Sometimes everything you’ve built feels impossible to sustain—your energy, your finances, your sense of control—and you need a complete reset. For me, that moment came in the form of bankruptcy. But what felt like an ending turned out to be a rich new beginning.

Here’s the full scoop.

After closing S&S, I filed Chapter 7. Not because I was irresponsible or didn’t understand money—I’ve always been diligent about managing my finances. Math was my best subject in school.

I filed because I had personally guaranteed several large business loans for growth- which meant that if the business failed, I was still held accountable to pay them back. We had been making monthly payments responsibly, but the pandemic forced us to layer disaster loans on top.

No scenario—no matter how many out-of-the-box ideas we ran—showed a path out other than borrowing more money, which hilariously we’d been approved for. We factored all of this into the tough decision to close.

After liquidation, we had around $100K from our assets. I closed out and negotiated everything I possibly could. (Yes, you can negotiate leases and loans when you hold your boundaries with clarity and communicate honestly about what happens if you can’t pay at all). Three out of four agreed. Wells Fargo did not and that left me with a choice. Enter a neverending repayment plan…or give myself a clear exit.

Bankruptcy carries a stigma, but it shouldn’t. It’s a tool—one that exists to give you the safety to take risks and navigate a moment you never planned for.

For me, it was straightforward because I didn’t own a home or a new car. And the truth is: bankruptcy protects a certain amount of personal assets including investments. It didn’t wipe me out completely, it cleared what had become impossible to repay.

Want to know the surprising part? My credit score barely dipped (because it was already good). A year later, when I applied for a car loan, the woman came back smiling because my score was so strong she could give me a better rate.

I have zero shame about it now. At first, I felt like I’d done something wrong—like I’d failed—before talking to professionals, my family, and others who had been through it. But truthfully? Filing was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It gave me a clean slate, a sturdier foundation, and a deeper understanding of how business and energy actually work together.

We don’t grow by avoiding the hard things. We grow by walking through them. Bankruptcy was the lesson I didn’t want but absolutely needed: even when everything feels like it’s falling apart, life always has a way of working out.

Before filing, during months of negotiation, I read every money mindset book I could get my hands on. Abraham Hicks’ Money and the Law of Attraction offered something that truly shifted me: money responds far more to alignment than effort.

If you believe you must work hard to “deserve” money, then you’re essentially saying you don’t believe you can receive it. But when you open to receiving and take aligned action, money flows more easily than effort alone could create.

“Happiness isn’t having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got.”- Sheryl Crow

I started practicing gratitude for whatever was in my account and took small, intentional leaps—like buying things I truly valued—from a place of love, not fear: “I’m excited I can buy this,” “I’m grateful I can share this,” “I’m lucky I can do this.”

During this time, I built a self-worth vision board covered in reminders:

• Money is meant to be spent, enjoyed, and celebrated.

• I am worthy of abundance and fully capable of receiving it.

• Money allows me to help more people and make a positive impact.

• Money always works out for me.

After filing, something wild happened: I felt richer than I ever had.

My coaching was thriving. My vintage shop was flourishing again. Money felt like energy—clean, fluid, flowing. I doubled my annual income the year after bankruptcy because I was receiving from a place of worth rather than survival.

I remember picking up the tab for an expensive dinner in Toronto for my family. We got back to the hotel and I checked my phone—an influencer had mentioned me, and three new discovery calls popped onto my calendar within minutes.

Money moves when you move with confidence. Because money mirrors your energy.

My financial system grounds me. I run both personal and business finances through QuickBooks (although I don’t recommend combining for every entrepreneur) with categorized clarity. Every month, I reconcile transactions and pull a profit & loss and balance sheet report. Then I plug that into a master financial model in Google Sheets where I track historical revenue, expenses, cashflow and make adjustments for future projections.

This system lets me:

• See trends & opportunities

• Create strategic plans and budgets

• Plan future offerings and investments with clarity

• Hold a precise 3–5 year vision without burning out

Numbers aren’t about restriction, panic, or shame—they’re about building a healthy, empowering relationship with your money. They give you confidence to make decisions. Without structure, every choice becomes guesswork: “I think I could hire someone…” “I think I could expand…” “I think I could take on another client…”

True wealth is not about money. It’s an internal state of high self-worth, confidence, and alignment with your values. You don’t have to earn because it already exists inside you. When you act from the place of inner resourcefulness, external wealth naturally flows at a pace you can hold.

After going through bankruptcy, rebuilding, and scaling again, I now understand the flow of resources—and the power of a strong structure to guide them.

If you want to make a different amount of money, you have to become a different person in how you allocate your time, attention, energy, and money to match your values. Most entrepreneurs plateau not because of a lack of talent, but because they don’t have a container that holds both energetic grounding and strategic clarity.

So I built the container I desperately needed back then—and I’m sharing it in a new coaching offering.

The Aligned Growth Path is a year-long 1:1 coaching experience for entrepreneurs who want to grow without chaos or disconnection from themselves. Together, we’ll pace your business through the lens of alignment — your numbers, your energy, your time, and the future you’re building towards. We’ll map a strategic annual and 3-year plan, set clear quarterly goals, and have check-ins—so you can move from a place of authority, not fear.

If you’re ready to run your business with more alignment next year, this is your invitation!