollowhttps://www.instagram.com/startingover_inrealtimeleave any questionsRate and reviewshare this with anyone and everyone I am grateful for any and all your support as we are brand new! Thanks for listening!