How to break free

How to break free

From Keep Going by John Biggs

June 1, 2026 · 21 min

About this episode

Melissa Banks shares her journey of rebuilding her life and starting a business after escaping an abusive marriage.

Melissa Banks spent 17 years in an abusive marriage before she rebuilt her life from scratch. No money. No plan. Two sons depending on her. What came next became a lesson in something most people miss when they talk about success. Success is rarely a clean break. It is usually a slow crawl out of fear. On this week’s episode of Keep Going, Melissa talks about leaving abuse, learning how to speak up again, and building an event planning business after losing everything. “I believed that I was nothing,” she said. “I believed that someone else had to control my mind because that was what I was told for over 17 years.” That damage does not disappear overnight. Melissa described the strange process of learning how to trust herself again. First she decorated rooms for family and friends. Then she started charging for it. Then she had to learn something even harder, valuing her own work. “Doing it for free was the easy part,” she said. “When you was trying to charge for it, it became a bit of a challenge.” What stood out in the conversation was how practical her advice became. There was no fantasy about instant success. She talked about systems. Contracts. Pricing. Schedules. Learning…

People in this episode

Host: John Biggs

Guest: Melissa Banks

Topics covered

  • abuse recovery
  • entrepreneurship
  • self-trust
  • event planning
  • mental health

Keywords

  • abusive marriage
  • success
  • event planning
  • self-worth
  • mental health

More episodes of Keep Going

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Keep Going podcast page.