Wednesday morning, coffee shop in Arlington, Virginia.

My mentor sat across from me—someone I'd worked with for two years at Deloitte. She'd been at the firm for 12 years, was the consultant everyone turned to when projects fell apart, brought in millions for the firm.

"I got the call yesterday," she said, exhaustion in her eyes. "They're letting me go."

My stomach dropped. This wasn't possible.

"What happened? Did a project go bad?"

"No," she said quietly. "My billing rate is too high for the current market. That's it."

Twelve years of loyalty. Gone. Not because she wasn't excellent—because she'd become too expensive.

We sat there in silence. Here was someone who had mentored dozens of people, who clients specifically requested, who had given everything to this company. And they discarded her like she was nothing.

That's when reality hit me like a truck: If someone as excellent as her wasn't safe, none of us were.

But here's what I didn't know then: I wasn't alone.

💡60% of the 1,018,000 management consultants in the US report being "close to burnout" or "already burned out."

65,800 consultants left Big 4 firms in 2023 alone—up 43% from the previous year.

The average consultant lasts just 2.5-3 years before they exit.

I wasn't broken. The system was.

And if you're reading this, you're part of a massive movement of highly skilled professionals who refuse to accept that success has to come at the cost of everything else that matters.

My name is San, and I spent nearly a decade at Oracle, Accenture, and Deloitte before leaving it all behind in 2024. But my path wasn't straight—I failed spectacularly the first time, losing $70,000 and crawling back to consulting with my tail between my legs.

The second time, I did it right. Built a side business (which won the SaaS Gold Award) systematically while still employed, and now run multiple businesses that give me my life back.

This playbook contains everything I wish I'd known from the beginning...