The Christmas I couldn’t afford gifts

Five days before Christmas, I was sitting at my desk… bawling.

Not stressed.
Not frustrated.
Bawling.

Because I didn’t know how I was going to afford gifts for my kids.

We were $250K in debt from Business #1.
Business #2 wasn’t faring much better.
My husband had become a stay-at-home dad so I could “scale” this thing…

…and I was failing.

Not because I wasn’t delivering.
Not because clients weren’t happy.
Not because the work wasn’t good.

I was failing because I had no way to bring in new clients on purpose.

Every sale I’d ever made came from a referral.
A friend of a friend.
A previous client who mentioned my name.

And I built my entire business on that.

Which meant the second referrals slowed down?
Everything collapsed with it.

That December — one client churned.
Then another.
Then a third within 30 days.

Three.
In.
A.
Row.

My payroll was due.
My team needed to be paid.
And there wasn’t enough left for my own family.

On December 20, 2019, I hit my breaking point.

And then — the next morning — it happened.

I woke up to an email:

“Ok Kara, let’s do it.”

A complete stranger.
Someone who didn’t know me.
Someone who didn’t come from a referral.
Someone who went through a process — my process — and decided to buy.

A $4,600 wire that cleared the same day.

The relief… I can still feel it in my bones.

But here’s the insight most founders miss:

It wasn’t the $4,600.
It wasn’t even the new client.

It was the proof.

If I could create one client on purpose, I could create two.
If I could create two, I could create five.
If I could create five, I could build a real business — not a gambling habit.

That was my “never again” moment.

Never again would I build a business where I hoped someone would remember my name.
Never again would I depend on referrals to keep my lights on.
Never again would I let December feel like a threat.

I became obsessed with building a motion — not luck, not content, not prayer — but a motion that creates sales on schedule.

That’s the exact DNA of The Signal to Dial Playbook.

It’s not about posting more.
It’s not about chasing introductions.
It’s not about waiting for people to be “ready.”

It’s about a simple, <45-minute rhythm:

Press play.
Run the sequence.
Call the warm people.
Book the conversation.

It’s the motion that helped the founder in Email #1 close a $65K deal within six weeks.
It’s the motion that took me from that Christmas breakdown to owning my home outright.

And it’s the motion we build together on Nov 20.

If you want predictability — not panic — join us here:
👉 https://info.salesbytes.co/the-signal-to-dial-playbook

You don’t need another breakdown moment to wake up.
You just need a system that makes tomorrow predictable.

Join before the countdown hits zero:
👉 https://info.salesbytes.co/the-signal-to-dial-playbook

– Kara