Can I Ask a Favor?

This is a very vulnerable post, but one I have been feeling called to write for a while now. Some of you may know that my beautiful mother passed away the beginning of this year. I had been working for the parole office with the State of Florida since June of 2024 and it was my original plan to stay with state employment until I can retire.

I was blessed and thankful to have gotten the job after my nearly 12-year stint as a business owner with 1st Rate Pet Services. I loved the pet sitting, but the business part, the driving and being "on" all the time as a self-employed person had gotten very difficult the last few years.

In 2023, my partner Don was in a car accident that caused him to be very limited in what he can do, so we scaled back the pet visits at first. He still did what he could, but the joy was no longer there with our business. I was very happy to have other pet sitters I'd been networking with that I could refer most of our customers to as I transitioned to a regular job and eventually completely closed our business the end of 2024.

Things changed after my mom died in March; the idea of working in an office for somebody else for the next number of years became difficult. I don't like to be bored, and unfortunately, the job had become less challenging after the first few months. I loved my coworkers and was so grateful for their caring and support when I lost my mother, but I was starting to dread going to my job every day. With my mother's death top of my mind, I felt like I was wasting whatever time I have left on this earth. I wanted to do things that were meaningful, challenging and enjoyable.

I fought my feelings for a couple months, but my heart was telling me that time was short and precious and that I didn't want to spend so much time at a job while I had so many ideas and creative thoughts and nudges inside. I finally resigned the end of May, feeling guilty, relieved, stupid and hopeful all at the same time.

Now I have a number of things going on that I'm excited about, but no longer have a nice, regular biweekly paycheck. I'm excited to be doing some pet sitting again and have some other creative ventures in the works. One of those is doing this blog and creating content to help other women my age traverse this confusing time of life with confidence and contentment.

Meanwhile, I still have expenses and am working on creating multiple streams of income. One of those streams is by being an affiliate with Amazon and a few other companies. If you don't know much about affiliate marketing, I will be doing a post detailing it more later.

In a nutshell, the idea is that by using a link that I share with you to purchase a product, or products, I will be rewarded a small amount of commission as a thank you for "referring" you.

It is no extra cost to you, but as I build up my blog subscribers and my blog articles that will be talking about other affiliate products, it will help me a great deal.

Currently, I have a general affiliate link on my blog, which takes you to Amazon. From there you can make whatever purchases you need as usual, and a small commission will go into my affiliate account simply because you used my link. You won't see any extra cost or charge on your end.

Going forward, I will be doing posts that recommend items and products I use personally and recommend. There will be links to the products I am describing that take you to Amazon, and if you purchase the product, or anything else using that link, again I will make a small commission. The links will always be noted so you are aware they are affiliate links, and you will never be charged anything extra.

Here is an example. I wrote a coloring/workbook a few years ago, which is for sale on Amazon. The title is
"You Have the Power to Create the Ideal Life You Desire,"

If you click on the title, it should take you to the page on Amazon where you can purchase the book. This is an affiliate link to the product on my Amazon affiliate account.

It is that simple. The favor I am asking is that you think of me whenever you purchase normally on Amazon. Instead of going to Amazon directly, come to Hopeful-Valley.com and use my Amazon Affiliate link to get to Amazon instead. You will get the same value at the same cost as usual, and Amazon will give me a small commission as a thank you. If you ever do purchase through one of my affiliate links, know that I will be sincerely grateful and deeply appreciate your consideration.

Thank you for taking the time to read this entire post. Whether you ever click on my Amazon link or not, I appreciate your time and interest as I follow my heart and write, dream, design and build Hopeful Valley into a space that can be of help and comfort to others.

Very sincerely,

Julie