Hi, Jennifer,

Thank you for your note. Financially, I am fine. However, most people (including myself) are affected by the pandemic and that’s not really the mark of success or not — it’s just extenuating circumstances people can’t control. I can’t control if the clients I’ve booked out through the summer get their budgets cut or funding removed because of Coronavirus. It doesn’t mean I’m not successful, it’s just circumstance. I’m also human and things happen.

I’ve written frequently about the reasons for my bankruptcy, which was a result of making bad decisions after my mother died and I suffered a deep depression, which I was then diagnosed as clinical. Again, bankruptcy doesn’t mean I’m not a successful consultant or haven’t been successful. It means I’m human and made bad decisions during a period of time.

It’s just unrealistic to expect anyone to be impervious to factors in and out of their control. People can get fired. Companies can downsize. Clients can withhold budgets regardless if you’re a year out of college or doing this for twenty years.

I think “success” is a relative term and everyone has to define it for themselves. If you’re looking to follow someone who makes money no matter what happens, then I’m probably not your gal. If my missteps in life make you concerned, I’m probably not your gal. Success for me is being honest in what I do in work and life and showing up with integrity for both. Success means being curious, learning, and serving others. Success means acknowledging you’re human and can sometimes make mistakes and fall and the mark of success is how you climb back up. And if I make good money, awesome. But money isn’t my driver or my “why” and it’s not what I predominately preach and write about to everyone else. Mostly, I focus on being human.

This piece wasn’t about success or money or stability. It’s about how I feel about the world right now — not just my own income.

Cheers, Felicia