This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Chikara Kennedy, the 43-year-old CEO of Chikara Power Coaching, who lives in Mexico. Business Insider has verified Kennedy’s income and employment with documentation and edited her words for length and clarity.
Before launching my own company in 2024, I worked at Meta for nearly five years as a senior HR manager.
At the time, my base salary was roughly $250,000, and with bonus and restricted stock options, I was making over $300,000 a year.
It was a high-income, very structured corporate role, and my pay was predictable in a way that felt stable.
Then in 2023, everything shifted. I got divorced, I got laid off, and I turned 40 — all within the same year.
I didn’t have any indication that I was going to get laid off, and it was very traumatic. At first, I was shaken by the job loss; I felt anxious about the uncertainty ahead and was having meltdowns about my finances.
I didn’t know what to do at the time — but by 2024, I’d decided to start my own coaching business.
I knew I needed to downsize
While starting my business, not knowing if it would be as profitable as the job I had before, I started to look for ways to reduce my expenses and improve my quality of life.
Even with savings, I knew that trying to maintain my lifestyle in DC in my expensive apartment, wasn’t a good idea as an entrepreneur, where my income felt less stable and I wasn’t getting a paycheck every two weeks. My rent in downtown DC alone was over $3,000 a month.
Courtesy of Chikara Kennedy
I didn’t want to be in a situation where the money would feel tight. Moving somewhere cheaper felt like a fun, viable option for me — lifestyle-wise, but also as a way to reduce my expenses and reset.
While looking for ways to make life cheaper, I met a stranger in DC at a nail salon. We started talking about life, entrepreneurship, and how expensive it was to live in DC. She told me she was thinking about moving to the beach in Mexico and told me, “I think you should too.”
It was the first time I had ever met her, but something about it clicked.
After my layoff and starting my business, I moved to Mexico
In September 2024, I packed up my belongings, put my 15-year-old car and the rest of my things in storage, took four suitcases with me, and moved to Mexico.
I didn’t have debt or a car payment. My thinking was that if I didn’t like it, I could always move back. I knew the only thing truly secure was my ability to adapt and rebuild.
Why wouldn’t I take the opportunity to live a different lifestyle, reduce my expenses, and give myself the time and space to focus on creating and reinventing myself?
I now make roughly 50% of what I used to make
The hardest adjustment was learning to live without the psychological safety of a predictable paycheck after nearly 20 years in corporate environments.
It’s also challenging as I’m not able to save or invest the way I did before.
There have been times when my business has slowed, and I’ve re-examined my budget, looking for ways to cut back. Right now, my rent is close to $1,700 for a two-bedroom, and I’m considering moving to a one-bedroom to make sure I have a little more wiggle room.
Still, unlike in DC, I don’t have a car, and I spend very little on shopping. It’s a scaled-back lifestyle, but I live across from the beach and I love it. I walk most places, and spend far less on consumerism, status spending, commuting, and convenience-based living than I did during my corporate years.
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As an entrepreneur, I don’t have health insurance. I’d previously had great healthcare through my employer, so when I got laid off, losing that was a big concern for me, especially being over 40.
Now it feels more affordable in Mexico and I’m able to pay out of pocket. My healthcare is better than what I had in the US, too, and I go to the doctor more regularly.
While I make less money today, many aspects of my life have improved dramatically: my health, stress levels, flexibility, relationships, and overall quality of life. My everyday life now reflects the kind of freedom I used to only experience during short vacations.
I used to go to work every day, come home, go to sleep, and wait for the weekend or vacation. Now, even on less income, I can go to the beach on Tuesday if I want to. I’m in the sunshine, walking more, and swimming.
This wasn’t just a financial reinvention. It was emotional and identity-based too.
Though I make less, I feel better all around
Being an entrepreneur has been a good growth opportunity for me. It’s made me think more about what I truly want and why. It’s made me think more about networking and different ways of making income, and it’s allowed me to live a more authentic life.
One of the biggest realizations for me was that modern stability looks very different than what many of us were taught. I’d spent years building a “successful” life, but when divorce and a layoff happened close together, it forced me to reevaluate what security actually meant.
I always expected to always work corporate, and to retire from it with a pension. Being an entrepreneur was never the plan.
But even though it’s not what I thought my life would look like, I’m much happier even while making less. My mental health is better, and I’m more open to new things, like meeting new people. I’m more adjusted. I’m more adventurous than I was, and I really feel like I’m living life.
I now get to work with people I want to work with, I create my schedule and create time for things that are important to me like exercise, yoga, and being on the beach. I used to work to escape my life. Now I’m building a life I don’t need to escape.
Do you have a story to share about how you adjusted your lifestyle after a paycut? Contact this editor, Debbie Strong, at [email protected].
