Debt Doesn't Make You Bad With Money And It's Time We Talked About It!

We need to talk about debt. Business debt. The kind that shows up with shame already attached, even when it's being handled strategically.

In this episode, Lisa Marie gets personal about her own experience carrying a business line of credit for the first time, what it felt like even as someone who teaches this, and why the old stories showed up anyway. This conversation is for every entrepreneur who has been managing their debt quietly, alone, and wondering what it says about them.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• The crucial difference between strategic debt and avoidance debt, and why most people have never had it broken down in plain terms
• Why normalizing debt is not the same as being comfortable staying stuck in it
• Lisa Marie's honest account of using a business line of credit in 2024 and 2025, including the anxiety, the shame spiral, and the question that broke through all of it
• Why you cannot manage money well from a place of fear
• Three practical steps to take if you're carrying business debt right now

The narrative that society puts on debt is not yours to carry. You just have to decide to put it down.

Ready to stop managing your debt alone? Money Movz™ Voxer Coaching gives you two full weeks of direct access to Lisa Marie. You'll look at your debt, your cash flow, and what's actually happening in your business — and build a clear, strategic, shame-free plan that's aligned with you. No judgment, no lecture. Just strategy, clarity, and someone in your corner who's been exactly where you are.

Resources

• The Seven Money Pitfalls email series
• Money Movz™ Voxer Coaching 
• Transcendent Wealth Co

Resources

• The Seven Money Pitfalls email series
• Money Movz™ Voxer Coaching 
• Transcendent Wealth Co

Follow Lisa Marie on your favorite social platform:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

Transcendent Wealth Co. LLC
https://www.transcendentwealthco.com   

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to Cash and Sass, the podcast where we ditch the shame, talk real numbers, and build bold bankable wealth without sacrificing who we are. I'm your host, Lisa Marie, Fractional CFO, wealth mentor, and the sassy wealth queen behind Transcendent Wealth Co. And if you're ready to scale with strategy, own your power, and finally feel wealthy in every sense of the word, you're in the right place. Today I'm going somewhere personal. And I mean really personal, because I think one of the most powerful things I can do as your host is not just teach you, but show you. Show you what this work actually looks like in real life, even when real life is messy. And we all know how messy life can get. Even when life and everything around you seems to be testing everything you teach. Okay. Today we're talking about debt, business debt, the kind that comes with shame attached, even when it shouldn't, the kind that keeps entrepreneurs up at night, even when it is being managed strategically. This episode is called Debt Doesn't Make You Bad With Money, and it's time we talked about it. And if you're carrying business debt right now and quietly wondering what it says about you, then this conversation is going to give you something probably you probably haven't given yourself yet: permission. All right, let's get into it. I want to start by saying something clearly so we're all on the same page. Being in debt as a business owner is normal. And it does not, let me repeat, does not make you bad with money. Most businesses that are growing, sustaining, or navigating the real unpredictability of entrepreneurship have used some form of debt at some point. A line of credit, a business loan, a credit card that bridged a gap. Y'all, debt is a tool. And like any tool, what matters is not whether you use it, it's how. But here's where I also want to be really direct with you. Normalizing debt is not the same as being comfortable staying stuck in it. So I'm gonna say that again. Normalizing debt is not the same as being comfortable staying stuck in it. And I'm gonna tell you that's the same for personal and for business. Okay. There's a difference, a significant one, between debt that is strategic and debt that is avoidance. And I think most of us have never had anyone actually break that distinction down for us in plain terms. So I'm going to do it right now. Strategic debt is intentional. You took it on with a clear purpose to keep something alive, to invest in something with a return, to bridge a gap while you stabilized. You know what it is for, you know what it costs you, and you have a plan, even if that plan is still in progress. Avoidance debt is what happens when you stop looking. When you swipe because you cannot face what is actually happening financially, when the balance grows not because of a decision, but because of a disconnection, when you are not managing it and instead you're hiding from it. One of these is a business decision. The other is a money wound playing out in real time. And the shame society puts on both of them equally is one of the most damaging things that happens to entrepreneurs, especially women who are trying to build something real in a world that's not always predictable. I talk about the difference between strategic debt and avoidance debt because I teach it, but I'm going to tell you about the moment life decided to test me on my own lesson. In 2024, life happened and my business took a hit. I made the decision to take out a business line of credit. It was the first time my business had ever carried real true debt. And that line of credit is the reason my business is still here today. It kept the lights on, it kept things moving, it gave me the breathing room I needed to stabilize and rebuild. And then just when I thought it was going good and it was turning around, I had to use it again in 2025 for the same reason. Now, I want to tell you what that felt like because I think this is the part nobody talks about honestly. We only talk about the good things with entrepreneurship and making the money and building our business. Even though I teach this, even though I know the difference between strategic and avoidance debt, even though I have sat with clients and walked them through exactly this conversation, the old stories still showed up for me. Debt is bad. If you were better with money, you wouldn't need this. What does this say about you? I even felt like somewhat of a fraud. That is the narrative society hands us. And it does not care how much you know or how much you've built. It will still show up. And it showed up for me as anxiety, as worry that served absolutely no productive purpose. It showed up as a low hum in the background of my days that I had to consciously choose not to let it run me. And I had to consciously choose it every single day. Because here's what anxiety and worry about debt actually do. They cloud your thinking. You end up sitting around doing nothing. You end up with headaches and stress and whatever else, but it clouds your whole thinking. It pulls you away from strategy and it pushes you towards emotion. And you cannot manage money well from a place of fear. We've talked about that before. So something had to shift. The shift did not come from a spreadsheet. It didn't come from a payment plan or a phone call with my bank. It came from sitting down with myself and telling myself the truth. One, I reminded myself how far I've come. I reminded myself that I am not the same person I was when I started this business almost 10 years ago. And I was on food stamps when I started it. I handle money differently now. I think about money differently now. I have built tools and systems and awareness that I did not have before. And none of that disappears just because I'm navigating a hard season. And then I asked myself the most clarifying question I have ever asked. If I do not use this line of credit to keep my business going, what is the alternative? And y'all, the answer was going back to corporate. And in that moment, I decided that was not a choice. That is not an option. I did not build what I had built through foreclosure, through food stamps, through every hard season, and changed all that I had changed for me and my girls to hand it back now. And right then, the shame lost its grip. Because using the line of credit to protect something you have spent almost a decade building is not bad money management. It is a strategic decision made by someone who knows their worth and refuses to let a hard season be the end of their story. Now, I could tell you that it was easy to pay it off and all of that. I'm not gonna lie to you. Life is still happening. I still have a plan and I'm in the middle of that plan. And I have managed that debt intentionally and strategically every single month since. Like I said, am I still working on paying it off? Yes. Are there things I want to do better and improve on? Absolutely. And I also know without question that that decision I made was the right one. That is what strategic debt looks like. Not perfect, not painless, but intentional, eyes open, moving forward. Okay, so I want to bring home bring this home practically because if you're in this right now, if you have debt in your business and you've been carrying shame about it, I want to give you something to do with this conversation. Okay. Step one, classify your debt honestly. Look at what you're carrying and ask yourself, is this strategic or avoidance? Did you take it on with intention, even if circumstances were hard? Do you know what it's costing me monthly? Do you have even a loose plan for paying it down? Having that, having those, that is strategic, that is manageable, that is something to work with. Or have you been avoiding looking at it? Is the balance growing because you stopped engaging with it? That, y'all, is avoidance. And the first step out of avoidance is simply look, open the account, see the number. Because you cannot make a plan for something that you refuse to face. Now, if you need to take a couple deep breaths before you do that, then do that. But you need to look. Okay, step two, stop letting the bank set your strategy. Banks and credit cards want minimum payments. Minimum payments keep you in debt longer and cost you significantly more in interest over time. That's good for them, it is not good for you. So look at your debt and decide, even if it's a small amount above the minimum, how are you going to attack it? And how are you going to attack it intentionally? Again, it's that intentionality that comes into play. Are you gonna do the snowball method? Are you gonna do the avalanche method? There is no wrong or right way. Please do not let anyone tell you there is. It's whatever fits your cash flow. Okay. Will you have to make some cuts? Maybe, maybe not. But again, it's whatever fits your cash flow. It has to be what's aligned with what's going on with you at this particular moment. The key is to make a decision, but don't make it as a deep by default. Don't do it as a default. Make a decision and stick with it. Step three, separate the debt from your identity. In all honesty, this is the one that matters most. Having business debt does not make you bad with money. It does not make you irresponsible. It does not mean you are failing. I'm going to say that again. It does not mean you are failing. It means you are a business owner navigating the real, unpredictable nature of building something in a world that does not hand anyone a guaranteed pass. Now, what you do with it, how you face it, how you manage it, and move through it, that is actually what defines your relationship with money. The narrative that society wants to put on debt is not yours to carry. You get to put it down. You just have to decide. Now, here's what I want you to hear before we close. If you are sitting with your business debt right now and you've been managing it alone, making decisions in the dark, carrying the anxiety quietly, not sure if your strategy is actually working or if you even have one and you're not even sure where to start. You don't even know how to figure this all out by yourself. That is exactly the kind of work we do together in my two-week money moves, Foxer Coaching. For two full weeks, you get direct access to me through Voxer. We look at your debt, we look at your cash flow, we look at what's actually happening in your business financially, and we build a clear, strategic, shame-free plan that's aligned with you and what's going on with your business, not a cookie cutter. And it's a plan to move forward. There's no judgment, there's not a lecture about what you should have done differently because you made decisions based on whatever was going on at the moment. It's just strategy, clarity, and someone in your corner who's been exactly where you are and built through it anyway. Because y'all, that is not the end of your story. It's just a chapter. And how you manage it determines what the next one looks like. The link to learn more and to sign up for the two-week money moves boxer coaching is in the show notes. Go check it out. You've come too far to let shame make your financial decisions. So let's make sure your strategy is running the show instead. Until next time, remember confidence and cash are the ultimate power duo. Go check in with your money, and as always, have a fantastic and wealthy day.