You're very kind @Weepixie but I'm really not at the top of any game (and wouldn't want to be!) I worked at a number of big PR agencies from late 80s on until finally deciding to venture out and set up my own little firm...in 2008. Yep, the year of the Great Financial Crash - brilliant timing on my part there. Had a good few 'seat of my pants' years but things eventually came right and now I do OK, and am in the fortunate position of being able to choose clients, thus avoiding working with wankers and narcissists (I have lots of experience of both). Now I'm just waiting for the markets to pick up a bit so I can sell the business and retire to rescue elderly dogs full time :-)
No life path is straight, I'm a recovered alcoholic and addict with some pretty awful (violent, substance addicted) relationships behind me. I think with life, there's no point comparing yourself with others as we are all dealt different hands and the key is just to play the hand you've been dealt in the best way you can. Enjoy the good times, treat your nearest and dearest as well as you can, don't worry about things you can't change. Especially things on the news. Don't believe anything you read in the media or online about how you should live your life - they're just trying to sell you something. And as Kierkegaard said, the best tactic for dealing with life's horrors is to laugh defiantly at them.
I strongly disagree with the mass delusion that you need education to be worthy or intelligent. Some of the world's stupidest people have an expensive education (if you don't believe me, just look at the people who run politics, government and the third sector). My grandmother left school at 11 and lived through the Nazi occupation of Greece and she was the smartest person I've ever known. If you want to better your mind, just read voraciously. It's good for your brain and your soul. And above all, don't let anything in life upset you too much. It all passes away like water in a river. Above all remember that despite its tragedies and cruelty, it's still a beautiful world.
@Lunde Buggered if I know what her 'strategy' is. I think her 'financial partnership' with NF is a profit-sharing deal where she comes up with the products and they handle the distrib and onward sales. If I was in the NF commercial department I'd be asking for 60% of the profits as a starting point for negotiation because I'm bearing all the operational and financial risk. So she's going to have to shift a hell of a lot of product to make a meaningful profit for herself. And she'll need a new business model too, because whatever she's doing right now is ... not it.
Honestly? I think they're haemorrhaging cash and As Ever is a desperate scraping of the bottom of the barrel. Would Meghan be simpering over desiccated foliage if she still had the Spotify deal, had chart topping NF content and was the face of, say, Dior, as was reported at the time of Megxit? Would she be flogging jam if she and Harry were jetting everywhere as global humanitarians fulfilling a life of service, as they promised in their Megxit statement? Do the Obamas sell dried flowers? Does Malala flog fruit spread? Give me a break. The whole thing stinks of the desperation that comes when you've lost all your A list career opportunities but still live an A list lifestyle. Someone's told her she has to go back to what she knows (from the Tig days)...and so, here she is. Selling runny jam on the internet.