Last week, my kitchen was wrapped like a crime scene—brown packing paper taped to the fridge, floors, ceiling, pantry doors… everything. We’re doing a kitchen makeover: going from outdated wood cabinets to fresh, modern white. But before a single drop of paint touched a surface, there were three full days of prep. Doors removed. Hardware […]
On Saturday, I took the family to the Orange County Fair to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. She brought her three little ones—and we ended up at the pig races (yes, seriously). But the real event on the local news? One of the mama pigs had just given birth to 9 piglets—on the same day […]
Karen Lake here from Finance MakeOver If you are always looking at your business bank balance before payroll or making big purchases – this video is for you. Years ago, when I first started using a cash flow system, it looked like this:A Google SheetManual transfers every two weeksWeekly meetings with my bookkeeper It worked […]
Let me tell you about my sister. She’s brilliant.She can quote Shakespeare.She can pass any test on zero sleep.She makes me look like the average sibling. But when it comes to math?Instant anxiety. So years ago, when she got married, she agreed to be in charge of paying the bills. And here was her system: […]
For Father’s Day, I got my husband a Boys in Blue T-shirt—because in our house, we’re die-hard Dodgers fans. And, of course, we’re all still buzzing about Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract.Except… here’s what most people don’t realize: He’s not getting all $700M up front. In fact, he’s only taking $2M/year during his playing contract—and […]
This week, my daughter Savannah—who’s a barista at the sweetest little café inside a park in Colorado—sent me a photo that made my day. A tiny baby bird had gotten separated from its nest. No mama bird in sight. Just this fragile, puffed-up chick waiting on the ground, chirping and hopeful. Savannah was able to […]
During a meeting with my mentor this week, he said something that stopped me in my tracks: “You need to dial in your mantras.” Not your goals. Not your metrics. Your mantras. Because here’s the thing: a mantra isn’t just a fluffy affirmation from the ‘80s. It’s the internal script you reach for when you’re […]
As my husband said this weekend…“It’s the end of an era.” In 2023, I sold the music school I had built and loved for over a decade. We poured heart, soul, and hundreds of songs into that place—my daughter taught piano, I taught voice, and we had 25 amazing employees, a beautiful studio with 9 […]
Last weekend, we had Dodgers’ tickets for a Saturday game—and my daughter noticed on our shared Apple calendar. She called, “Hey, what are you doing this weekend?” already knowing the answer.When I told her about the game, she hinted that a certain 3-year-old would love to go. You guessed it—my grandson loves baseball, thanks to […]
I still remember the day I got serious about my finances. I was Googling bookkeeping rates for QuickBooks Online, and I just about choked.$50–$100 per hour!?And that didn’t even include cleanup or strategy. Just data entry.I thought, “Okay… let’s say they work 5–10 hours a week… there’s no way I can afford that.”So I had […]
