I started ThinkGrowProsper as an Instagram account back in January of 2014. I began by posting insights and positive reminders for myself during an extremely difficult time in my life.
What most of you don’t know is that I’ve had some behind-the-scenes help from a special someone...
Meet Vanessa...
Photo credit: Kristen Curette (@poorartist)
Vanessa and I have been together for six years. In fact, we just got engaged this past November! (Fun fact: I proposed to her via a surprise musical performance in the middle of the courtyard at our favorite restaurant...but that’s a story for another time).
Vanessa was the first person who made me aware of Instagram back in 2013. She was always scrolling through her feed looking at pretty pictures. I’ll admit, I kind of teased her about being “glued to her phone.”
But the tables turned when I started @ThinkGrowProsper in 2014 and became obsessed with posting inspirational content and responding to all the positive feedback I was getting! Vanessa showed me the ropes and cheered me on from day one.
Fast forward to the end of 2015. TGP had evolved into a massive community of people seeking daily inspiration, wisdom, and resources for personal growth. Through sales of my e-book and well-aligned partnerships, I made more money that year than I had made in the past three years combined!
ThinkGrowProsper grew into a community for people looking for daily inspiration, entrepreneurship insights, and resources for designing the life you love.
Although things were going well, there was still so much I wanted to do with TGP. Our account had grown so quickly and I wanted to create a space where I could personally connect with the TGP community. It was way more than one person could handle alone. For the first time, I considered hiring someone to help me.
At the time, Vanessa still had a 9-5 job at a non-profit. She mainly handled marketing, education and outreach there, which entailed managing their email list, website, workshops/events and social media—all things I needed help with for TGP!
You can probably see where this is going.
In January of 2016, Vanessa joined me full-time to help take TGP to the next level. She took over the business/technical side of what we do and has made it possible for us to be where we are today!
For the past year and a half, Vanessa has been behind the majority of the website development and off-Instagram content for TGP. With her help, we created a free mini-course on getting unstuck, which has now been taken by over 30,000 people! She has also been instrumental in creating the TGP blog, which has helped us reach a new audience and talk about the TGP philosophy from a more personal/lifestyle-based perspective.
The truth is, Vanessa has always been the driving force behind ThinkGrowProsper in one way or another. Way before she came on full-time, she had already been contributing to TGP—she was my original editor, sounding board and cheerleader. She inspires me every day and makes me want to be a better human in so many ways.
That’s why, going forward, you’ll see her contributing more of her own personal thoughts on our blog and in our weekly emails. I think so many of you will be able to relate to her unique perspectives and experiences. She’ll also be able to connect with a portion of you that I might never be able to reach as effectively on my own.
Things you should know about Vanessa:
She has a background in education, health and nutrition and is a holistic nutritionist
She is an absolute GENIUS and loves learning (she even took a tax preparer class "just-for-fun")
She watches cute babies on Instagram whenever she needs an emotional pick-me-up
She has the most amazing hair in the world and no matter where we go, random people always compliment her on it
Her spirit animal is a bear because it’s really strong, but also really cute
She loves taking pictures of the Tucson desert landscape and sunsets
She is the love of my life and business partner
If you subscribe to the TGP newsletter, you probably already know most of this story. But I wanted to write this blog post to formally say that TGP would not be where it is today without Vanessa. You certainly wouldn't be reading this blog post right now!
Years before I met Vanessa, I wrote down a goal to be with a woman who supported me in everything I did and who I could build an amazing life and business with. I couldn't have manifested that reality any more accurately.