Reinvent yourself after divorce, take control of your finances, and build a new life with confidence. If you’re navigating divorce, life transitions, or wondering how to reinvent yourself after divorce, this episode will give you clarity, direction, and hope.

In this episode, Lesa sits down with Melissa Broughton, founder of Busy Bee Advisors and creator of the One Hour Bookkeeper, who shares her powerful story of walking away from corporate life, facing a life-altering accident, and building a thriving business from her dining room table.

Together, they unpack what it really takes to reinvent yourself after divorce or any major life transition—how to find your “why,” create financial independence, and build a life on your terms. This episode is a must-listen if you’re ready to stop feeling stuck and start taking your power back.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction to reinvention after divorce and life transitions

(02:15) Melissa’s unexpected path into accounting

(06:40) Corporate success without balance—and the breaking point

(10:20) Leaving her job and choosing a different path

(13:45) The life-changing accident that forced stillness and clarity

(18:30) Starting a business from scratch with no safety net

(23:10) How she built a successful bookkeeping company

(28:00) From burnout to purpose: discovering a new calling

(32:20) Creating a course and helping women build businesses

(36:45) Why “trying” isn’t enough—finding your true WHY

(40:10) The power of stillness during hard transitions

(44:00) Taking control of your finances after divorce

(48:15) Why financial knowledge = personal power

Key Takeaways:

• Reinvention starts with clarity, not perfection
• A strong “why” is the difference between success and staying stuck
• Stillness can create the breakthrough you’ve been searching for
• Financial understanding is one of the most powerful tools after divorce
• You have more control over your future than you think

Guest Bio:

Melissa Broughton is the founder of Busy Bee Advisors and creator of the One Hour Bookkeeper program, where she teaches women how to build flexible, profitable bookkeeping businesses. After leaving corporate America and overcoming a major life setback, Melissa built a thriving business from home and now helps thousands of women create financial independence and freedom on their own terms.

Resource Links:

• Melissa’s Course: https://1hourbookkeeper.com 3-Step Guide to Achieving Work Life Balance (Click HERE for the link to share)

Work with Lesa Koski: https://lesakoski.com

Tags/Keywords:

reinvent yourself after divorce, divorce recovery, financial independence for women, life after divorce, women over 40, starting over after divorce, side hustle ideas, bookkeeping business, life transitions, midlife reinvention

Welcome, listeners.

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I am so thankful that

you're here with me today.

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I have an amazing guest who

I'm just getting to know.

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Her name is Melissa Broughton.

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Did I say that right?

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You did.

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You did.

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Okay, good.

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But she's here.

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Today, we're going to kind of talk

about, a little bit about reinventing

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yourself after transitions like divorce,

and also Melissa's gonna help us get

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a little more savvy about finances.

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She has a really, um, unique

course where she helps women

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start their own businesses.

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And so we're gonna talk about all those

things, but Melissa, first, as you know,

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my listeners love to hear the story behind

what led you to do the work you're doing.

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So if you wouldn't mind just sharing

your authentic story with the listeners,

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that would be marvelous, and welcome.

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Speaker 2: Well, thank you

for the warm welcome, Lisa.

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Um, you know, my, my authentic

story, it's pretty, uh, pretty

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straightforward and to the point.

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I, um, I was never somebody who would've

considered myself, uh, a, a lover of math.

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I will start by saying that.

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I, I didn't, um, seek out accounting.

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It kind of found me.

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I was, uh, I was a senior in high

school, and I needed that one class, that

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one elective to fill out my schedule.

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There was the, you know, rumor of the

accounting teacher being, being an easy A.

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And so my guidance counselor really

urged me to, uh, to take the class.

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Even if it felt a little dull

or a little boring, it would,

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you know, round out my GPA.

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And you know, really what happened

was I, I took the class, and it

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was like all of the, all of the

streetlights turned green for me.

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Everything just clicked.

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It was, it was so clear to me,

probably within the first week, that

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I had really found something that

I got excited about, that it just

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made sense to me how everything was

connected, and it really felt like

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it opened up this whole new world.

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It was like I was learning a new

language even, with understanding

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how, um, you know, how, how different

accounts affected each other and, and

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all of the things about accounting.

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And so I did what you're supposed to do.

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I went to college, took accounting

and business classes in college,

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finished college, and went and,

and entered the workforce as

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we're told we're supposed to do.

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Um, initially I worked for a large firm,

and then I, um, I moved, uh, directions

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and, and kind of transitioned more into,

um, small to medium-sized companies.

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And I worked, I worked my way up the,

you know, the, the food chain and, um,

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into, you know, higher positions that

had more and more responsibility and-

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Um, along the way got married, had,

uh, had two wonderful, amazing sons.

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And really what started to happen as I

was moving up the, uh, the career path

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is it wasn't more freedom, of course.

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I, I don't know that there was the

expectation that there was more freedom,

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but I did think at some point there

would be some balance that kicked in.

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Mm-hmm.

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And I never really found in

corporate America that balance.

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Mm-hmm.

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I

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Speaker: said

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Speaker 2: that I loved my job,

I loved the people I worked with.

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I hated the commute, uh, and I hated

that I felt like, you know, that I was

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miserable leaving my kids all the time.

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I hated feeling like I

never got to see my husband.

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I hated, like...

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I hated, I hated the lack of balance.

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Mm-hmm.

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And so it was kind of an interesting,

uh, chain of events that happened,

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but I ended up getting, um, getting

frustrated by some decisions that

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the, uh, owner of the company that I

worked for made, and, um, and ended

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up, uh, kind of quitting on the spot.

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So I gave notice.

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I quit.

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Uh, our, our household was

definitely dependent on two incomes.

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Um, my husband was very gracious when

I made the, uh, the quick decision to-

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Mm-hmm ... uh, leave my job, saying,

"You know, you'll find something quickly.

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Uh, we're not gonna worry about it.

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We're, we're fine."

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Well, I, I, I found that I was in

this, this, this, I don't know, it was

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like it was a, a, a cross in the road,

and I really had a moment to think

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and to reflect and to think, "Well,

if I get a job with another company,

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it's going to be the same show, it's

just gonna be different characters.

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I may have a different commute, but

I'm still going to feel torn between my

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family and my commitments at my new job.

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And so how, how can I make this be

different so I'm not just doing the same

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thing and two years from now or five years

from now finding myself miserable again?"

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Um, you know, I will say at that time,

uh, my oldest was a sophomore in high

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school, so I was really feeling like

the clock was speeding up with, I have

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three more years with him before he

leaves and goes on to start his life as

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a young adult, and it, it felt like there

was a lot of, uh, a lot of pressure.

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So I leave my job.

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I then go back to my husband and

I say, "So I don't think I wanna

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go to work for somebody else.

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I think I want to branch out on my own.

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I think that there's, there's a need

for the same service, the same level of

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expertise that I, as somebody who, you

know, would be a, a controller or a- CFO

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for a company or a full charge bookkeeper

or, you know, somebody who would work

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for a company full time to bring that

level of expertise and to bring some

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of those things to small businesses.

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And I, you know, there's so much potential

for, for who could be my clients, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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So I am seeing this as, you

know, it's, it's all opportunity.

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And he, we temper each

other very well I'll say.

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So he, um, he came back to me and

he said, he said, "Of course I wanna

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be supportive of anything that you

wanna do," 'cause I'm married to

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the best guy in the whole world.

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Speaker: Mm-hmm.

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Speaker 2: Uh, the mi- the, the bottom

line is it really doesn't matter what

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you do, I, we just, our household

needs you to bring in $2,000 a month.

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So you figure out what that,

what's, what it's gonna take to do

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that, and I am totally supportive.

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Okay, so I figure out a plan.

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I, you know, I kinda write out a plan,

and I am ready to kinda launch and kind

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of, you know, take action on this plan.

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And I have just had the, the

wonderful pleasure of being able to

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spend the summer with my boys and

not having to worry about work and

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really being there and enjoying them.

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And I dropped them both off at school

and I thought, "I'm gonna go for a run.

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I, I'm gonna clear my head.

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I'm gonna figure out what this next

chapter really looks like," right?

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So I go for a run.

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I'm two miles from my house.

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There's an uneven part of the

pavement that my foot catches on.

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I fall.

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I broke my jaw.

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I shattered pretty much every tooth in my

mouth except for my top and bottom four.

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I mean, I'm walking home and I

am spitting my teeth in my hand.

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And, uh, thank God my

neighbor was driving by.

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I mean, she saw me, she picked

me up, she called my husband.

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Like, it's always good

to know your neighbors.

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Mm-hmm.

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So that derailed us for a while.

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I mean, I had to have multiple, you

know, I think by the time it was

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done, nine root canals, implants.

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Uh, it was about a six-month process.

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So we went from being in a place, uh,

we're comfortable, we have savings,

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and it can take about a month to find

a job, to we were really like the

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alarms were going off before we would

have to, you know, maybe reach out to

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parents or reach out to family and say,

"Hey, you know, can we borrow money?"

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Or, or it was just, it was we

were quickly approaching it

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being somewhat of a scary time.

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And I say that because I think a lot

of people assume when you start a

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business that you have to have, you

know, a business loan or you have

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to have credit cards with huge lines

of credit or you have to have all

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of this funding that's available.

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And- What I found was that I didn't have

any of those things, but I did have a

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burning desire to be able to make this

company that I was starting, that I had

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thought of everything being on my terms

and what I wanted and what my negotiables

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were and what my non-negotiables were.

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And I, I was just...

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I had a burning desire to make a go of it.

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And so in, um, in September of 2016,

that was the accident, so, uh, end of

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2016, beginning of 2017, um, was when

we launched, and I literally launched

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a bookkeeping business, uh, at my

dining room table and, you know, and,

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and we kind of took off from there.

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So that's a pretty good

origin story, I say.

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You know, I, I, I don't have

too much of a crooked smile.

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I survived.

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Learned some things about myself that day.

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Um, but, you know, that was, that was

10 years ago, so it's, um, it's pretty,

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uh, it's, it's pretty exciting to

see what, what we've accomplished and

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what, you know, what we've created.

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Speaker: Yeah.

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There's so much to your story.

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I was, I was taking notes.

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But, and so I'm like, I'm sitting

here thinking, "Where do I even

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wanna start asking a question?"

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Well, one thing I wanna ask you is once

you came up with this idea of, "I can

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just service people, and I can do this

on my terms," did you get some help?

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Like, how did you learn

how to do the, the course?

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Like, you have a course you've created.

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Speaker 2: So, you know, so we,

we launched Busy Bee Advisors.

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I say we.

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It, it must be me and the voices

in my head, because it was me.

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Um, launched Busy Bee Advisors in 2016.

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I, I apologize.

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The accident was in 2015,

so we launched- Oh, that's

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okay ... yeah, we launched in 2016.

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Um, and it was really...

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It, it, it was, it was great.

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I found it to be, um, you

know, mentally stimulating.

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I really enjoyed working with clients.

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In 2018, I, I convinced my husband to

retire from nursing and go back to school.

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He finished his degree, um, got

licensing so that he can do taxes, so

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he runs the tax side of our business.

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I run the bookkeeping

side of the business.

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And really felt very engaged, felt

very stimulated by my business.

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And then in 2022, 2023, I started

to feel bored, that I didn't

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feel the challenge anymore.

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I didn't feel, um, I didn't feel

the, you know, the, the excitement

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of the, the demands that went

with it, you know, every day.

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And what I found was that we, at that

point in time, we were servicing over 300

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bookkeeping clients on a monthly basis.

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So we were- Wow

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Speaker: You know, when I first started,

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Speaker 2: I, I really, when I first

started, I just challenged myself to hand

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out as many business cards as I could.

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So I would order business cards in

boxes of 1,000, and I would go to

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every networking event I could go

to- Yes ... uh, anywhere, you know,

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anywhere small business owners were.

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And I found that if I just engaged with

people, if I just had a conversation

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with you, Lisa, and, and genuinely

asked about you- Yeah ... that

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it really didn't feel like I was

having to sell or promote myself.

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Right.

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And I never, um, I never took

the approach of, let me just

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hand out as many cards as I can.

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I would only hand out cards if

somebody asked me for my card.

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Um, but I did collect a lot of cards.

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I did send a lot of thank you, it

was nice to meet you notes to people.

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Mm-hmm.

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Um, I did follow up with people a

lot, and really it took that, you

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know, it took that first client, uh,

once I landed my first client and I

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really knew that it could work and it

wasn't just a dream of starting this

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business, it, it went from there.

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Speaker: Um- That's so awesome.

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Okay, so then I, I interrupted you because

you were talking about- No, that's okay

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... how in 2023 you were getting bored.

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I was bored.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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And I was looking at, I had the choice

of, um, continuing to go bigger and bigger

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and bigger, and we had 27 bookkeepers

at the time that I was managing, so

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we were pretty big as far as- Wow

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a bookkeeping company goes.

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And what I felt was that when,

when, you know, when we had 15

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bookkeepers, I knew all of them.

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I knew, um, I knew who their spouses were.

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I knew, you know, who their kids were.

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When we hit that 20, 25, 27

mark, it felt like I just had a

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revolving door of bookkeepers.

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It was like every week I was either

hiring new bookkeepers or I was, you

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know, getting notified that somebody

was leaving to either go on and start

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their own firm or, uh, that they decided

they were gonna do something else.

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You know, so, so it really moved me out of

the place of being able to ever even have

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time to work on clients' books at all-

Sure ... to I was just managing people.

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And one of the things that I realized was

that I didn't find the managing people

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to be super fulfilling, um, but I did

find the, when somebody would tell me

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that they were interested in branching

out and starting their own firm, that

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I found, I, I felt so passionate about

helping them and supporting them and

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letting them know kind of, "Hey, here's-"

Here's best practices, here's what we

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found that works, here's where you could

do it this way or this way, here's,

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here's what I can recommend- Mm-hmm

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as a, you know, what you have to do and

what you don't have to do kind of a thing,

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and here's how to get started with getting

clients and, and things along those lines.

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And so I documented it.

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I documented the process as I had

worked through a couple different

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girls who had been with me and

them starting their own firms.

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Um, I documented what

the process looked like.

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I kind of created a more, um, more of

a format for it, so it wasn't that I

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was just pulling notes from everywhere.

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We put it together.

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We then tested what we put

together, what I had put together

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to do training for new bookkeepers

that we were bringing on- Mm-hmm

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to make sure it worked.

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Um, and in, uh, let's see, August of

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the One Hour Bookkeeper, and by

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students that went through the course.

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Speaker: Oh my gosh.

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So did you do this through, you know,

like how Amy Porterfield has a digital

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course academy that teaches you- Yeah

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how to do a course and how to launch it?

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Did you do that or did, how did you do it?

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Uh, look, I

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Speaker 2: will tell you that, yes, I did.

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I found that to be, um, very,

uh, like very overwhelming.

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I think that there are so many people

out there that will tell you that,

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you know, "Put a course together.

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It's fun."

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Amy Porterfield's being one of

those, and I love, I love her.

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I'm a huge fan of hers, but, you

know, there's a lot of different

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web people that are out there or

marketers that are out there that, that

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really get people excited about it.

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It is probably the hardest

thing that I've ever done.

272

Uh, it feels like, um, it feels

like raising kids where- Yeah.

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... just when you figure out one thing,

then two other things pop up.

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Yeah.

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And so it, it was an interesting,

um, it was an interesting first year.

276

We never expected to have

as much growth as we had.

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We thought it would be, you know, we'd

have one of these, twos of these people

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coming in, and- Yeah ... what we found

was that there was just this, you know,

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this huge demand for people, um, for

people to see that they had a choice,

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Speaker: and yeah.

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I love this.

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I love so much of what you're saying,

and I so understand you because I

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know too, when I have taught new

mediators how to mediate or my

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process, oh, it just lights my fire.

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Yep.

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Um, or teaching, just teaching

people, and I've done courses too.

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I've got courses.

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They're, they're more on, like,

parenting plans for divorce,

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or there's like a DIY course.

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for divorce paperwork in Minnesota.

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So I've done courses too.

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Um, but I think what's so interesting

as I hear your story, and, and I just

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wanna say, first of all, if there is

a bookkeeper out there who is kind of

294

feeling like they want to do this on their

own, how do they find you and how do they

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take this course, and how much is it?

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Speaker 2: So the best thing to do

is to go to 1hourbookkeeper.com.

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Okay.

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Um, one of the things that I'll

also, that I would love to offer your

299

audience is, uh, it's a three-step

guide that I've put together on

300

creating work-life balance for yourself.

301

Um, and it is a very, I'll say it's

a very gentle approach to introducing

302

bookkeeping as a potential option.

303

I, I think there's a lot of people out

there that don't have any experience in

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the industry, that this could really be

the solution that they're looking for.

305

Um, of course, there's, you

know, it's not, it's not the

306

perfect fit for everybody.

307

But I do- Mm-hmm ... think that there

is a huge opportunity out there.

308

So the guide would be a great

place for them to start.

309

Uh, if, if somebody listening

just wants to find out

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information, 1hourbookkeeper.com.

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Um, and the course price ranges.

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So we have a self-study course that

starts at 997, so it's just under

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$1,000 for a self-study course.

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It truly is everything you need to

know to not only learn the, uh, the

315

skills, the hard skills of bookkeeping,

the how to be a bookkeeper, but it

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also teaches the soft skills as well.

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Uh, if you go through at a normal

pace, I would say you could expect

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that course to take you about

three months to get through it.

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I mean, it takes you through

everything from the learning the

320

skills, like I said, to how to get

clients and things along those lines.

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Okay.

322

Speaker: So I so love this.

323

So if for someone even just wanting

a side hustle, um, you know, maybe

324

they need a little more income.

325

And okay, what kind of a...

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So this teaches you how to

be a bookkeeper, so it would

327

be good for a lot of people.

328

I mean, I probably could use

it just for my business myself.

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It's not my great area of interest.

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How do you know if it's something for you?

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Like, how would you know if you're...

332

So was, is it someone who's always

had a little bit of an interest in

333

math, or who like, who, what kind

of a person likes bookkeeping?

334

Detail-oriented?

335

Well, so I think

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Speaker 2: there's...

337

I think that's, I think that's an

excellent question, and I think it's, it's

338

more of a bigger question of sometimes we

do things that we don't necessarily love,

339

but we just find that we're doing them

because we need to put food on the table.

340

Right.

341

Or we're doing them because we

need to- Or want to have that

342

supplemental income for whatever it is.

343

I mean, I'm in California, and

I can tell you it is expensive.

344

Yeah.

345

Gas is, you know, gas is currently $6 plus

a gallon, and I'm really thankful that

346

I don't have a commute every day, right?

347

Right.

348

You know, when I was working in

corporate America, my commute at the

349

last position I had was, I, uh...

350

It was an hour and a half each way.

351

Mm.

352

That I was not even working.

353

I was just spending in traffic to try-

Yeah ... and get to, a, you know, a job.

354

And so I think if you look at it from the

perspective of you have flexibility over

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your time, you can work from home, um, so

you don't have a commute, which could also

356

mean that you don't have daycare costs,

you don't have dry cleaning costs- Right

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you don't have, you know, fuel expenses.

358

And you, you truly get to, uh, get

to use your brain and get to make a

359

difference to small business owners.

360

Speaker: Right.

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Speaker 2: So if you approach it

from that perspective, if that is

362

something that sounds interesting,

then I think it's worth exploring.

363

Um, on the flip side, if you're

somebody who, um, who enjoys puzzles,

364

who likes kind of thinking about,

you know, big picture and then

365

bringing everything together, uh, of

course somebody who loves math- Yeah

366

those, those things are, you know,

of course, uh, definitely would

367

be indicators that bookkeeping

might be something you would-

368

Speaker: Well, and Melissa,

I have to bring something up.

369

Okay, so that's so good to know

about the bookkeeping part of it.

370

But when I listened to your story, I heard

so many more tidbits that were so good.

371

Like, you talked about how when you

were in high school, I think it was

372

high school when you took the accounting

course- Yeah ... and you were like,

373

you knew, you were on, you loved it.

374

Honey bun, I've been, like, chasing

my whole life trying to figure out

375

what I love, so I think that is

so amazing that you were able to

376

really see what interested you,

what lit your fire, and I love that.

377

And I, and it m- got me thinking,

like, to help women at kind of this

378

stage, right, or when they're...

379

It's kind of, it's a transition.

380

Like, you- It is ... were transitioning.

381

And you said you came

to a cross in the road.

382

I like that language too.

383

Um, so you always liked math, you

just didn't like the circumstances

384

that you were in, you know, in

your work, so you changed them.

385

And I'm just thinking for women who don't

see what they love, maybe you kinda gotta

386

go back to that childlike person you were

and look at the things that you liked

387

Speaker 2: I absolutely agree.

388

I mean, at the end of the

day, we have one life to live.

389

Right.

390

And why are you wasting it in

a job where you are miserable?

391

Yeah.

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Or why are you wasting it and having

your heart break every day when you

393

have to take your kids and drop them

off at daycare so that you can go to

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a job where after daycare costs, you

really aren't making any money anyway?

395

I know, and daycare is so expensive.

396

So expensive.

397

Yes, yes.

398

You know?

399

And so it's, I...

400

If I can give someone even just

the thought in their mind that

401

they have a choice, then I feel

like I've, I've done some good.

402

Speaker: And that's- I love that.

403

And, and that's the message.

404

It's, it's a message for people who

wanna do bookk- keeping, but it's more.

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It's showing you how to find what you

love, because that's so important,

406

and then think outside the box of

how you can help people with it,

407

because that's what you're doing.

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And you keep growing.

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Melissa, you...

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Uh, I love this and I love people like

you because I just keep evolving too.

411

You know what I mean?

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Like, okay- I- ... how is this gonna...

413

Where do I wanna go with this now?

414

And, and that's what you've done.

415

You know, you get a little, that little

bit of boredom is just a little bit of an

416

intuition, a little bit of a nudge, right?

417

It is.

418

It is.

419

And so listen to that.

420

So I think you are probably a

really good example of a woman

421

who has listened to what her

desires are, where her skills lie.

422

That's a huge, huge gift.

423

So I mean, share that with people

as much as you can, 'cause I think

424

that's really, really special.

425

And then I...

426

It's so funny.

427

I thought about you, how isn't it

interesting that you broke your jaw.

428

Yeah.

429

You were, you're transitioning.

430

And it's funny, I remember there

was a homeopath one time that said

431

to me when my daughter broke her

leg, "Well, she needed a break."

432

And I've had my own moments where

you, you have that time where you're

433

not really allowed to do anything.

434

You're sitting in rest in a way.

435

Speaker 2: No, it's...

436

And it's so true because I, I will say

that it was the first time that I can

437

remember in probably close to 20 years

where I just was still because there was

438

nothing- Yeah ... there was no busyness.

439

There was no...

440

There was nothing.

441

There was nothing I could do.

442

Mm-hmm.

443

And my body needed to rest

so that I could heal and, and

444

that was, that was what I did.

445

And it, it brought such clarity to

me that this is what I wanted to do.

446

Now, I believe that things

happen for a reason.

447

I, I know that there are awful things that

happen and I know that there are wonderful

448

things that happen, but I really do b-

believe that there are reasons for things.

449

And I believe that my reason- For

the accident was that I potentially

450

would have wavered on, you know,

starting a bookkeeping business.

451

I probably would have tried it,

and then if it wasn't successful

452

right away, I would have, you

know, jumped to something else.

453

And it gave me such a purpose and

such a burning desire and such a...

454

I- it just wasn't an option to quit.

455

It wasn't an option to give up on it.

456

Yeah.

457

So when we approach things in that

way, the results are very different

458

than somebody who is approaching

it from a place of, "Well, I'll

459

try it and see if it works."

460

Speaker: Right.

461

You know,

462

Speaker 2: I talk to people, I talk to

probably fi- I don't know, five to 10

463

prospective students on a daily basis,

so I talk to a lot of different people.

464

And, uh, one of the things that

I will look for and that my team

465

who helps with calls as well will

look for is somebody who's saying,

466

"Well, I'll give this a try."

467

It's not gonna work then.

468

Uh, be compl- I, I will be

completely honest with you.

469

If you're just in the place of, "I'll

give this a try," it's not gonna work.

470

Speaker: Okay.

471

So, so give us...

472

You said not, not what's

gonna work, so what works?

473

Speaker 2: Somebody who has a burning

desire of a why, so whatever their why is.

474

If their why I had, uh,

my newest student, I...

475

She, she enrolled on Monday,

and she said, "I want to be able

476

to take naps whenever I want."

477

It's the first time I've ever heard

that, but for her to have flexibility

478

or have a schedule, really what she

was meaning was that she wanted to have

479

a, you know, a schedule that was on

her own terms, and I understand that.

480

And I understand wanting the, you

know, the flexibility to, as an adult

481

woman, if you wanna go out and take

a walk in the middle of the day-

482

Yes ... you want to be able to take

a walk in the middle of the day.

483

Speaker: Amen, sister.

484

Right?

485

You don't

486

Speaker 2: wanna have, you know,

some, a boss that's probably younger

487

than you in some, in some jobs.

488

You know, a boss that's younger

than you who says, "Oh, well, you

489

know, you have to take two bathroom

breaks today," or, or something

490

along, you know, along those lines.

491

We're old enough to be able to make

decisions for ourself, to be able

492

to be responsible for ourselves.

493

I think that bookkeeping becomes

the tool to be able to allow us to

494

reclaim our freedom and to reclaim

our, you know, our purpose to be able

495

to do what, what we were meant to do.

496

Right.

497

And so, yeah, it doesn't necessarily

mean that you have to, um, that you

498

have to be in love with bookkeeping,

but I do think that even people that

499

I talk to who just see it as an ends

to a means, that they come to love

500

Speaker: it as well.

501

It, it's about your why.

502

It's just like what you said.

503

Yeah.

504

I mean, there, like I said again,

there's so many lessons in here, and

505

I just have to repeat the statement

that you made about stillness You

506

know, maybe we could start to give...

507

Instead of having to break something

or get a diagnosis or get sick

508

to be still, maybe we can just

give ourselves the gifts, right?

509

I mean, gosh.

510

Right.

511

Ladies, let's just stop.

512

If we're questioning

something, just be still.

513

Be still for a while and don't...

514

I always feel like I have to take

action and try to get out of it,

515

and then sometimes you're forced

to not, to just sit with it, and

516

that's when you really learn.

517

So maybe we can learn to do

that before the break, right?

518

I mean- That is a good idea.

519

A little proactive

520

Speaker 2: self-care.

521

Yes.

522

Yes.

523

Yeah.

524

I think that's an excellent idea.

525

That certainly is- Yeah, so there's

526

Speaker: so much-

... proactive ... packed into this.

527

There's so much packed in.

528

It's knowing what you love to do,

it's knowing your why, it's being

529

still so that you can hear your

voice and where you wanna go.

530

And so there was so much more to

our conversation- Yes ... Melissa,

531

than I ever expected.

532

It was awesome.

533

It was so good.

534

And I to- I so recommend if someone

is interested in a side gig or they

535

just kinda like numbers or, you know,

maybe even someone like me who could

536

just use the bookkeeping for their

own business to learn, you know what

537

I mean, to learn a little bit better.

538

Speaker 2: There's, there's a

lot of power, um, a lot of your

539

listeners are, are women who are

going through major life transitions.

540

Mm-hmm.

541

And one of the biggest ways that I feel...

542

I, I, I've gone through a divorce myself.

543

Um, I was there as my mom, who I'm

incredibly close to, at 65, uh, her

544

husband, they were literally driving home

from dinner, her husband of 22 years.

545

They got to a stoplight and he said, "I'm

leaving you," and he got out of the car.

546

Oh my gosh.

547

And we weathered that together.

548

So you are at such a...

549

You know, to your listeners

out there, I get it.

550

I get the being at a place of a

transition, and if there is one thing

551

that you can do to take control of

your life, the biggest thing that

552

you can do is have an understanding

and take control of your finances.

553

Speaker: Mm-hmm.

554

And

555

Speaker 2: just have an understanding

of it, and stop listening to, you

556

know, the, the baloney that, you know,

somebody told you when you were little

557

or maybe when you were a teenager

that you weren't good with money

558

because it's- Right ... that's, yeah.

559

Well- You just have to let that go, so.

560

I

561

Speaker: know.

562

It's just taking your power back.

563

Yep.

564

Yes.

565

I love that.

566

I love that.

567

Melissa, thank you so much for being here.

568

It's been a treat.

569

Oh, thank you.

570

And we will have all your information

in the show notes, and you talked

571

about the three-step guide.

572

Yeah.

573

We'll have a way to

connect to that as well.

574

So- Okay ... people reach out to Melissa.

575

It's been great.

576

Thank you so much.

577

Speaker 2: Thank you, Lisa.

578

All

579

Speaker: right.