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From the Penthouse to Poverty: The Lesson that Changed Everything
Homelessness was one of the most enlightening experiences of my life.
I grew up a sheltered small-town girl. I was the youngest in a blended family of eight. I was raised on a farm where productivity and checks on a task list were the keys to freedom and money.
In my house, achievement meant everything. I was taught that hard work and accomplishment was what separated the “admirable” from the “scourge of society.”
I got my first job at 14. I graduated high school early while working three jobs, and declared my goal in life to make a six-figure salary by the time I turned 40.
That may not seem like a huge goal in today’s world, but for an 18-year-old girl in 1993 in a rural Iowa town of 12,000 people, it was a reach.
Even as a divorced single mother in my mid-20s, I always worked at least one full-time job and one other part-time job while attending school part-time. It took me ten years to get a four-year degree because I could only work on it a little at a time.
In my childhood home, asking for help was either a sign of laziness, weakness or an admission of failure.
At 23, freshly divorced with a two-year-old on my hip, I was living in an apartment where I had to shovel snow from INSIDE the house in the mornings because the front door didn’t seal. I asked my mother if I could come home for just three months to pay off my lawyer's bill and get back on my feet financially.
She quickly replied, “Oh, not a chance. You made your decision to move out at 18; that is a decision you have to live with. I’ll watch Jake for you, but you need to get yourself out of this.” Which translates to “get another job.”
Meanwhile, I was climbing the corporate ladder, dealing with office politics, and going above and beyond to ensure I was on the shortlist for the next big promotion. I was getting Microsoft Certified, taking Cisco Networking classes, and using a Blackberry before anyone knew it was something other than fruit and still looked like a pager.
I was always on the lookout for an opportunity to upgrade my salary. I never stopped scanning the want ads…
