Nacrissa Vil was finishing a routine shift when her manager called her into his office. The department had just lost its team lead, and she’d been temporarily filling the gap, tracking numbers and steering production...so she assumed it was another conversation about metrics.
Instead, her manager smiled and said, “You’re doing such a good job that I’d like to offer you the position permanently.” More responsibility, more hours away from her eight-year-old daughter. More of the same suffocating routine that already had her working twelve-hour days for someone else’s dreams.
Nacrissa thanked him and replied, “I appreciate the offer, but I’m comfortable where I am.” He smiled, grudgingly, and sent her back to her desk. One week later, she was laid off. Not for poor performance, but for refusing to climb higher on a ladder she never wanted to be on in the first place.
What happened next would take her from sleeping in her car to building a six-figure business that now serves women around the world. But first, she had to lose everything.
The Corporate Programming That Almost Broke Her
Growing up in Detroit, Nacrissa learned two conflicting lessons. Her father encouraged her to look toward the future, but he also instilled a deep belief in the 9-to-5 grind. Side hustles were fine—encouraged, even—but you always needed that corporate foundation.
This programming ran so deep that when her printing business in her early twenties started seeing real success, she couldn't make the identity shift.
"No matter how much success I had, I could not shift that identity because I was raised to keep a 9-to-5. It was just like, oh, that's always going to be something on the side."
She let the printing business fade and dove deeper into corporate life, managing copy centers and document services. She excelled at every position but felt increasingly trapped. Working 12-hour days as an introvert in predominantly white corporate spaces,
"I felt like my time wasn't mine. My creativity was boxed in where I couldn't show a lot of the creative ideas that I had."
The breaking point came when she suggested a cost-saving idea to her bosses—buying supplies through eBay instead of expensive suppliers. They shut it down immediately.
"I didn't have a voice. As a Black female in a corporate setting, I didn't feel like I had a voice. It minimized what I felt my worth was."
So she tried the idea herself and made $30,000 in 45 days—almost her entire yearly salary. Yet even this massive success couldn't break the corporate programming. The identity shift hadn't happened yet.
The Final Layoff: When Being Too Good Becomes a Problem
After surviving multiple rounds of layoffs, Nacrissa thought she was safe. She was a high performer, always excelling at her work. When they offered her a promotion, she made a choice that would change everything.
"They wanted to promote me and I was like, for the money and the time and what you want from me, I don't want that promotion. I feel comfortable performing at my best where I am."
Their response was swift and brutal: they laid her off anyway.
"They laid me off at my best. When you are blindsided by a layoff that is unwarranted because you wanted to promote me, but now you're taking everything away because I wouldn't do what you wanted to do... there was that light bulb that went off. I have no autonomy over me."
The Downward Spiral: From Layoff to Homelessness
What followed was devastating. Fresh out of an abusive marriage and raising her daughter alone, Nacrissa wasn't financially prepared for sudden unemployment.
"I wasn't prepared financially for that because I just came out of a divorce and being a single mom and building myself back up and that happens."
The spiral was swift. Within about six months, she found herself homeless, sleeping in her Dodge Journey with her eight-year-old daughter.
The weight was crushing.
"I got to a point where I didn't feel like waking up in the morning. I didn't want to be here because I was handling a lot."
Panic attacks came regularly. Depression set in.
"Those moments were there where a lot of people are not comfortable with saying, but yeah, I felt like I did not want to wake up in the morning."
But even in her darkest moments, something inside refused to give up.
Turning Rock Bottom Into a Foundation
Instead of letting despair win, Nacrissa made a crucial decision:
"Instead of the opposite way where people give up, I decided I'm going to go up. I'm just going to do whatever it takes to never be here again."
She transformed their homelessness into "camping trips" for her daughter, making their car feel like an adventure rather than a crisis. But during the day, while her daughter was at school, Nacrissa had a mission.
"I'm going to wake up out of my Dodge Journey because I didn't have a house. We're going to wash up in the bathrooms at the library. Then I'm going to drop you off at school, then I'm going to go back to the library. I'm going to get on those computers and I'm going to start writing."
The Clinton Macomb library became her sanctuary. She devoured personal development books—Tony Robbins, Brendon Burchard, Dean Graziosi. But it was Brendon Burchard's "The Millionaire Messenger" that sparked the transformation.
"I said, I have a story to tell. Even though I don't have a roof over my head, barely can take care of my daughter, I have me. I have my voice and I have my knowledge, and I'm going to take that and use it every single day."
The "Crazy" Decision: Choosing Dreams Over Safety
While homeless and struggling, Nacrissa made what everyone thought was an insane choice. Instead of getting another corporate job like her family urged, she decided to become an author.
"I remember telling my sister at the time, 'I think I'm going to just be an author.' And she's like, 'You're crazy. You're not going to be what? You done lost your mind. Go get a job. What are you talking about? You get laid off, have no money, and you want to go be an author.'"
The doubt was everywhere—from family, from logic, from her own mind.
"Those doubts seeped in. When she would say those things and then I would be sitting at the library writing and thinking, 'Yeah, I'm crazy. This is not going to work.'"
But she kept writing anyway, surviving on minimal child support while creating her first book about self-sabotage.
When Failure Fueled More "Crazy" Decisions
Her first book sold zero copies. Her aunt got a free copy.
Most people would have given up. Instead, Nacrissa doubled down on what everyone considered madness.
"I continued pouring into myself with personal development books, Tony Robbins. So when I would have a disappointment, I would be like, well, Tony says don't give up. Tony says keep going."
Then came the craziest decision yet: while homeless, she invested almost all her remaining money in a marketing coach, paying Frank Kern $197 monthly on a payment plan.
"I said, okay, this is pretty much all the money I have for the month. So hope this works. Or we're going to be looking crazy."
Her family thought she'd completely lost her mind. She had no Plan B.
"I basically was like, this is what I'm doing. So I got to figure this out."
The Breakthrough: When Strategy Met Desperation
Following Frank's system exactly, Nacrissa created a relationship assessment that led prospects to a course. She modeled his funnel "to a tea" and ran ads from the library.
"Right away I got success with both of those things. So yeah, it wasn't a waste of time for me or a waste of money at all."
The unemployment course she created next, teaching people they could use unemployment benefits to start businesses, also took off using the same system.
But the real transformation came when she realized she didn't need the "always-on" hustle culture. Instead, she developed what she now calls "quiet freedom"—a business model that works strategically in the background.
Building the New Life: From Survival to Success
By 2020, her book "Worth Factor" became a #1 Amazon bestseller. Her streamlined approach had generated a six-figure business without constant posting or always-available hustling.
Today, Nacrissa runs three successful businesses:
- Start Simplify Sell: Teaching digital product creation and quiet freedom strategies
- Book To Bank Author's Studio: Helping launch profitable bestselling books in 90 days.
- Higher Intervention Lifestyle Center for Transformation: Helping people shift mindset, identity, energy, and habits for a better life.
She has served 600+ students worldwide through her coaching and courses, proving that you can build substantial success while living peacefully behind the scenes.
"Success to me is experiencing life at your happiest. For me, I'm happy helping other people. I'm happy having financial freedom to do the things that I want to do."
Her "quiet freedom" philosophy challenges the hustle culture:
"People are tired of posting three times a day. People want something steady that they can walk away from. We have enough stress in our day-to-day lives. So why do we want to come online and have no freedom?"
The Ripple Effect: Creating Space for Others to Rise
Nacrissa's transformation isn't just a personal victory—it's proof that the future of work is changing. At NewHero, we believe every human deserves more than just survival—more than repetitive routines and uninspiring to-do lists. Her story shows what's possible when someone has the courage to pursue meaningful work on their own terms, even when everyone thinks they're crazy.
For Those Still Struggling: The Path Forward
For anyone feeling trapped or facing their own rock bottom, Nacrissa's advice is profound:
"You can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it. You want to look outside of yourself—whether it's a book or a community—to help you."
She reminds us that taking action, even when it seems impossible, opens doors:
"Purpose will push you. Whatever you do, there's purpose in it. Purpose just continues to grow and evolve as long as you're taking whatever you have within you and sharing it with somebody else."
The woman who once felt voiceless now teaches others to find their voice. The mother who once worried about survival now shows others how to build their own security. Sometimes the most "crazy" decision is the one that saves your life.