I have a side hustle — well actually I have a few. All of them are profitable. Now they didn’t all start that way, and yes some are still more profitable than others, but to me, they are all worth it. Over time I’ve realized there are steps that can help make your hustle more successful.

Before we get any further let me say this — these tips aren’t going to make you rich and famous overnight. They are just tips, but if followed and executed correctly they can help you towards a more financially lucrative future.

Get Organized

Okay, stay with…

Racial Justice

With the Black Lives Matter protests still taking place across the country — though, the news would like to convince you that they aren’t — petitions for law changes, arrests, and criminal cases re-opened have likely shown up on your feed for you to sign. I know for myself, I’ve signed more petitions in the last few months than I have in my entire life, a majority of them on Change.org. If you’ve signed a petition on Change.org you have likely assumed, like the majority of us, that change.org is a non-profit organization actively working to make a change around…

I wrote an honest article a few weeks ago about wanting love while being quarantined in my house. I talked about how I suddenly felt desperation for a partner that I’d never felt before and how the trenches of online dating were both exhausting and educational.

However, there was one problem with my article about looking for love that I seemingly forgot the mention; the actual person keeping me from dating is me.

Or at least, it’s very very likely. And if you have had similar thoughts, your little to no dating history may have less to do with potential…

I’ve had anxiety for several years. I consider my anxiety to fall under the bracket of a generalized anxiety disorder. This means that I can have conversations and debates with basically anyone; the idea of sending one important email can send me spiraling with a racing heart and shaky hands. I assumed this was the way my mind and body would always work. Every night I would lie awake with anxious feelings and a racing heart, that’s just normal I told myself, over and over again until I believed it.

However, something happened a few days ago that made me…

Here is something I wish I’d known, so I’m telling you: there is no rush, especially while young.

Being in your twenties is the best time to try out a variety of different things. Take on new and weird hobbies, odd jobs, and even completely change up your lifestyle. Experiment. And especially allow yourself to make mistakes, a lot of them.

Fill your life with new and interesting ways to experience the world around you. Don’t hold yourself down with all these ways you’re “supposed” to live. …

“I don’t want to be Black anymore,” I blurted out, having waited until my mom had pulled out of my elementary school and onto the main road to state my case. Immediately her head swung around and she questioned why I felt that way.

I remember getting in my mom’s car on that particular day after school, angry and upset. We’d spent the day learning about MLK and the Civil Rights Movement in my second-grade class, and instead of feeling proud of being half-Black, my white teacher left me feeling ostracized and embarrassed.

I realize now that during this time…

During my first month on Medium, I published six articles, four of which were curated. All four of those articles were curated in at least three different topics.

Every single time one of my articles was curated I assumed this meant my article would become a huge success. Meaning hundreds of views and claps to accompany it, sadly that isn’t always the case.

Now I want to acknowledge that making money on Medium isn’t the most important thing, the actual writing is. …

“Vera?” I heard after opening my front door to retrieve the pizza I’d ordered in my pajamas and a messy bun. The delivery driver, standing six feet away from me, smiled as I looked at him in utter confusion until he took off his mask and hat to reveal his face. He remembered me, I didn’t remember him.

It took him reminding me that we attended the same middle school and high school together for me to remember him — and to be quite honest I remembered him more from seventh grade than all four years of high school.

The…