Kelan and Brittany Kline were newly married, carrying roughly $40,000 in student-loan debt, and working jobs with schedules that rarely overlapped.
The couple, who met in high school in Rochester, New York, were earning steady paychecks — Kelan as a jail deputy and Brittany as an elementary school teacher — but they didn’t feel particularly in control of their time or finances.
One night at the dinner table, they confronted that stress.
“We sat down and said, ‘This is not working,'” Kelan told Business Insider. “We kind of just had this brainstorm of, ‘What’s working? What’s not working? Where are our finances at?'”
That conversation helped set them on a different path. They launched a personal finance blog, The Savvy Couple, which evolved into a seven-figure online business and eventually enabled them to leave their jobs.
The couple said their household net worth — including the estimated value of their businesses, investments, and primary residence — surpassed $1 million in 2020. Business Insider reviewed a screenshot from their Rocket Money account showing a current seven-figure net worth.
Looking back, they say the first step toward financial independence wasn’t opening an investment account or cutting expenses. It was getting clear on what they wanted — and then building a plan to get there.
Get clear on what you’re working toward
The Klines’ dinner-table conversation centered on imagining an alternative lifestyle.
“If we could wave a magic wand, what would our ideal lifestyle look like?” Kelan recalled asking. Their answer centered on family, flexibility, and control over their time. “I was after time freedom. I was so sick and tired of someone else telling me when to come to work, forced overtime, denying my vacation.”
Brittany said being aligned mattered just as much as the specific financial tactics they later used: “Getting on the same page is what made us successful.”
Once they had a vision, the couple worked backward, asking what would need to change financially and professionally to make that life possible.
For Kelan, part of the answer involved creating scalable income.
At one point, he considered becoming a home inspector, but worried that a locally based service business would still put a ceiling on both his earnings and his time. An online business seemed different.
“With an online business, it’s unlimited scalability because you’re reaching the entire world,” he said.
The couple then did what Kelan described as a “Venn-diagram exercise,” listing what they were good at, what people already asked them for help with, and what interested them.
Personal finance stood out, as Kelan had long been interested in side hustles and had experimented with flipping items on eBay and dropshipping, while Brittany gravitated toward budgeting and saving.
Their business didn’t take off immediately. Neither had a technology background, and they had to learn WordPress, marketing strategies, and eventually how to monetize a website. It took nearly a year to earn anything — and when they did, it was just $50.
Kelan said the bigger lesson was to start before you feel fully prepared.
“The action takers are money makers,” he said. “You can spend all the time in the world learning, watching YouTube videos, and reading articles. But until you actually take action and be OK with failure — that’s how you learn, that’s how you improve, and that’s how you’re going to scale your income.”
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