2007 Review: A Time of Change

2007 was a big year. It was a year that many things changed for the better. At times it was tough, but it really was a great year.

Family

My wife and I had our second daughter, Layla. Ah…yes…huge change, but definitely for the better. Layla and our first daughter Maggie are the greatest thing that ever happen to us, but it forced us to change.

We realized that California was no longer a viable option. We made the decision to move back to my home state of Wisconsin. With my parents still in Wisconsin, we would be close to family. We thought long and hard about moving to my wifes home state of New York, but it was just too expensive in the long run.

Employment
Moving away from the place we had been for 9 years meant getting a new job for the first time in a long time. My wife and I both worked for the same company in California. The owners were great to us, so leaving to a new job was a very difficult decision.

Fortunately, I found a great new company to work for. My wife will be working with me again as soon as we find a nanny. Currently she is the power behind the day to day operations of our online gymnastics pro-shop. If you have forgotten, my wife and I are a husband and wife team of gymnastics coaches.

Real Estate

One of the tough parts of 2007 was the realization that we were going to have a hard time selling or even renting our California condo. Right now we are still in the process of trying to rent (or sell) our condo. As soon as this major road block is out of the way, we’ll be on our way to financial freedom.

Websites

J.B.Slife dot Com - I am always trying new things online.  I tried starting a blog…this one.  I ended up letting it sit for quite some time due to all the changes.  Hopefully I can get it going again, I have lots to talk about.

LeotardCrazy.com - Leotard Crazy, my gymnastics pro-shop, did about $5ok in sales in 2006.  I’m happy to say that we hit $90k in 2007.  I’d love to go into detail about how Leotard Crazy increased by 80%, but that’s for another post.

The Chalk Bucket - My gymnastics forum, The Chalk Bucket, grew greatly also.  It went from under 100 members to over 1000 members.  Currently about 15% of the members are active in any given week.  I am positive that The Chalk Bucket will grow to be one of the largest gymnastics communities on the net by the time the 2008 Olympics are over.

Summary

Everything changed for the better in 2007.  My family and I are currently living in the small town of Hartland, WI.  I found a great job with a great little coffee shop on the way to work.  When we finally get rid of our California condo, we will look at buying a house in Wisconsin.

Now that I have a couple successful websites, I look forward to repeating that success on new websites.

Thanks,

JBSlife

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3 Comments »

Comment by Canada relocatee
2008-03-12 09:00:58

Glad to see your postings here. 2007 is a time of change in my life also. I began my new career life. :)

 
Comment by Jenna
2008-03-19 12:30:52

It’s amazing what kind of change a year can bring. So far, 2008 is looking great and I hope things get even better for you!

 
Comment by WhiskeyChick Subscribed to comments via email
2008-04-21 15:04:21

I found your blog here through the country music forums. Sounds like you had a busy 2007 so I hope 2008’s been easy on you. I’d like to see if you’re interested in exchanging some links between our sites, and maybe give you a few pointers on increasing your traffic. Drop me a line when you have time ;-)
~WC~

 
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