TLDR
I’m
Vanessa Lau
I make videos on content creation, online business, and my life as a creator entrepreneur. I used to run a complex 7-figure business with a big team, but now I’m back to keeping things more fun and simple :).
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The Full Story js-hero-timeline
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The Beginning. || These were the first few YouTube ideas I wrote on receipt paper while at my barista job!
I started my content creator journey in 2018 after quitting my corporate job.
To make ends meet, I became a part-time coffee barista while starting my YouTube channel.
In the first year, I gained over 100,000 subscribers and made my first $500,000 selling digital products.
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The Growth. || Because people will say “Receipts or didn’t happen”. 🙄
By year 4, I had grown my business to 8 million dollars in revenue and grew my audience to over 600,000 people.
I had a big team. I traveled a lot for speaking events. I had many customers. And the channel kept growing.
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The Tipping Point. || Fun fact: Speaking on stages always gave me the worst stomach aches because of how anxious I would be.
But to tell the truth, it drained me, the scale of it all.
I was managing people, working with many clients, and chasing as many opportunities as I could to grow.
I did a lot of this to please others and to prove I was worthy, but I sacrificed my fulfillment in exchange.
I knew it was not sustainable.
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The Decision. || One of the happiest moments of my sabbatical was taking my mom to Hawaii!
So, in 2023, I made the abrupt decision to shut everything down and decided to take a year-long sabbatical.
No videos. No team. No clients. No pressures of the online world.
Instead, I focused that time on being me again and living my life offline.
I spent time with people I love and visited new places. I focused on self-care and discovered what it truly meant to be enough.
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The Epiphany. || I also learned that Nugget is obsessed going to the beach :)
During that time, I learned a lot about myself by living without what others expected of me:
I don’t want to be a Girl Boss. An Expert. A CEO. Or a Guru.
And I especially don’t want a 7 figure business if it means doing things opposite to my lifestyle goals.
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The (New) Goal. || I am now the healthiest and happiest I’ve ever been.
Instead, I want to:
Create and share things that feel authentic and fun to me.
Live an effortless, soft life.
Surround myself with people who don’t make me feel like I have to perform.
And build a business on my terms.
One that’s simple, lean, fun, and earns enough income to fuel a meaningful life.
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So What Can You Expect From Me
I have 4 principles. These principles help me live a meaningful life and build a business that supports it.
These principles also represent things I like to talk about in my content.
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