In 2010, Lauren Cobello (formerly Lauren Guetman) created an entire brand as “the coupon lady” after she shared her story of how she got her family out of $40,000 in debt by couponing and budgeting. By 2016, she was posting multiple times a day, wrote a few books about couponing and budgeting, and was filming family finance videos with her kids and her husband as main fixtures in her online universe.  But here’s the thing about creating a brand and a community around your personal story — sometimes that story falls apart. By 2017, Lauren and her husband split, leaving her to navigate life as a single mom of four….and back in debt again. For a while, she continued to post to keep her brand alive but felt completely inauthentic doing it. Listen in to hear how she reinvented her career — and the personal finance hacks she still utilizes to keep her monthly budget in check. Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction  00:05:26 - Lauren's Personal Debt Experience and Recovery 00:09:41 - Therapy and Financial Healing 00:10:34 - Strategies for Managing Money and Avoiding Impulse Spending 00:16:14 - Couponing and Meal Planning 00:21:00 - Career Transition to Media and PR 00:29:12 - Mailbag Takeaways: Get real with yourself and take control of your finances by focusing on what can be controlled. Meal planning and freezer cooking can save money on groceries. Building a brand using books and media can be a powerful strategy for business growth. More money news when you need it! Get the latest and greatest updates on all things investing, budgeting, and making money. Subscribe to the HerMoney newsletter at Hermoney.com/subscribe! The HerMoney with Jean Chatzky podcast is sponsored by Edelman Financial Engines. The podcast team and its host are neither employees nor clients of EFE, however, the show does receive fixed compensation and is a paid endorser and therefore has an incentive to endorse EFE and its planners. To learn more about the sponsorship, please visit PlanEFE.com/HerMoney. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to advertise on our podcast, and to learn more about Airwave, head to www.airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices