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Successful Life Podcast
The Successful Life Podcast, hosted by Corey Berrier, is a globally recognized show that ranks in the top 2% of podcasts worldwide. It offers expert insights tailored for contractors, focusing on business strategies, sales skills development, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in the industry.
Successful Life Podcast
The RoofHer: Sobriety, Resilience, and Building a Female-Owned Business
Meet Erin Mahoney, a trailblazing entrepreneur who's redefining what it means to be a female business owner in the historically male-dominated roofing industry. As founder of The RoofHer in Columbus, Ohio, Erin's journey from addiction to successful business ownership offers a powerful blueprint for resilience and determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Throughout our conversation, Erin candidly shares the challenges she's encountered as one of the mere 4.6% of women in the roofing field. Rather than letting gender bias defeat her, she turned knowledge into her superpower, pursuing extensive training and mastering hands-on skills that many of her male counterparts lacked. "I had to know way more than the boys had to know," she explains, revealing how she transformed potential disadvantages into her competitive edge.
What truly sets Erin's story apart is how she navigated the darker chapters of her entrepreneurial journey. When a former employer registered her trademarked business name to block her progress, Erin found herself at a crossroads – retaliate or respond with grace. Drawing on principles learned through four years of sobriety and recovery, she chose the harder but ultimately more powerful path forward. "I know there's no peace in retaliation," she reflects, "but I also know I have a voice for a reason, and I'm done being silenced."
The parallels between Erin's recovery journey and her business challenges reveal profound insights about personal transformation. Her description of rebuilding herself after addiction resonates universally: "When you feel like you're just broken and all the pieces are laying on the ground... the cool part is you get to pick them up and form them into a foundational structure that is not breakable, and you can leave pieces on the ground that don't serve you anymore."
Erin's story isn't just about roofing – it's about finding purpose through adversity, transforming trauma into strength, and creating space for authenticity in environments that resist change. Her pink truck isn't just a marketing gimmick; it's a bold statement about claiming space in an industry that wasn't designed for women, yet desperately needs their perspective and talent.
Ready to be inspired by raw honesty and unwavering determination? Listen to Erin's full story and discover what happens when recovery principles meet entrepreneurial spirit – creating a foundation stronger than any roof she's ever built.
https://www.audible.com/pd/9-Simple-Steps-to-Sell-More-ht-Audiobook/B0D4SJYD4Q?source_code=ASSORAP0511160006&share_location=library_overflow
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Steps-Sell-More-Stereotypes-ebook/dp/B0BRNSFYG6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1OSB7HX6FQMHS&keywords=corey+berrier&qid=1674232549&sprefix=%2Caps%2C93&sr=8-1
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreysalescoach/
Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast. I'm your host, corey Berrier, and I'm here with Erin Mahoney. What's up, hi? How are you?
Erin Mohoney:I'm real good, Corey. How are you?
Corey Berrier:I'm good. I'm good, so I'm super excited to get into this conversation with you. We connected a while back and your brand caught my eye and I thought I would ask. I wanted to know more about that. And then also the fact that you're sober also caught my eye and I thought I would ask I wanted to know more about that. And then also the fact that you're sober also caught my eye. So could you tell everybody a little bit about you and the name of your company?
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, my name is Erin Mahoney. I'm in Columbus, ohio, and the name of my company I just started this year is the RoofHer. It's all one word R-O-O-F, capital, h-e-r.
Corey Berrier:And it stands for exactly what it is right it stands for exactly what it is.
Erin Mohoney:It's being a female roofer in the industry. Is there's so few of us? And then, as a female owner operator of a roofing company, it had to scream I am a female-owned and operated roofing company. And there came the pink into the equation, which I've never been a pink girl, but the hot pink on my truck and in the brand is. I've learned to love it. So there was really no other way to do it, in my opinion. As far as marketing and branding because it's different, it's just different.
Corey Berrier:Well, and you're like you said. To echo what you said, you're in a male dominated industry, just like HVAC, plumbing, roofing it's all male dominated. There are a lot of female. There are I shouldn't say a lot, I don't know how many, but I know that there are females coming into the trades. And so what is that? What's that been like? I imagine that you've got to overcome a lot of shit.
Erin Mohoney:If I had to guess, Well, I can tell you the percentage. I was just at a women in roofing breakout session and 4.6, we occupy 4.6% of the roofing industry. That's not women that climb on roofs, that's not owners and that's women in the industry. I learned pretty quickly that I had to know way more than the boys had to know, just simply because I can't bat my eyes. And yeah, it might get somebody to answer a door if I knock on their door, but what comes with that? I think it's like a catch 22. Yeah, they might open the door for me, but I have to know way more than anybody else for them to actually work with me. Getting on a roof doesn't pay the bills. Getting it done and building it, that's what pays the bills. And I can't do that without knowledge and expertise in the industry. To back up whatever it is people think I do at the door, there's a misconception that it's 10 times easier as a woman.
Corey Berrier:Well. So how have you been over been able to overcome that, after you get in the door, get on the roof. You know, I'm sure, if you're speaking to another man, that they're probably thinking well, this is where the buck stops, like there's no way this lady knows anything about roofing because she's a female.
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, and not only that. Like my size and my stature, I'm like five foot two a hundred and a little bit of pounds, and I hop out of a big giant pink and black truck and it's just never what they expect. But what I have found is that I have taken advantage of every training and every course that's been put in front of me and I go to continuing training in the insurance side of these things three Tuesdays a month and I am educated and I do know a lot about the industry, more than I'm not going to put a percentage on it, but more than a lot of the people, most of the people in this industry that I know. And so that's all I have to do is I just have to be able to sit there and have an intelligent conversation about what the issue is, what the solutions are, more of a consultative way. We can do this and this and, if there is an insurance claim involved to navigate them, help navigate them through that process. And just the general feedback has been people are blown away by the knowledge that I have in the industry and I went out and I learned everything.
Erin Mohoney:I learned everything that I could. I took advantage of the trainings. I meet with the adjusters out there and have conversations with them and in the very beginning, when I started doing this, there was no training was offered to me. It was like here's a shirt and a business card and go sell roofs, and I didn't know a shingle went on the top of the house Honest to God, I had no idea anything. And they just said go sell roofs. And I was like oh wow, there's a lot to know and I knew enough to get by in the beginning by just being honest and saying I don't know the answer to that, let me find out. But I quickly learned that I needed to listen and learn and train and just soak everything up like a sponge. And I love school, was really good at school and so learning the learning part of it was a lot of fun and exciting for me and I continue to learn and that's how I stay ahead of the competition and that's how I'm able to help the homeowners out the most, the best way possible.
Corey Berrier:That's interesting because I've been to like I went to this weekend mastermind with nothing but roofers and what I realized when I got there because my conception of a roofer is that somebody that I didn't really think about the sales side of it, necessarily, which is surprising, but I thought, well, they must be putting the roof on, they must know. But the truth of the matter is what I found was I'm sitting in a room with 50 other roofers that they're really just glorified salespeople because they're not actually putting the roof on.
Erin Mohoney:Well, I guess it depends on what you want to put into your position. My position before I was an owner was a project manager. It depends on what you want to put into your position. My position before I was an owner was a project manager. But a project manager to me isn't just standing on the ground and barking out orders. It's like getting my hands dirty. I do my own repairs. Like this is stuff I had to learn.
Erin Mohoney:In the beginning, I had asked for help from the people in this industry that I worked with. I'm going into my fifth year doing this, and when I would ask for help, it was like ignored, and so I was like I'm going to stop asking for help. So in order to stop asking for help, I have to learn to do these things on my own, and that's what I did and that's what I do today, and I'm super grateful that I learned all that, because I think the more knowledge I have and the more actual hands-on experience I have doing these things, the more involved that I can be and the better manager I can be when it's being built. Could I install a roof? I'm sure I could do. I want to. Absolutely not. I would rather sub it out and pay my crews. They do a fantastic job. They are truly the unsung heroes in this, in this industry. They do a wonderful job and I'm super grateful for the guys that I was it hard to get the crews to work with you.
Corey Berrier:As a female, I would imagine there's probably a lot of shit talking that goes on with that.
Erin Mohoney:Most of it I don't understand because it's in a different language, but I'm trying to learn Spanish. I'm trying to learn at least like the basics. No, it wasn't because I worked with these guys before and I've had. No, it hasn't been at all. As a matter of fact, I've been overwhelmed with people messaging me like hey, do you need crews? Hey, do you need crows? Hey, do you need crows? Like I don't. But thank you, but no, that hasn't been an issue at all and they're great guys. Man, I get to pick the people that I want to work with and the people that I trust to put the ropes on the people's hands that I work with company.
Corey Berrier:So my guess would be, since it is a male-dominated, egotistical industry, that there had to be some bumps in the road.
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, so I think you brought up that I was sober, and so I think a lot of that has to do a lot of the way I conduct myself and that I do. Life is what I've learned in recovery, and my life depends on it, and the first thing that we learn in recovery is selfishness and self-centeredness. That's got to go away, and with that is my ego. I operate with humility and that doesn't look normal in this industry, and so I believe that operating with humility and kindness and decency and honesty has been mistaken for weakness.
Corey Berrier:Yeah.
Erin Mohoney:That's what I've learned over the past four years in this industry. So, yeah, there were bumps in the road. I felt like I was fighting. The companies that I worked at were fighting against me. Didn't feel real great when I was there, so I made a change. I left the first company that I was at for three years, went to a different company that had actually a female division of the company and I thought, oh my God. Well, this has got to be the least gross of the gross and I'm sorry, it's not been a great. The homeowners have been great to work with as a woman, the industry itself, the men in the industry, have not been fabulous.
Erin Mohoney:In what way it's a lot of disrespect, a lot of. I can deal with shit talking and I'm in a male dominated industry and I grew, I've been sober for four years. That's not that I can't handle comments or things like that, but sometimes it's just over the top and completely absurd and uncalled for. It's just I just want to go to work and do my job like a man and it seems to that hasn't been the case. I haven't been able to do that.
Erin Mohoney:So I started a company that had a female division and I thought, god, this has got to be where I'm supposed to be. And I noticed really early on that there wasn't respect there either. Very early on in my tenure there, we were out of town and there was another employee, a male coworker, that like was physically threatening to me, like I thought he was going to punch me in the face and I brought it up and it was just like, okay, well, you don't have to be on his team and that seemed a little. I was like, okay, that's cool. But it was just never brought up again and I had tried to. I was at the beginning.
Erin Mohoney:It was the beginning of last season, so a year ago, when I very first started, I tried to communicate what I needed to better produce, because money doesn't motivate me like it motivates most people and I think a lot of that has to do with recovery and living a sober life is that I don't chase money. I've had more money than I knew what to do with before I was sober and I was miserable, so I know that's not what makes me happy, and so I'll produce and I'll work enough to pay my bills and live comfortably If I don't feel valued and appreciated. There's five very simple things I need out of any relationship in my life, but certainly a business relationship. I need to be seen, heard, appreciated, valued and respected. None of those five things include money at all.
Erin Mohoney:And so I haven't had those things, and so I know how to communicate effectively. I know how to communicate effectively, but it takes two people, and so, as I was talking, everyone else was committed to not hearing me or not caring or overlooking me or thinking I'm just an emotional woman. Oh just, it's all in your head, just get past it. It's all in your head, get past it. What does that even mean? What does that even mean Trauma? I'm just supposed to get past that. I shared some information.
Erin Mohoney:When I started, I had filed a protection order against somebody who had been stalking, harassing me. It was a very abusive situation for three whole years and I had just filed that when I started working at this previous company. So obviously I had to let them know about it because it was a safety concern he's not allowed to show up at my place of business and so we had a conversation about that. I was in a place in my life where I didn't feel super safe and I just thought going to a company that had a female division would be safe. And the things that I shared, I believe, were used against me moving forward Again, considered weak, like I didn't ask to be abused.
Erin Mohoney:I didn't ask for the trauma. It takes a really strong fucking person to overcome it and to heal from it, and that's what I've been doing. But when it's the same situation, you feel like that, your place of employment, where really all you're trying to go is just do a job and be treated the same way that the men are or are a little differently. It needs to be. I guess you could probably tell me and just power through it. Man, it's just all in your head, just get it together. It's not that big of a deal.
Corey Berrier:So how big was this woman, the women's side of this company, this division?
Erin Mohoney:There was a couple of girls that worked there. A couple of them were in the office, but I never really understood the whole makeup of it. So there was a couple of girls that were project managers me and another girl and then there was a couple of girls that worked in the office. I was the only one that climbed on roofs, I was the only one that used tools, and so it was like talked about that this is going to be a huge thing and we're going to promote it and this and that, and it was still.
Erin Mohoney:I was just like brush aside and brush aside and I just thought what do I have to do to be seen or noticed or because I'm not too sure? At this point and early on in the season, I was like I am going to go out there and I'm going to prove all of these fuckers wrong and I am going to show them what I'm made of. And then I just was like no, I had a change of heart. I was like I'm not doing that, I don't have to prove myself to anyone and I'm certainly not going to bust. My wasn't motivated, I just didn't care. Yeah.
Corey Berrier:What was the driving force behind them having a woman's division? I think any company could say that if they've got three women working there, what's the criteria, what's the benefit? Why did they do that? It seems like it was. From what you're saying, it seems like it was not. It was I'm trying to think of the word here it seemed like it was a front, almost.
Erin Mohoney:Well, see, I realized that when I was working there. I realized that because I got my own, like, I ordered my own business cards and I added the female division to the business cards. I used my cricket at home and put the female division on my branded logo shirts, because if we're going to do this, it needs to get out there, right, we need to make people aware of it. But it was more photo shoots and pink card hats and honestly, I don't really know.
Erin Mohoney:But when I was there I didn't feel respected, I didn't feel included, I didn't feel respected, I didn't feel seen, appreciated, valued anything. And so I knew that wasn't going to work for me and I knew that early on. I don't know how everybody else feels A couple of them are related and another so I'm not too sure but that was my experience going in there as a as an individual woman that didn't have a male partner, that wasn't family, just as a woman roofer, just as a female roofer, and that was my only, that was my only connection to the company. And there was talk about getting our faces on the side of trucks and at this point I knew I wasn't staying, but I didn't know what I was doing. Like I didn't know what I was doing.
Erin Mohoney:I was at this huge crossroads because I love what I do and I'm really good at it, but I was ready to walk away from an industry where I can work for two months and make six figures because of the way that I've been treated. And it was like I knew that wasn't the answer, because that would be a disservice to the homeowners and the people that I can help. That would be a huge disservice and I have never been one to just fall down and walk away and quit anything ever, so that wasn't an option. But what am I going to do? Am I going to go trust some other man that sells me on a bunch of empty promises? I'm not willing to do that again. I'm not. I'm tired of starting over Like this is the third time I've started over, going into my fifth year, and that's exhausting. It's just exhausting. I don't want to do it anymore. But what I absolutely didn't want to do was start my own company. I did not. I've never in my life had any desire to be a business owner, to start a company, and certainly not a roofing company.
Erin Mohoney:However, I took the job out of necessity. I took the roofing job out of necessity. I was barely sober, stayed out of spite and fell in love with it and got really good at it and realized that my happy place is up on top of a roof and helping people with getting things done that need to get done and treating them in an honest manner, with transparency, and not bullying them into something, that there's a lot of things I believe that I've seen that are done wrong in this industry, and so I know I can't change it single-handedly, but I certainly don't have to add to it. And was I willing to just walk away and not be able to provide that service? That wasn't really an option either. And so I prayed.
Erin Mohoney:Man, I did the same thing I do all the time when I'm confused and I don't know what to do, left to my own devices what I want and what I need. The God of my understanding has zero concern with what I want, but always knows what I need. And I started praying March of last year, march of 2024. And it was not until December 12th of 2024. I was in Chicago. I went out to visit my daughter and grandson and then there was roofing training out there. It was a two-day training. I went to that and it was like near the end of the second day and it was like honest to God, corey, it was was like I got hit upside the head with a dodgeball, like you remember dodgeball like back when we were allowed to beat the shit out of each other and it was okay.
Erin Mohoney:Or like a baseball bat just upside my head. And so it was like, and I had I'd had these little thoughts, but trying to push them away, I have a one of my really good friends. She used to tell me because when I first started in this industry I would call her and I'd be like complaining about the absurdity of what's going on in the company or how they're doing things. She said, girl, that is not your company. If you were so concerned about how a company was going to be run, you should have started your own company. And that was four years ago or whatever. And so I kept hearing it, but it meant something very different this time that kept me level-headed and grounded and right size yeah, this isn't my company. Who are you to say, aaron, the way it should be run?
Erin Mohoney:And so I kept hearing Mary's voice in my head all summer, all summer, and I just kept pushing it away and I'm like nope. And so God was like well, this one's slow and she's a little dumb. So I'm going to have to hit her with an answer that is undeniable. And, of course, the next two weeks I sat, not really in fear because but like, oh shit, I guess I'm going to start a company. And so then I leaned into it, man, and I think when I realized that, like when I bought the domain, when I got the domain and when I had my email address erinattheroofercom, and I had my EIN and all of these things, I thought back to five years ago, 10 years ago, before I was sober for a decade at least a decade. Man, I begged to die Every single day. I begged to die. I had no desire to live anymore and God had different plans for me.
Erin Mohoney:When I got sober, I think I had a credit score of 450. I hadn't had an actual checking account for a decade. And to think of how far that I've come and what recovery has provided me and a God of my understanding, and not just getting sober, but implementing a 12-step program into my life, providing me with a life that I don't have to escape from because I'm not out here doing people wrong. It's a really beautiful thing and I just thought about God. I have like a not that it's that difficult to get like a website, but I have a website with my company name that I created. That's a big deal to me and to be able to have a line of credit from my suppliers and just things like this that I'm super proud of how far I've come. I'm so proud and I didn't do any of this, like all grace goes to God and the 12 step program of AA, but I decided to do the work to get here.
Corey Berrier:And just to be clear, you are a licensed roofer.
Erin Mohoney:I am a licensed roofer.
Corey Berrier:Yeah, yes, and so what was that process like?
Erin Mohoney:Oh, that was great. So I had to go in front of the board with the city of Columbus. So, just to get, I just have my HICL, which is limited license. I'm going to take the test, though, because there is an HICGC license that approves you to do everything on the outside, and so I'm going to do that. But just to get started, I have an HICL license and also my general contracting license, so I'm approved to do roofs, but I had to go sit in front of a board where the owner of the company that I left sits on the board, and he was not happy about it.
Erin Mohoney:It wasn't a great experience. He told me I was going to fail and that I couldn't get a license just a lot of really negative things. And when I interviewed with this company, when I sat down the very first meeting we ever had he said anybody that starts here, that wants to start their own company, I want to support them and help them do that. And my immediate response was that ain't me, you've got to worry about that. Well, things changed, and so I feel like I was forced into this position, and so when I went to him, that was the response. It was basically you don't know what the hell you're doing. You're going to fail miserably.
Erin Mohoney:And then, after that conversation, I had heard what was being said about me and so I knew none of it was positive and there was a lot of. There was a lot of negative talk and passive, aggressive, like social media posting, which is just wild to me. I don't know, I'm almost 50. And so I just don't understand that type of behavior as adults and as business owners. But I emailed the board and I said I'm concerned that there might be a conflict of interest. And this was the first time I went, I just went for a second time. But anyway, they said oh, he is, oh he's an upstanding member of the board and you'll be treated with respect. And what's the word they use, respect? And I don't know something. I don't know.
Erin Mohoney:Respect and equality or fairness or something, some word that they told me I could go back through the email and check. And so I had to go in there and I had to sit in front of this man who I knew was out here, shit talking me, and so I sat like on the other side of the room. I didn't even make eye contact. That was the first time I went.
Corey Berrier:This is the company with the women's division.
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, yes, yes, I just want to be clear about that Correct the company with the women's division, and literally all I did was start my own company.
Erin Mohoney:I know that you're not in the roofing industry. People start their own companies all the time, literally all the time, literally all the time, and so I don't know why this was such a big deal, but apparently it was. And so I didn't make eye contact that time and it was extremely uncomfortable and I'm usually pretty articulate and I was not at all like when they called me out there and had to answer questions, I felt like I was like well, I just felt because it was so uncomfortable and I knew the same mean things about me. And then, and then the second time I had to go back, I had found out some more information and when I went back those last time, I sat directly in front of him and I had to stare a hole in his soul for probably 20 minutes before that man would look at me and I was not going to stop looking until he had to look at me, knowing that I knew what he had done and what he had done. I hadn't shared that with you yet, but maybe you should.
Erin Mohoney:Okay. So when I was getting everything set up, I trusted people to help me with do the things that I was trying to set up a company. So I had somebody doing my business cards and my branding and setting up my EIN and with the state and all these other things. And so I got the domain. I have my email at therofercom, I trademarked it, I filed the EIN with the Department of Treasury and also had filed it with the state of Ohio.
Erin Mohoney:Something had happened with the state of Ohio. I guess it kicked it back, some type of clerical thing. I sent it to the guy that was helping me. Well, it just never got. I don't know, it just never got refiled or something.
Erin Mohoney:And I only found this out because one of the last thing, one of the things I forgot to do, was open up a bank account. And so when I started having checks that were made out to the roofer, I went to deposit in my old LLC account and they were like, ma'am, this isn't going to work, and so they kicked it back and I was like, shoot, I got to stop real quick and open a bank account. But real quick and open up a bank account is not what happened. So I went in and they asked me if it was registered with the state and I said, well, yeah, better be.
Erin Mohoney:And meanwhile I've got my trademark paperwork, I've got my EIN with the IRS, I've got all of these things, I've got the domain, I've got all of these things lined up and the private banker Googles the Secretary of State of Ohio and he has this funny look on his face and he says does this name mean anything to you? And he turned the monitor my way and it was February 18th, which was the day after the owner of that company found out the name of my company, because I went and delivered branded stuff from that company on the 17th. My truck was wrapped by that point in time. So that was the day he found out the name of my company. The 18th of February he had filed an LLC in the state of Ohio under the name the Roofer and so took.
Corey Berrier:So he took the name as it pertains to the state which kind of stops you from opening a bank account and what, whatever else correct.
Erin Mohoney:And so I gathered up all of my paperwork so I didn't cause a scene in the bank and I said, yeah, that name means something to me His name, his home address, plain as day. I've printed it off and I've used it as motivation. I just keep looking at it. But, yeah, so I couldn't. So what am I going to do? You know what I mean? The state of Ohio, where I conduct business. He's now filed an LLC under my brand name because there was a clerical error and he was able to do that.
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, that didn't feel great. It didn't feel like somebody that claims to support and empower women in this industry. It didn't feel like somebody that wanted to help. It felt disruptive, it felt mean, it felt like a bully I've healed from a lot of abusive men and it just felt like one more man with his hand on my fucking neck trying to hold me down and control what I was doing. The problem is that I didn't play ball and I wasn't going to let him continue to treat me like that, and so I left, I don't know. And then I don't know they say what is it that? They say Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Erin Mohoney:I would like to change that and say to change that and say hell hath no fury, like a man with his ego bruised because that was just that was absurd behavior and so that was crushing. That was crushing. I poured I am, I'm a one woman show. I poured all of my own money in just after like slow season two in the winter, and it wasn't even the money Like it was the time and the love, and my daughters helped me with this.
Erin Mohoney:I have grown daughters and all I'm trying to do, man, is stay in an industry that I love and I'm good at that. The men and the owners and the co-workers can't seem to treat me right. I'm just trying to do my job by myself so I don't have to worry about being treated like shit, and I'm trying to maybe leave my kids something other than a childhood with a mother that was incapable of taking care of them the way they deserve to be taken care of, something other than a childhood work with a drug addicted, alcoholic mother. I'm just trying to do the right thing, man, and do the right thing by people, and that was crushing.
Corey Berrier:It was absolutely crushing man and do the right thing by people, and that was crushing. It was absolutely crushing, I bet I can't imagine.
Erin Mohoney:And so what happened next? I assume you had to hire an attorney. Yeah, so that was fun. That's a startup company. I'm sure there's a lot of people that have started their own company, and I'm not the only one Everybody I know it's not. I talked to everybody that owns their own company and they were like you're exactly where you should be right now, and where I was at was 10 pounds underweight. I hadn't slept. It was a lot, man, it was a lot, and I was just overwhelmed with emotions. There was a lot of, there was just a lot.
Erin Mohoney:And then so, before I ever even made a dime, I had to hire an attorney, provide the attorney with all of the information that says what I had done leading up to this. I trademarked the damn thing back in January. I had the wherewithal to do that, and so the attorneys go. We're going to. So now I'm two grand into an attorney who's put together a letter, a cease and desist letter, with all of the. This is what she did. This is what she did.
Erin Mohoney:Clearly, you did this in spite and with intent to harm, as I believe that it was, and sent a letter, email, regular mail and certified mail. I asked him to send a certified mail. So, because I'm like they'll just pretend like they didn't get it, let's at least try. Whether they signed for it or not is it doesn't matter, but he signed for it himself. And no response, just asking him to dissolve the LLC. That's it. No response. So my attorney sends a follow-up email still no response. And so now I'm just like well, could I sue him and win Absolutely. I could sue him and win. He doesn't have a fucking leg to stand on. I sue him and win Absolutely. I could sue him and win. He doesn't have a fucking leg to stand on. But do I have hundreds of thousands of dollars to take him to court to get my brand back? I don't. He knows that it's like this David and Goliath thing. He's bigger than me, but what?
Corey Berrier:I have on my side is truth and God. Yeah. So take me back over four years ago. And what brought you into recovery? Because usually life's not going great.
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, man, life wasn't going great at all, but I really just thought that was what I was destined. I thought that was just the life I was destined for.
Corey Berrier:A life with drunk alcohol, you mean?
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, and just to die like a worthless piece of shit, junkie, alcoholic. Yeah, and just to die like a worthless piece of shit, junkie, alcoholic. Just I. Just I thought I was crazy, just completely batshit crazy, and that's how I was going to die. And then, and then I got introduced to the rooms of AA and I was against. I was against the praying thing and I wasn't. I was like no, I'll do the rest of it, but you guys can keep that God shit for yourselves. And I learned real quickly. Of course I white knuckled it for about a week and then was right back where I was at and I was like shoot. But I've heard enough meetings and stuff that I was like these people might be onto something. I didn't really believe that anybody?
Erin Mohoney:was sober, because they seemed real happy and very unfamiliar and foreign to me. I had made a note this is funny. I made a note in my God if I would go. Do you make notes in your iPhone? I've got notes for years and years. None of them make any sense. I'll just put something in there, two letters or one name. But I do have one. It was from January of the year before I was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous, so in 2020, I think.
Erin Mohoney:Anyways, it was a note I'd made to tell my therapist that said I never smile. And I made that note in there to tell my therapist. And I never had an opportunity to do that because I got sober and with that comes a lot of laughter and a lot of smiling and a lot of tears of gratitude. Just a whole different, a whole different kind of tears that I'd never experienced before. But I do find myself just overwhelmed with gratitude and it comes out of nowhere. You know what I mean. It comes out of nowhere, but I just think, thank God for unanswered prayers. I really wanted to. I tried, I tried to take my own life multiple times. Didn't work, I OD'd and I get brought back and I didn't understand why, like, why can't I just die? Why am I feeling it dying? That's a really unfortunate feeling, like I can't even fucking kill myself, right? You know what I mean. It just felt like a huge failure. I loved my daughters more than anything and I couldn't get sober for them and just feel like a failure. I'm a well-educated woman and I've been independent my whole life. I moved out when I was 17. Independent my whole life. I moved out when I was 17. I had a house built. I built my own house. I had a brand new BMW in the driveway, I had an eight-year-old, I had a newborn, just all me. I did all these things on my own. And why can't I stop doing this? And God, I hated myself for it, and so I didn't go to treatment. I didn't go to detox, I ended up in a meeting, and the way I ended up there is a little unorthodox.
Erin Mohoney:Fast forward the three years, the protection order. That goes back to how I got into the room. I was manipulated with the program by just a disgusting human, and so three years of complete torture like getting sober is not hard enough. I was dealing like with this ridiculous, like emotional abuse and just stalking and harassing. And I just it was insane. And so finally I got enough strength, after three years of dealing with that shit, to file a protection order. So that's how I got into the rooms, right?
Erin Mohoney:And so I don't know, man, I just what did I have to lose? Work the steps? I was like what do I have in common with two old white dudes from the thirties? And then I started reading the big book, and it's very early on in the big book and I'm probably going to paraphrase it, but I believe it's on page 24. It's an italics and it says, for reasons yet obscure, alcoholic or whatever has lost the power of choice and drink. And that was the first thing that had made sense to me in probably 30 years. Okay, so I might have something in common with these two old white dudes from the thirties. I'm interested now. And then they tell me there's a solution and I got to work the steps and I don't have to.
Erin Mohoney:I think that's where, like having a having a good education behind you and a high level of education behind you, sometimes I think can work against people like us. Is that I want to. I want to find a way to do it better. I want to make a spreadsheet and a Venn diagram, that I want to. I want to find a way to do it better. I want to make a spreadsheet and a Venn diagram and I want to have the pointer. You know what I mean. And but I didn't have to do that and at that point I was so broken I couldn't even hold my head up, I couldn't even look somebody in the eye. I hadn't looked in a mirror in, oh God, years and years.
Erin Mohoney:There was a point in before I got sober I was like 70 pounds 70 pounds, that is just to put that in perspective that's 40, 40, some pounds less than what I weigh right now, and I'm not a big girl. And so what did I have to lose? You know what I mean. So I tried it and miraculously, life just got better. And I was really grateful for the second step in the wording of the second step is because I have a strained relationship with organized religions from my childhood and so I really wasn't willing to do that Like. I was so broken and beat up and hated myself so much that I needed a God of my understanding that was loving and warm and kind and it was going to hold me and comfort me. And I'd never had a man like that in my life, including my own father, and so I sure as hell wasn't going to turn my life over to some holier-than-thou man because I never felt safe in the presence of a man. But I had to be willing to believe in a power greater than myself, just willing to believe. And it didn't say God anywhere in that sentence. And I saw, I remember I was in my old place before I broke my lease and moved because of the protection order. It faced west, and so I remember watching the sunset and I was like I didn't do that, and so that was enough for me, and so from that day on, I just got on my knees and I prayed to whatever that was I. I call it God. I don't know what it is, I don't really need to know. I had a lot of questions about Santa Claus, and when I found out the truth, that was really disappointing. So I learned to just not ask a bunch of questions. It works. Maybe if I wouldn't ask him any questions, santa Claus would still visit me. It would be fun like that. But so, yeah, that's what started it for me, and the relationship has grown. The relationship has grown.
Erin Mohoney:I knew if God could keep me sober, god could do anything, because I couldn't stay sober for a day, and so I had a couple of days together, and certainly that wasn't my doing, that was something much bigger than me. But to see how it's grown, and just a period of four years this God I didn't want anything to do with. I trusted enough to pray to for one year to decide what I was going to do with my career, and when that answer came. I never, ever once, thought about not doing it, not once. And it was hard. There was, especially with this whole brand thing. When I went into the bank and I was just it was crushing, like it was crushing.
Erin Mohoney:And I go to a therapist. I go, I do trauma therapy, I'm on medication for depression and and also for PTSD and all and also ADD I can't leave that one out but they all work magically together and with the therapy, and the therapy has been incredibly difficult but incredibly rewarding. And so it's like I knew that this was, and so it's like I knew that this was. I knew to mess with my mental health and do some psychological warfare bullshit was the purpose of it. But, honest to God, man it like it worked for a while, like I struggled. I'm still struggling.
Erin Mohoney:This has been three weeks and I'm still, I feel really betrayed. This is something that I am so proud of, something that I poured everything into and just trying to live a life as a sober woman with dignity and grace and treat people with forgiveness and kindness. And I know that there's no peace in retaliation. I know there's no peace in retaliation. I know there's no peace in retaliation, but I also know that I have a voice for a reason, and I'm done being silenced. I'm done being silenced. I'm done being threatened. I'm done having somebody's hand over my mouth.
Erin Mohoney:So this is my story. It was crushing, it was absolutely crushing, and he knew that's what was going to do and that's what he chose to do. Anyways, and as much as I tried to will myself off of the couch and to just be strong, that's hard. That's hard when your mind's fighting against you and you just feel like what the fuck is the purpose? It's like once I'll stand up and I'll be, I'll have my head above water and I'm like all right, this is it, this is it. And then it's like, and I'm drowning again, and it just felt like finally, I had got my license, that day that I had gone in front of the board and got my license, that was the day I went to the bank and found out. So it was like I was super excited because I just got my license.
Erin Mohoney:He said I couldn't get my license. I got my license, everything was paid for and approved, and I have the certificates and all the shit, and I was on such a high and I was like all in the rear view mirror. We're just going to move forward from here. Not three hours later I was at a bank, completely crushed, and that was three weeks ago, and I'm really. I just tried to be. A number of times I've picked myself up on my own. Over the past three weeks has been I can't even count, I can't even count. I'll pick myself up enough. It's not sustainable. And so I can't pick myself up and carry on like a badass for two days in a row, but I can do it progressively. I'm just tired of having to keep doing it.
Corey Berrier:Yeah, I bet it's exhausting. I'm tired of having to keep doing it. It is, it is. Yeah, I bet. So would you say that you've been able to get through this because of being in recovery and your relationship with God. I think that's the only way somebody could get through this.
Erin Mohoney:The only thing, the crazy part about recovery is that it works so well. I never I didn't think about getting drunk or high, like that's not even an option. I know that's not an option, that'll be miserable. But there's definitely were thoughts like why am I even doing this? Like this is so hard, like life is so hard and it's. I literally am just continue to do the next right thing and I it's exhausting, like what is the purpose? Why am sober? Why am I alive? Why am I even doing this? Why am I busting my ass to start a company? Why do I feel like I still have to look over my shoulder when all I did was leave a company? I left all their shit. I paid them to leave. They're withholding my pay. I paid them to leave and I'm like for what purpose? What am I even doing?
Corey Berrier:so, yeah, god, well, I think it's for you to be able to share this experience with other people.
Erin Mohoney:Oh, that's why I've made it through everything. I've made it through Corey.
Corey Berrier:Yeah.
Erin Mohoney:And it's not just. It's not just addiction and alcoholism. There are so many things in my life that I have overcome, and that's the thing, man is that I've overcome them. I didn't play the victim, I didn't let it consume me. I've done the work and I have overcome way harder shit than this. This is just unnecessary and mean just mean on so many levels. And for somebody that claims to support and empower women in a male-dominated industry to really just, in my opinion, be exploiting them, using them as a marketing ploy and, quite frankly, at least in my instance, not giving a shit at all and instead of supporting and empowering, it seems very destructive and hateful and just mean. It's just mean.
Corey Berrier:What would you say to if there is a female in the trades any trade right now that's considering getting into again any of the trades, what would you, what kind of advice would you give them so they don't have to go through these same things?
Erin Mohoney:My advice to give them would be have thick skin, because you will go through these things.
Corey Berrier:There's no way to eliminate it.
Erin Mohoney:There's no way to avoid it. Listen, I'm a bad bitch and these and they still think that they're going to treat me crazy and then when I up and leave, it's a problem. You can't treat me crazy and expect me to stay, Not when I've done the therapy and the recovery and the work to heal. There's no fucking way.
Corey Berrier:Yeah.
Erin Mohoney:There's no way, and so that's what I would tell somebody. And have somebody. I would tell a woman that was thinking about it, have a strong woman who's been through it that you can reach out to for support, and I would always offer my name 100%, because there's nothing you could do. You can't. I learned in recovery, thank God, that the only thing I have control over is me, my thoughts and my actions. I can't change anybody else or anything else around me, and so I chose to take control. It's serenity prayer. Man gotta love it. I chose to take control and change the things that I could change, because I do have the ability to do that the serenity, except the things I cannot change the things around me.
Corey Berrier:Yeah, and to your point, like we control nothing except ourselves, our actions, how we react or respond, that's it, and sometimes that's a damn job in itself.
Erin Mohoney:Listen, responding versus reacting. When I left Chase Bank I don't know. I'm wondering if I'm going to get myself in trouble I had a thought. I had a thought that was not a thought of a sober woman living with dignity and grace, and it may have involved a brick in a window or something of that sort, I don't know, but I was going to retaliate. My initial response was fuck you, you hurt me. I'm going to hurt you worse Because that's who I used to be before I got sober and I was pretty good at it.
Erin Mohoney:My words can be really hurtful and I know that and I used that when I was in survival mode. Those skills that I use the manipulation, the fuck, you hurt me. So I'm going to hurt you worse, and then I'm going to laugh at you while you cry, Like those are skills I don't even possess anymore because I'm a different person. And but I still got the same brain, right. I still have the same brain. So that immediate thought was all right. I'm about to fuck some shit up, but I'm incredibly grateful to be able to respond and have a conversation with you about this three weeks later, instead of doing something that literally just makes me look like the crazy person that they want me to look like.
Corey Berrier:Well, action is a big part of the program, but this was you pausing and not taking action on that thought.
Erin Mohoney:Action is a big part of the program, but even bigger so for me is that pause. We pause when agitated, yeah, because my first instinct I have a friend that always says you know they say first thought wrong. I have a friend in the recovery that always says my first thought's a felony, second one's a misdemeanor, third one's probably also a misdemeanor. And so I'm grateful for that ability to pause, because my immediate knee-jerk reaction is what I've done when I was in survival mode for 40, some years before I got sober. I have to pause to get to the frame of mind that I've learned being a sober woman, and the frame of mind is we don't cause harm to other people, no matter what they do. Justified anger I don't get a half. Is it justifiable? Hell, yes, it's justifiable, but that'll get me drunk and high every time yeah, yeah and so yeah, so pause.
Erin Mohoney:I'm grateful for the ability to pause and wait for the next right thought or direction from my higher power. It becomes more ingrained into my life because I don't have those situations. I don't put myself in situations like this. I don't put myself in a war, but currently I feel like I'm in a war that I did not agree to be in and I'm just fighting for my life and my brand and it's like it's a it's secret. It's a woman's name of the business. If you're a man, it doesn't pertain to you. Roof, her means I'm a girl and so I'm fighting to get that back. What, yeah?
Corey Berrier:Yeah Well, there's always a lesson in everything, right? I don't know what the lesson is, and maybe you don't know yet either, but there will be a lesson whatever. Whatever that looks like.
Erin Mohoney:There will be. This one's been really hard. This has been really hard for me to wrap my head around. I know God's always got a plan and I can always go back on that, but like I was really struggling, I was really struggling with God. To be honest with you, for the first time since I got sober, it was the first time I questioned God like God, why would you make this decision for me and then allow this to happen? It's not God's fault. So I had to have an out loud conversation with God. There was a thunderstorm and that's my higher power and so I knew when it was thundering and raining, he was upset too. I said I know, man, I'd be upset. I'm sad and upset too. Some of these people down here are shit, but we had a good conversation and I know it's not God's fault.
Erin Mohoney:There's a lesson in this. I have survived way worse, and that's what I just keep telling myself. I have survived way worse. So never, ever mistake my kindness, my humility, my ability to pause my it's like. Don't ever. That should never be mistaken for weakness, because it is the exact opposite. I am literally the most resilient, strongest person I know. I hate that. I have to keep proving that I'm ready to just thrive and live my life. But this is just one more bump in the road. It's a disgusting bump. I'm not happy about it. If I'm able to look at obstacles more like opportunities, it's my perception has a lot to do with things.
Corey Berrier:If I change my perception.
Erin Mohoney:it changes everything, yeah that's true, but this has been a real hard pill for me to swallow. This one's been really difficult.
Corey Berrier:Yeah Well, imagine you're able to once you get all this stuff situated, you're able to employ other women, share this experience with them and get what you are hoping to get, which is well. I don't know if you're hoping to grow the company, but I have a feeling that's going to happen, because when women hear this and understand what you've gone through, I think it's going to inspire them to probably join you.
Erin Mohoney:I think that women absolutely should be more present in this industry. We're very good at it, we're very detail-earned, we listen. We don't listen to respond, we listen to hear and I think that we bring something really cool to this industry. But even without the other stuff, you hear no a lot when you first start. I don't care if you're a girl or a man or a woman, you hear no a lot when you're at the door. I still hear no at the door. You've got to be able to handle that at the door. I still hear no at the door. You've got to be able to handle that. But I've also been in sales since I was 18. It's the only thing I've ever done and so I can handle that. But I've never been at a company like, I've never been in a situation where the company that I was working with was like fighting against me. I've always been in the top sales of any company I've ever been with and the men supported me and loved me and like lifted me up and it's just a wild subset of people.
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, I don't even know what it's called. I don't even know if that's what it's called. It's just a very different. There's a lot of ego and like and I don't operate like that and so, because I don't operate that like that it's, I don't know, it's wrong. I think it's wrong, I don't know. I'm just never going to be one to beat my chest because I don't deserve that. I didn't do anything. I shouldn't even be alive Like. I'm blessed to have an occupation, a career, a business where I can help people and do something I love.
Corey Berrier:I don't get to beat my chest because of that, right, it's absurd, it's really interesting that I often draw on the really shit times of my life when I was drinking or using or fill in the blank and I use that fuel a lot of times because I know how bad it can get. I know where what it's like to feel like you just want to drive off the side of the road or fill in the blank, right, people have all kinds of crazy thoughts and you mentioned earlier that drugs and alcohol didn't even enter your mind. I get that Like if you've been sober long enough, you understand like there's zero drugs and alcohol are going to help in any situation. For people like us, like it's just not going to. It's not going to make. I'm not a betting man, but I would bet that your life is going to go far worse if you decide to pour a drink in you or drug for sure no-transcript.
Erin Mohoney:Try and overcome. A lot of trauma, a lot of trauma from when I was a little girl, a lot of trauma growing up, trauma in sobriety, just constant. One thing after another that, but I'll tell you, man. One thing after another that, but I'll tell you, man, the number of people that I've been able to help with my stories of overcoming these things is incredible. And it's not just women, it's not just women I sponsor, it's a lot of people go through stuff and I've always wondered what my purpose was. Always and I know what my purpose is like and I'm aware I know full well my purpose is to just help people in any capacity.
Erin Mohoney:And in times like this, when things are so hard and I'm just so deflated and I don't know if I can get back up again, that's what keeps me going, is that God has a purpose for me, and by me overcoming this and by me living to tell about it and by me not running my truck off a road or turning to an easy way out, or, but just the only way out is through, but just going through it, no matter how painful that is. When I come out on the other side, there's just one more story of hope, that there is hope. There is hope in any situation, and I'm really grateful for that. There's a lot of times I wish like God didn't give you anything you can't handle. Well, listen, I can handle it, but I just don't want to. Just let me live. You know what I mean. But this is just one more thing, man, that I've made it through and I've well, I'm still dealing with it. It sucks, but just everything that I make it through just more testament to God's grace and, yes, my purpose here.
Corey Berrier:So you mentioned trauma early on. Do you mind diving into that? Can you just paint a picture of?
Erin Mohoney:maybe a little bit about what that was. Yeah, this took me a year. I had repressed most of my childhood. This took me years of therapy, and so 99% sure that I was molested by somebody very close male member of the family. The only reason that 1% is there is because I don't remember the actual act. But so my therapist would tell you yes, it absolutely happened. I'm going to say 99%, but even I think more so than that, just the feeling of inadequacy. It didn't matter what I did, it wasn't good enough. I felt like I was always. I repressed a lot of it, man, I just don't remember my parents really being there or being supportive, and I talked to a couple of friends from back then and I don't talk to a whole lot of people that I grew up with when I was younger and I went to an all girls school.
Erin Mohoney:I went to an all girls private school and my education was wonderful and I was an Olympic level gymnast. I did club gymnastics and it's like I was still begging for my parents' approval and for them to be proud of me and I didn't realize how much that affected me until I started this EMDR therapy, which I was like forced into because of the trauma that I was dealing with, this like guy with the protection order, and so I was like I've got to get into therapy and so I started and I was able to bring up all these other things and, god, that's affected me my whole life, like this feeling of inadequacy and begging for the bare minimum and always feeling less than and not worthy and not good enough, and just begging for somebody to see my worth. Well, when you don't love yourself and you don't know your own worth, nobody else can see it either.
Erin Mohoney:And so I had to again change me. It had nothing to do with the people around me not seeing my worth. It was that I didn't see it, and until I saw it, I was going to always accept shit.
Corey Berrier:Yeah, okay, so let's back up for a second, because this rings a bell with me and you and I have talked about this a bit off of this or away from the podcast. So I didn't realize that I have been seeking approval for years and I just realized this in the last six or seven weeks. I just didn't realize that things that I dealt with and I didn't deal with being molested or being beaten or anything of that magnitude, so I can't identify with that. But I can identify with the constant approval seeking. And then I think about the years. Well, I don't even know when it really started. I guess I can guess early, early, early childhood, but all the years in between the last seven weeks and early childhood there's a lot, not weeks, years. There's so much there.
Corey Berrier:And as I look back at past relationships and how those have not worked out, a lot of those, a lot of the things, it was always somebody else's fault, of course, but the truth of this matter is, like you said, it really wasn't their fault. It was how I showed up and how I was trying to seek approval and doing things that I thought would be validating for the other person, to validate me, except for they didn't know I was doing them. For that reason I didn't know I was doing them for that reason. So it was quite humbling to realize that a lot of the things in previous marriages and previous relationships were all my fault because of this approval seeking codependent person that I've been, that I've been living with for the last up to decades, and so there's some freedom to that, but then there's also not. At first it's like what the fuck? Like how you know how did this happen? But now that I understand and, look, I haven't gone through six weeks of talking to a therapist Like I'm just cracking the book on this, and I've read a bunch of books on codependency and adult children of alcoholics and dysfunction, and so I understand more at an intellectual level why I've done these things.
Corey Berrier:But I wouldn't say that I've necessarily worked through them. And so they still come up. The feeling of rejection still comes up in a lot of in sometimes it's that feeling of rejection is because I'm not saying what I want or saying what I need, but assuming you're going to know what that is, and then if I don't get it, you're going to know what that is and then if I don't get it, I'm rejected and it's hard as a man to say for, or maybe not as a man, maybe most men do, I don't know. But what I do know is it's sometimes it's hard for me to say what I want because of the fear of rejection which all stems from that approval seeking. Is that? Say that right?
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, yeah, and I think that I was always like I had just incredible fear of abandonment, just debilitating fear of abandonment. Not even knowing so, I had everything that left. My life had claw marks in it and it none of it was supposed to be there.
Erin Mohoney:So, after doing the work, like and I realized my value and what I bring to the table, the people like I don't lose people anymore, man, people lose me, like I. I know that and that was a real for me to be able to hear to like to sit here and say that to you and actually mean that. I know that's the truth, man, I know I'm a good person and so if you want to go, they can go. So you can go like. And if I don't feel, and if I don't feel appreciated or the what's going on is reciprocated, I can go too. I never used to be able to do that, but what, what? That's why I stayed in abusive situations. I would have still been at this other company crying miserable, my mental health would have been fucked and I'd been laying on the couch because I wouldn't have had the strength to stand up for myself and walk out the damn door.
Corey Berrier:That's all from recovery and all from therapy, all of that yeah, but you didn't know that, right, you would have been laying on the couch, not knowing why you were laying on the couch for sure.
Erin Mohoney:I would have no idea.
Erin Mohoney:I would have just stayed miserable yeah and my mental health would have been no idea. I would have just stayed miserable. Yeah, and my mental health would have been tragic. I wouldn't have been a use to anybody. I would have probably ended up in the psych ward, like there would have been. There'd have been a host of things that would have gone terribly wrong.
Erin Mohoney:But I'm so and sometimes listen, this isn't, this is something new for me and so I operated in a certain manner for 40, some years, and so that little girl still comes up every once in a while. You know what I mean, because we've worked on this adult Aaron, healing this portion, but there's still work to do on the little girl. We've done some, but she's still a broken little girl in there, and sometimes she pops out and wreaks havoc. And I do get scared, and I do, I do question myself and I do question everything about me, and I do get scared and I do, I do question myself and I do question everything about me, and I do feel less than, and I do feel unworthy and and. But it doesn't last, it's not consistent there.
Erin Mohoney:There are thoughts that I'll have that I can beat, though, because that's not the reality. That's not the reality. That's that little girl in there that still feels that way because she's she had to have a safe grownup. She had to have a safe grownup, erin, to be able to pull her out of that mess. But yeah, sometimes that happens. It's not a perfect science. This, this situation right here, dude, has been crushing. I have second guessed my ability, which sucks, dude, because there's no reason I should question my ability None at all. I know I can do this. Is it going to be hard? Hell yeah, it's going to be hard, but I can do it. But I've questioned and I've questioned everything about myself, but I think that was the goal.
Corey Berrier:And that's the little girl though.
Erin Mohoney:Yeah.
Corey Berrier:Yeah, yeah.
Erin Mohoney:So, but the grown upup Erin, though, she's a bad bitch and she'll pull herself up by the bootstraps and she'll get back out there and wipe her tears off and put war paint on. And this won't be the first time I've done it. It'll be, it won't be the thousand and first time I've done it. I don't stay down. I might get down, I might cry it out, I might be pissed, but I'm going to come back like stronger.
Erin Mohoney:That's the crazy thing about healing is that the when you feel like you're like breaking, you know that's like when you feel like you're just broken and all the pieces are laying on the ground and you don't know what to do with them. The cool part about that is you get to pick them up and form them in some type of a foundational structure that is not breakable, and you can leave pieces on the ground that don't serve you anymore. And so, yeah, I might be pieced back together with super glue and a little bit of duct tape here and there, but the pieces that I've chose to bring with me are the pieces that serve me moving forward and that are in alignment with the life that I'm trying to create. What's the life?
Corey Berrier:that I'm trying to create. Yeah Well, we can listen, we can hear, as rough as it sounds, I need to be in a lot of pain to be able to hear the message. I can't hear it if things are going fucking great. I can't hear it if I'm coasting along comfortably For me. I need to be in pain if I need, if I'm going to get the lesson. And as unfortunate as that may sound, I do know when that pain happens and I'm in it. I know it's not going to last and I do know on the other side of it, that I am going to come out stronger and with growth. But man, it sucks being in it.
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, it does. This is the past three weeks has been really, I'm telling you, it's been difficult, Like it has been difficult because I just it doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good at all. God. Just so much hate. This is somebody that claimed to care about me. Matter of fact, the last message I got from this person I knew that he didn't mean it was that I loved't mean. It was that I loved you. This was on the 17th. I told everybody here when you left that I love you and I would support you and I hope you succeed. This is the last message I have from this person and the next day, open up an llc with my brand name doesn't feel real good, man.
Corey Berrier:It feels dirty well, he's going to get likely what's coming to him at some point.
Erin Mohoney:I'm not too sure you know what I mean. I can't sue him. He knows that I really just want my brand I don't even want anything. I don't care if I could go to court and sue him and win $3 million. I don't give a shit. I just want to move on with my life. I want the name of my company back and that's it. That is literally it.
Erin Mohoney:All you had to do was just dissolve it answer my attorney, and then we wouldn't be in the situation. But I do have a voice. God gave me that voice for a reason. I do have truth on my side. So, regardless, with truth and God on my side, that makes me far from weak, contrary to what anybody else might care to believe.
Corey Berrier:Yeah, it's not really our business what they think or believe.
Erin Mohoney:It's not at all. I love to be underestimated. That's when I do my finest work, spend a lifetime being underestimated.
Corey Berrier:Yeah.
Erin Mohoney:Almost half a century. Can you believe that?
Corey Berrier:Well, it is hard to believe, but there's a lot of lessons that you've learned in this half a century and I think you're just getting started. I think that this is going to help women just to and hell, maybe even some men you never know to be more successful and to have the courage to do things that maybe they wouldn't have courage to do so. And and the fact that you have mentioned to me before that you also go and take, don't you take, meetings in a treatment centers pretty often.
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, I speak at. I speak at two treatment centers monthly. So two nights a month. One night I'm at one treatment center, one night I'm at the other one. So I do that monthly. I've been doing the one for about a year and a half now. I've spoken.
Erin Mohoney:There's a women's prison in Marysville. I've spoken there a few times. I've spoken at one of the men's prisons here in town, north of the city, up in Marion, and man, I love it's just. There is just something so fulfilling about doing that and I couldn't even like articulate what it was, the way that I felt after. Like the first couple of times I spoke at the women's prison I was like there wasn't humility, it wasn't gratitude and I couldn't place what it was. And somebody told me about a year later they were like that was fulfillment. You felt fulfilled and I was like, of course I couldn't place that I'd never felt fulfilled in my life. Even the things that I thought were fulfilling weren't at all. I was still there, wasn't anything fulfilling and man, there is just to be able to, to be able to share a story in a way that people can just relate to and that you can see, you can feel like the energy.
Erin Mohoney:You can feel God in those rooms and you can just feel that you are getting through to these people. You just tell in that I've got like a hair on my nose, something that's driving me crazy, but there is. There's just no feeling in the world like that just to be able to tell a story. It's just my story. You know what I mean. It's nothing, just my story. Do I mean? That's nothing, just my story. Do I have a story to tell? Absolutely, I have a story to tell, but really it's just my story of a lot of things, a lot of things being stacked up against me, a lot of shit to have to overcome.
Erin Mohoney:But man, like I would have never in a million years, the life I have today I could not have dreamed of in my wildest dreams. And it's got nothing to do with the stuff like you can't, the stuff that my life consists of. That is beyond my wildest dreams. You can't see. You can't see any of it. Is my truck cool? Yeah, my truck's bad as fuck. I love it. My park is great, the dogs are wonderful, but it's on the inside, like that's what sobriety recovery has provided me. It's a feeling of not having to look over my shoulder because of something I did. It's a feeling of when things go sideways like this what did I do to start it off? Well, nothing this time. Nothing being able to go to bed with a clear conscience. Or when somebody says I remember the first time in recovery when somebody was like, hey, we need to talk, but I can't do it until two days, or whatever my initial physiological reaction is holy shit what did they do?
Erin Mohoney:what did I get caught doing? You know what I mean? And and then it hit me, I was was like, oh, I didn't do anything, this isn't a me problem.
Corey Berrier:Yeah.
Erin Mohoney:So that was pretty cool. I remember that very distinctly. It was a weird and that was just. That was a wild feeling, because it was just this initial oh my God, I'm in trouble, yeah. And then I realized I wasn't, and so that is. There is something to be said for that man.
Corey Berrier:Yeah, I agree. Well, Erin, where can people find you if they want to reach out?
Erin Mohoney:They can find me. I have a Facebook page. The website is still under construction. There's a landing page right now, but the website is theroofhercom R-O-O-F-H-E-Rcom. My email is erin at theroofhercom. Personal number 614-588-4620. Business phone 614-965-7551. And I am always here to support anybody that's trying to get sober or a female in the industry. It's not a Tinder. I didn't throw this out here to get phone calls for dating. Anything business or recovery related would be fabulous. Yeah, I'm here. I'm always here to help. Truly, I know that's my purpose, man, so anything I can do to help, that's what I'm here to do.
Corey Berrier:Well, I appreciate you and I appreciate the conversation today. Thank you.
Erin Mohoney:Yeah, it's been great. I appreciate you having me on, Corey. It's been a pleasure to get to know you and watch your growth since you and I have met. It's been a really cool thing to be a part of. So thank you for allowing me space in your life to be a part of this journey.
Corey Berrier:You're very welcome.
