Day Job Wealth

I Survived Two Divorces and $60K of Debt. Here's What Actually Rebuilt My Finances

Stephanie Huynh — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 18:55:10 GMT

An evening sitting and writing from my couch in Las Vegas.

Set the scene. My then husband convinces me the best thing for us is to move to Las Vegas, we sold the home I DIY’d and remodeled (heartbreaking) and I was moved away from all my friends and family in Los Angeles. The only place I’ve ever called home.

The money we made from selling our LA home? Gone. Lent out to a company he had one percent ownership of as a loan that was to be repaid within three months that wouldn’t be for essentially two years, well after we our divorce finalized.

And since I had the better credit, conveniently all of our debts had been accumulating under my name, on my cards. A foolish mistake as a naive girl who was in love and listened to the financial direction of my not so financially literate ex-husband as opposed to what my gut was telling me.

Debts contributed partly that as a co-founder of a startup his seed money was already quickly running out which lead to him not taking a paycheck for a majority of the last year of our marriage.

I worked multiple jobs and even sold plasma to keep up with our bills, and pay for improvements to our “new” home in Las Vegas which was more so lipstick slapped on a pig. As soon as the house was conveniently remodeled and DIY’d by me to a point where it was essentially finished. He filed for divorce.

I tell the outline of the story (this only grazes the surface) because I want you to see that this was all a series of decisions and non-decisions that I did or did not make that lead me to this point. Was I given an unfortunate series of circumstances? Yes. But if we’re looking for the only common denominator outside of both my ex-husbands, it was myself.

The hardest part of taking a hard look at your life is that often times you are the only common denominator. And the moment I took radical responsibility, was the moment when everything changed.

What is radical responsibility? The definition varies, but for me it is taking 100% responsibility for yourself and the thoughts, choices you make and the results that occur as a outcome of such.

I’ll never forget the words of a manager of mine at the time when I told her the news of my impending divorce, “Make sure you take care of yourself, I know women who got divorced and never recovered.” Whether she was speaking financially, emotionally, or both. I can’t be sure. But did you know that separated or divorced women face poverty rates around 27%, which is nearly three times higher than divorced men? That women's household incomes fall by an average of 41% after a divorce (compared to a 23% drop for men)?

I refused to become a statistic.

I worked harder than I ever had making enough to pay off the $60K in debt and buy myself a home within a matter of months. To date, the year after my divorce is still my highest grossing year. My work was challenging, but I worked even harder on my mindset. Intensive therapy sessions, a lot of time with those who genuinely loved and cared for me. I went traveling, exploring and discovering who I was again before getting lost in the shadow of my relationships and the desire to be loved. Before I decided to dim myself down to become “palatable”. Call it my “Eat, Pray, Love” year. Elizabeth Gilbert and Julia Roberts would be proud.

I made the decision to be essentially the very best version of myself and changed the way I saw and approached the world and the situations it presented me. Training my brain to reframe any circumstance. Because radical responsibility isn’t saying that things outside your control don’t matter, but that even if you can’t control everything, you can see the opportunities that others may not because their vision may be “clouded”.

You build alternative sources of income outside your day job by noticing the things maybe other people can’t yet. When I bought my run-down 1980’s home, no one saw my vision. But the moment I walked in, I knew it could be something much more. And even if I didn’t know how or what, I ran with that feeling and now my home makes me six-figures all while I live here full-time. It pays for my life, which allows me the freedom and flexibility to have a minimally stressful job and be able to pursue making and creating other income streams and passion projects.

So if you’re feeling like you need the perfect situation before you start expanding, before you start building your income streams. I would actually say, don’t. Because the perfect situation may exist but it may never arrive. And if you’re being honest with yourself, like I had to be with myself. If you’re not happy with how much money you have, or where you are in life. You are the common denominator.

And once you recognize that and take radical responsibility for your life. That is when everything changes, including your finances.

I didn't find my way out by waiting for the right moment. I found it by making the next right decision.

And if you don’t know where to start, I created The Day Job Wealth Starter Kit with actionable steps to help you create additional income streams, to start building a life that you actually choose.

If this resonated, drop a comment below — is there an income stream you’ve been thinking of starting but for some reason you haven’t?

How I Pay For My $3,356 Mortgage as a Single Divorcee, Even If I Didn’t Have My Day Job

Stephanie Huynh — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:22:35 GMT

Writing to you from my couch in Las Vegas.

There I was. Divorced for the second time and I was only 30 years old. $60,000 in debt and essentially homeless since my ex-husband took the house. I was absolutely wrecked. The detailed story of how I ended up to where I am today is a novel that perhaps I will tell at another time or in little snippets.

And I wish I could say that I had an easy time before my divorce, but in fact supporting my marriage financially, the last year of its existence is probably the reason why I'm at where I am today. It was during the time that I learned the importance of having multiple income streams. My husband at the time was running a startup and had decided to stop paying himself since the seed money was running out. Which meant that we were living off of my one 9 to 5 income.

Safe to say it was a struggle. I remember in an attempt to keep up with all of our bills, I even donated my plasma for a month to make an extra ($900?) dollars. It was an incredibly painful time of my life for so many different reasons. And after my divorce, I said to myself, I would never allow myself to be in this position again. I worked like hell, I picked up as many contracts as I possibly could, dug myself out of debt and bought a house on my own.

The lessons that came with my divorce, and the feeling of helplessness that I had of being in debt is the reason why I started thinking even more creatively about how I could create additional streams of revenue without sacrificing my sanity.

If I'm being honest, I've always been pretty good at finding things that I can monetize different skills, different assets. And I remember sitting in my new home and thinking “I can rent out these rooms.” so for the next four years, I slowly remodeled and DIY’d my home to not only one, but two separate Airbnb's, and have created a main living space which is also rented for events and photo shoots. I created a six figure business out of my very own home that I live in full-time that pays for my living and then some. And based on my calculations, including the remodeling cost, the down payment and mortgage payments up-to-date I will break even in about a year’s time.

And the most beautiful part of all that is that if for any reason, I no longer have my day job, I can still pay for my mortgage. I can still pay for my life because having multiple streams of income has provided me the freedom that I used to dream of when I was a very young girl.

My Dad once told me that he wrote down everything that he ever wanted on a piece of paper when he moved to America:

-Buy a House

-A Million Dollars

- A Loving Family

Of course, there were other things on his list, but only a couple years ago he told me that he got everything on his list and then some. And it's funny, because I remember when I was a very young girl before my dad told me any of this. I used to think to myself “I want to make six figures by the time I’m 30 and own a home of my own with a loving family.”

It's funny how the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Because 20 years later, right after I turned 30 only a few months after it felt like my whole life was falling apart, I got everything I ever wished for back when I was a little girl and then some.

Part of finding your way out of a debt is recognizing that outside of saving and investing, you can also make more money and no it doesn’t need to be from your day job.

And if you don’t know where to start, I created The Day Job Wealth Starter Kit with actionable steps to help you get started to create additional income streams to start building a life that you choose.

If this resonated, drop a comment below — is there an income stream you’ve been thinking of starting but for some reason you haven’t?

The Fear of Being Seen & Doing It Anyway

Stephanie Huynh — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 04:21:15 GMT

I’ve been challenging myself to do new and hard things and part of that is to expose myself. And no I’m not starting an OnlyFans.

I come from a family of performers, singers, musicians, just an overall gregarious family with very little care about what others thought about them. I wasn’t that girl. I was the fat, insecure girl who was awkwardly finding my place in it all. Fast forward through two decades after losing the extra weight and challenging myself to do new things I found myself embracing the inner performer, I have since competed in a beauty pageant, competed in multiple bikini bodybuilding competitions, performed in a half time show for the NBA Warriors, things I would never take back. and I’m happy to say at 34, that the things that used to scare me, scare me less (but you know surviving two divorces and digging yourself out of $60K of debt will do that).

But now I face a new frontier along with so many others. Putting yourself out there for the judgement of people who don’t know you, who don’t know your story and with only the hope that someone can find inspiration or value in what you’re putting out there in the world. And I have to say, as much as I am no longer that chubby, insecure girl, I’m nervous. But what I remind myself frequently is “do not be afraid to be seen trying”.

Because the fear of regret is what’s going to eat you up at the end of your life, it won’t be because you tried and failed (at least I hope not). Because I believe it’s actually your your duty to live this life as fully as possible, and the only way to do that is to allow yourself to be seen.

This applies to everything from content creation, to your personal and professional relationships. Putting yourself out there in your content for the world to see doesn’t come without some anxiety. Showing your partner the deepest, darkest parts of you, the parts of you that even you don’t like, doesn’t come without fear. Deciding to take on the big project at work that maybe you’re not qualified to do but you do it anyway to put yourself in front of “the big boys” to shoot for that promotion, doesn’t come without some hesitation.

And similarly to anything that you were scared to do before, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. It’s easier said than done but put yourself out there eventually your nervous system will start to see it as “normal” and the thing that once scared you will now be just part of your day to day.

I decided almost three months ago I would start taking content creation seriously. And as my first post on SubStack, although I was hesitant to start because who am I to write about anything? Already typing this out has been so cathartic for my soul and fulfilling in ways that I can’t describe. Because my brain doesn’t work in 60 second clips, and although I’m playing the dopamine high game on other platforms. I hope if you’re reading this, that it translates into your veins like a steady calm sea of dopamine. The one I believe we were actually meant to live by. And now that I’ve done my first post, I know the rest will become easier.

Allow yourself the pleasure of discomfort. Because whether it’s building a successful relationship, a budding business, or even a thriving SubStack, you have to put yourself out there.

To be seen, comes with risks, in all areas of your life. I hope you don’t let your fear stop you.

Find me on Instagram/TikTok @_stephaniehuynh_ for the behind the scenes of everything I write about here.

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