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Amber Hinds

My Story

I’ve blogged off and on since middle school (back before online journals were even called blogs), took a break toward the end of college, and then, as I neared my twenty-fifth birthday, felt the itch to start blogging again.  I started this blog in 2010 as a way to share my experiences striving to match my reality to the dream and vision I have for my life.  It is a blog about finding joy on the road to becoming who I am at heart, even in moments when joy feels out of reach — these moments are what I call the “not-quite-there.”

This blog, this path, has taken me from the life of a full-time working mother in New York’s Hudson Valley to the life of a stay-at-home mother on Nantucket island, to 10 months in northern Wyoming cowboy country, a couple of years in Northern Colorado, and now Central Texas where I own a digital marketing agency with my husband, Chris.  I write about balancing business ownership with a growing family, mothering my daughters, travel, attempting to meet personal goals, and other bits and pieces of life.

Quick Facts

little random things

Years in business:

6 years freelance; 4 years agency

Favorite Travel Spot:

along the Snake River near Wilder, Idaho

#TravelGoals:

take photos of our girls at every state capitol building

Guilty Pleasure:

dark chocolate & hiding in my closet with a book

IN ANOTHER LIFE:

I’d own a small farm & home school in New England

Parenting Style:

home birth, breastfeeding, baby wearing, Montessori

watercolor feather and abstract flower background
Amber Hinds headshot 2020

My Family

I’m a 30-something who got married right out of college to a fabulous man who has been my life partner for more than 10 years and is now my business partner too.  Together, we have four daughters: Nora, Zara, Adelaide, and Vivienne.

I always knew that I wanted to be a mom, but what I didn’t know is that I would discover a love for entrepreneurship.

My Business Journey

I was a stay-at-home mom on Nantucket, babysitting to help make ends meet, when a friend asked me to help her set up her WordPress site.  One thing led to another, and soon I was designing and developing websites as a freelancer – plus helping with all sorts of other marketing-related things.

Though I initially fought it (I had dreams of owning a maternity store and doing lactation consultation work), I eventually realized that not only was I good at online marketing, but I liked it too.  After freelancing off and on for three years, in 2014, I decided to get serious about making my business legitimate.  

In 2015, my husband caught the bug and started helping part-time – by the end of that year, we realized that our dream was to have a business that fully supported our family and for both of us have the freedom of self-employment.  In January 2016, we rebranded my business from Au Coeur Design to Road Warrior Creative, and I took a break from blogging to focus on the new company.  We set financial goals, and by May of 2016, Chris gave notice at his job.

amber and chris with laptops
Chris and me in 2015 when we first started our business.

We’ve since grown the business to a team of eight distributed across the U.S., building websites and running digital marketing campaigns for enterprise businesses, government agencies, nonprofits and social good organizations. Some of our clients include Colorado State University, Lesbians Who Tech, Workforce Solutions Panhandle, Lean Startup Co., and Tommy’s Superfoods.  We’re in the process of becoming a certified B-corp.

beyond the blog

Other Places to Find Me

In addition to running my business, I founded, and for 3 years chaired, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Allied Women Entrepreneurs, which helped women in Northern Colorado start and grow businesses.  I run the Austin Food Marketing meetup, am a co-organizer of the Georgetown WordPress Meetup, and frequently speak on topics related to marketing and entrepreneurship at conferences and events across the country. Visit my speaking page for a calendar of upcoming engagements. 

I’ve been a guest lecturer at Colorado State University and have been featured in Forbes, The New York Times, Huffington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, as well as on numerous podcasts, blogs, and other websites. My family’s journey to full-time RV living was told on an episode of Going RV on the Great American Country channel (sister station to HGTV) in July of 2018. See more press.

You can find me on social media on Instagram, LinkedIn, and (occasionally) Twitter.

Life Right Now

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Jan 10

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Zara made a #texassnowman - tiny, full of grass and leaves, but a legit snowman. 😂 We have the fastest snowflakes I've ever seen falling down here right now and could get up to 4 inches! The girls are over the moon.

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Jan 10

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We found a mountain in Texas! Chris gave me a hiking trip to @enchantedrockstatenaturalarea  for Christmas ( ♥️ experiences not things) and today I "cashed in" on my gift. We packed lunches, bundled up and drove about 1.5 hours, then spent the day hiking all around the mountain, through boulders, and up to the top. 

We ended up hiking about 9 miles and everyone had a great time. Chris gets a medal for hiking at least half of it with Addie on his back, but she walked a few really good stretches too. She did great until she fell into a prickly pear. 😫 Luckily that was at the end of the day. Here's a few shots from the day - I even managed to get is all into a selfie, though with 6 people it seems like we're just about in selfie-stick territory...

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Jan 7

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Our 1,000 piece project and today the girlie on the right turned 8. 

 I was in and out of calls all day so was more than a little shocked by the ridiculousness in the Capitol when I finally saw the news at 4:55 pm. Sometimes life feels so surreal. It was a normal work day and it also wasn't a normal day at all. There was... an attempted coup? Out of control protests? Whatever we call it, at the least, it was a day that is likely to have long-lasting reverberations in our society (maybe not all positive) but it was also day of celebration and joy. Not just for our birthday girl but also for a friend and a cousin who both had babies today too.

It's hard to know how all these pieces fit together and what to make of life right now. Every day feels a bit like a roller coaster. It's crazy but I guess we just have to try to enjoy the ride and trust that eventually we'll be able to see the whole picture.

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Jan 2

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I can post a #Christmas picture the day after New Years, right? Because that's totally where I am right now. Months behind on the socials from my work hard/play hard life during which I was either glued to my computer working to launch our new plugin or being a total luddite ignoring my phone. I  barely even took pictures of the kids. 😮 

So this is pretty much it from our Christmas and New Year's celebrations which were perfectly lovely, and now it's 2021! I'm proud of how much we managed to hold it all together through 2020 and I hope to someday say more about that when I don't feel like I'm being pulled in 50 different directions by kids and trying to keep a business afloat. Here's to a new year...hopefully better than the last.

#newyear #thowback #throwbackthursday #tbt

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Nov 16

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Happy first birthday to my little Vivienne. There was no themed birthday party considering the times we're in, but that's alright. Probably, if we're being honest, for a baby, that's preferable. No weird things messing up her routine, just a nice day at home with the family, fun crawling around outside in the leaves, and then pumpkin cake after dinner.

At one, Vivi is such an incredible delight. She laughs so much more than any of the other girls did as babies - she'll even start laughing if she just hears the word "funny." She keeps us all smiling all day long. She's pulling herself up on things, but isn't doing too much stepping yet, so I expect we're going to have another late walker. She knows a handful of words, loves to quack at ducks and neigh at horses, crawls all around the house finding things to get into, dances when she hears music, and loves pretty much all food (making up for her early days). I think she looks like Zara.

It's been a whirlwind year, but I most certainly could not have asked for a better tiny human to share 2020 with or to be part of our family. ♥️
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