What a Six-Figure Car Purchase Taught Me About the Money Stories Keeping You Stuck

At the end of last December, I bought a Mercedes-Benz AMG CLE53 cabriolet. Six figures. Paid cash. No car payment.

The night before the test drive, I tossed and turned. Sitting at the dealership doing the final paperwork, my mind was racing. Driving home, still racing. Not because we could not afford it. Our bank accounts did not suffer. Not because it was a bad decision. It was a completely sound one.

Because of the story.

I grew up in Lakewood, California. Blue collar. Working families. Paycheck to paycheck. My parents had credit card debt, car loans, minimal savings. They thought Social Security would carry them through retirement. It did not. And for most of my adult life, that apple did not fall far from the tree. Credit cards, car loans, no real savings, just grinding it out and hoping it worked.

A Mercedes-Benz was a car the owners of companies drove. The wealthy people. Not us. We drove Fords. Chevys. Maybe a Toyota if things were really going well.

And even though I have built two successful businesses, even though we are in a completely different financial world than we were ten years ago, that old story still had teeth. It showed up in a car dealership at 59 years old with claws.

Who do you think you are? What will people think? Aren't you full of yourself?

My sister, who has watched the whole journey, told me to do it without a second's hesitation. My husband said 'get it' before I finished the sentence. And I still wrestled with it for days. That is how loud an old story can be when the stakes feel real.

What saved me — and I mean this literally — was Byron Katie's inquiry work. The question is simple: is it true?

Is it true that you are not the kind of person who deserves a Mercedes?

No. That is a made-up category based on a childhood zip code and my parents' financial choices. Their story is not my story. And the beautiful part of recognizing a story for what it is, is that you get to choose whether you keep telling it.

I love that car. And I am completely worthy of driving it. I am even doing my “Topless Tuesday” reels from it.

Now here is why I am telling you this, because this is not really a post about a car.

What money stories are you still believing about your business? What are you not charging because 'no one will pay that in this economy'? What are you not investing in because you are waiting until things feel more stable? What tools, what training, what support are you going without because a story from fifteen years ago told you that you do not deserve to make it easier?

I hear the investment objections all the time. 'I can't afford it right now.' 'It's not the right time.' 'The economy is too uncertain.' And I understand them. I have said every one of them myself.

But here is the math I want to leave you with.

ChatGPT Plus costs twenty dollars a month. Claude Pro costs twenty dollars a month. Less than a dollar a day for a tool that can turn hours into minutes. The AI for Small Business Program — twelve months of real support, eight modules, weekly live calls — is less per month than most people spend at Starbucks in a week.

The question is never really 'can I afford this?' The question is what story is sitting underneath that objection. Because that story is costing you more than the investment ever would.

If you are ready to go further, the AI for Small Business Program is open. THIS PRICE IS GOOD THROUGH MAY 10, 2026 at $795 FOR THE FULL YEAR. May 11 the price moves to $1,495.

Start by noticing the story. Then ask: is it actually true?