We were lucky to catch up with Bethany Kennedy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Bethany , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I have taken the same risk twice in my life. I quit my job. The first time it was to focus on my family and the second time was to pursue financial security. Both of these decisions brought me to my knees where I needed to get very honest with myself and make some inward changes.
It started way back in the early 2000’s, when we first started to have kids, I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom more than anything. We decided to focus on raising our family and not chase after financial wealth. Not knowing that you could have both, not knowing what money blocks were, not knowing much about financial planning and not realizing that we would have of eight children. My husband and I traded off on being the stay-at-home parent, our biggest challenge was housing. To make a long story short, we were homeless four different times. We never had to sleep on the streets, nor were we ever hungry, and we met some amazing people and that alone was worth it. I am truly grateful for the experience as uncomfortable and traumatic as it was. Once we got out of the homelessness cycle (by buying an RV and traveling between local RV resorts) our cost of living went way down. About 2022 I was the one working, and putting in about 55 hours a week and felt like I was giving so much more of me to this job than it was giving back. The thing that hurt the worst was I wasn’t there for my kids’ stuff. I was losing that connection that I had when I was at home. I knew that if I continued on this trajectory I would lose all my dreams. But this time I knew I needed a financial education. So I wrote down everything I wanted in a financial services business and focused on how to start one. I knew that the opportunity would come up and when it did I would recognize it and jump on it. A few months later the opportunity arose and within a few months after that, I quit my job with the intention of never getting another job again.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have to say that I am the most proud of my family. Even though I call it my business it is growing into a family business.
I am a holistic financial professional and what sets me apart is my heart. I look at people’s financials with their dreams and what is most important to them as my focus. True success is not about how much money you make, it is the quality of life you live at every stage of your life. Living in abundance mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially.
I represent over 70, A rated life insurance companies that offer life insurance with long term care, living benefits and final expense. But not until you see the whole picture of your finances, now and later, will you know what it right for you. Everyone is different, so are their financial needs. There are no cookie cutter approaches that will work for the masses. I work with families on a personal level. In addition to that, I offer business owners, who really want to focus their efforts on living a quality life while running a business, instead of just running themselves into the ground, a membership that includes accountability, support, and clarity.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

It was probably about a year or so into my business and I had become numb. I felt I was letting everyone down, nothing was turning out the way I was led to believe, but I knew that this is business I manifested. I had the support of my family and close friends and business partners. I remember a woman said, “If you didn’t like your last quarter, then make sure your next quarter isn’t like your last quarter.” That hit me hard, and I knew I needed to do something different. Being so new, I didn’t really know what to change, so I basically stopped everything until I knew what was the most important thing to do. I changed my market, I changed my business plan, I changed my schedule. But most of all, I changed my thinking and instead of giving up, I pivoted. I stopped trying to please everyone else, I decided what I wanted and I went after it. That is when I found success. Once I realized I wasn’t meant to fit in, I stopped trying to force myself into someone else’s mold. And I was transformed. My confidence shot through the roof and it was noticed. Then tragedy struck, one of my clients died, she was one of my best friends. I had gotten her completely covered in February, and in March she was diagnosed with cancer. We were all shocked, it had not shown up in any of the medicals she had done. In October she passed away. What would have happened to her family if I would have given up? This really lit a fire under me, I saw how the importance of what I do for families. This isn’t just life insurance, this is poverty protection. My clients and their families will never go through what I did.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I don’t think you really know yourself until you open a business. I have a plethora of lessons that I needed to unlearn to achieve any kind of success. The one that stands out to me most, is that receiving isn’t the same as taking. You have heard it is better to give than receive. You have heard there are takers and there are givers. Being a peacemaker and a recovering people pleaser, receiving hasn’t ever been my strong point. Competition was super stressful. It was easier to deal with disappointment than to to take something that I didn’t feel I necessarily deserved away from someone else that was more deserving, simply because they wanted it more. In fact, the first award I ever won was Best Sportsmanship, because I lost with a great attitude. There is nothing wrong with winning and receiving your reward with gratitude and pride.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.trueabundance.us