Job Loss, Business, and Big dreams: What Matt and I did after losing our only stable source of income

In early February of 2025, my husband learned that his company is dissolving. They were given a week’s notice, and a very small severance.

After the initial shock of this news (change is disruptive!), we knew what we had to do.

We weren’t about to shrink—we would double down on expanding and going after our dreams.

This is an excerpt from my upcoming ebook, Mastering Your Energy, about how we navigated the next 5 months of his unemployment while building up my businesses, and not only thrived, but grew our abundance during this tumultuous time.

I’ve never been more in love with my husband Matt, or more proud of him, than during the time when he led himself through sudden unemployment.

The startup where he worked for over 3 years went down quickly and the layoffs were swift and unexpected. He was our primary breadwinner, I was still building my two businesses and not close to stable income. This happened right as several other big companies in his industry went under, so work was scarce. Very few job openings, and quite a lot of people in a similar boat, willing to take big pay cuts or shifts at grocery stores just to weather out the storm.

On the outside, the situation was dire and grim. A real emergency.

But the two of us were having the best time of our lives.

One day, walking through downtown Asheville, we heard a musician play. He was incredible. We stopped to listen and just stood there, lost in his singing and gentle guitar, immersed in the spirit of the mountains that he was channeling.

Afterwards, Matt gave him all the cash he had on hand. We felt such abundance all around us, the Universe taking care of us, leading us exactly where we need to be, surrounding us with beauty, music, and the magic of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

How is this possible?

Why weren’t we stressed out, desperate, counting every dollar, exhausting ourselves with nonstop work and job searching, worrying about what the next month will bring?

It’s not just about money. We had some savings—but so do many people, and yet not everyone can turn the uncertainty of unemployment into a joyful, fun, and life-pivoting season.

The less obvious, but truer answer is: energy.

We were able to have an expanding, exciting, happy, calm, and abundant experience, in what others would consider a dire situation, because we’ve been diligently working on our energetic foundation for several years.

Our nervous systems didn’t collapse. Our emotions didn’t plummet. On the contrary, we took that time as a chance to uplevel, take more responsibility, and act on some big ideas.

Matt, in addition to applying to jobs, went all in on several business ideas with different people, bought a refurbished Mac to kickstart his remote working lifestyle, and dove headfirst into learning new skills.

I boldly approached my favorite businesses in town and secured more spaces to display and sell my art (and prioritized finishing this ebook!)

Both of us danced in the kitchen while prepping our home cooked dinners, went on mountain hikes, worked on our health, leaned harder into self-development resources, listened to business trainings, planned some budget-friendly but emotionally replenishing trips to see friends.

We didn’t shrink our life—we upgraded it instead.

But we were NOT always like this.

We used to get insanely stressed out during any financial hit, no matter how small.

Weekend trips, concert tickets, and the occasional nice dinner were all causes of intense downward spirals. We also used to work nonstop, deprioritizing our health, our joy, and anything else that made life fun.

We would get small instead of expanding, retreat into safety instead of taking risks. We did what most normal people do.

The normal response to any challenge—a change in life, job loss, unexpected news—is to seek security, get small, stay safe. The nervous system wants to constrict, and also falsely associates your pre-change reality with danger. “See, we let ourselves get too relaxed, have too much fun, allow ourselves too many leisurely things! No more! Time to hunker down and get serious.” The nervous system does not want to experience the shock of change again, so it aims to minimize it—by shrinking you down.

But this doesn’t serve you. This default response doesn’t help you adapt to change, be flexible in volatile times, find creative solutions to problems, or deftly navigate challenges. That primal survival response to get small and seek safety is the opposite of what your consciousness wants—and leads to unhappiness in the long run.

If we followed this default urge to shrink down anytime a change disrupted our life, we’d eventually find ourselves in a miserable existence, being a shell of ourselves, doing the same things every day for lesser and lesser results.

But we don’t. We, all of us, have the innate calling to be BIG. To expand, to take risks, to go against this ancient survival mechanism.

We KNOW how to make bold decisions. You’ve done it—if you think about it, you absolutely have examples in your life of meeting a challenge head on and coming out bigger and stronger on the other side, getting a big reward for taking a risk, feeling like a winner after doing something scary!

You already know how to do this.

The trick is to make it EASIER. So easy that it becomes your new default.

Raising your energy levels achieves this.

How do some people simply “go for it” with their outrageous ideas and make it work?

We all know someone (or have seen someone online) who does the wildest things with audacious confidence and somehow ends up successful despite the odds! Crazy, right?

But from an energetic perspective, not crazy at all. These people innately have through-the-roof levels of energy. It oozes out of them. It carries them to the top. We can all feel it, that abundance of energy, when we see them and their work: their music, their art, their adventures, their presence, the way they talk, the way their wild actions just seem to work out.

Matt and I did not start out with through-the-roof energy—but we knew we could have it, and intentionally built it up over time.

Our energetic foundation caught us, like a safety net catches an acrobat, in the moment of potential collapse (the sudden news of layoffs and Matt’s career being up in the air).

Our energetic capacity allowed us to choose expansion instead of shrinking for many weeks afterwards.

It felt easy and exciting to make risky choices that aligned with where we want to go in life, rather than “safe” choices that felt disheartening and unaligned.

During this time (which stretched into months!), Matt decided that putting his time and energy into starting a business is a wiser long-term investment than trying to keep up with ever-changing technical skills in the shifting landscape of tech and computer graphics.

One day, when I was in Denver at a business mastermind with other women entrepreneurs (another bold, expansive choice—to invest money into this trip so that I can learn, uplevel my business, and network) Matt changed his LinkedIn profile to say: Founder of Veridic Systems. He and his team were already speaking to other business leaders to learn about the market they wanted to serve.

Around the same time, I filled up my summer schedule with art fairs in Downtown Asheville, got my art displayed in one of the most popular cafes in town, and painted the waterfall collection that would land me several high-ticket sales.

This wasn’t busywork—it was big, brave aligned actions. Quality over quantity. Coherence over exhaustion.

Plus, we were hiking, camping, going to concerts, art galleries, enjoying friend visits—our life was FULL. Our energetic capacity could support all of it.

We’ve built such a solid energetic foundation that stress simply cannot bring us down. Old triggers have a momentary effect, and then we’re back to our new elevated baseline.

What you just read is the excerpt from my upcoming ebook: Mastering Your Energy (sign up for my email list to get notified when it comes out!)

I’m posting this here at the end of May. During the last few months, since February:

I had my highest cash month as a painter
I landed an incredible opportunity to display my art in one of the most popular coffee shops/bakeries in downtown Asheville
My art got accepted into two stores in Asheville and several outdoor art festivals
Matt is nearly done working on the first complete product with his friend and business partner (announcement coming this fall!)
We went on the MOST hikes in our lives: sunrises, sunsets, waterfall explorations, finding new fantastic views on tops of mountains around the Blue Ridge
We are super clear on how we want to create income streams to build our wealth: digital products, physical products, B-to-B offers, B-to-C services, investments. NONE of it includes having a 9-5 job
Oh, and our net worth grew (because the Universe rewards you when you’re pursuing your aligned path)

I want to convey 2 main takeaways from all this:

1) Your energy is your top priority

When you lose your only source of stable income, how do you maintain sanity? Stability? How do you choose growth and joy and fun over stress, anxiety, and taking the safe route?

Energy. By building up your energy.

>> Emotional energy for through-the-roof motivation, drive, and creative inspiration, for an optimistic outlook and nervous system stability.

>> Spiritual energy to keep believing in yourself, in your dreams, and take the biggest bold actions possible, to align with your purpose and use your innate strengths.

>> Mental energy to learn new things, think clearly, solve problems, and keep overwhelm and anxiety at bay.

>> Physical energy to support your wellbeing, wake up feeling good, and keep your spirits high.

We would NOT have had such an amazing few months, with so much expansion and fun, if we had not been working on our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energy over the last few years.

High energy means confidence. High energy means easefully taking risks and daring to think big. Following your intuition and heart, rather than what’s “logical” and safe.

I truly believe that working on your energy gives you superhuman powers. If there’s any block somewhere in your life, mastering your energy gives you the ability to break through it, rise above it, and get where you want to go faster and easier.

2) Abundance comes to alignment

We asked ourselves:

What do we truly want in life?
What are the ways we want to impact the world?
What kind of work would feel like an endless vacation, something we would love doing so much that we’d never want to retire?
How can we take big, bold leaps NOW to get closer to that?

And, we saw that in a world that’s changing faster than ever, trying to keep up with our previous industries would only lead to burnout. We wanted to create multiple income streams that are not dependent on any single industry—and which, instead, are based fully on our passions, strengths, and timeless principles of business and value.

We made choices in alignment with our hearts’ callings, our own internal compass, and our vision of our future. And we quickly saw the Universe respond: in sending us exciting opportunities, new connections, money for our most aligned efforts.

This is what my Radical Redirection method is all about: finding your OWN true path towards prosperity. Finding your purpose, your gifts, your ideal life—and making it happen. We’re doing it in real time as I type this. It feels incredible to be so true to ourselves and to get rewarded for it.

I work with clients on these two big things: boosting their energy on all levels, so they can feel amazing and rise above challenges, and redirect their lives towards what feels aligned and true. If you’re ready to experience either/both of these major transformations, book a free discovery call with me by filling out this form:

Free Discovery Call

Job loss, company restructuring, big upheavals—this is not something to be feared. It’s the Universe’s invitation to look within and ask yourself: what is right for me? We are always guided towards the life we truly want. The way is easier when we have the energy to make brave moves.

Love,
Kat

Job Loss, Business, and Big dreams: What Matt and I did after losing our only stable source of income

I want to convey 2 main takeaways from all this:

Browse these other free resources while you’re here:

Part 3: Women in Leadership: Putting Yourself First and Prioritizing Self Care in a Demanding Job