Dear Kaira,
I was recently fired from my job of 10 years. I loved my job. I loved the field. But clearly, something just wasn’t right. And after this huge failure, I’m wondering if I should start all over, in a new field entirely. What’s your advice?

Lots of people thought I’d struggle to pick myself up after being fired from my first ad agency job. They couldn’t have been more wrong. I knew I wasn’t a hopeless failure, and I wasn’t ruined in advertising. In fact, being fired actually made me stronger. I had left my previous job in radio to pursue my dream of working at an advertising agency. I wasn’t wrong to follow that dream. I just hadn’t found the right place. I knew this in my gut. If I hadn’t been fired, I might never have moved on to launch Hobson Communications, to become a marketing executive for a national franchisor, or to create the Real Living brand.

The point is: it’s OK to get fired. Your personal brand can handle it. Your passion and talent for your work do not automatically become null and void because you get fired. You’re simply faced with a chance to channel your passion and talent in a new way. And finding exactly what that will be is a challenge I’m confident you’re fully prepared to handle.

Dear Kaira,
I own a small business, and I have a team of about six people. One of my employees, who’s also my good friend, is incredibly talented and works hard. But I’m constantly having to redirect her negative energy so it doesn’t pull my team down. Am I right to think she might be a bad fit, or am I judging too soon?

As women, we often second-guess whether we should judge a coworker, or whether we’re making a bigger deal out of an issue than we need to. While it’s smart to keep a level head and make an effort to be fair, let’s face it: skill is a commodity. It’s replaceable. A great attitude, on the other hand, is not.

It sounds like you've encountered what I call a “snark.” This is someone who ultimately bring you and your business down by not supporting your passions and draining your energy. Your talented but negative employee sounds like a “complainer snark.” While this isn’t the most dangerous type of snark, she can still really damage your brand and your ability to succeed.

As you consider whether to keep this person on your team, trust your internal barometer. Keep her close, but not too close. You shouldn’t share confidential information with her, because she’s likely to put it to personal use later. Remember to keep asking yourself honest questions as you interact with her: Does she support me? Does she raise my spirits and push me forward? If you answer no, you have plenty of reason to let her go and allow her to move on

Dear Kaira,
I’ve been at a stay-at-home mom for 15 years. Before that, I led a large sales force for a company in New York. Now that my kids are grown, I’m ready to start working again, but I really don’t want to report to someone else. Could entrepreneurship be right for me?

It’s obvious that you hear something within you saying, “I could do this. I could start my own business.” I encourage all women who hear this voice to really listen to it, whether it’s at the start of their career or at the end.

It’s never too early or too late to create your own personal, real brand. Your life, up to this point, has helped you plot a course toward entrepreneurship, whether you knew it or not. And now you've reached the point where you get to decide what the destination looks like — what your business will be, how it will reflect you, and how it will help you live out your passions.

While I encourage you to listen to your instincts, I don’t want to discount the challenges of being an entrepreneur. It takes a combination of instinct, experience and confidence to build a real brand. It takes really knowing yourself, being true to yourself, communicating in a real way with your customers, and also somehow finding a way to integrate all the other things you care about, too.

Above all, know this as you consider your next venture: your future starts now. And right now — in this moment — it’s OK to grab it.