One of Several Life Changing Events

It is actually two events that got me where I am today. The first event was when I was working in Corporate for more than 6 years with a company that I wanted to leave after 30 days on the job. It was important to make it work and I did. However, after battling through the recession the prinicpal owner kept thinking that workers were a dime a dozen. Treating people that way does not sit well with me.

I kept my team shielded as much as possible from management. They were able to keep their focus and continue to do well. The owner would not leave that alone. Soon they were late paying commissions to my team and myself. Then they started firing quality database architects and programmers and bringing in offshore resources (questionably) and putting junior and entry level people on key projects.

Finally they walked off a job at the end of the deadline even though they weren't finished and it cost me over a $1M deal. They went around me and fired one of my successful sales people. Finally they held up commissions for three months and changed the commission plan in the middle of several deals. I could no longer look at my team or my customers in their eyes.  I walked away.

I wanted to start helping companies define what the job required before they went out to hire people. I started my little consulting firm and I realized I was still selling into the corporate world where is seemed there were more owners like the one I walked from than good owners. The people that I tried to sell to wanted to move forward but were too scared. After banging my head against a wall for almost two years making some money but not enough I made the decision to leave the corporate world.

I still wanted to help people and one of the great things I do is help peolpe with their largest transactions. My clients now say;  "Thank you."; "We can't believe how much you do for us.", and other wonderful things. While my clients may think I am helping them they are also helping me. That is another reason why my focus is on their success. Every time that works, I naturally get what I want. I guess I really owe my old owner a thank you too for pushing me into something I love to do.