Today we’d like to introduce you to Tammie Schuesler.
Hi Tammie, I’m so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
My background is in business; I spent 24+ years in the healthcare industry. It was ever-changing and boring at the same time. It was both secure and frustrating. I worked with great people and dealt with infuriating policies. Sound familiar? My home background is family; I’m happily married and have 4 wonderful grown kids. That may sound fairytale-ish, but there was a lot involved in getting to this point. There was a devastating divorce, a cancer diagnosis in a child, and many gory details that I could talk about, but it would probably be better if you read the book I’m going to write one day instead. My point is all in my family have taken punches and come out of the ring happy, healthy, and with minimal battle damage. So yeah, I’ll take a fairytale label any day.
My hobby background is travel. I love leaving my zip code and experiencing the differences in people, places, and environments. Not only is it incredibly uplifting and fun, but I always come home feeling re-centered and like I have gained new perspectives. As frequently happens with a mundane 8-5 job, one day, I was fuming over a work situation, and all I wanted to do was go for a weekend escape with family or friends and have fun. That’s when the epiphany hit me hard: All the old clichés are true, i.e., “life is short,” “you’ll miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”, and “everything happens for a reason.” I realized that changes needed to happen, and soon, because the clock never stops ticking. Then, a second thought hit me: I’m not the only one who feels this way.
From that day on, my mission became sculpting my life into what I want it to look like; after all, I am the architect. And I didn’t want to leave behind all those with the same need for little escapes because pardon another cliché, “we’re all in this together.” After a lot of introspection, I decided that for my new “life sculpture,” these are the three key elements that are the most important for me to focus on:
- Time. Time with all those important to me, which may mean sacrificing things like money and job status.
- Perspective. Helping people find ways to make those day or weekend escapes happen and gain perspective on
what is around them that they may not otherwise see. - Support. Supporting people who are putting an honest effort into being successful, especially small-business
owners.
With that, my small-town travel blog was born: WorthItTrip.com. My small-town travel blog serves a larger purpose than just being my job; it also gives me a chance to show people that it’s worth taking that day trip or weekend getaway and that it is rewarding to spend time exploring with friends or family. It’s worth it to leave your comfort zone to discover some cool places and broaden a few perspectives. And it’s worth it to support the small businesses that have always been our backbone. That’s how I got to where I am today, by my desire to create my best life and help people realize theirs. Combining business and pleasure has never been more fun, and it’s worth it!
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’m still on the road to making this small-town travel blog successful. When I conceptualized this blog, I knew there would be learning curves, but thanks to the unending availability of internet learning, I could create this blog from scratch. The hard part, as most people who write blogs will agree with, is getting people to read the blog. That’s the number one struggle from a process viewpoint. From a personal viewpoint, sacrificing a good salary and job status has been challenging, too. I’m what some call a “high achiever,” and writing a small-town travel blog doesn’t exactly produce immediate financial results. However, it does give me the self-satisfaction of producing something meaningful. It’ll be a glorious day when I realize both.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
During the 24+ years I spent working in the healthcare industry, I learned many lessons about working with different personalities, managing expectations, and handling sensitive situations. For the last 10 of those 24 years, I managed an independent pediatric practice full-time. During those years, I also went back to school and finished my bachelor’s degree in business management. At the same time, I added to my skill set, and my husband and I invested in real estate. In addition to my day job and night studies, I became a Property Manager for some successful properties, including in-town rentals and an out-of-state vacation rental property. Yes, it was a very busy time, but prioritizing, organization, and time management are some of my strong suits. I made it work, and it worked well. Then I had my epiphany. With my beefed-up skillset, I’m creating a brand identity that emphasizes creating meaningful, relevant, reliable content for all the personality types I’ve encountered while working in the traditional workforce. I’ll also make this work and that it will work well. I’m most proud of what sets me apart from others, and you could say that’s what I specialize in. I’m good at making things work, and I’m good at helping other people make things work.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting?
I’m still determining how qualified I am to advise on my current endeavor of building my online brand and successful blog because there’s so much more for me to learn, so many more mistakes to make, and so many more successes and failures to have. But I am qualified to say, be your life architect. It’s yours; make it look like it’s yours. I’ve been poor and not been poor; I’ve worked in positions that have made me want to pull my hair out (or someone else’s), and I’ve worked in positions that I loved. I understand the limitations of time and money, and relative to that, sometimes you have to do what you have to do at the moment. However, ultimately, it’s up to you to make anything happen. Please don’t wait for something to fall in your lap because it’s probably not going to. Building your dream life takes planning; sometimes, you must “suck it up.” Keep moving forward; it’s great to succeed and okay to fail; learn from both.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://WorthItTrip.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worth_it_trip/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worthittrip
