The Financial Story I have Kept Hidden… Until now
This has been a really hard blog to start writing. I know it is time to open up and share this story. If not for anyone else but myself.
Yet, this is a part of my story from the last two to three years I have shared with very very few people, including my own parents (hi mom, I know you read these sometimes and hopefully we have already talked before you start reading!)
I don’t know how in depth I am about to go but writing felt the right way to share versus on my podcast for now.
There is a lot of shame and guilt surrounding this part of my journey that I have been working through this last year. And then, when I thought I was finally on the uphill, the lull in my business has brought around the fears and shame again.
So as you read this, know I am not looking for sympathy, a solution, any type of encouragement even. I'm writing this to share a part of my journey I'm finally ready to open up about because if you've experienced this, are experiencing this, or do someday, I want you to know you are not alone. That there is a reason you are going through this and we will get through it TOGETHER. You don’t have to sit in the shame/guilt/disappoinment in yourself alone.
Before we get to the good part….
Many of you know my journey with personal development and entrepreneurship fully started after attending Powerhouse Women in August of 2023. I made my very first investment of $1,997 to join Six Figure School, Lindsey (PW event host/community builder) online program.
At this point, I hadn’t made any other investment in myself. Not even my ticket to the PW event as my mom 6 months prior fully supported my decision to attend and bought my $500 ticket.
Following this first investment, there was a ripple effect in my life/career over the next 6 months:
Presented a 30 day challenge to kick off Six Figure School and decided that giving up alcohol for those 30 days would be the big needle mover. What resulted was a job offer (below), desire to start a podcast, and community of women I had never known was out there.
I had the incredible opportunity to leave the hotel industry and test my skills (still in corporate) in the promotional product industry, specifically event management.
Joined the Start Your Damn Podcast live course with Jessica Burgio where I planned and launched my podcast on December 1st, 2023!
Hired Jessica Burgio as my first ever business coach. An investment of $10K….. Never had I ever made an investment like this.
Flew out to Denver, CO in December for a work event that piggy backed with an event that again changed my life forever where I was introduced to breathwork, Reiki, inner child work, Rapid Rewire Method, etc.
Officially decided to stop drinking alcohol for all of 2024.
By mid-January, between my business coach and a few breathwork sessions, knew I had to leave my corporate job. It was time to go out fully on my own.
If you can’t tell, there was RAPID momentum from attending PW event in August 2023 to January 2024, then leaving corporate fully by March 31st, 2024.
None of this I regret. Yet, even though I was working full time during this 8 month window….. It was the first time ever I could not pay my credit card off in full and carried a balance. Underlying all this excitement, there was already the lingering feeling of fear yet I also believed it was only temporary.
Year One: The version I haven’t shared
Now we are going to fast forward through my first year of entrepreneurship.
If you want to hear more of the story, go listen to my podcast episode, Wins & Learnings from my 26th Year and 2024: Embracing the Challenges and Celebrating the Wins.
To summarize this first year up the best I can:
We moved back closer to home to the NC mountains from Nashville.
Neither myself or my husband working or making money for two to three months.
I traveled a lot during this time to put myself in the rooms, investing in the travel, the events, the coaches/programs…. All while keeping us going at home, paying the bills.
This was not what I expected but by December 2024, every single one of my credit cards were maxed out. I had enough savings left to pay the minimums and at this point had made $5K in my business for the year.
The shame in how much I had “spent” (will get to this reframe soon!) and guilt that I (not my husband but me) had spent all this money to put us in this situation, weighed HEAVILY on me.
Sitting here now, it is still hard for me to say….. But I had put us into $45K of credit card debt with no idea where my business was going, second guessing everything, and knowing I had committed to one year before heading back to corporate.
At this point, I felt this was it. We couldn’t go three more months and I definitely started job searching more seriously.
The conversation I was terrified to have
By the first of January, I admitted to my husband truly where we were at and the fear, stress, shame, and guilt that was weighing on me.
The first thing he said to me….. “This debt is not all yours, it is mine too”.
I didn’t want to accept or hear that. I pushed back, but he kept going. What was mine was his, which meant this debt wasn't only mine to carry.
Secondly, we had a very serious discussion on what we needed to do. In the end, it was simple… We had to ask for help.
My husbands parents are long time entrepreneurs who started from nothing and have built incredible businesses to get them where they are today. So we decided to start with asking them for a loan.
There was so much shame/guilt around the amount of money we were asking for. I held it together the first part of the conversation until we got to sharing the $ amount. And then I cried. Their reaction wasn't bad….. just hard.
I felt like I had disappointed not only myself, not only my husband, but them too.
In the end though, they offered us a loan of $40k over three years, with interest. Part of the interest going into a savings account for us also later on.
There was so much relief when we were able to pay off my cards and know it all had been consolidated down. And the ripple affect in my business following was UNREAL.
Then almost immediately… Everything changed
Not even two weeks after asking for support from my in laws, my first Fractional COO client landed in my lap. I went from making barely $500 per month to $2k overnight.
He was such a huge advocate for me that three months later I landed another client for an additional $5k/month.
At this point, even taking out taxes, I was making as much if not more than I had been when in corporate, JUST ONE YEAR AGO.
I completely missed my one year mark in March of 2025. I was so caught up in the momentum, the money flowing in….. I just forgot.
When we asked my in laws for help, I really didn’t know if we would be able to pay the monthly amount. Yet, very quickly, it was no issue at all plus some months I was able to pay some extra to the principal.
I won’t go into all the details but to be completely transparent, by the end of 2025, I hit just over $100k. Something in corporate I had never done, all while creating my own schedule. Working my ass off. Was it easy? No. Was it nice to know I had this flexibility? Yes.
July 2026: Sitting in the Storm and somehow okay
Instead of drowning you with more story/information from the last 7-8 months, let’s get to where I am now and why the fears of 2024/2025 have risen again.
If you listened to my last podcast episode with Stephanie Ross, we talked about the seasons of entrepreneurship/soulpreneurship (go checkout her book, Seasons of a Soulpreneur!)
2024- my year of planting lots of seeds. Not “spending” but INVESTING a lot of money in myself, my business, and where it was going.
2025- my year of growth. Starting to see the seeds that were planted start sprouting. Rapid growth in clients. Operating like I was still in corporate yet an entrepreneur. One woman show who could barely keep up but the money was great.
2026- currently, in my Storm season. I niched down my fractional/consulting business solely to software migrations for DME/HME companies and softwares. Have had a massive lull in my business from April to June. All while hiring two team members with payroll I didn’t have before and had business travel plus financial commitments previously made when business and income were thriving.
All the momentum has felt stalled. I have felt stuck again and for the second time, am carrying credit card debt.
When it first started, I went down a rabbit hole of… what does this mean? Am I back to where I was before? How could I do this to myself and my husband again?
But this time is different….. and here's why.
I still have income coming in each month. Not what it was, but something.
My husband is working full time and able to support expenses.
An incredible community and hypnotherapist reminding me how far I have come PLUS others helping me feel less alone.
Above all, a 90 day plan AND a strong intuitive knowing we are ok and will be ok.
Some of you may look at these numbers like ‘Oh my gosh, how could you allow this to rack up on your credit cards? Not once but twice?” While others of you (a few I’ve spoken to) barely bat an eye knowing this is part of entrepreneurship and investing in yourself and business for it to grow.
I have done the work these last three years to get me to this point. And as Stephanie reminded us on our podcast episode (listen here), the Storm must come before we can reap the benefits and celebration of the Harvest season.
So here we are, July 2026. As I write this, literally in the midst of a stormy season in NC, with this strong, intuitive knowing we are happy, healthy, and for the first time in forever…… I am getting to practice full presence, joy, and spaciousness so when the next round of momentum occurs in business, I’ll know my boundaries. I’ll have the trust in myself to not overcommit, say yes to the right opportunities, no to the wrong ones, and commit fully to what I am building.
Cat Roten
Intuitive Leader & Mentor