The State of the Blog, 2023: What’s New and Changing at Bitches Get Riches

Are we early to write a state of the blog 2023 post? Or late to write our report on 2022? You decide!

Either way, it’s been a while since we talked about something very important: us. So today we’re breaking the chains on our tethered egotism and sharing news about Bitches Get Riches. Here are the questions we’re answering:

• What are your plans for Bitches Get Riches in the coming year?
• Will you be at any conferences or events this year?
• How’s it feel to run a legit-ass business with an actual factual employee?
• How can I help you give your assistant a bigger bonus, because she deserves the sun and the moon and all the stars betwixt them?

Okay, okay, that last one is not a real question anyone has asked us. But we’re still going to answer it! Because we’re giving her a surprise bonus, and you can help make it bigger. Read on for details!

Two ways to meet us LIVE and IN-PERSON this year

We love meeting readers! And shanghaiing them into joining us for snack runs at the closest gas station!

If you’re truly blessed, you can be part of the herd of people I erroneously lead on a mile-long walk at 11:30 p.m. to a Popeye’s Chicken that turned out to be closed.

Right now, we’re confirmed to attend two events open to the public in 2023.

We’ll be at EconoMe on March 17-19 in Cincinnati, Ohio 

We loved last year’s EconoMe so much that we’re coming back this year.

Crucially, since we’re not speaking or recording stuff this year, we will have so much more time to cause mayhem and strife enjoy the conference with everybody else!

Of the personal finance conferences we’ve been to, EconoMe is our personal favorite. Founder Diana Merriam describes EconoMe as “a party about money” and we totally agree. Part of the appeal is that it’s genuinely super fun.

But EconoMe is more than that. It’s affordable, community-building, and packed with specific, unexpected talks on early retirement topics that surprised me with their intimacy and relevance. The main stage talks were interesting and inspiring, and the breakout sessions dove deep into The Real Shit you need to understand to retire early. I mean taxes, banking, health insurance—the whole enchilada. We walked away with more action advice from EconoMe than we’ve ever gotten at a conference before. So if you’re interested in retiring early, get your butt to Cincy.

When you buy your tickets, use promo code “BitchesGetRiches” at checkout for 10% off your ticket price. You’re welcome!

We’ll be at the FI Chataqua from July 29-August 5 in Ibarra, Ecuador

THAT’S RIGHT. We’re gonna be in MOTHERFUCKING ECUADOR—and you can come too.

The FI Chautauqua is a week-long retreat for forward-thinking humans to discuss the path to financial independence and—more importantly—what comes after. There are presentations, break-out sessions, discussions, tours of the incredible natural landscape and indigenous culture of Ecuador, along with plenty of time to shoot the shit and compare notes with your fellow travelers.

According to past attendees, one of the best parts of the FI Chautauqua (that’s “financial independence” for the uninitiated) is the opportunity to meet with people who have similar financial goals. You’ll have the chance to learn from these badasses and discuss money strategies with them. There’s something about being surrounded by a community of optimistic, intelligent, adventurous, and thoughtful people that I find personally motivating… and I’d bet a cold beer in Quito you will too.

(And yes, if there’s a body of water, we will hold court near it, bedecked in stylish sunglasses and bathing suits that make us look like a Star Trek villain and an awkward tan line waiting to happen, respectively.)

Let’s assume that the stunning waterfalls, rugged mountains, tropical forests, and indigenous arts of Ecuador aren’t enough of a draw for you. Let’s also assume that for some reason, you don’t find the prospect of listening to the dulcet tones of the Bitches’ voices enough of an incentive to go. Lastly, let’s assume you hate fun and neglected to grow a soul during childhood.

Allow me, therefore, to dangle a few carrots in front of your sad and deprived nose. We will be joined by:

J. D. Roth is gonna be there

J. D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly is one of our favorite people. J. D. has attended the Chautauqua multiple times to give his now famous speech on the connection between money and meaning. It’s fucking life-changing. He told us, through copious freely flowing tears, that the only thing missing from Chatauquas past was us. Dry your eyes, J. D., our time is nigh!

Tanja Hester is gonna be there

Internationally renowned as the woman who wears aubergine hair the best, Tanja is the blogger behind the early retirement blog Our Next Life. She’s also the author of Work Optional and Wallet Activism. She is completely brilliant, and has made us rethink so many things we thought we knew about living ethically in a fucked-up and unfair world. Hers is a presentation not to be missed. 

The Fioneers are gonna be there

Okay, we’re gonna level with you—we haven’t had a chance to really spend time with The Fioneers yet. But we’re excited for the chance to hang out with them for a week, because their story is really compelling to us. They’re well on their way to financial independence despite working in low-paying nonprofit jobs. They’ve found ways to creatively save and use money to design the kind of life they want, and now they teach other people how to do it too. Pretty neat!

Cheryl Reed is gonna be there, possibly because she lives there

Not only is Cheryl Reed the cofounder of the FI Chautauqua, but she’s a living and breathing testament to the philosophy of financial independence and doing some goddamn good in this world. Cheryl will take you gently by the hand and lead you down the path of FI like a benevolent yet alluring rainforest nymph.

Because space is limited, we anticipate that this event will sell out quickly. So if you’re interested in joining us for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to make friends and learn lessons in the heart of the world, grab your ticket now.

Season four of the Bitches Get Riches Podcast is complete

Last week, we released the final episode of this season.

This was our first season simultaneously releasing audio and video for the show. We kind loved it?! Being on camera doesn’t come super naturally to us, and we had to work through a ton of logistical challenges with scheduling and technology to make it work. But it was a lot of fun to actually see each others’ faces for a change. And you could finally see our giant arm-flapping gestures instead of just hearing us smack the microphones with our hands!

Did you guys enjoy the video format? We’re genuinely curious to know! We can’t ask our inner critics. They’re very focused on that weird face we didn’t realize we made until just now.

So please take a moment to tell us in the comments below. If there’s interest, we may adapt a few of our most popular articles into video essays.

Growing is weird

For years, Piggy and I always did everything for Bitches Get Riches on our own. Including things we shouldn’t have. Like our business taxes, which we memorably fucked up the first year, lmao. Peace and light to the benevolent IRS lady who waived our fines because she could tell we were but simple country folk.

Guys, there is SO much unseen work that goes into running a blog like this one. Answering repetitive emails, moderating creepy comments, chasing down content thieves, beefing up site security, updating old articles so they don’t mislead new readers with outdated information… It’s stuff that has to get done, but it’s not our passion. (That’s graphic design, obviously.)

Since we both had day jobs and busy lives, we were exhausting ourselves keeping all these plates spinning. We asked other writers and creators how the hell they did it. And the main answer was “nothing you see online is actually me, I have nine virtual assistants in India I pay $6/hour to run my empire for me.” Which was… surprising! And disheartening. (To be clear, those are real numbers—not made-up hyperbolic numbers. Hoo boy!)

No shade on anyone who uses this business model. But it is not for us.

Piggy and I already felt hesitant about letting other people into the wild, overgrown, vaguely homoromantic secret garden that is our personal finance blog. If we were gonna do it, we had to do it in a way that felt right.

Luck and help

If BGR has core themes, one of them is surely debunking false and harmful “bootstrapping” narratives. We reject the idea that anyone can be successful without both luck and help. 

For the past year and a half, we’ve had a lot of both from our first hire, Ducky.

Our amazing podcast producer / administrative assistant made herself a valuable member of the team. Although you rarely hear her voice on the podcast, you can hear her presence in the increased quality of our episodes. She’s been instrumental in growing the reach of our social media content. And she pretty much singlehandedly started our YouTube channel and grew it from absolute zero to a few hundred followers.

It’s super important to us that Ducky’s contributions get the visibility they deserve. So Piggy and I have decided to celebrate her contributions with the help of you, our readers!

We are giving our assistant a surprise bonus—and the amount depends on you

Since the YouTube channel is Ducky’s baby, we’ve decided to reward her hard work with a bonus of $1 for every subscriber to the channel. So if you want to help make her bonus just a bit bigger, you can subscribe (if you haven’t already), or share the channel with someone you think would like it.

This bonus was supposed to be a surprise to Ducky. But I failed to account for the fact that Piggy cannot keep a secret to save mortal soul. She lasted exactly four minutes on our last work call before blurting it out. So Ducky’s known about our little plan since last week. Oops. We’ll call it a Surprise With a Bonus Courtesy Heads Up!™

We will go ahead with whatever the subscriber number is at 5 p.m. Eastern this Friday. Oh, and on the outside chance this stunt gets way more attention than we anticipate, I guess we have to have a limit? Let’s say, uh, five hundo? Yeah, five hundo! Any more than that and our check to buy Goldendoodles from Amish puppy mills might bounce. Can’t have that!

Since the YouTube channel is Ducky’s baby, we’ve decided to reward her hard work with a bonus of $1 for every subscriber to the channel. So if you want to help make her bonus just a bit bigger, you can subscribe (if you haven’t already), or share the channel with someone you think would like it.

Thanks to our readers

Thank you for everything you do, Ducky.

And thanks to you all, for reading, watching, and listening to us!

In particular, we have to show a lot of love to our patrons. Our Patreon donors allowed us to hire an assistant and pay her fairly. We kinda want to add another teammate in the coming year so we can reach more people who need our help. And we’d love to do that without charging people money when their whole issue is that they have no money.

So if our little blog has helped you change careers, get a raise, start investing, or avoid a huge financial pitfall, please consider paying it forward by joining our Patreon. Your generosity is what keeps this site alive.

Thanks for tuning in to this state of the blog, 2023. We’ll be back next week with our regularly scheduled programming.