She Let Go of 80% of Her Clients to Follow Her Calling: Ary Doakes on Identity Wrestling, Money Dates, and Rebuilding From the Inside Out

What happens when the business you built no longer fits who you are becoming? In this episode of Manifest, Manage and Multiply Money, Audrey Faust sits down with Ary Doakes, Money Queen at The Profit Suite and a CFO with over twelve years of experience working inside seven, eight, and nine figure companies. Ary built Badass Budget Babe from scratch, rebranded it into The Profit Suite as it grew, and then made one of the hardest decisions a business owner can make. She sold the majority of her agency to follow a deeper calling and realign with the work that truly lit her up. But the pivot did not go as planned. The buyer stopped paying. A legal battle followed. And Ary found herself in the middle of a full rebuild, wrestling with the hardest question of her career. Who do you think you are now? This is one of the most honest and vulnerable conversations on this podcast yet. Because Ary is not sharing from the other side. She is sharing from the middle. And in doing so she gives every woman who has ever been in the messy middle of a pivot permission to keep going. She also shares the practice that changed her entire relationship with money, the money date, a weekly ritual she started when she had nothing and that she credits with transforming not just her finances but her identity around money. If you have ever felt the pull toward something new while the safe and profitable path kept calling you back, this episode will feel like someone finally said what you have been thinking. **Chapters** 00:00 — Introduction to Ary Doakes 02:09 — From Badass Budget Babe to The Profit Suite: the full evolution 05:09 — Why Ary sold her agency and what she was really chasing 08:17 — The pivot that did not go as planned and what she learned 11:10 — Wrestling with identity when you are becoming someone new 13:34 — Choosing faith over the low hanging fruit every single day 17:31 — Selling the agency, seller financing, and the expensive lessons learned 20:14 — Why even between friends you need an airtight contract 24:16 — Rebuilding with better systems and a stronger foundation 27:44 — Restoration and rebuilding in a better way 28:24 — Was there ever a time Ary was financially phobic? 31:21 — The money date practice and how it changed everything 35:26 — What the money date workbook actually helps you discover 37:03 — Where to find Ary and her free gift 37:58 — Message to women on the edge of their next level **In This Episode You'll Learn:** - Why selling a business you built can feel like a grief and a gift at the same time - What identity wrestling really looks like when you are in the middle of a pivot not looking back at one - Why the low hanging fruit is always there and how to keep choosing the harder more aligned path anyway - What seller financing really means and why an airtight contract is non-negotiable - How Ary is rebuilding with systems from the ground up instead of adding systems to chaos - What a money date is and why treating your finances like a relationship you nurture changes everything - How the money date practice revealed emotional spending patterns Ary had never noticed before - Why even CFOs and accountants have seasons of being financially phobic and what that teaches us about compassion - Why restoration is not just rebuilding. It is rebuilding better than before. **Guest Free Gift** Ary Doakes is offering a money date workbook designed to walk you through the process of showing up for your finances in a completely new way. Each week you track not just your numbers but how you feel about them, where you are spending from a place of joy and where you are spending from a place of pain. Over time this practice rewires your relationship with money from the inside out. Get your copy and make a new copy each week to track your journey: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14yATUaXg-XWqk-Z8OnOtC7\_zr12kMgDQ/edit?gid=1546453302#gid=1546453302 **Connect with Ary Doakes** - Instagram: @badassbudgetbabe and @theprofitsuite - Website: theprofitsuite.com - Email: ary@theprofitsuite.com # About the Host Audrey Faust, MBA, is known as The Manifesting CFO. For more than two decades she has worked with multi-six and seven-figure businesses, helping entrepreneurs understand their financials, strengthen profitability, and build long-term wealth. Through her work, Audrey has witnessed the identity shifts and leadership evolution that occur as businesses scale and the powerful role that money mindset plays in sustainable success. # Ready to Go Deeper? If this conversation resonated with you, The CEO Money Rewire is your next step. It is a free private five part audio series designed to take you from financially phobic to financially confident and profitable. About 15 minutes per episode. You can listen inside Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you already listen. By the time you finish, something will have shifted. 🎧 Get instant access here:https://www.audreyfaustconsulting.com/moneyrewirehttps://www.audreyfaustconsulting.com/moneyrewire # Subscribe & Follow If you enjoyed this episode, consider leaving a review or sharing it with another woman entrepreneur who would benefit from these conversations. And until next time… Keep manifesting, managing, and multiplying your money. If you’re ready to go deeper, I’ve got some powerful ways to support you. Join me inside my world: 🌐 Website: https://www.audreyfaustconsulting.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manifesting\_cfo/ 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audreyfaust/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheManifestingCFO