We had the good fortune of connecting with Courtney Chalupa and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Courtney, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I started my small business at home when I was working full time in marketing. I was spending every moment of my free time to build my business platform and social media. When I decided to go Full Time Self Employed, I continued this pattern of working all of the time. After about a year of hustling with no work life balance, I realized that I needed to schedule time away from my business if I wanted to avoid burnout. I decided to go to yoga classes a few times a week and I started going car camping with my dog, once or twice a month. This has allowed me to get away from my business at home and try to enjoy time off. Work life balance has become the most important part of my business continuing to grow, year after year.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I have an online reselling business called Common Tags, where I sell pre-owned items (mostly women’s clothing) on platforms like Poshmark & EBay. I have always loved to thrift and after selling a few items of clothing from my personal closet, I discovered the reselling community on YouTube and Instagram. After learning so much information from other resellers on YouTube, I decided to start my own channel to hopefully help other resellers. My reselling YouTube channel generates about a third of my business revenue from advertisements and sponsorships. Reselling was very easy for me to start and continue, but YouTube has always been a challenge because I’m not the most creative person. I always had jobs that focused on the data and business decisions, never the creative or artistic side. I’ve had to learn how to film myself, edit videos, and keep a consistent upload schedule. I’m definitely not perfect, but I think that is what people appreciate about me. I like to keep things real, transparent and I’m never afraid to share my mistakes.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
There are so many amazing neighborhoods and places to go in the Los Angeles area. I would definitely spend a day in Downtown LA, riding the scooters and checking out the restaurants and breweries in different areas. If I could only pick one area of downtown, I would probably take them to Little Tokyo to go eat and drink at a variety of restaurants, taking breaks to walk around the shops and walking paths in the area. I love the trying different okonomiyaki in the area. I’m still on the hunt for the best one.

After a fun day downtown, I would definitely take them to the beach the next day, specifically Santa Monica. It is not my favorite beach of California, but I love how convenient it is to 3rd Street Promenade and lots of great restaurants. A family favorite restaurant in Santa Monica will always be El Cholo.

After a fun beach day, I would definitely take them to Hollywood for all of the silly, but fun tourist stuff. The Hollywood Highland area is so great for people watching and lots of photo ops. After a fun day of playing tourist, I would end in West Hollywood with some food & drinks at Dan Tana’s.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My entire family has been incredibly supportive of my small business, but my Mom has been the biggest cheerleader since the beginning. I don’t have coworkers to collaborate with, or bounce ideas off of, so she has stepped in when I need some someone to talk to. She has challenged me with new ideas or constructive feedback that has helped me progress into new areas of my business. Both of my parents also supported my crazy idea to leave my well paying career job and become self employed, even when I didn’t have everything figured out yet. I’m so thankful to have a strong family support system.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commontags/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkEtugzT28cjZgdKfaw6_Hw

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