VanLife Update and What’s Next | New Van?!

Change is the only constant in life. It's almost hard to remember life before VanLife. I started "MyBasicJourney" in 2018 as a creative project to learn how to create videos. I wanted to create videos about veganism, minimalism and travel. That all changed when I got Bubsy, my 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan. A minivan that I built into a single-person camper so I could live on the road and travel everywhere. Now, my channel became a VanLife channel and I have been living out my dream for the past two years as I snowbird around the U.S.; Chasing 70°F. This website has pretty much became a hub for my shop as I haven't written a blog in over a year. That changes today, because I am so excited that the next chapter of my amazing and ever-changing journey is about to start. I got a new van! https://www.instagram.com/p/CbzubJSODSv/ That's right, I got a Chevy Express Regent 2004. It has 124,000 miles on it and I am totally in love with…

Building Your YouTube Channel and Getting Monetized

Chantelle
May 2, 2020
Entrepreneur / Make Money Online / YouTube

Today, I filled out my application for monetization on YouTube for my channel, MyBasicJourney. Getting to this point was not easy and took a lot of hard work, consistency and dedication. I'm here to tell you about the realities of getting monetized on YouTube and some helpful tips to get you started. In order to be monetized, your YouTube channel must have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours within a 12 month span. (Taken from google. Someone received this after their channel got demonetized in Feb 2018) I started my channel in late July of 2018 with a short pilot video. The video itself was basically a montage of random clips. I had never edited a video like that before and even though it's only a minute and so long, I was really proud of it. It was then that I fell in love with the process of creating videos and editing. I made videos regularly for the first few months on my channel; 9 total between July 29th and…

Currently Occupation: Unemployed Artist

Chantelle
April 27, 2020
Entrepreneur / Make Money Online / Unconventional Living

Today marks two weeks that I've been unemployed. Covid-19 has affected everyone in various ways, but being unemployed is one of the most common. Over 3 million people have been infected by this virus, and over 200,000 people have died. While those numbers are scary, and high, it doesn't compare to the number of people, in the U.S. alone, that have been let go from their jobs and are now unemployed. There are now over 33 Million unemployed people in America right now. This unemployment number is higher than it has been since 1934. The consequences of our future economic security are going to be devastating. Unfortunately, I don't believe we will be going back to normal any time soon. While this pending doom of our economy is lurking around every corner, and every news outlet, I am feeling strangely okay. These last two weeks of being unemployed have been the most productive two weeks I've had in a really long time. This moment, however long it will last, is…

Celebrating 420 in Quarantine

Chantelle
April 20, 2020
Addiction / Healing / Healthy Living / Mental Health / Sobriety

Today is a day for celebration. 420 is commenced, but there's only one issue: We're all in quarantine. Since this is the first year in over 15 years that I haven't spent 420 with other people, I figured I share it with all of you. As we all know, and for those of you who don't know, I am 100% pro cannabis. This includes legalization for all medical and recreational use. Weed always gets a bad reputation of being a gateway drug. For me, weed has helped me stay OFF of drugs. I've been sober for over four years now and the only medication I use to stay sober is marijuana. There isn't a better day to celebrate my appreciation for cannabis than today, 420. For those of you who still think cannabis is dangerous, or the devil's lettuce, I wanted to list some of the other things found in the scientific study by Harvard University on the medical uses of Marijuana. Cannabis has so many medicinal properties that could…

Etsy Shop Is Now Fully Stocked

Chantelle
April 18, 2020
Entrepreneur / Personal Development / Tarot / TarotAndSage

It took me from November 2018 to last week to get this done, but it's official: All 70+ pieces of inventory are up for grabs in my Etsy shop, TarotAndSage. I have definitely tried to stay productive during my time in quarantine. My Etsy shop is the home to all of my magical creations and tarot readings. I wanted to keep my Tarot business and my YouTube business separate. I explain that a bit more in the blog when I announced the Etsy shop back in 2018. You can go give that a read in case you were interested in why my shop isn't called MyBasicJourney. A few years ago, in 2017, I was selling DoTerra - an MLM company that sells high grade essential oils. I actually really liked it and and became pretty obsessed with the whole thing. I was going to weekly meetings and going to the local events. My favorite part, though, was making daily spreadsheets, drawing up my own business plans, researching data, and just…