In this emotionally charged testimonial, Tanya Hughes recounts a series of personal catastrophes—including the loss of her home, car, and her son Callum on April 15, 2016—while describing how Equus Financial, led by CEO Barry Clarkson, provided a lifeline through a heartfelt condolence letter and a $1,000 check. Faced with financial ruin, Tanya and her husband leveraged their last remaining asset, a car, to secure a title loan and entered the Equus business model. Over the next ten years they rebuilt their lives, acquiring a new home, office, and vehicle, and view their success as a tribute to their late son. The narrative culminates in a motivational call to the audience, urging those at "rock bottom" to commit fully to Equus as a path to transformation and purpose.
Chapters
Scott DeLong, I never want to speak after you, just so you know. I told Equus, I said no. He's amazing. Thank you. Good morning, Equus. And I want to make sure I got my clock. Okay. Good morning, Equus. I'd like to tell you I'm honored to be here today and speak to you and hope that you can feel my heart and my passion as I share my story with you. Have you ever had a moment when life changed all at once? When what you thought was stable, something you could control, was suddenly gone? When you were not just living, you were simply trying to survive. I have. I am not here today because life has been easy. Absolutely not. I am here today because life has not been easy. And because it still isn't easy. My husband was working long, hard hours in the construction field, always gone. He's one of the hardest working men I have ever known. Me, I was a stay-at-home mom. Of 6 kids, 2 special needs kids. That is the world I knew. One of those babies was fighting for his life daily. Brain abnormalities, heart abnormalities, feeding tube, Hospital rooms, doctors. The world I lived in was fear. Fear is all I knew. I didn't know business. I didn't know success. This is what I knew. I knew how to love people. And I knew how to fight, and I knew how to fight through the hard. Barry says it all the time, "I can't promise you anything but a hard time, but if you can get through the hard, you can make a lot of money." Then one day, Life, life didn't just test us, it completely broke me. It completely broke me. My world didn't just shake, it collapsed before my eyes. First, first, first we lost our home. Then we lost our car. And then one of the hardest days of my life that I will never forget, on April 15th, 2016, we lost our our son, Callum. He was our angel that we were blessed to have in our home. I was completely broken. This was 2 weeks before I was introduced— I got introduced to Equus 2 weeks before our son passed away. I wasn't ready to do this business, guys. No way. I was broken in every way possible. Every single way possible, I was broken. 6 months later, we were completely in financial ruins. But let me tell you, the day our son passed away, the CEO of this company, Barry Clarkson, the heart of this man, I don't know where he is today, The heart of this man called and left a heartfelt message. I was too broken to answer the phone, but I still have it today because it meant so much. 3 days later, I received a letter in the mail. From Equus Financial. I would like to read it to you. Michael and Tanya, I just want to express on behalf of the entire Equus team how sorry we are for your loss. We wanted to keep in some way, give you something Hope, and we hope this will be beneficial to you. Our thoughts are with you, the Equus team. I had been with Equus for 2 weeks, guys. In this letter right here that I hold in my hand was a $1,000 check. We were completely broken, and here I just received a $1,000 check from Equus Financial. We had hit rock bottom. Some of you may know what that's like. Some of you in this room right now may be in that rock bottom spot, not knowing how you're going to pay your bills, not even being able to sleep at night, getting out of bed just trying to put one foot in front of the other. 6 months later, we were in complete financial ruins. We knew we had to do something. My husband came to me with this harebrained idea, the craziest idea in the world, but he was right. We had one car left. He said, I think Equus is the opportunity. Guys, when you are completely broken, we weren't We were— Equus was a hope for us. Equus is the hope that we had. And he came to me and he said, we have no money, we have no way we're going to make it, but we got one thing left. We've got a car and we can put a title loan. So we put that title loan on the car. I remember the day, guys. He was like, I'm so excited. And I was like, I'm so scared, right? I mean, I literally just— that's my security. That's all I had left. Little by little, we plugged in. Equus became the spark. Equus became the hope. Equus is the fire that burns within me today because of what it has done for our family. For what it has done for our legacy. We had a choice. You have a choice. We had a choice to stay stuck and stay safe or risk everything for a different life. We plugged in. We gave it everything we had. We, we showed up when we didn't want to show up, and we kept on going. This is where we ended up getting— we built a home, we have an office, we have a car, and I'm so blessed today. And I'm very emotional as it is 10 years, guys, 10 years ago. Like, we were just looking at it, it was 10 years this week that I actually, like, signed that ICA and got going. But Equus, in our own way, is our way of honoring our son, Callen George Hughes. Today we stand here at Equus because Equus has given us hope, a chance to dream, a chance to live a different life. We stand for compassion, grit, and honor. And every single day, this is our son who reminds us of why we live and that we make a difference. So today, if you're here wondering if this is for you, I don't know. But I ask you, if you feel something in your heart, if you feel like you're in that rock bottom space where I was when I was sitting in the back of the room, I ask you to do the same thing that Barry Clarkson said to me and to everyone when we decided to, to be all in. Draw the line in the sand. Decide. Decide today. Draw the line in the sand. Commit to yourself and see what Equus can do for you. Your breakthrough is just around the corner. What is your purpose? What is your calling? Give Equus a shot. Give it all you've got and see if Equus can't change your life. I know it can because it has for us. Thank you. Thank you so much, Tanya Hughes, for sharing your story.
