How $250K in Debt Breaks You

In 2022, I made my final debt payment.

This wasn’t just any debt.

It was the debt from a meal delivery business that my husband and I built from the ground up. It required food trucks, delivery trucks, freezers, and processing equipment.

But here’s the thing.

Even though we had built something “successful” on paper, our lives were falling apart.

My dad was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer.

We had a three-year-old and a newborn.

And between the 100-hour workweeks, my husband and I never saw each other.

No family time.

No freedom.

No joy.

In 2018, we made the hardest decision of our lives.

We shut it down.

And in doing so, we took a massive financial hit.

Since we were a sole proprietorship, the business debt turned into personal debt.

And just like that, we were $250,000 in the hole.

But here’s what I knew.

I needed to build a business that worked for me, not the other way around.

A business that didn’t require insane overhead or constant referrals.

A business that didn’t take all my time while giving nothing back.

So I committed to one thing.

Learning how to create offers that convert a cold audience.

Not people who already knew me.

Not people who were referred to me.

But strangers who would see an offer once and say, “I’m in.”

And in 2020, everything changed.

That skill, turning cold audiences into clients, became my superpower.

I used it to grow my marketing agency to high seven figures.
And after years of discipline, testing, and refining, I finally climbed out of debt.

Now, in 2025, everything is different.

I own my home mortgage-free.
I own my car outright.
I carry zero credit card balances.

And the best part?

I can turn on client acquisition like a faucet.

When I want to scale, I just pull the levers.

Cold outbound. Paid ads. LinkedIn.

I never rely on just one channel because that is too risky.

But every new offer I launch starts with LinkedIn.

Why?

Because I can test messaging, reach the exact right audience, and generate results in the most cost-effective way possible.

If you have tried LinkedIn before and it “didn’t work,” chances are you just didn’t test enough to find what would work.

But that is a skill you can learn.

I did.

And it is what allows me, and my clients, to create freedom with their businesses.

If that is what you want for yourself in 2025, reply “plan” and I will send you the details.

Kara

P.S. Next week, we are opening up spots for Cash Architects. If you want first dibs, keep an eye out.