Update: Looking Back

Cancer Project 2025

First, the update. I am happy to report that I had my final scans on 10/30 and it indeed was a Happy Halloween! After finishing my treatments on 10/1, the scans a month later showed complete remission, no cancer, and the best scores I could possibly get.

Looking back on 2025 - it was A YEAR! This whole thing started on January 14th with the double vision and has been a process right up until the present. It took a whole year to fight this cancer and I found out I had to find alternative things to do while doing that, because it could not be my main focus or I’d never get off the couch. So what did I do when I wasn’t on the couch?

A lot of learning, that’s what I did. After closing my club and having no job to actually go to, something had to take the place of that. I decided whatever I did, I wanted to do it from home. The club closing after 11 years was so fast my head was spinning and I truly did not process it when it happened, but come 2025 I certainly knew why it happened and the process of dealing with the cancer and finding a new “job” pointed me in my direction forward.

So, work from home it is. Doing what? The first thing I did was take a course on Remote Work. It got me moving. After learning about resumes, ageism, and how AI deals with resumes, I decided I did not want to work for anyone and I wanted nothing to do with applying for jobs.

I wanted my own business. That lead me to the idea of being a proofreader because I love writing, grammar and spelling. I took a course on that and there I learned that that job would be incredibly boring, no room for creativity at all. After that, looking at the skills I already possessed, I realized I had years of teaching experience that younger teachers could benefit from, especially in the areas of classroom management and a complete kindergarten curriculum. K-Complete was born.

I took a course called TeacherBiz and learned about how to go about setting up that business. I found out it takes an inordinate amount of time to create that material, and then you have to learn the tech aspect of it and that takes another heap of time. Again, I had to course correct.

I was going about it all backwards. I decided I had to learn the tech aspect first so my products have a place to go, and I knew how to advertise, etc. But in order to learn the tech aspect, you have to have products to build it with. I needed products I could create quickly so I could focus on the tech to build the business. Here my art came to my rescue.

I decided to focus on art therapy to help people relax and relieve stress - so needed in today’s world, and As An Artist was born. I created adult coloring books because as an artist I find peace and relaxation in my work and my goal is to provide people with a means to experience the stress relief that getting lost in the creative process provides, without having to be an artist or needing special supplies or training. Coloring books for grownups is the perfect way to do this.

That lead to me to actually having 2 separate businesses - one in education and one in art - K-Complete and As An Artist. I was no longer bored. Creative opportunities were everywhere. Now I was overwhelmed with creativity! Lol!

I built a website ( As An Artist ) to learn how to build a sales funnel, use landing pages, use an email collecting source, and use a checkout and delivery system. Phew! No one in any of the courses I took tells you the amount of stuff you have to learn to sell anything online. Someday I’ll write a course on that.

I also opened an Etsy shop to sell the coloring books. Again, another education.

So now I have 2 complete ways to sell my products - Etsy and my own website. What’s next? How are people going to know I’m out there with something that they can use? Advertising and social media now need to be addressed. I took a wonderful course on using the Ads Manager on Facebook and learned how to make and test my ads. I really had fun with this! I wrote really good ads and made 2 sales while just testing.

Etsy is a whole different ballgame than selling from your own website and a sales funnel. Getting known on Etsy is all about consistency. If you work on your shop everyday, Etsy will promote you. Not right away. It takes a good year to gain traction on Etsy. I’ll get there because I do love working on my shop.

Next - the legalities of it all! I’m just lucky that when I was going to move my club instead of closing it, I obtained an LLC. When I was considering proofreading I changed the name of the LLC to Docufit. Now this comes in handy because all of my businesses are selling digital downloads and after checking with my lawyer, I can run all the businesses under the one LLC. I also ended up with an EIN number and a copyrighted logo. All by accident.

So friends, that’s how I spent this last year during the Cancer Project of 2025. I kicked the cancer, started 2 businesses, and I’m fired up and looking forward to 2026.

My take away is that the word cancer is no longer an immediate death sentence. My husband is doing very well with his CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia). He now takes a daily pill and it is all under control. I won’t lie. The first day they tell you that you have cancer is a little off-putting. I needed to take a few steps back, process it, then LISTEN to my doctor. He laid out the plan and I followed it to the letter, and here I am today, even stronger than I was a year ago.

The Cancer Project 2025 was a great success and I want to take the time to thank all of you who reached out and encouraged me and shared your own experiences. Let’s continue to hang together in 2026 and see where our next endeavors take us and what we are going to learn along the way.

And so, as another day goes by, remember: