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by Hope

We all remember when I lost my dream job back in the summer of 2022. The contract job that became a full time W2 role essentially shutting down my consultant business. It truly was my dream job. Working with a dream team. It was everything I could have asked for and I planned to stay there…

Then the woman who hounded me to come work for her full time…left. With almost no notice. And I was put in a very uncomfortable position. New management was brought in. And I was pushed out.

(By the way, that new management didn’t last a year.)

Do You Have Time to Talk?

Here we are three years later, and guess who comes calling? Yes, her. Well, she sent text messages.

We scheduled and rescheduled and rescheduled a call. And then it finally happened. Here’s how it went…

“Hey Hope, can you do this? I have a client that needs XYZ.”

Yep, looks like my freelance, contract work is going to continue to grow through not only my past clients and work sites, but also through my old corporate jobs connections. Grateful doesn’t begin to explain how I’m feeling.

On the Right Path

Many of you will remember how tumultuous my work life has been the last 8ish years. For the first 10 years I was in business as a freelancer/contractor, it grew slowly and steadily. It had two clients that were with me all those first years. Any fluctuations didn’t really rock the boat.

But when both of those clients left for different reasons over two short years, it rocked my core. I wasn’t prepared for it at all. (Since that time, owners of each business have passed on.) And I’ve flailed around and never seemed to recover the equilibrium.

Since this job loss, mentioned above, and my 5 year relationship ending, and the kids growing up and moving, I have flailed about even more.

But for the first time, I confidently believe I’m on the right path. Selling the house. Freeing myself to go. And slowly rebuilding my consulting practice. It feels right. I’m not lost. I’m not confused. And I’m not questioning the decisions I am making for the first time in almost a decade.

Hope

Hope is a resourceful, solutions-driven online business manager with over two decades of experience helping clients streamline operations, manage projects, and grow their businesses through digital marketing and technology.

But life has a way of rewriting your plans.

A year ago, Hope made the decision to move in with her aging parents full time – a season she wouldn’t trade, even as it came with its own financial and emotional weight. Earlier this year, she lost her mother, and is now walking the tender, disorienting path of grief while learning what “forward” looks like from here.

Hope came to the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015 as a single mom raising five foster and adoptive children. She’s written through job changes, financial setbacks, and the bittersweet transition to an empty nest. Her kids are finding their footing in the world now – and so is she.

Rooted in faith and fueled by the same perseverance she’s brought to every hard season, Hope is ready to face her finances with fresh eyes and an honest pen. She believes that clarity, courage, and community can change the trajectory of anyone’s story including her own.

She lives in Austin, TX with her dad, loves adventures with her dog Addie, and is figuring out, one step at a time, what this next chapter is meant to be.