What happens when life takes a surprising turn and FORCES you to make a drastic change?Â
For Stephanee Dellacruz, her husbandâs unexpected medical retirement from the military turned their world upside down. But instead of seeing it as a setback, they took it as an opportunity to rethink everythingâincluding how they wanted to live and work.
Now, Stephanee and her family travel full-time in an RV, having launched into RV life twiceâthe first time in 2021 and again in 2022 after realizing they werenât quite ready to settle down. Along the way, she built a thriving personal brand on social media, proving that you donât need a massive following to make an income online!
Stephaneeâs journey is a powerful example of turning obstacles into opportunities. If youâve ever wondered how to make money while traveling or struggled with imposter syndrome in content creation, this episode is packed with insights!
Key Takeaways:
1ď¸âŁ Perfection is overratedâgo for good enough
- Stephanie shares how shifting away from perfectionism helped her take action, build her brand, and enjoy RV life without unnecessary stress.
2ď¸âŁ Your brand is more than just RV life
- Instead of becoming a full-time âRV influencer,â Stephanie built her brand around who she isânot just where she lives. This approach gave her flexibility and longevity in her content creation business.
3ď¸âŁ You donât need a massive following to monetize
- Stephanie started earning money from brand partnerships when she had just a few thousand followers. The key? Clear messaging, strong engagement, and knowing how to pitch.
4ď¸âŁ Treat content creation like a business
- From negotiating rates to protecting your creative rights, Stephanie explains why itâs important to ask for compensation and advocate for yourself when working with brands.
5ď¸âŁ Thereâs no right way to RV full-time
- Whether youâre boondocking, staying at resorts, or balancing travel with work and family, Stephanie encourages women to embrace what works best for themânot just what they see online.
Connect with Stephanee Online:
- Instagram: @aperfectlygoodenoughlife
- Facebook: @aperfectlygoodenoughlife
- TikTok: @perfectlygoodenoughlife
Resource Mentioned:
Learn more about monetizing social media: Christina McEvoyâs InstaSuccess Course
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you are going to make it a business is to treat it like a
business from the get go. It is very appealing to have
brands reach out to you and offer to send you the world.
That is great, but what people need to understand is that you
are giving them free marketing. Welcome back to the RV Queens
(00:22):
Podcast where we delve into the lives of women making money and
living life on the road. I'm your host, Kate White, and
today we're coming to you live from Florida with a picnic table
session. The energy is especially real
today because I got to sit down with my guest, Stephanie
Delacruz in person at the campground.
(00:42):
Stephanie is a full time Rvier content creator and the woman
behind A Perfectly Good Enough Life.
She and her family have launchedinto RV life not once, but
twice. Their journey wasn't just about
hitting the road, though. It was about navigating a major
life transition, including her husband's forced retirement from
(01:03):
the military, an unexpected career pivot, and the big
decision, as we've all made, to trade a traditional life for one
full of adventure and flexibility.
Stephanie's story is a powerful reminder that even when life
throws a curveball, we always have a choice to stay stuck in
victimhood or keep moving and create a life we love.
(01:26):
In this episode, she shares how they built a sustainable income
while traveling, how she grew a personal brand and monetized
social media with a small following, and why she's on a
mission to help other women ditch perfection and embrace
good enough. If you're ready to get your
excuses and make money on the road with a small following,
(01:47):
this episode is for you. Before we dive in, quick
reminder, if you're already living the RV life but you're
craving a deeper connection withwomen making money on the road,
come join us in the RV Queen Circles.
It's our online membership community where we have weekly
chats, business resources, and asupportive network of women
(02:07):
balancing travel, family, and entrepreneurship.
Use code PODCAST for 20% off your membership for
life@rvqueenspodcast.com/community.Now let's get into the episode
with Stephanie Delacruz. Grab your coffee and let's roll.
(02:29):
Stephanie Delacruz, welcome to the RV Queens podcast.
For those of you watching on YouTube or Spotify, welcome to
my Purple Clam. Last year I recorded some of
these in person interviews whilewe were in Florida for the
winter and I called them picnic table sessions.
(02:51):
That's kind of what we're doing here, but technically we're at a
card table. It doesn't matter.
The point is we're live in person.
The energy is real and I'm loving it.
So I usually ask, where in the world are you today?
Obviously you're here with me inFlorida, 2 campers down.
Yes. Do you guys usually winter in
(03:12):
Florida? This is our first winter in
Florida. How are you liking it?
Love it. Good.
Totally. OK.
Better than Where were you? Before we did Southern
California the last two years, OK, better than Southern
California. There's pros and cons to both,
but overall we have had a betterwinter, I think, yeah.
(03:34):
I especially like that because we have some friends that are
trying to talk us into going to California next winter and we
really don't want to, so I'm just going to use that as
ammunition. It is different for winter.
To be fair, I'm from California and so is my husband.
So we're in a totally different place now, but it is very
different. It honestly, it's very
(03:54):
different. Yes, OK.
Yeah, but mine. They're both good.
I might circle back to that question later on, but to start,
let's rewind back to like, you know, pre RV life.
You guys actually did a full time RV launch twice now.
So talk us through what that looks like in 2021 when he first
(04:18):
launched and then when he relaunched again in 2022.
When we were crazy enough to do it twice, yes.
OK, so 2021, my husband actuallywas medically retired from the
Army. So he had planned to do full
career 20 plus years and his body had other plans.
So 2020. If you remember what happened in
(04:40):
2020, you know that was a fun year.
So we went through the medical board just so crazy.
All these weird things happened.We had a baby during that year,
but also my husband got very sick with his autoimmune
condition and he had to go on some medication that basically
made it that he couldn't be in the Army anymore.
So they started the process. It was a year long process to
(05:04):
get out of the Army. And during that year long
process, they kept him at home because he was
immunocompromised. They didn't want him to get
sick. Wow.
So he was at. Home with full pay.
For a year and we got really used to having him around.
So when his to get out finally came up, we didn't really want
that to stop. I didn't want him to go back to
(05:25):
work. So I was like, hey, we don't
have anywhere to be. We don't have any plans.
You don't have a job, so why don't we try this weird thing
I've heard of called RV life? People do this, we're going to
do this. This sounds like a great plan,
but we had a truck. It wasn't a very large truck.
He went with the plan. We went and got an RVA, brand
new RV. It was a travel trailer and the
(05:47):
biggest we could pull at the time.
And we put a bunch of our stuff in the storage.
The Army stores our stuff so we didn't have to get rid of
everything. You're very lucky.
And we set off on the road with our five month old, our
three-year old and our oh gosh, 7 year old I think at the time.
So we did that and that was a lot of fun, too much fun, and we
(06:09):
made a lot of mistakes. And after about four months in,
I was like, this was a horrible idea.
Fun but. We're not doing it full.
Time like this is just a fun vacation, extended vacation.
Let's try something different. So we settled down in Reno, NV,
which is where I have family andwe rented a house.
(06:33):
My husband went and got a job and we settled into life there
and very quickly did not love it.
I hated him being back at work. The kids hated it.
We weren't as big a fan of the area as we had thought.
And honestly, obviously, I don'tlike to give up on things.
So I had felt like we had given up on the life before we really
(06:54):
tried it. Yeah.
And I had major FOMO because I was still following all of the
people and the friends that we had made.
And I had major FOMO. So about six months in, I said
to my husband, hey, you don't like your job?
I don't like you working. And we don't really care for it
here. So why don't we do RV life
again? We had sold the trailer, we had
sold the truck. And he said no.
(07:16):
And then a month later I said, hey, why don't we RV again?
And he said OK. And yeah, we started the journey
all over again. This time we sold almost
everything and we got a fifth wheel and we got a bigger truck
and we made plans to have a planand now we're 2 1/2 years in.
(07:40):
Did your husband, was he able totake work, find work on the
road? No.
So he actually started going to school while he was still in the
Army, right before he was getting out.
And then he continued with that.So he was changing his career
entirely. He wanted to be a health coach,
to help other people like him. He changed his eating habits and
(08:01):
his lifestyle habits a crazy amount to try to heal his
disease, and he wanted to help other people do the same.
So he has been in school since 2020.
He just graduated with his bachelor's in December.
So he was going to school duringthat time.
Gotcha. Yeah, that's.
Amazing. You have said that your
(08:23):
husband's forced military retirement completely changed
your lives. Am I assuming correctly it's
because you were bam, forced to be together 24/7 for a year?
Is that what the change? Was No, actually, we actually
really loved that part. What had to change is, I mean,
(08:45):
he was career military. That was his plan.
We had dug in whether we loved it or not.
There's been a bad parts of the lifestyle.
We were in it for the long haul.I had expected to stay home and
take care of our babies and he would go, you know, do his Army
thing until past 20 years even because he was young enough to
(09:07):
go past 20 years. And then we'd retire and we'd
have a great retirement and he'dbe set for life for that.
So yeah, what happened is he hadto give up on his dream because
he wanted to be in the Army since he was 18.
So he had to give up on his dream.
And we had to make a lot of lifedecisions very quickly.
(09:27):
Our finances changed drasticallyduring that time period.
Honestly, at the time it was also because his illness got so
bad that it was a really scary time and I was frantic wondering
how I was going to take care of the family.
We didn't know if he was going to have disability or not coming
from the Army at the time because that's not all decided
(09:48):
until the end. So there was a chance we would
be left with no income at all, which ended up not being the
case thankfully. But I could have been the case
and I would have had to find something to to take care of the
family and I hadn't had a job ina long time.
Yeah, I think your story's especially inspiring because you
(10:10):
took this giant life shift and instead of just defaulting to
victim mindset and like, we all get into these modes, right?
The world is against us. Why are all these bad things
happening to me? You know, like there's nothing
else I want to do with my life, yada yada, yada yada.
(10:31):
The dark things, you basically chose to reframe your whole life
and choose adventure and choose family time and you chose to
create a new life that you wanted to live.
And first of all, kudos to you because I'm sure that took a lot
of digging deep and hard conversations and all that kind
(10:53):
of stuff. So now you use your voice and
your online platform to like, inspire other people to create a
life that they love as well. Am I reading you correctly when
I say all those things? Yes, you make it sound much more
(11:14):
dreamlike than it probably is. You make it into a nice pretty
bow. But yeah, I mean, that's the
plan, that's the aim. I won't lie and say that it was
always that way or even that it's always that way.
Now. When we first got the news, it
was really hard and it was a really hard time for him.
Like I said, he was sick and he was also reeling with all of
(11:36):
these fears of what was going tohappen and what our future look
like and how are we going to afford it and was he even going
to be around? You know, there was a lot going
on. So it was a really scary time
when all that happened. I was literally we were in going
through IVF for our third baby and then going through pregnancy
and having a baby during all of that shift.
So it was a lot. We took on a lot at the same
(11:59):
time. Eventually, what I did realize
is we, we just had to. Gratitude is a really big thing
for us. And so we just had to find the
gratitude in it. So we just tried to find the
silver lining, which is that, yeah, he lost his career that he
wanted. We lost his financial stability,
but we also gained a ton of timetogether as a family.
He was gone a lot with the unit that he was in.
(12:21):
He'd be home for three months, gone for three months.
He missed most of our daughters,you know, her infant and
toddlerhood, like he missed mostof it.
And that was really hard. So we decided to be grateful
that we were gaining this time back together.
We were getting a chance to go do things that we didn't get to
do because the Army tells you where to go and they tell you
(12:43):
where to live. And you don't always have
decisions. You don't always have a choice
in the matter. Plus, we realized that even
though Steven, my husband, was losing his career, he had this
chance to, like, do something totally different that nobody
would have ever expected him going into.
It gave us a chance to get healthier and to expose our kids
to different things and, and nowwe see it as, you know, one of
(13:05):
the best things that could have happened.
Yeah, I mean, nothing is as glamorous as it seems.
The Internet makes things seem so nice and beautiful.
Oh, man. And I really like that you bring
that authenticity into pretty much everything that you do
because it's so relatable. You're like, hey, yes, nothing
(13:27):
is perfect, but we can make choices to keep bettering
ourselves in our life even when things are messy and ugly.
Exactly. It's very important to me to
share that relatability. So thank you for seeing that.
It's very important because I ama perfectionist, a recovering
perfectionist by nature. And it was really hard when we
got into RV life, which I'm sureit was for a lot of people that,
(13:51):
you know, you only see the good online, right?
People aren't sharing their awfulness because who wants to
see that? So you see these amazing
adventures and you see the family getting closer and you
see all of these things happening and you don't see all
of the other parts, which are definitely there.
And I think it's important for people to know that yes, there
are some amazing parts, but there's also some really hard
(14:12):
parts, just like with any lifestyle.
And I want to make sure everybody has like, has that
knowledge going into it. Yeah.
So they're not. So I want to dive into content
creation in the business that you've built there.
But before we do, will you just kind of give us an overview of
the different ways that you and your husband make money as you
(14:33):
travel, different revenue streams that are coming in to
support this lifestyle? Yeah.
Absolutely. I actually love to share about
this because ours is kind of unique.
We're not the only veteran family on the road, but it is a
little more of a unique situation.
So our main income stream right now is my husband's VA
disability. So when he retired, they
(14:53):
determined that he had 100% disability status and he gets
the full amount allowed for our family size.
So that is our main income that we have coming in.
He also has been very smart and taking advantage of programs
that I don't think every veteranis aware of, but there's a lot
of education programs and employment programs out there
(15:14):
that he worked really hard to get all the information on.
And so for the last three years,four years that he has been in
school, he's also gotten a stipend every month to help pay
for living expenses. Awesome.
Not a lot. It's still half of what we were
making before, but it is a steady income that was coming
in. The education stipend has now
stopped, but the disability income will come in as long as
(15:37):
he is living. So that is our main income.
The other income comes from me. So I have had an Etsy shop for
oh gosh, 1011 years now. It's not Uber successful.
It has. Its.
Ups and downs, it's changed a couple of times, but it does
bring in a little bit of extra income, especially around the
holidays. And then my other income is
(16:00):
content creation. So I do both UGC and influencer
promotion for different brands and that has started to bring in
a pretty steady stream of incomeat this point.
What's the Etsy shop and why does it bring in money around
the holidays real quick? So my Etsy shop now is a
(16:21):
printable business, so it's all online downloads like birthday
cards of games, holiday scavenger hunts, those sorts of
things. I've had some success with a
couple of printable items that Ihave come up with that during
Christmas time and this last year Halloween actually was my
(16:43):
biggest month and out of nowherethey happen to do really well.
Sometimes you really hit that algorithm and they did pretty
well. So yeah, it's all printable
items now and digital downloads.In the past it has been, I've
done some print on demand and before actually for the last
(17:04):
nine years or so, it was a crochet business.
So it just recently changed. I just gave that up at the
beginning of last year because it just became a little too hard
on the road. Oh yeah, so time consuming.
I always wonder how people make money when they out of those
businesses. I don't personally crochet.
I have a 10 year old daughter that loves to crochet in it and
(17:24):
I'm like girl, this that's a lot.
You gotta have a lot of space for the materials.
A lot of time yes, things like that yes.
Well, props to you for turning your Etsy shop into something
that's like more passive. In my opinion.
Nothing is like truly passive like the Internet tells you, but
(17:45):
some things are more hands off than others.
Yes. I will not be someone who will
go and tell you that you can just go put out a principal and
make $10,000 in one month. I'm sure some people have done
that, but I would not say that that is the norm, or at least I
have not had that success yet. Yet.
Yeah, that's a great one. Yeah.
(18:06):
It is coming. OK, let's get into your passion
for social media. OK, you have figured out how to
make an income from a personal brand with less than 10,000
followers. Let's start with what platforms
you focused on and also how longago did you get started in all
(18:28):
of this? Well, I started sharing very
little when we were first on theroad, but it was mainly just a
personal scrapbook at that point.
When we got on the road the second time, I so that was 2022.
I started posting more in hopes of building it into a business.
You know, of course, seeing all of these amazing influencers out
(18:49):
there with these huge followings, I thought this is
going to happen immediately. It did not.
It did not. I have worked very hard for the
followers that I have and I'm very thankful for them taking it
really seriously as a business and actually working with brands
did not start until the beginning of last year.
So what's that 2024 beginning oflast year, It started with
(19:13):
companies offering me trade. At the time I only, I had 3000
followers, maybe 2 to 3000, you know, some gifted collaboration
started. I started to build up My
Portfolio and I thought, well, hey, we're going to go visit
some amazing areas and I'd love to stay at some of these resorts
(19:35):
that we do not have the budget for right now.
So I'm going to reach out to them and offer them my services
and it went very well. So you started taking it
seriously a little over a year ago?
Yeah, I got my first payment like actual money payment in
April of last year. That was fast.
Yeah. Because I was going to say, how
(19:56):
long did it take you to like actually make money outside of
just gifted collabs? That one to be no, I'm going to
take credit. I'm going to take credit.
Always take credit for the work that you do.
It's very important. I'm working on it, but that was
actually a hosted stay that I did.
So for those that don't know hosted stay, they trade me the
(20:18):
stay and then, you know, I give them content for it.
There was no money exchanged, but the reel that I produced for
them did very well and they werevery happy with it and they
actually decided to buy the rights to it.
So that was an unexpected bonus to that deal and kind of lit a
fire under me. So yeah, kind of.
(20:41):
It grew from there. I love it.
Yeah. Did you have a background in
design or writing or marketing or like video editing?
Or how did you learn how to monetize your content?
Definitely no, no background whatsoever.
And I do not sell myself as like, you know, like technically
(21:03):
I am a professional because I get paid.
But I'm not talking like I'm going to go out and photograph
your wedding for you or I'm not going to sell pictures to a
magazine, you know, like National Geographic.
It's not going to happen. Not at this point in my career
yet, yet, yet always grow. Honestly, no.
It's all self-taught. The great part about social
(21:26):
media right now is that what a lot of brands, some brands want
it very polished and they want the very professional
cinematography and that definitely has its place.
A lot of other brands, they literally just want it to look
like you went out with your smartphone and you did a video,
which is what I do. So I don't sell my services as
(21:49):
being that overly polished. I sell it as being relatable and
authentic. And that's what sells things to
people because I do actually own.
I know a lot of people probably say this.
I only use and promote products that I really believe in and
would use regularly. I turn down products all of the
time because we have a certain lifestyle that we live that we
(22:11):
don't use a lot of things or consume a lot of things.
So yeah, no, I kind of just learned along the way, honestly.
I have taken courses that have definitely helped to improve
some things and taught me a little bit more.
I knew Canva from learning for my Etsy shop, so I have
familiarity with that. But like, I've learned to use
(22:33):
Lightroom now. I didn't know that.
I learned that from a course that I took.
I've learned from friends. Yeah, I just, I learned as I've
gone. I definitely do not have a
history. Do it anyway.
Do it. That's.
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(22:54):
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(23:15):
Click the link in the show notesto book now and start your
journey with our journey. How long did it take for you to
feel like you really found your audience and honed in on what
you want to say to them? And the reason why I asked you
this is because your travel content isn't, or I should say,
your content isn't just about travel lifestyle stuff.
(23:39):
Like to be honest, a lot of RV content is.
You have a very strong message in my opinion, and I love it.
How long did it take you to really figure that out for
yourself? I'm still figuring it out.
I have an idea of what it is. Reaching that audience is very
(23:59):
difficult. But honestly, when I first
started my account, I wasn't starting it as a travel account.
In my mind, it was always going to be a lead into something
different because at the time I didn't know how long we would
RV. And so I didn't necessarily want
to build an RV account because if we only RV for four months
(24:20):
again and then I built this following and then we got off
the road, that would all be lost.
So my initial goal was always togo towards a certain person, a
certain audience. And the travel to me is just,
it's just our lifestyle. So to me, I'm just doing
lifestyle, but we happen to be in an RV.
(24:41):
Yeah, I tell people that I, which I only recently really
came clear on after meeting a lot of really awesome RV content
creators through Tampa and whatnot.
Through the RV Show. I met so many amazing creators
and they are so great at what they do and I appreciate what
they do, but I realized it's notwhat I want to do.
So I realized I'm not an RV content creator.
(25:03):
I'm a content creator that just happens to live in an RV.
So yeah, I would do the same thing if I lived in a house or
in a whatever. So that to me was really a
turning point. And since then I really tried,
tried to reach my true audience and just using travel as part of
(25:24):
our lifestyle, part of our Wellness routine, part of my
healing journey, that's been really important to me.
I really want to reach the womenespecially who are afraid to go
outside of their comfort zone because our being is so far
outside my comfort zone. Anybody who knew me before would
be like, I'm sorry, Stephanie lives where And she does what?
(25:47):
Yes, I'm saying very far, very far.
We had not camped as a family. We had not done anything.
I still don't care for dirt or bugs or things.
I'm getting better but. Or like, sleeping in a tent?
Nope. Yeah.
I sleep in an RV. I don't like to wake up soggy.
No. I feel like that's all you do
when you tent camp. Yeah, those people are just to
(26:11):
another level. Yeah, it's just it's not my
thing and that's OK. I appreciate the people, but I
realized who I am. Like I had an idea of boy, even
in the RV community, I had an idea of what type of RVR I would
be. I am not who I thought it would
be and that is OK. But yeah, I wanted other people
to see like that's OK. It's.
(26:33):
Funny that you mentioned the experience at the Tampa RV Show
and just being around other content creators at Tampa,
because I have had the same epiphany about a year ago, I was
like, OK, I just recorded a bunch of RV tours and I don't
care to show this. I know that those pieces of
(26:58):
content get so many views because it's super fun to like
look around at other RV's and you know what they can do with
these tiny spaces. And and I'm like, I just finally
admitted to myself I'm not that person.
I just don't care that much about it.
Yeah. But some people do.
(27:19):
And they're really good at it. Yeah.
And they come up with, like, creative ways to show it.
Yeah. Like, thank you.
See, you're the type that shouldbe doing that.
That was totally what I realized.
It's just, yeah, there. It was.
Nothing wrong with being an RV content creator.
I am so impressed with so many of the things I see.
And I just realized that the howto's and the installs and the
(27:41):
all of those things, it's just dear bring me joy.
Yeah, it just didn't bring me joy, even though it can be a
very great market to be in as a content creator.
So it is hard to break out at that market.
But yeah, I just decided I wanted to do more.
That brought me joy. It's.
Good for you. I'm going to ask you about tips
that you have for other travel women who are maybe just getting
(28:04):
into the lifestyles, starting tothink about, you know, how can I
make money on social media? I have 700 followers and it
seems like everyone else is ableto monetize this.
What advice would you give them?That is a good one one.
(28:25):
I would say it's actually prettycommon in the RV life,
especially. I think that I feel like almost
everybody tries to be a content creator at some point.
I don't know if it's like that in other places, but it's, it's
an industry that I feel like must be unique because RV brands
will reach out and they will work with you when you have much
(28:48):
lower follower account than many, I assume many other
industries would. Because trust me, I try to be in
the Wellness industry and they have much higher follower
account requirements. So I think because of that, a
lot of people try to do it and Idon't think they realize how
hard it really is. It is tough.
So one, I would make sure that it's something you're actually
(29:10):
really passionate about the whole process of it, because
it's not as easy as the people on Facebook love to tell me that
I just make little videos and ruin people's lives.
It's not like that. So I'd say one thing is you got
to make sure it's something you actually like.
(29:31):
And another tip is if you are going to make it a business is
to treat it like a business fromthe get go.
It is very appealing to have brands reach out to you and
offer to send you the world. That is great.
But what people need to understand is that you are
(29:52):
giving them free marketing is what you're doing.
So if they're not paying you, they're getting free marketing
from you and you deserve to be compensated for doing the
marketing. So I think it's important to
treat it like a business. I think it's important to ask
for money sooner than you probably think you would, even
(30:13):
if they say no. Yeah, I think it's important to.
I think a tip would be to reallynarrow down what types of brands
you want to work with and what type of content creator you want
to be because that shapes everything.
If I had made different decisions in the beginning, I'd
probably be in a much different place right now and not trying
(30:36):
to move from 1 industry into another industry.
I think that that's a tougher shift to make.
You can very easily just become an RV creator.
And then if you want to get out of that industry, it can be more
difficult to do, in my opinion. So yeah, those are some tips.
(30:56):
Honestly, there's some really great courses out there that you
can take. Recommendations.
So I have done Max Explorer, Christina Mcelvoy.
She has a great course and I'm part of her Insta Success
Facebook group. That's been invaluable, just
having access to the mastermindsthat are in that group and the
(31:19):
information that she shares. I definitely do not have a
photographer's eye. I don't know anything about
manual functions of any kind as she gives some great tips in her
course, which are really nice. So that's been a really great
one. Sammy from Big Hearts, Tiny
Spaces, I always get her name wrong.
Big Hearts, Tiny Spaces, that's right.
(31:39):
She has done some different subscriptions in the past.
I know they're coming out with acourse soon, but she's done some
subscriptions in the past that I've been a part of and got
really great tips from her. She is a very hard worker and
has really made a name for herself in the business, so I
think her experience is invaluable actually.
I then recommend coaching, to behonest, I'm working with Leah
(32:02):
from Llama Llama Adventure. She is a friend, but she also is
a coach and she has actually, she is the one who encouraged me
in the beginning to start askingfor money.
I always tell people I would notbe making money if it wouldn't
be for her in RV Queens. She was actually in my very
first RV Queens group. That's awesome.
And we became close through there and she was so like she
(32:25):
pushed me in the best ways and really helped with the mindset.
So I think just obviously networking like that is a really
great. I've made some amazing, I've
made some amazing relationships through RV Queens, actually
connecting with a lot of different content creators.
So awesome, yeah. Love that.
So you bring up a good point about the money related to
(32:50):
especially when you are startingout and you have less than 1000,
less than 2000, less than 5000 and there's a lot of insecurity
that crops up. A brand reaches out to you and
says we want to gift you this thing and we want the moon.
They're going to ask for the real and the rights and
perpetuity and like all of thesethings.
(33:12):
And it feels really special because you're like, Oh my gosh,
they're giving me something for free and like, I don't even know
what I'm doing. Like, of course, yes, whatever
you say. The reality that I want to
encourage people to think about is the time investment that
you're putting into this. And like, even if you're new at
content creation, you're probably really good at
(33:34):
something else. Like let's say you were a
physical therapist and you were making I don't know how much
physical therapist maybe like $100.00 an hour.
I don't 8570, I don't know, whatever.
And you're like, okay, I could charge $100.00 an hour as a
physical therapist because that's my profession and that's
what I'm good at, yadda yadda. And when people are new in
(33:55):
content creation, you don't feellike you can ask for and an
amount that will like basically compensate you hourly.
If you're going to make a three hour reel and they're going to
gift you a lipstick that online,the lipstick says it's $125.00.
I don't even know if that exists, but.
(34:16):
It's really great to. Say that you have to remember
that the cost to the company to produce that lipstick is like
what a fourth like out of their pocket, they're only paying you
what, 30 bucks and they're like,yes, we're getting free content
(34:37):
from this person. OK.
So just putting this concept outthere, that's what we mean by
like understand your worth to the brand that is reaching out
to you and think about their cost versus your costs.
And you know, I'm not saying youshould try to charge $100.00 an
(34:58):
hour as a content creator right off the bat if you have 800
followers. That's not what I'm saying, for
the record, But what is like a reasonable compensation here,
you know, for where you're at, Just like think about.
These things, absolutely. And I think mentioning that the
per hour cost of the part, yes, people do not realize because
(35:19):
yes, but everyone else is on theInternet is.
I just went and took a little video and put it up.
But that's not the case. You have to come up with a
concept. You have to not only once you
get the concept and you film it,even if that is easy or whatnot,
you then have to make sure you come up with a hook and you have
to have the right text or you have to do a voiceover.
You have to do the caption. You have to have the correct
(35:40):
hashtags. You have to make sure you're
including all of the proper disclosures.
Make sure you're posting at a good time.
There's so much more involved with it and then you need to
follow up on the comments that come, the questions.
All of that is follow up as well.
People don't consider that amount of time.
They're like, oh, I'm just getting this item and I'm just
(36:01):
going to put up this one video. It's fine.
Plus, usually, because we've alldone it, you sign away all of
your rights to that video and you just see this some small
video that you would have put onyour small account and nobody
would really even see it. But if that brand then has that
video and it goes viral and theymake 10s of thousands of dollars
(36:21):
off of it, you're not getting anything from that.
Or if they have the rights to that video and they take it and
they use that video for the restof your life, you have to
remember that. And these are things that you
have to take into consideration when you're doing that.
Like when I put my face on something like that could be
there forever. Like.
(36:42):
Forever, right? And it could be some horrible, I
mean, think of some really awfulcommercials you've seen in your
life and think about the people who were in those commercials
and they have to see their face for the rest of their life.
So that's what I can. See, the Internet is forever.
It is. Forever.
Last question about social mediabecause I want to get into some
(37:02):
deeper topics with you. OK.
So did you have experience reaching out to brands and doing
negotiating and all of that kindof thing from the start because
you were able to monetize prettyquickly?
Like what advice do you have other people that are new to all
of this and they're like, Oh my gosh, what reaching out to a
(37:24):
brand, how would I even, what would I say?
What would I? How does that work?
It's scary, I'm not gonna lie. It's really scary, especially if
you were someone who doesn't have a lot of confidence.
I don't have a lot of confidence.
Regardless of what it looks like.
It takes me a lot every single time still to send, you know, to
press send on that e-mail. And honestly, it really the only
(37:48):
thing I can say is just to do it.
You just push through the fear. And honestly the biggest tip is
just telling yourself and knowing like you're going to get
rejected. You're going to get rejected so
many times. Even the biggest influencers
still get rejections. And it is a numbers game.
So if you want to get yeses, youhave to get a lot of no's as
(38:08):
well. And being OK with that, it
doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, especially on the ones that you
really want. It's also good to think of
yourself in the mindset, which actually I was listening to your
interview with Thor. Yeah.
And Denise. Yes.
And that was her of marketing ofThor.
Yes. Wow.
She had a lot to say. She had great info.
(38:29):
And so my favorite thing that she shared was when she said no
doesn't necessarily mean no forever.
It can mean no for right now, right.
So it's important to remember that when you're reaching out
that they say no, it doesn't mean no forever.
It could mean no until maybe youhave a little more experience or
no until they haven't need for you.
What I think a lot of people don't realize because social
(38:52):
media is very personal. I mean, it's me up there.
It's personal, but it's a brand.I am a brand and that's a tough
thing to get used to. But it's understanding that
they're not saying no to me. They're saying no to my brand,
my company for now. And it's just like any company
with marketing, like maybe they are going towards an older crowd
(39:13):
right now. Maybe they're going towards
couples with no kids or single women, or they're aiming towards
men only like, and later, maybe they have a family campaign that
they need a family for. And I would be perfect for that.
So it's important to realize that those Nos are going to
happen. And honestly, it just takes time
(39:35):
and practice to get better. Like when I took Christina's
course, it was really helpful because she had pitch templates
in there that you could look at and then you could refine to
yourself. Yeah, honestly, it's just just
go. For it, yeah.
Do you reach out? Do you do your initial reach out
through e-mail usually or is it Instagram DMS or?
(39:58):
How does that work? Instagram is my preference,
always. That's for a couple reasons.
The main reason is actually because I'm selling my
Instagram. So to me, I'm going to have a
better shot selling my Instagramif the brand is also active on
Instagram. Because if they don't have an
Instagram presence, they may notcare at all.
And there are some brands that don't.
(40:18):
They don't see the value in social media and they don't care
for it. But I know if they have A and
it's an Instagram account and anactive Instagram account that I
have a better shot at getting a response.
So if they have Instagram, I will always reach out there 1st
and just reach out with a quick,you know, introduction and ask
for a contact for e-mail becausethen I always move the
(40:41):
conversation to e-mail after that.
Or a phone call. You can get it.
I am. That's new for me.
I am working on that. Phone calls are really hard.
Zoom calls are even harder. Millennials.
But yes, but my understanding I've learned from so many of my
friends now is that is a way better chance of getting a yes
if you can get them on a phone call or on a Zoom call.
(41:02):
So I am working on that now. I've done a couple, but it is
still yes. It's a millennial thing if they
like to take. Phone calls too, but whenever
someone like hears your voice and like get to feel that you're
a normal good person and not just like a weirdo on the
Internet that I think the the nolike trust factor just like
(41:25):
through the roof. You are absolutely correct.
Yes you are. Another good tip for people to
know though for beaching out on Instagram.
Don't ever just reach out if you've never interacted with the
brand. You need to interact with the
brand. So when I am interested, I will
first interact. They call it flirting, right?
I will flirt with the brand. I know it sounds funny.
I will flirt with them, I will like their posts, I will engage
(41:45):
with actual comments, I will askquestions and I will show my
interest and then I will messagethem.
And it's also important to know lots of those messages go into a
filter and they don't get them. So if I don't hear from them on
Instagram and you know, you can tell if it's been read or not,
you know, if you've, you know, if you're being ignored or not,
(42:06):
then in that case, I go back andI comment more and on one of
those comments, I will say, hey,please check your DMS.
And that almost always works. And then they'll go find you and
find your DM. And then I move the conversation
to e-mail or a phone call or a phone call.
Do the phone call do that. You're not good at phone calls
(42:27):
yet. Not yet.
I have also reached out on Facebook.
I have done that only successfully, maybe once or
twice, though it's much harder to get a response in my
experience. But I have reached out on
Facebook. Some brands are only on
Facebook, some people. Are only on Facebook.
It's true. All right, let's shift a little
to the juicy content that you put out there and the themes of
(42:52):
encouraging inspiring other women.
OK, you have written that your goal is to, and I quote,
encourage others to ditch perfection and embrace good
enough in order to find more joy, and your handle on social
media is a perfectly good enoughlife.
(43:15):
Why is this idea of seeking goodenough over perfection so
important to you? It is pretty much my life mantra
at this point. I will quickly tell the story of
how it came to be because I feellike people don't understand my
name often and I understand thatI am a recovering perfectionist.
(43:37):
It has ruled my entire life for so very long like many of us.
But it was debilitating at one point.
And my husband is the complete opposite.
He is very much a just do and don't think about it.
Total opposite of me. And what he started saying to me
when I would be obsessing over anything is he would say, he
(43:58):
would say it's good enough for government work.
Yeah. OK, remind you that.
My dad, I don't know if I shouldsay that.
Dad used to work for the federalgovernment, and I grew up with
him saying that, too. Yeah, no one ever knows that
saying. OK, that's hilarious.
OK, so. In the military, yeah, it's a
whole thing. So he would say that to me and I
would just roll my eyes at him. And then eventually it said it.
(44:20):
And he would just start saying, like when I would be obsessing
over whatever it was, he would say, is it good enough?
And, and eventually I started, okay, is it good?
Yeah, it's good enough. Okay.
And so now, I mean, it's a dailything for me.
I do things constantly where I'mlike, I say it to myself in my
head, is it good enough? Is it good enough?
So I realized that I had been seeking this total idea of what
(44:47):
I needed my life to look like. And it, you know, when that
happens, you live your life in alot of disappointment because
nothing's perfect and things often don't turn out how you
think they're going to. And I didn't want to dwell in
what wasn't happening. I wanted to find the good in
what was happening and to be open to new things.
(45:07):
So the good enough kind of came from there.
It's now that daily mantra everytime I do anything.
And I once I started to share about it and once I met other
women, yes, a lot of millennialsespecially come from that same,
the same feelings. And I just wanted them to know
(45:28):
as well, like it's good enough and that's OK.
And I also wanted to spread the message that because some people
do get confused by it, good enough doesn't mean you're
settling. It doesn't mean like it's good
enough. No, it means like, you could
still be proud of it. It's still, it's a positive
thing. It's not like a settling thing.
(45:50):
So I wanted other women to stop getting stuck in that
perfectionist mindset because I know the damage that it can do
and how much it can hold you back from things.
So I wanted other women to feel encouraged to try new things and
to step outside their comfort zone and see how it feels.
Yeah. Thank you for explaining that.
(46:13):
Yeah. Now that I understand the
perfect versus good enough. Yeah.
Perfectly good enough life, get it?
I see what you did there. Now it's very, very long to be
honest. And that mainly the good and the
perfectly good enough mainly came in because, you know,
Instagram didn't have what I wanted available and at the time
(46:34):
it sounded really great. Now, it's a little long to be
honest, but it's there. Yeah, they.
Didn't have Stephanie De la Cruz110598 No, your original handle,
yeah. They probably did have that one
available. I should have gone with that
one. This has been so helpful and I
think inspiring for a lot of women, Stephanie, so thank you
for being here today. Before I ask my last question,
(46:56):
we kind of already covered this,but go ahead and tell people how
they can find you online. OK, well Instagram is my main
spot to find me at. That's a perfectly good enough
life. I know it's a it's a long one.
I'm also on Facebook and TikTok under the same name.
But Instagram is the main spot that you will find me.
Love it. And we will link all of those in
(47:17):
the show notes to make it easy for you to just tap and connect.
OK, this season of the podcast I'm ending with one-on-one
rounds where I ask a question and we both answer it.
So I have two questions for you today.
All right. First question is what is a book
or a podcast or something you recently discovered that you're
(47:41):
like really into? I really wish I had prepared
better for this because I'm horrible at remembering names.
Honestly, the books, I'm just gonna, I just got back into
fiction. I used to be a big reader and
got out of it, so I just got back into it.
So I just finished the oh gosh the very popular 1 and now it's
(48:02):
going to sit a crown of thorns and.
Roses Potter, no. Not a I'm not a Harry Potter
fan. I'm sorry.
I know, Boo is that crown of thorn and roses?
I mean, is that what you like? I've.
Seen that title on a book once. I just finished that series that
I like. I've been about that.
No, but it is like fantasy is like fantasy, like fairies and
(48:27):
whatnot, a whole magical world, which is not my recommend that I
do. It's really good.
There's like 5 or 6. Bucks, but I have to look into
that. It's a good one.
I need a new series. Yeah, it's a good.
One might be a stretch for me. I'm not.
The fantasy, it is romance too. So I do like a little bit of
romance on the side, a little bit of spice on the side.
(48:49):
And as far as podcasts, honestly, most of my podcasts
are healing podcasts. They are.
I spend my mornings walking and listening to, you know, inner
child work and really light stuff like that.
Like to start your day like withsome levity?
Like I did cry in the morning, you know?
Get it out of your system, then you're done for the day.
(49:10):
Yeah. Okay, so my answer to this
question is you mentioned Christina McAvoy, whose course
that you bought. She recommended a book to me,
Human Design by Jenna Zoe. Zoe, and I just bought that book
and I'm going through like, you know, human design is this whole
(49:32):
personality thing with like a chart.
Are you into this? Yeah, I just got into it.
You did very fun. Yeah.
I'm so new that it feels a little overwhelming, but the
type that they told me I am, I'mlike, yes, I believe it's, I
believe it's generator. OK, Yeah, I can see that.
(49:52):
Is that the one that's like you just follow what feels good?
Generator I don't want to give my input here because it will be
wrong so I. Won't even say because.
I don't know enough about it, I only know my own type.
What's yours? Projector.
Yeah, interesting. It's been very, it's been a
journey. It's been a real ride.
OK, man, we're going to have to have a whole other conversation
(50:14):
about this because it's it's a whole thing, but it's cool.
If you haven't heard of Human Design, it's worth a glance at
least, because it's kind of cool.
All right, I'm ending with a softball question for you.
So, yeah, don't worry. You eat gluten free.
Yes. Awesome.
We are gluten free by preference, not by allergy or
(50:37):
anything like that. So what is your favorite gluten
free treat? Sweet.
Lauren's cookies. Oh yes, Oh my gosh, they're all
good. They're so good, we eat.
We don't even bake them. We just eat them.
Eat. The cookie.
Dough the raw because they're safe to do that they say on it
(51:00):
and they're so good and because with an RV oven, you don't want
to risk messing it up, messing messing it up.
So yeah, we eat them raw a lot. I'd say that's probably that's.
A good tip. That's probably a favorite.
Mine is so lame. It's a toasted marshmallow
because I just love it. They're just, you can't beat
that. And we live our real life so.
(51:23):
Oh, like just a regular marshmallow that you.
Yeah. OK, yeah.
Technically gluten free. Yes.
Yes. Just like Lucky Charms.
And also put on a gluten free Graham cracker Yes, that's true.
They're not as good. They're.
Kind of soggy I've tried it, so,you know, I agree.
All right, that is a wrap. Stephanie, thank you for being
(51:45):
here today. This is so fun.
I love being in person with you getting the energy going.
And yes, thank you again. And everyone out there on the
Internet, we will see you on theroad.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode and for being
part of the RV Queen this community.
Remember to hit subscribe on whatever platform you're
(52:07):
listening on. And guess what?
You can have conversations like I had on this episode with your
fellow RV women who are living intentionally and making money
on the road. Head to
rvqueenspodcast.com/community tojoin RV Queen circles today.
It's a totally unique online space with a shared prosperity
(52:27):
model that's all about communityover competition.
I'd love to have you be a part. All right, guys, I'll see you
next week or hopefully I will see you on the road.
The Internet is forever. Forever.
If you are going to make it a business is to treat it like a
business from the get go. It is very appealing to have
brands reach out to you and offer to send you the world.
That is great, but what people need to understand is that you
are giving them free marketing. Welcome back to the RV Queens
(00:22):
Podcast where we delve into the lives of women making money and
living life on the road. I'm your host, Kate White, and
today we're coming to you live from Florida with a picnic table
session. The energy is especially real
today because I got to sit down with my guest, Stephanie
Delacruz in person at the campground.
(00:42):
Stephanie is a full time Rvier content creator and the woman
behind A Perfectly Good Enough Life.
She and her family have launchedinto RV life not once, but
twice. Their journey wasn't just about
hitting the road, though. It was about navigating a major
life transition, including her husband's forced retirement from
(01:03):
the military, an unexpected career pivot, and the big
decision, as we've all made, to trade a traditional life for one
full of adventure and flexibility.
Stephanie's story is a powerful reminder that even when life
throws a curveball, we always have a choice to stay stuck in
victimhood or keep moving and create a life we love.
(01:26):
In this episode, she shares how they built a sustainable income
while traveling, how she grew a personal brand and monetized
social media with a small following, and why she's on a
mission to help other women ditch perfection and embrace
good enough. If you're ready to get your
excuses and make money on the road with a small following,
(01:47):
this episode is for you. Before we dive in, quick
reminder, if you're already living the RV life but you're
craving a deeper connection withwomen making money on the road,
come join us in the RV Queen Circles.
It's our online membership community where we have weekly
chats, business resources, and asupportive network of women
(02:07):
balancing travel, family, and entrepreneurship.
Use code PODCAST for 20% off your membership for
life@rvqueenspodcast.com/community.Now let's get into the episode
with Stephanie Delacruz. Grab your coffee and let's roll.
(02:29):
Stephanie Delacruz, welcome to the RV Queens podcast.
For those of you watching on YouTube or Spotify, welcome to
my Purple Clam. Last year I recorded some of
these in person interviews whilewe were in Florida for the
winter and I called them picnic table sessions.
(02:51):
That's kind of what we're doing here, but technically we're at a
card table. It doesn't matter.
The point is we're live in person.
The energy is real and I'm loving it.
So I usually ask, where in the world are you today?
Obviously you're here with me inFlorida, 2 campers down.
Yes. Do you guys usually winter in
(03:12):
Florida? This is our first winter in
Florida. How are you liking it?
Love it. Good.
Totally. OK.
Better than Where were you? Before we did Southern
California the last two years, OK, better than Southern
California. There's pros and cons to both,
but overall we have had a betterwinter, I think, yeah.
(03:34):
I especially like that because we have some friends that are
trying to talk us into going to California next winter and we
really don't want to, so I'm just going to use that as
ammunition. It is different for winter.
To be fair, I'm from California and so is my husband.
So we're in a totally different place now, but it is very
different. It honestly, it's very
(03:54):
different. Yes, OK.
Yeah, but mine. They're both good.
I might circle back to that question later on, but to start,
let's rewind back to like, you know, pre RV life.
You guys actually did a full time RV launch twice now.
So talk us through what that looks like in 2021 when he first
(04:18):
launched and then when he relaunched again in 2022.
When we were crazy enough to do it twice, yes.
OK, so 2021, my husband actuallywas medically retired from the
Army. So he had planned to do full
career 20 plus years and his body had other plans.
So 2020. If you remember what happened in
(04:40):
2020, you know that was a fun year.
So we went through the medical board just so crazy.
All these weird things happened.We had a baby during that year,
but also my husband got very sick with his autoimmune
condition and he had to go on some medication that basically
made it that he couldn't be in the Army anymore.
So they started the process. It was a year long process to
(05:04):
get out of the Army. And during that year long
process, they kept him at home because he was
immunocompromised. They didn't want him to get
sick. Wow.
So he was at. Home with full pay.
For a year and we got really used to having him around.
So when his to get out finally came up, we didn't really want
that to stop. I didn't want him to go back to
(05:25):
work. So I was like, hey, we don't
have anywhere to be. We don't have any plans.
You don't have a job, so why don't we try this weird thing
I've heard of called RV life? People do this, we're going to
do this. This sounds like a great plan,
but we had a truck. It wasn't a very large truck.
He went with the plan. We went and got an RVA, brand
new RV. It was a travel trailer and the
(05:47):
biggest we could pull at the time.
And we put a bunch of our stuff in the storage.
The Army stores our stuff so we didn't have to get rid of
everything. You're very lucky.
And we set off on the road with our five month old, our
three-year old and our oh gosh, 7 year old I think at the time.
So we did that and that was a lot of fun, too much fun, and we
(06:09):
made a lot of mistakes. And after about four months in,
I was like, this was a horrible idea.
Fun but. We're not doing it full.
Time like this is just a fun vacation, extended vacation.
Let's try something different. So we settled down in Reno, NV,
which is where I have family andwe rented a house.
(06:33):
My husband went and got a job and we settled into life there
and very quickly did not love it.
I hated him being back at work. The kids hated it.
We weren't as big a fan of the area as we had thought.
And honestly, obviously, I don'tlike to give up on things.
So I had felt like we had given up on the life before we really
(06:54):
tried it. Yeah.
And I had major FOMO because I was still following all of the
people and the friends that we had made.
And I had major FOMO. So about six months in, I said
to my husband, hey, you don't like your job?
I don't like you working. And we don't really care for it
here. So why don't we do RV life
again? We had sold the trailer, we had
sold the truck. And he said no.
(07:16):
And then a month later I said, hey, why don't we RV again?
And he said OK. And yeah, we started the journey
all over again. This time we sold almost
everything and we got a fifth wheel and we got a bigger truck
and we made plans to have a planand now we're 2 1/2 years in.
(07:40):
Did your husband, was he able totake work, find work on the
road? No.
So he actually started going to school while he was still in the
Army, right before he was getting out.
And then he continued with that.So he was changing his career
entirely. He wanted to be a health coach,
to help other people like him. He changed his eating habits and
(08:01):
his lifestyle habits a crazy amount to try to heal his
disease, and he wanted to help other people do the same.
So he has been in school since 2020.
He just graduated with his bachelor's in December.
So he was going to school duringthat time.
Gotcha. Yeah, that's.
Amazing. You have said that your
(08:23):
husband's forced military retirement completely changed
your lives. Am I assuming correctly it's
because you were bam, forced to be together 24/7 for a year?
Is that what the change? Was No, actually, we actually
really loved that part. What had to change is, I mean,
(08:45):
he was career military. That was his plan.
We had dug in whether we loved it or not.
There's been a bad parts of the lifestyle.
We were in it for the long haul.I had expected to stay home and
take care of our babies and he would go, you know, do his Army
thing until past 20 years even because he was young enough to
(09:07):
go past 20 years. And then we'd retire and we'd
have a great retirement and he'dbe set for life for that.
So yeah, what happened is he hadto give up on his dream because
he wanted to be in the Army since he was 18.
So he had to give up on his dream.
And we had to make a lot of lifedecisions very quickly.
(09:27):
Our finances changed drasticallyduring that time period.
Honestly, at the time it was also because his illness got so
bad that it was a really scary time and I was frantic wondering
how I was going to take care of the family.
We didn't know if he was going to have disability or not coming
from the Army at the time because that's not all decided
(09:48):
until the end. So there was a chance we would
be left with no income at all, which ended up not being the
case thankfully. But I could have been the case
and I would have had to find something to to take care of the
family and I hadn't had a job ina long time.
Yeah, I think your story's especially inspiring because you
(10:10):
took this giant life shift and instead of just defaulting to
victim mindset and like, we all get into these modes, right?
The world is against us. Why are all these bad things
happening to me? You know, like there's nothing
else I want to do with my life, yada yada, yada yada.
(10:31):
The dark things, you basically chose to reframe your whole life
and choose adventure and choose family time and you chose to
create a new life that you wanted to live.
And first of all, kudos to you because I'm sure that took a lot
of digging deep and hard conversations and all that kind
(10:53):
of stuff. So now you use your voice and
your online platform to like, inspire other people to create a
life that they love as well. Am I reading you correctly when
I say all those things? Yes, you make it sound much more
(11:14):
dreamlike than it probably is. You make it into a nice pretty
bow. But yeah, I mean, that's the
plan, that's the aim. I won't lie and say that it was
always that way or even that it's always that way.
Now. When we first got the news, it
was really hard and it was a really hard time for him.
Like I said, he was sick and he was also reeling with all of
(11:36):
these fears of what was going tohappen and what our future look
like and how are we going to afford it and was he even going
to be around? You know, there was a lot going
on. So it was a really scary time
when all that happened. I was literally we were in going
through IVF for our third baby and then going through pregnancy
and having a baby during all of that shift.
So it was a lot. We took on a lot at the same
(11:59):
time. Eventually, what I did realize
is we, we just had to. Gratitude is a really big thing
for us. And so we just had to find the
gratitude in it. So we just tried to find the
silver lining, which is that, yeah, he lost his career that he
wanted. We lost his financial stability,
but we also gained a ton of timetogether as a family.
He was gone a lot with the unit that he was in.
(12:21):
He'd be home for three months, gone for three months.
He missed most of our daughters,you know, her infant and
toddlerhood, like he missed mostof it.
And that was really hard. So we decided to be grateful
that we were gaining this time back together.
We were getting a chance to go do things that we didn't get to
do because the Army tells you where to go and they tell you
(12:43):
where to live. And you don't always have
decisions. You don't always have a choice
in the matter. Plus, we realized that even
though Steven, my husband, was losing his career, he had this
chance to, like, do something totally different that nobody
would have ever expected him going into.
It gave us a chance to get healthier and to expose our kids
to different things and, and nowwe see it as, you know, one of
(13:05):
the best things that could have happened.
Yeah, I mean, nothing is as glamorous as it seems.
The Internet makes things seem so nice and beautiful.
Oh, man. And I really like that you bring
that authenticity into pretty much everything that you do
because it's so relatable. You're like, hey, yes, nothing
(13:27):
is perfect, but we can make choices to keep bettering
ourselves in our life even when things are messy and ugly.
Exactly. It's very important to me to
share that relatability. So thank you for seeing that.
It's very important because I ama perfectionist, a recovering
perfectionist by nature. And it was really hard when we
got into RV life, which I'm sureit was for a lot of people that,
(13:51):
you know, you only see the good online, right?
People aren't sharing their awfulness because who wants to
see that? So you see these amazing
adventures and you see the family getting closer and you
see all of these things happening and you don't see all
of the other parts, which are definitely there.
And I think it's important for people to know that yes, there
are some amazing parts, but there's also some really hard
(14:12):
parts, just like with any lifestyle.
And I want to make sure everybody has like, has that
knowledge going into it. Yeah.
So they're not. So I want to dive into content
creation in the business that you've built there.
But before we do, will you just kind of give us an overview of
the different ways that you and your husband make money as you
(14:33):
travel, different revenue streams that are coming in to
support this lifestyle? Yeah.
Absolutely. I actually love to share about
this because ours is kind of unique.
We're not the only veteran family on the road, but it is a
little more of a unique situation.
So our main income stream right now is my husband's VA
disability. So when he retired, they
(14:53):
determined that he had 100% disability status and he gets
the full amount allowed for our family size.
So that is our main income that we have coming in.
He also has been very smart and taking advantage of programs
that I don't think every veteranis aware of, but there's a lot
of education programs and employment programs out there
(15:14):
that he worked really hard to get all the information on.
And so for the last three years,four years that he has been in
school, he's also gotten a stipend every month to help pay
for living expenses. Awesome.
Not a lot. It's still half of what we were
making before, but it is a steady income that was coming
in. The education stipend has now
stopped, but the disability income will come in as long as
(15:37):
he is living. So that is our main income.
The other income comes from me. So I have had an Etsy shop for
oh gosh, 1011 years now. It's not Uber successful.
It has. Its.
Ups and downs, it's changed a couple of times, but it does
bring in a little bit of extra income, especially around the
holidays. And then my other income is
(16:00):
content creation. So I do both UGC and influencer
promotion for different brands and that has started to bring in
a pretty steady stream of incomeat this point.
What's the Etsy shop and why does it bring in money around
the holidays real quick? So my Etsy shop now is a
(16:21):
printable business, so it's all online downloads like birthday
cards of games, holiday scavenger hunts, those sorts of
things. I've had some success with a
couple of printable items that Ihave come up with that during
Christmas time and this last year Halloween actually was my
(16:43):
biggest month and out of nowherethey happen to do really well.
Sometimes you really hit that algorithm and they did pretty
well. So yeah, it's all printable
items now and digital downloads.In the past it has been, I've
done some print on demand and before actually for the last
(17:04):
nine years or so, it was a crochet business.
So it just recently changed. I just gave that up at the
beginning of last year because it just became a little too hard
on the road. Oh yeah, so time consuming.
I always wonder how people make money when they out of those
businesses. I don't personally crochet.
I have a 10 year old daughter that loves to crochet in it and
(17:24):
I'm like girl, this that's a lot.
You gotta have a lot of space for the materials.
A lot of time yes, things like that yes.
Well, props to you for turning your Etsy shop into something
that's like more passive. In my opinion.
Nothing is like truly passive like the Internet tells you, but
(17:45):
some things are more hands off than others.
Yes. I will not be someone who will
go and tell you that you can just go put out a principal and
make $10,000 in one month. I'm sure some people have done
that, but I would not say that that is the norm, or at least I
have not had that success yet. Yet.
Yeah, that's a great one. Yeah.
(18:06):
It is coming. OK, let's get into your passion
for social media. OK, you have figured out how to
make an income from a personal brand with less than 10,000
followers. Let's start with what platforms
you focused on and also how longago did you get started in all
(18:28):
of this? Well, I started sharing very
little when we were first on theroad, but it was mainly just a
personal scrapbook at that point.
When we got on the road the second time, I so that was 2022.
I started posting more in hopes of building it into a business.
You know, of course, seeing all of these amazing influencers out
(18:49):
there with these huge followings, I thought this is
going to happen immediately. It did not.
It did not. I have worked very hard for the
followers that I have and I'm very thankful for them taking it
really seriously as a business and actually working with brands
did not start until the beginning of last year.
So what's that 2024 beginning oflast year, It started with
(19:13):
companies offering me trade. At the time I only, I had 3000
followers, maybe 2 to 3000, you know, some gifted collaboration
started. I started to build up My
Portfolio and I thought, well, hey, we're going to go visit
some amazing areas and I'd love to stay at some of these resorts
(19:35):
that we do not have the budget for right now.
So I'm going to reach out to them and offer them my services
and it went very well. So you started taking it
seriously a little over a year ago?
Yeah, I got my first payment like actual money payment in
April of last year. That was fast.
Yeah. Because I was going to say, how
(19:56):
long did it take you to like actually make money outside of
just gifted collabs? That one to be no, I'm going to
take credit. I'm going to take credit.
Always take credit for the work that you do.
It's very important. I'm working on it, but that was
actually a hosted stay that I did.
So for those that don't know hosted stay, they trade me the
(20:18):
stay and then, you know, I give them content for it.
There was no money exchanged, but the reel that I produced for
them did very well and they werevery happy with it and they
actually decided to buy the rights to it.
So that was an unexpected bonus to that deal and kind of lit a
fire under me. So yeah, kind of.
(20:41):
It grew from there. I love it.
Yeah. Did you have a background in
design or writing or marketing or like video editing?
Or how did you learn how to monetize your content?
Definitely no, no background whatsoever.
And I do not sell myself as like, you know, like technically
(21:03):
I am a professional because I get paid.
But I'm not talking like I'm going to go out and photograph
your wedding for you or I'm not going to sell pictures to a
magazine, you know, like National Geographic.
It's not going to happen. Not at this point in my career
yet, yet, yet always grow. Honestly, no.
It's all self-taught. The great part about social
(21:26):
media right now is that what a lot of brands, some brands want
it very polished and they want the very professional
cinematography and that definitely has its place.
A lot of other brands, they literally just want it to look
like you went out with your smartphone and you did a video,
which is what I do. So I don't sell my services as
(21:49):
being that overly polished. I sell it as being relatable and
authentic. And that's what sells things to
people because I do actually own.
I know a lot of people probably say this.
I only use and promote products that I really believe in and
would use regularly. I turn down products all of the
time because we have a certain lifestyle that we live that we
(22:11):
don't use a lot of things or consume a lot of things.
So yeah, no, I kind of just learned along the way, honestly.
I have taken courses that have definitely helped to improve
some things and taught me a little bit more.
I knew Canva from learning for my Etsy shop, so I have
familiarity with that. But like, I've learned to use
(22:33):
Lightroom now. I didn't know that.
I learned that from a course that I took.
I've learned from friends. Yeah, I just, I learned as I've
gone. I definitely do not have a
history. Do it anyway.
Do it. That's.
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(22:54):
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(23:15):
Click the link in the show notesto book now and start your
journey with our journey. How long did it take for you to
feel like you really found your audience and honed in on what
you want to say to them? And the reason why I asked you
this is because your travel content isn't, or I should say,
your content isn't just about travel lifestyle stuff.
(23:39):
Like to be honest, a lot of RV content is.
You have a very strong message in my opinion, and I love it.
How long did it take you to really figure that out for
yourself? I'm still figuring it out.
I have an idea of what it is. Reaching that audience is very
(23:59):
difficult. But honestly, when I first
started my account, I wasn't starting it as a travel account.
In my mind, it was always going to be a lead into something
different because at the time I didn't know how long we would
RV. And so I didn't necessarily want
to build an RV account because if we only RV for four months
(24:20):
again and then I built this following and then we got off
the road, that would all be lost.
So my initial goal was always togo towards a certain person, a
certain audience. And the travel to me is just,
it's just our lifestyle. So to me, I'm just doing
lifestyle, but we happen to be in an RV.
(24:41):
Yeah, I tell people that I, which I only recently really
came clear on after meeting a lot of really awesome RV content
creators through Tampa and whatnot.
Through the RV Show. I met so many amazing creators
and they are so great at what they do and I appreciate what
they do, but I realized it's notwhat I want to do.
So I realized I'm not an RV content creator.
(25:03):
I'm a content creator that just happens to live in an RV.
So yeah, I would do the same thing if I lived in a house or
in a whatever. So that to me was really a
turning point. And since then I really tried,
tried to reach my true audience and just using travel as part of
(25:24):
our lifestyle, part of our Wellness routine, part of my
healing journey, that's been really important to me.
I really want to reach the womenespecially who are afraid to go
outside of their comfort zone because our being is so far
outside my comfort zone. Anybody who knew me before would
be like, I'm sorry, Stephanie lives where And she does what?
(25:47):
Yes, I'm saying very far, very far.
We had not camped as a family. We had not done anything.
I still don't care for dirt or bugs or things.
I'm getting better but. Or like, sleeping in a tent?
Nope. Yeah.
I sleep in an RV. I don't like to wake up soggy.
No. I feel like that's all you do
when you tent camp. Yeah, those people are just to
(26:11):
another level. Yeah, it's just it's not my
thing and that's OK. I appreciate the people, but I
realized who I am. Like I had an idea of boy, even
in the RV community, I had an idea of what type of RVR I would
be. I am not who I thought it would
be and that is OK. But yeah, I wanted other people
to see like that's OK. It's.
(26:33):
Funny that you mentioned the experience at the Tampa RV Show
and just being around other content creators at Tampa,
because I have had the same epiphany about a year ago, I was
like, OK, I just recorded a bunch of RV tours and I don't
care to show this. I know that those pieces of
(26:58):
content get so many views because it's super fun to like
look around at other RV's and you know what they can do with
these tiny spaces. And and I'm like, I just finally
admitted to myself I'm not that person.
I just don't care that much about it.
Yeah. But some people do.
(27:19):
And they're really good at it. Yeah.
And they come up with, like, creative ways to show it.
Yeah. Like, thank you.
See, you're the type that shouldbe doing that.
That was totally what I realized.
It's just, yeah, there. It was.
Nothing wrong with being an RV content creator.
I am so impressed with so many of the things I see.
And I just realized that the howto's and the installs and the
(27:41):
all of those things, it's just dear bring me joy.
Yeah, it just didn't bring me joy, even though it can be a
very great market to be in as a content creator.
So it is hard to break out at that market.
But yeah, I just decided I wanted to do more.
That brought me joy. It's.
Good for you. I'm going to ask you about tips
that you have for other travel women who are maybe just getting
(28:04):
into the lifestyles, starting tothink about, you know, how can I
make money on social media? I have 700 followers and it
seems like everyone else is ableto monetize this.
What advice would you give them?That is a good one one.
(28:25):
I would say it's actually prettycommon in the RV life,
especially. I think that I feel like almost
everybody tries to be a content creator at some point.
I don't know if it's like that in other places, but it's, it's
an industry that I feel like must be unique because RV brands
will reach out and they will work with you when you have much
(28:48):
lower follower account than many, I assume many other
industries would. Because trust me, I try to be in
the Wellness industry and they have much higher follower
account requirements. So I think because of that, a
lot of people try to do it and Idon't think they realize how
hard it really is. It is tough.
So one, I would make sure that it's something you're actually
(29:10):
really passionate about the whole process of it, because
it's not as easy as the people on Facebook love to tell me that
I just make little videos and ruin people's lives.
It's not like that. So I'd say one thing is you got
to make sure it's something you actually like.
(29:31):
And another tip is if you are going to make it a business is
to treat it like a business fromthe get go.
It is very appealing to have brands reach out to you and
offer to send you the world. That is great.
But what people need to understand is that you are
(29:52):
giving them free marketing is what you're doing.
So if they're not paying you, they're getting free marketing
from you and you deserve to be compensated for doing the
marketing. So I think it's important to
treat it like a business. I think it's important to ask
for money sooner than you probably think you would, even
(30:13):
if they say no. Yeah, I think it's important to.
I think a tip would be to reallynarrow down what types of brands
you want to work with and what type of content creator you want
to be because that shapes everything.
If I had made different decisions in the beginning, I'd
probably be in a much different place right now and not trying
(30:36):
to move from 1 industry into another industry.
I think that that's a tougher shift to make.
You can very easily just become an RV creator.
And then if you want to get out of that industry, it can be more
difficult to do, in my opinion. So yeah, those are some tips.
(30:56):
Honestly, there's some really great courses out there that you
can take. Recommendations.
So I have done Max Explorer, Christina Mcelvoy.
She has a great course and I'm part of her Insta Success
Facebook group. That's been invaluable, just
having access to the mastermindsthat are in that group and the
(31:19):
information that she shares. I definitely do not have a
photographer's eye. I don't know anything about
manual functions of any kind as she gives some great tips in her
course, which are really nice. So that's been a really great
one. Sammy from Big Hearts, Tiny
Spaces, I always get her name wrong.
Big Hearts, Tiny Spaces, that's right.
(31:39):
She has done some different subscriptions in the past.
I know they're coming out with acourse soon, but she's done some
subscriptions in the past that I've been a part of and got
really great tips from her. She is a very hard worker and
has really made a name for herself in the business, so I
think her experience is invaluable actually.
I then recommend coaching, to behonest, I'm working with Leah
(32:02):
from Llama Llama Adventure. She is a friend, but she also is
a coach and she has actually, she is the one who encouraged me
in the beginning to start askingfor money.
I always tell people I would notbe making money if it wouldn't
be for her in RV Queens. She was actually in my very
first RV Queens group. That's awesome.
And we became close through there and she was so like she
(32:25):
pushed me in the best ways and really helped with the mindset.
So I think just obviously networking like that is a really
great. I've made some amazing, I've
made some amazing relationships through RV Queens, actually
connecting with a lot of different content creators.
So awesome, yeah. Love that.
So you bring up a good point about the money related to
(32:50):
especially when you are startingout and you have less than 1000,
less than 2000, less than 5000 and there's a lot of insecurity
that crops up. A brand reaches out to you and
says we want to gift you this thing and we want the moon.
They're going to ask for the real and the rights and
perpetuity and like all of thesethings.
(33:12):
And it feels really special because you're like, Oh my gosh,
they're giving me something for free and like, I don't even know
what I'm doing. Like, of course, yes, whatever
you say. The reality that I want to
encourage people to think about is the time investment that
you're putting into this. And like, even if you're new at
content creation, you're probably really good at
(33:34):
something else. Like let's say you were a
physical therapist and you were making I don't know how much
physical therapist maybe like $100.00 an hour.
I don't 8570, I don't know, whatever.
And you're like, okay, I could charge $100.00 an hour as a
physical therapist because that's my profession and that's
what I'm good at, yadda yadda. And when people are new in
(33:55):
content creation, you don't feellike you can ask for and an
amount that will like basically compensate you hourly.
If you're going to make a three hour reel and they're going to
gift you a lipstick that online,the lipstick says it's $125.00.
I don't even know if that exists, but.
(34:16):
It's really great to. Say that you have to remember
that the cost to the company to produce that lipstick is like
what a fourth like out of their pocket, they're only paying you
what, 30 bucks and they're like,yes, we're getting free content
(34:37):
from this person. OK.
So just putting this concept outthere, that's what we mean by
like understand your worth to the brand that is reaching out
to you and think about their cost versus your costs.
And you know, I'm not saying youshould try to charge $100.00 an
(34:58):
hour as a content creator right off the bat if you have 800
followers. That's not what I'm saying, for
the record, But what is like a reasonable compensation here,
you know, for where you're at, Just like think about.
These things, absolutely. And I think mentioning that the
per hour cost of the part, yes, people do not realize because
(35:19):
yes, but everyone else is on theInternet is.
I just went and took a little video and put it up.
But that's not the case. You have to come up with a
concept. You have to not only once you
get the concept and you film it,even if that is easy or whatnot,
you then have to make sure you come up with a hook and you have
to have the right text or you have to do a voiceover.
You have to do the caption. You have to have the correct
(35:40):
hashtags. You have to make sure you're
including all of the proper disclosures.
Make sure you're posting at a good time.
There's so much more involved with it and then you need to
follow up on the comments that come, the questions.
All of that is follow up as well.
People don't consider that amount of time.
They're like, oh, I'm just getting this item and I'm just
(36:01):
going to put up this one video. It's fine.
Plus, usually, because we've alldone it, you sign away all of
your rights to that video and you just see this some small
video that you would have put onyour small account and nobody
would really even see it. But if that brand then has that
video and it goes viral and theymake 10s of thousands of dollars
(36:21):
off of it, you're not getting anything from that.
Or if they have the rights to that video and they take it and
they use that video for the restof your life, you have to
remember that. And these are things that you
have to take into consideration when you're doing that.
Like when I put my face on something like that could be
there forever. Like.
(36:42):
Forever, right? And it could be some horrible, I
mean, think of some really awfulcommercials you've seen in your
life and think about the people who were in those commercials
and they have to see their face for the rest of their life.
So that's what I can. See, the Internet is forever.
It is. Forever.
Last question about social mediabecause I want to get into some
(37:02):
deeper topics with you. OK.
So did you have experience reaching out to brands and doing
negotiating and all of that kindof thing from the start because
you were able to monetize prettyquickly?
Like what advice do you have other people that are new to all
of this and they're like, Oh my gosh, what reaching out to a
(37:24):
brand, how would I even, what would I say?
What would I? How does that work?
It's scary, I'm not gonna lie. It's really scary, especially if
you were someone who doesn't have a lot of confidence.
I don't have a lot of confidence.
Regardless of what it looks like.
It takes me a lot every single time still to send, you know, to
press send on that e-mail. And honestly, it really the only
(37:48):
thing I can say is just to do it.
You just push through the fear. And honestly the biggest tip is
just telling yourself and knowing like you're going to get
rejected. You're going to get rejected so
many times. Even the biggest influencers
still get rejections. And it is a numbers game.
So if you want to get yeses, youhave to get a lot of no's as
(38:08):
well. And being OK with that, it
doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, especially on the ones that you
really want. It's also good to think of
yourself in the mindset, which actually I was listening to your
interview with Thor. Yeah.
And Denise. Yes.
And that was her of marketing ofThor.
Yes. Wow.
She had a lot to say. She had great info.
(38:29):
And so my favorite thing that she shared was when she said no
doesn't necessarily mean no forever.
It can mean no for right now, right.
So it's important to remember that when you're reaching out
that they say no, it doesn't mean no forever.
It could mean no until maybe youhave a little more experience or
no until they haven't need for you.
What I think a lot of people don't realize because social
(38:52):
media is very personal. I mean, it's me up there.
It's personal, but it's a brand.I am a brand and that's a tough
thing to get used to. But it's understanding that
they're not saying no to me. They're saying no to my brand,
my company for now. And it's just like any company
with marketing, like maybe they are going towards an older crowd
(39:13):
right now. Maybe they're going towards
couples with no kids or single women, or they're aiming towards
men only like, and later, maybe they have a family campaign that
they need a family for. And I would be perfect for that.
So it's important to realize that those Nos are going to
happen. And honestly, it just takes time
(39:35):
and practice to get better. Like when I took Christina's
course, it was really helpful because she had pitch templates
in there that you could look at and then you could refine to
yourself. Yeah, honestly, it's just just
go. For it, yeah.
Do you reach out? Do you do your initial reach out
through e-mail usually or is it Instagram DMS or?
(39:58):
How does that work? Instagram is my preference,
always. That's for a couple reasons.
The main reason is actually because I'm selling my
Instagram. So to me, I'm going to have a
better shot selling my Instagramif the brand is also active on
Instagram. Because if they don't have an
Instagram presence, they may notcare at all.
And there are some brands that don't.
(40:18):
They don't see the value in social media and they don't care
for it. But I know if they have A and
it's an Instagram account and anactive Instagram account that I
have a better shot at getting a response.
So if they have Instagram, I will always reach out there 1st
and just reach out with a quick,you know, introduction and ask
for a contact for e-mail becausethen I always move the
(40:41):
conversation to e-mail after that.
Or a phone call. You can get it.
I am. That's new for me.
I am working on that. Phone calls are really hard.
Zoom calls are even harder. Millennials.
But yes, but my understanding I've learned from so many of my
friends now is that is a way better chance of getting a yes
if you can get them on a phone call or on a Zoom call.
(41:02):
So I am working on that now. I've done a couple, but it is
still yes. It's a millennial thing if they
like to take. Phone calls too, but whenever
someone like hears your voice and like get to feel that you're
a normal good person and not just like a weirdo on the
Internet that I think the the nolike trust factor just like
(41:25):
through the roof. You are absolutely correct.
Yes you are. Another good tip for people to
know though for beaching out on Instagram.
Don't ever just reach out if you've never interacted with the
brand. You need to interact with the
brand. So when I am interested, I will
first interact. They call it flirting, right?
I will flirt with the brand. I know it sounds funny.
I will flirt with them, I will like their posts, I will engage
(41:45):
with actual comments, I will askquestions and I will show my
interest and then I will messagethem.
And it's also important to know lots of those messages go into a
filter and they don't get them. So if I don't hear from them on
Instagram and you know, you can tell if it's been read or not,
you know, if you've, you know, if you're being ignored or not,
(42:06):
then in that case, I go back andI comment more and on one of
those comments, I will say, hey,please check your DMS.
And that almost always works. And then they'll go find you and
find your DM. And then I move the conversation
to e-mail or a phone call or a phone call.
Do the phone call do that. You're not good at phone calls
(42:27):
yet. Not yet.
I have also reached out on Facebook.
I have done that only successfully, maybe once or
twice, though it's much harder to get a response in my
experience. But I have reached out on
Facebook. Some brands are only on
Facebook, some people. Are only on Facebook.
It's true. All right, let's shift a little
to the juicy content that you put out there and the themes of
(42:52):
encouraging inspiring other women.
OK, you have written that your goal is to, and I quote,
encourage others to ditch perfection and embrace good
enough in order to find more joy, and your handle on social
media is a perfectly good enoughlife.
(43:15):
Why is this idea of seeking goodenough over perfection so
important to you? It is pretty much my life mantra
at this point. I will quickly tell the story of
how it came to be because I feellike people don't understand my
name often and I understand thatI am a recovering perfectionist.
(43:37):
It has ruled my entire life for so very long like many of us.
But it was debilitating at one point.
And my husband is the complete opposite.
He is very much a just do and don't think about it.
Total opposite of me. And what he started saying to me
when I would be obsessing over anything is he would say, he
(43:58):
would say it's good enough for government work.
Yeah. OK, remind you that.
My dad, I don't know if I shouldsay that.
Dad used to work for the federalgovernment, and I grew up with
him saying that, too. Yeah, no one ever knows that
saying. OK, that's hilarious.
OK, so. In the military, yeah, it's a
whole thing. So he would say that to me and I
would just roll my eyes at him. And then eventually it said it.
(44:20):
And he would just start saying, like when I would be obsessing
over whatever it was, he would say, is it good enough?
And, and eventually I started, okay, is it good?
Yeah, it's good enough. Okay.
And so now, I mean, it's a dailything for me.
I do things constantly where I'mlike, I say it to myself in my
head, is it good enough? Is it good enough?
So I realized that I had been seeking this total idea of what
(44:47):
I needed my life to look like. And it, you know, when that
happens, you live your life in alot of disappointment because
nothing's perfect and things often don't turn out how you
think they're going to. And I didn't want to dwell in
what wasn't happening. I wanted to find the good in
what was happening and to be open to new things.
(45:07):
So the good enough kind of came from there.
It's now that daily mantra everytime I do anything.
And I once I started to share about it and once I met other
women, yes, a lot of millennialsespecially come from that same,
the same feelings. And I just wanted them to know
(45:28):
as well, like it's good enough and that's OK.
And I also wanted to spread the message that because some people
do get confused by it, good enough doesn't mean you're
settling. It doesn't mean like it's good
enough. No, it means like, you could
still be proud of it. It's still, it's a positive
thing. It's not like a settling thing.
(45:50):
So I wanted other women to stop getting stuck in that
perfectionist mindset because I know the damage that it can do
and how much it can hold you back from things.
So I wanted other women to feel encouraged to try new things and
to step outside their comfort zone and see how it feels.
Yeah. Thank you for explaining that.
(46:13):
Yeah. Now that I understand the
perfect versus good enough. Yeah.
Perfectly good enough life, get it?
I see what you did there. Now it's very, very long to be
honest. And that mainly the good and the
perfectly good enough mainly came in because, you know,
Instagram didn't have what I wanted available and at the time
(46:34):
it sounded really great. Now, it's a little long to be
honest, but it's there. Yeah, they.
Didn't have Stephanie De la Cruz110598 No, your original handle,
yeah. They probably did have that one
available. I should have gone with that
one. This has been so helpful and I
think inspiring for a lot of women, Stephanie, so thank you
for being here today. Before I ask my last question,
(46:56):
we kind of already covered this,but go ahead and tell people how
they can find you online. OK, well Instagram is my main
spot to find me at. That's a perfectly good enough
life. I know it's a it's a long one.
I'm also on Facebook and TikTok under the same name.
But Instagram is the main spot that you will find me.
Love it. And we will link all of those in
(47:17):
the show notes to make it easy for you to just tap and connect.
OK, this season of the podcast I'm ending with one-on-one
rounds where I ask a question and we both answer it.
So I have two questions for you today.
All right. First question is what is a book
or a podcast or something you recently discovered that you're
(47:41):
like really into? I really wish I had prepared
better for this because I'm horrible at remembering names.
Honestly, the books, I'm just gonna, I just got back into
fiction. I used to be a big reader and
got out of it, so I just got back into it.
So I just finished the oh gosh the very popular 1 and now it's
(48:02):
going to sit a crown of thorns and.
Roses Potter, no. Not a I'm not a Harry Potter
fan. I'm sorry.
I know, Boo is that crown of thorn and roses?
I mean, is that what you like? I've.
Seen that title on a book once. I just finished that series that
I like. I've been about that.
No, but it is like fantasy is like fantasy, like fairies and
(48:27):
whatnot, a whole magical world, which is not my recommend that I
do. It's really good.
There's like 5 or 6. Bucks, but I have to look into
that. It's a good one.
I need a new series. Yeah, it's a good.
One might be a stretch for me. I'm not.
The fantasy, it is romance too. So I do like a little bit of
romance on the side, a little bit of spice on the side.
(48:49):
And as far as podcasts, honestly, most of my podcasts
are healing podcasts. They are.
I spend my mornings walking and listening to, you know, inner
child work and really light stuff like that.
Like to start your day like withsome levity?
Like I did cry in the morning, you know?
Get it out of your system, then you're done for the day.
(49:10):
Yeah. Okay, so my answer to this
question is you mentioned Christina McAvoy, whose course
that you bought. She recommended a book to me,
Human Design by Jenna Zoe. Zoe, and I just bought that book
and I'm going through like, you know, human design is this whole
(49:32):
personality thing with like a chart.
Are you into this? Yeah, I just got into it.
You did very fun. Yeah.
I'm so new that it feels a little overwhelming, but the
type that they told me I am, I'mlike, yes, I believe it's, I
believe it's generator. OK, Yeah, I can see that.
(49:52):
Is that the one that's like you just follow what feels good?
Generator I don't want to give my input here because it will be
wrong so I. Won't even say because.
I don't know enough about it, I only know my own type.
What's yours? Projector.
Yeah, interesting. It's been very, it's been a
journey. It's been a real ride.
OK, man, we're going to have to have a whole other conversation
(50:14):
about this because it's it's a whole thing, but it's cool.
If you haven't heard of Human Design, it's worth a glance at
least, because it's kind of cool.
All right, I'm ending with a softball question for you.
So, yeah, don't worry. You eat gluten free.
Yes. Awesome.
We are gluten free by preference, not by allergy or
(50:37):
anything like that. So what is your favorite gluten
free treat? Sweet.
Lauren's cookies. Oh yes, Oh my gosh, they're all
good. They're so good, we eat.
We don't even bake them. We just eat them.
Eat. The cookie.
Dough the raw because they're safe to do that they say on it
(51:00):
and they're so good and because with an RV oven, you don't want
to risk messing it up, messing messing it up.
So yeah, we eat them raw a lot. I'd say that's probably that's.
A good tip. That's probably a favorite.
Mine is so lame. It's a toasted marshmallow
because I just love it. They're just, you can't beat
that. And we live our real life so.
(51:23):
Oh, like just a regular marshmallow that you.
Yeah. OK, yeah.
Technically gluten free. Yes.
Yes. Just like Lucky Charms.
And also put on a gluten free Graham cracker Yes, that's true.
They're not as good. They're.
Kind of soggy I've tried it, so,you know, I agree.
All right, that is a wrap. Stephanie, thank you for being
(51:45):
here today. This is so fun.
I love being in person with you getting the energy going.
And yes, thank you again. And everyone out there on the
Internet, we will see you on theroad.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode and for being
part of the RV Queen this community.
Remember to hit subscribe on whatever platform you're
(52:07):
listening on. And guess what?
You can have conversations like I had on this episode with your
fellow RV women who are living intentionally and making money
on the road. Head to
rvqueenspodcast.com/community tojoin RV Queen circles today.
It's a totally unique online space with a shared prosperity
(52:27):
model that's all about communityover competition.
I'd love to have you be a part. All right, guys, I'll see you
next week or hopefully I will see you on the road.
The Internet is forever. Forever.
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