The day my world went Dark…

I will never forget that day as long as I live. It was August 3rd, 2009.

The day I collapsed in a parking lot just off the strip of Las Vegas Boulevard….

(3 months earlier)

That entire year was really challenging, I was newly divorced and adjusting to living 2000 miles from my family and had never been single since the age of 14. Here I am, a newly single mom in Las Vegas at age 34.

I had a string of useless jobs trying to find my way in a city that was primarily made up of the casino industry. I knew in my heart I would have to find a job that fit me best. I have a love for business and growing my intellect, being a cocktail waitress wasn’t something I would tolerate on my resume.

So I persevered through that entire year going from one job to the next. After 4 jobs in one year I took up an offer to join forces with a business start up guru. We were going to build a business from scratch to sell. I knew I had what it took to make this work, but what I hadn’t taken into consideration was the fact that I didn’t have enough start up capital to work with.

I jumped forward anyway… I had savings left over from my divorce and an attitude that loved to take risks and make things happen. As a single mom with no one to support my daughter but myself, this was very risky, but my love for a good challenge took over my rational thought.

At first this online digital media company took off. I was wearing many hats and I was in my element. I was recruiting sales people, working with graphic designers on logos, branding and web design. I was selling and obtaining clients. Most days I forgot to wear my “take a break” hat and I would burn the midnight oil creating business plan spreadsheets for our capital investors. Things looked pretty promising through the summer of 2009. We had a huge turnout as we launched our business at our local chamber of commerce business expo.

Then the month of July hit and I noticed I was getting behind on my bills. I wasn’t collecting a salary yet as I was banking on investors stepping up to the plate. Any day now we would have a huge investment deposited into our bank account, so I was “told” by my business partner. First the cable was turned off… then the phone started ringing endlessly with bill collectors. I would wake up feeling ill, as I would look at all the missed calls I had received in the night. I kept telling myself to hang in there… it will be ok Karie… this is what a true entrepreneur is made of…you can do this!

I was getting behind on my car payments and I would lose sleep for fear that a tow truck would take my car in the night. Rent was due on August 1st and I still had yet to find a way to pay it. What was taking those investors so long?? They had promised to make the first initial deposit by now…

On August 3rd I met with one of my clients down by Las Vegas Boulevard. As we finished closing a sale, my cell phone rang. It was my director of sales …she yelled into the phone that the investors had backed out! For some reason they had changed their mind in the bank lobby with my business partner. I fell to my knees in despair. It was over 100 degrees that day and I can still feel the asphalt digging into my bare knees… a grown woman, dressed in heels, professional attire, crying in a dirty parking lot. I had 30$ to my name, a car that was on empty and zero groceries at home to feed my child. (I’m tearing up again as I write this, feels like it was yesterday)

I immediately snapped back into reality, told my associate I had to get off the phone and jumped into my car. I knew I had to figure out a solution ASAP! I rarely talk things out…I take action. I called my mother, and left her a horrible message, sobbing that I may need her to fly my daughter home and me to Michigan. My pride stung as I felt like a failure. At my age I didn’t want to go back to my parents. They lived in a small town with zero opportunity. I knew if I went back there, I would never get ahead.

So… I filled my heart and head with determination and refused to give up. I dug in my heels and told myself I deserved better than this!

The next few months was a whirlwind of God placing me from where I was, to where HE wanted me to be.

I received an eviction notice…

with nowhere to go, I paced every night while my daughter slept, praying for God to answer. He did…the next morning a friend reached out to me stating that a mutual friend of ours was looking for a roommate and that I could rent a bedroom for now, and…it was only a mile from where I was currently living! Perfect, now how do I pay her?

So I filed for unemployment, something I never knew I had a right to from 2 jobs ago. It paid a whopping $175 a week! Another friend showed up to give me $200 for grocery money… Another out of state friend told me he was mailing me a check for $2000 because he KNEW I would be ok, just needed this stepping-stone to get me by. I had many obstacles, one right after another but God kept showing up… in the form of Angels… that were people!

I had friends help me move my stuff into a storage facility exactly ONE DAY before they locked me out of my apartment permanently! I shared a very tiny bedroom with my daughter but I was very happy to have a roof over our head and a bed to sleep in. Just when I thought I couldn’t be more humbled, I went downtown to apply for food stamps.

Homeless people and the mentally challenged surrounded me. I felt horribly ashamed as I realized I was being snobby by thinking I was better then those poor souls. Pride or not I was just thankful to buy groceries for my baby girl!

I slowly found my footing again…and was still trying to make my start up business partnership work. You will learn that I’m VERY stubborn… I’m a committed person that wants to see it through to the very end. Which is why God sometimes has to tap me on the shoulder and tell me to move on from a situation that is damaging to me.

The light at the end of this tunnel is… I landed a client in September 2009 that ended up being my saving grace. I created a business relationship with a well-known global business coach on social media. He and I ended up meeting face to face and agreeing to produce 100 training videos for his global coaches. I knew when I met him face to face that I would learn from this young entrepreneur. Shortly after our business relationship started he had posted a need for a publicist for himself. I jumped at the opportunity. I was already “selling” this man anyway as I was an instant fan of his coaching mindset, might as well work for him, right? I joined his global team in November 2009… 4 years ago almost to the date that I write this.

Since working for a Business Coaching firm, I quickly learned all the areas of business that I had failed. Hindsight is always 20/20…

I vowed I would never try to swim without a life preserver ever again. This time around with my own coaching practice, I hired a business coach and am building my business the correct way, slow-solid steps. I now know more than ever how important it is to trust the process of life as it led me exactly to where I needed to be. If I hadn’t been selling online media, I may have never met my boss. I have grown like a weed in the coaching culture and more importantly I realized that I could make anything happen with determination and consistency. I never gave up… I didn’t get comfortable collecting unemployment or food stamps. It wasn’t who I was destined to be. I was created to be heard and that is why I have taken my coaching practice to a global level so that I can help others persevere through life’s challenges like I did!

Thank you for letting me share this humbling life experience with you… it’s not one I tell very often.  Many years later, I am debt free, running a successful business of my own again and changing lives daily!

I hope you realize that there is always a silver lining to every cloud and that life will always have challenges and struggles but that is when we GROW the most!

I now feel bullet proof and know in my heart that I can handle whatever life throws my way.

Blessings!
Karie Millspaugh

Business and Lifestyle Coach and LaptopLifestyle Mentor

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