FailCraft

What do you do when the career you’ve dedicated 30 years of your life to fires you in the exact same week you are diagnosed with breast cancer? Kay A. Oliver spent three decades as a screenwriter and producer in Hollywood, only to be repeatedly told by studio executives that her highly intelligent, female-driven stories were "unmarketable." When a devastating cancer diagnosis cost her bo...

What happens when you spend 30 years sacrificing your own happiness to take care of everyone else, only to wake up at age 50 and realize you have absolutely no hopes or dreams of your own? Debbie Weiss is a best-selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur who spent decades trapped in a profound victim mentality. Overwhelmed by family caregiving, weight struggles, and unimaginable grief, Debbie’s int...

What happens when you keep your head down, work harder than everyone else, and wait patiently for a promotion—only for your boss to tell you they completely "forgot" about you? Kendall Berg, known online as "That Career Coach," spent five years stuck in "corporate purgatory." She was a high-performer doing the work of a director with the title of a manager, but she ke...

What if your financial struggles have nothing to do with your ability to do math, and everything to do with your unhealed childhood trauma? Bob Wheeler sits at the unique intersection of finance and funny. By day, he is a CPA and the CFO of the world-famous Comedy Store in Hollywood. By night, he is a stand-up comic and a somatic therapist. But despite his professional credentials, Bob openly admi...

What does it take to sell a business successfully, and why do so many founders leave tens of millions of dollars on the table at the finish line? Eric D. Coonrod is a 20-year veteran investment banker who has originated and executed over a hundred mergers, acquisitions, and capital transactions. Now the founder of E. Coonrod & Co. and the author of *The Preparation Principle*, Eric knows that...

What happens when you reach the pinnacle of your career as a Chief Science Officer, only to have your global organization dismantled overnight? Dr. Lizette Warner is a neuroscientist and executive coach who spent over 20 years leading high-performing teams in high-pressure environments. But despite her expertise in human biology, she hit a wall of stress that left her with sleepless nights and hea...

What happens when you spend months building the "perfect" technical solution, only to realize nobody actually needs it? Bill Shander is an information designer and educator who has reached over 2 million students on LinkedIn Learning. After 30 years of navigating complex projects for organizations like Harvard and Stanford, Bill discovered a massive professional failure mode: The Failure...

What happens when you spend 30 years building a business only to realize you’ve been leaving your wealth on the table every single day? Craig Morningstar is a serial entrepreneur, seasoned C-level executive, and exit planning expert who has spent over three decades helping business owners build—and more importantly, keep—their wealth. From standing in front of a school gym at age 10 to save his sc...

What happens when you do everything you were supposed to do—get the safe job, buy the house, start a family—but find yourself completely dead inside? Sean McManus is a Christian Men's Strength and Nutrition Coach who spent eight years trapped in the corporate grind. He hit a wall of burnout and "quiet dissatisfaction," realizing that while he was succeeding on paper, he was failing i...

What happens when your decades of clinical training as a therapist and social worker completely fail you in the face of your own tragedy? Dr. Sheila K. Collins has spent 40 years helping others navigate life’s toughest transitions. But her most profound expertise was forged in the fire of losing two of her adult children—a son to AIDS and a daughter to breast cancer. Instead of collapsing, Dr. She...

What do you do when your career collapses, you're navigating a Zoom divorce, and you suddenly find yourself raising three young boys alone in a small apartment during a global pandemic? Bridget Hom didn’t just survive the "Reinvention Evolution of 2020"—she used the chaos to launch a thriving business. A top mindset coach, best-selling author, and creator of The PrOp Method, Bridget...

What do you do when you’ve climbed the corporate ladder, served in leadership at your church, and look like the "picture of success"—but you’re privately using alcohol to survive the day? Rose Ann Forte is an international best-selling author and the creator of the Choose Freedom Program. For years, she maintained a perfect facade while navigating a toxic marriage and intense career pres...

What do you do when you’ve spent 30 years holding the microphone, reporting on other people’s worst days, only to find yourself as the lead story on the evening news? Beth McDonough is a duPont Columbia and Emmy award-winning investigative reporter who covered tragedies like 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the death of Prince. But her life took a devastating turn when two DUIs led to a public...

What do you do when the voice you’ve used your entire life to teach, sing, and communicate suddenly stops working? Eileen Meehan was a passionate special education teacher and a lifelong choir singer. Her voice was her livelihood, her spiritual expression, and a core pillar of her identity. But then she began to struggle to speak. Eventually diagnosed with Spasmodic Dysphonia—a rare, incurable neu...

What do you do when you pour your blood, sweat, and tears into a launch, only to hear absolute crickets from the market? Eric B. Horn is a business operations expert who has spent over a decade helping entrepreneurs turn chaos into clarity. But his expertise didn't come from a textbook—it came from launching ideas that met silence and having to rebuild his own business from the ground up. Toda...

Why do 70% of small businesses fail, and how can you ensure yours isn't one of them? Bryan Wetzel is the definition of a serial entrepreneur. From editing high-profile murder trial videos and working the 1996 Olympics to launching education startups and owning restaurants, Bryan has seen the "messy middle" of success from every angle. He survived a near-death car wreck that reshaped...

What do you do when your noble, selfless profession requires you to completely sacrifice your own identity to keep others alive? Kevin Jackson, better known as Kevie The Dreamer, spent 15 years working as a nurse. While he was dedicating his life to caring for patients at their absolute lowest moments, he was quietly neglecting his own passions. After a brutal season of intense hospital burnout co...

What does it take to finally reclaim your voice after being silenced for over a decade? Teri M Brown is an award-winning historical fiction author, but her path to publishing was anything but a straight line. After surviving a 14-year emotionally abusive marriage that stripped away her self-worth and left her feeling completely useless, Teri didn't just walk away—she got on a tandem bicycle. T...

What do you do when your greatest triumph—publishing your first book—is followed exactly seven days later by your greatest tragedy? Corwin "CJ Moneyway" Johnson is a globally recognized podcast host and author who has built a massive platform on the foundation of resilience. But before he was the voice of inspiration, he was living "with both eyes shut"—navigating a reckless li...

Are you staring at a mile-long to-do list, feeling paralyzed, and blaming yourself for being lazy or undisciplined? Helene Gidley is an Agile coach and project manager with over 40 years of experience in the IT industry. Despite managing massive, complex corporate projects with ease, she found herself secretly struggling to get through her own personal to-do lists. She realized that traditional pr...

What happens when you build a business that looks absolutely perfect on paper, but secretly drains the soul right out of you? Dylan Bost is the founder of SunnyHQ, a human-first WordPress hosting and support company. But before he built a business grounded in clarity and simplicity, he spent over a decade running a highly successful creative advertising agency. Despite having all the awards, hundr...

Rodney Phillips had a highly successful career in the pharmaceutical industry and spent over two decades coaching youth sports in Pittsburgh. But hidden inside his home office filing cabinet was a manuscript he started writing on index cards in a furniture store when he was just 19 years old. For 37 years, that story sat untouched. But at age 56, after becoming an empty nester, Rodney finally pull...

What if your biggest perceived flaws were actually your greatest leverage points for growth? Carly Pepin is a human behavior specialist and consultant who has spent over 15 years working behind the scenes with CEOs and founders. She helps high-level leaders scale their companies without losing their sense of self. Carly’s core philosophy is radical: burnout isn't just about having too many tas...

What happens when you reach the absolute pinnacle of your career, only to realize your soul is asking you to walk away from it all? Before she was a spiritual teacher, Swami Nityananda was Dr. Juniper Ellis—a tenured English professor with a PhD from Vanderbilt, a Fulbright grant, and a prestigious 25-year academic career. But despite her massive success in the intellectual world, her heart demand...

What happens when you chase the executive suite so relentlessly that your own body violently forces you to stop? Terence Davy is an executive coach and former high-growth SaaS leader who spent over a decade delivering massive results at a devastating personal cost. Trapped in a cycle of overworking and ignoring every red flag, his relentless grind culminated in a severe stress-related collapse tha...