Day Twenty-Three - The Hustle, the Setback, and the Walk Away

The hustling continued, and I was so excited. Cleaning, power washing—work was coming in, and I was trying to build something for myself and my four boys.

I hired a local boy from the neighborhood to work the late-night shift. Then he crashed my truck. My machine was gone, too. We only had liability insurance, so none of our losses were covered.

Just like that, I was back to square one.

I was devastated, but I knew I could do this. I had already gotten the work. I had already started. Now I needed to find the money to get going again.

Joey introduced me to his friend Pat, who lent me the money for another truck and a new machine. At the time, it felt like a way forward. I bought a brand-new machine, got another truck, had it lettered, and I was back in business.

I was so excited to see my company’s name on that truck.

But that borrowed money became the hardest part of my journey so far.

I had to pay $1,500 every week—and none of it reduced what I originally owed.

For three years, I made those payments. Every week, I worked to keep the business going, take care of my children, and come up with that money. And after all those payments, the original debt was still there.

As the business started doing better, I began to feel like they didn’t want me to pay it off. Why would they? That weekly money kept coming.

I felt like their golden goose.

But I hadn’t worked this hard to stay in that position forever.

So I called a meeting at a diner with Joey and Pat. This time, I walked in with an envelope containing the full amount I had originally borrowed.

I put the money on the table.

“Thank you. And now you can go fuck off.”

Then I walked out.

After three years of paying every week without that balance going down, I was finally done.

#NationwideMaintenance #MyStory #WomanOwnedBusiness #Resilience #NeverGiveUp #KnowYourWorth