(Daily Finance) — It wasn’t until 2005 that she slowly recovered some semblance of her old self, and was able to focus enough at work to make $80,000. By 2007 though, she was ready to do her own thing. Late that year, she started Harvest Wealth Financial, a firm that offers financial and disaster planning with a spiritual, compassionate flavor, specializing in serving clients who are dealing with traumas such as catastrophic illness or a premature death in the family. “I use my experience and my empathy,” says Simpson.
Helping others helped her. “I reached the point of no return. A decision had to be made. Was I going to continue to allow September 11, 2001, to defeat me or would I make every attempt to find myself again,” says Simpson, who marks her rebirth in 2008 when she says she chose to live. She credits her turnaround to her faith, and when was asked to make a speech, she titled it “Dare 2 Dream.” She did just that, and the speech grew into a book: Dare 2 Dream: Pushing Past Your Pain to Pursue Purpose.