Journal - Life in Chicago

2021 Update

I just want to update everyone on what is going on in my life here in Chicago!

I have started an online business, or should I say a side hustle, and that is going very well. It looks like it is going to take some time to really get off the ground and make enough money to live on, but it is a start.

Things are starting to return to normal (what is normal anymore, right?) here in Chicago. People are returning to work and traffic is crazy again. If there is one thing that I miss from the beginning of the pandemic, it is the lack of traffic. Band playing on Chicago street

Now that people are getting vaccinated, there are less and less of them wearing masks, but some still do and I respect that.

The biggest news that I have to share is that I have a new boyfriend! His name is Jim and he lives about 45 minutes west of the city. He is kind of a country boy, drives a pickup truck and loves to deer hunt and go camping.

I really like him a lot and so I am doing a lot of research online trying to learn about deer hunting for beginners. I’m not sure that I could actually do the hunting, but I at least want to be able to understand and talk to him about it.

I’m thrilled to finally have a relationship and not having to deal with the ghosting when expecting a date to show up.

My little dog Precious is doing great. She loves the fact that I work from home and she gets separation anxiety whenever I leave her for any amount of time. I try to take her whenever I can.

We are actually starting to eat out again and visiting all of our favorite spots, if they are still open. The job market is really short staffed here and some places can get enough help to stay open. I will even take Precious to the ones that have outside dining. She is always a big hit.

In addition to precious, we have added a fish tank to our apartment and I am thrilled that it adds a wonderful ambiance and is very easy to take care of.

That is about it from here. I will try and update the blog as things change.

Talk to you soon.

Starting an Online Business

As this pandemic has worn on, I have come to realize how helpless I feel because I rely on someone else for my living.

The whole world has been shut down economically and there is nothing that I can do about it.

Then I got to thinking…

You know who didn’t get shutdown economically?

In fact, I have heard that they are actually making more money since the Covid19 pandemic.

Those people that run online businesses.

So, I started looking into what is involved with starting an online business and it turns out that there are many different ways to make money online.

I have done extensive research on each of the ways that i have come across and some make sense and some don’t.

One of the ways that I was considering is with an Etsy store, but I am not really very crafty and I don’t already have a product to sell, so I gave up on that one.

The next one that I researched was ebay.

There are a lot of ways to make money with ebay, but the one that I liked wouldn’t really work during a pandemic.

My research led me to find that people are building businesses by finding items on sale or at tag sales and flea markets, buying them and then selling them for a profit on ebay.

This sounds like a lot of fun, but I don’t think that there are many tag sales and flea markets happening during a pandemic, so I gave up on the one as well.

The next one that I researched was affiliate marketing.

This seemed very interesting to me and I already have some experience with a website.

So with affiliate marketing, you build a website around one of your interests and once you have some traffic coming in, you start to refer your readers to products and services that you like and use.

If those readers buy a product or service that you referred them to, you make a commission!

As I was doing my research, I came across this article:

Affiliate Marketing in the New Economy

The article talks about Wealthy Affiliate and the training that is provided on how to start an affiliate marketing business.

I really like what I read.

So that is it!

I am going to start an affiliate marketing business!

I will dive in head first while I am still not working, and if I do go back to work, I will continue building my business part time so that I can eventually count on myself for a full time income.

I feel better already!

Lockdown and Covid 19

Well, it has been awhile since I have posted here! LOL, I had forgotten all about this blog that I had started.

I am considered a non essential employee, so I have been on lockdown for over a month now. That has given me the time to find things that I had started in the past and this blog is one of them.

I felt like it would be somewhat therapeutic to write about my experiences during this pandemic, and I thought that my blog might be a good place to do it.

My life is basically on hold for now until our state opens back up and allows us to get back to work.

I have all of my groceries delivered and the only time that I get out of the house is to walk my little dog Precious.

Precious

Precious is my little Yorkshire Terrier and I don’t know what I would do without her during these difficult times. We take a nice long walk twice a day and I think it is really good for both of us.

It seems so strange to go out in public to walk with my dog and everybody is wearing masks. I feel like we are living in the twilight zone!

Walking dog with facemask

I find that people are generally respectful and maintain social distancing protocols, but there are always exceptions. Some people just don’t get it.

The most difficult part of this pandemic is not being able to interact with other people. I live alone, so the only social interaction that I used to get was going to work and going out with my friends.

I do facetime with my family and some of my friends. Other friends I call or text, and of course social media helps.

I’m pretty lucky that I have some savings to fall back on, but certainly not forever. I find myself searching the internet for ways to make money online and going down one rabbit hole after another.

Well, Precious is reminding me that it is time for her walk, so that is all for now. I will try and post more regularly and use this blog almost like a journal.

Until next time…