Carley Martha

As the Mom of two special needs children, I struggled to maintain a W2 job while still being there for my family. I tried to start my own business while my children were small, needing to have control of my schedule. But I didn't know anything about marketing or promotion and we ran out of savings long before my business got any traction. I was stuck in a cycle of anxiety and job insecurity until I found an escape hatch - Everything that i didn't like doing, everything that I struggled with, everything that my Executive dysFunction derailed me from completing - could ALL be done by AI. This changed everything. Suddenly, owning a business, a THRIVING business, was not just possible but can now be automated, giving me less screen time, less anxiety, less guilt, and more time for me and my family. When i realized this new truth, I knew it was my mission to help as many special needs families as I could. For these families, owning a business is a necessity. They need the freedom it brings in being able to control their time and their finances, but for many they work more hours and make less money because they lack the basic structure and support of a successful business. This is the heart of my mission.

At Success Positive LLC, we provide business owners with a Done-For-You service that provides everything from Entreprenurial training, to basic marketing assets (websites, brochures), to the development and implementation of direct marketing campaigns, helping businesses grow with low/no cost organic outreach through automation. We take a lot off their plate so that owners can focus on what makes their companies unique and on things that are more important, like their family.

There is a wealth window - right now at a time when these families need it the most - for businesses that are able to take advantage of the advanced technology and turn it into a competitive advantage. I know how to do that, I did it for myself, and I want to do it for as many families as I can.

Why would I make a great podcast guest? A former foster care child, ward of the state, and estranged from my family since I was 15, I became a mom at 19, again at 20, and a divorcee by 21. My son is autistic. He jumped off a porch railing at daycare when he was 3. He thought he could fly. Broken leg, social services abuse investigation. I wasn't even there. I graduated college and moved to another state for a job that I had accepted. My son's cast came off. We bought bunk beds. He jumped again. Both of my children were placed into foster care, and then separated from each other. My daughter was 23 months old and my son was 3. They were finally returned to me 18 months later, with an apology from the newly elected judge on the bench. As a result of going into foster care, myself, and now my children have Borderline Personality Disorder. My daughter, age 27, lost her battle with BPD on 12/31/23. My diagnosis of BPD, rooted in the sudden and virtual loss of my own family when I was 15, came only this year, after I sought mental health services following her death.

My psychologist told me that all of the self-guided personal work and healing I have done to address the traumas, behaviors and internalized beliefs are remarkable, best-case scenario. My ability to identify the problem area, get to the root of it, and understand it enough to start healing was honed out of self-preservation, but that same set of skills work REALLY well with businesses.

My life has been colorful since the moment my blue eyes opened on 7/4/74 and the fireworks came to celebrate my arrival. My optimism, resilience and resourcefulness are evenly matched with boldness, perseverance, and patience learned through parenting.

I'm a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner, a Certified CFO, a Business Valuation Analyst, and a Business Mentor/Support. Now you know why I am so passionate about special needs families that own businesses. The next step is we just have to tell them I exist. Help?