9/11 put the nail in the coffin of my dying industry.
My field might have come back in several years. But, before then there were bills to pay.
So, to gear up for a career change I enrolled in a seminar at the Hartford, Connecticut Metro area franchise of Dale Carnegie Systems. The instructor/coach was Michael Francoeur. At that time, it was all in-person. Currently learning also takes place remote. And Francoeur also provides stand-alone coaching.
I chose Dale Carnegie Systems because that's where I sought guidance at the end of the 1980s. That was to shift from being a corporate player to an entrepreneur.
Like millions in middle management I had been downsized out. We were reeling. We had assumed we would retire from corporate life.
Among what I learned in Dale Carnegie was this: I could change.
The business I set up thrived. That is, until the 2002 recession.
What I learned from Francoeur was this: I could change, yet again. In addition, I also learned that I could reach out and ask for help.
Soon enough after the Dale Carnegie seminar I set up a boutique in digital communications. My first client came via the then head of nonprofit Boundless Playgrounds - Amy Jaffe Barzach. After I had applied for a full-time job there and was turned out, I asked Barzach for feedback. Here's how she responded: She took me to lunch and brought along a client. She told me that I didn't belong working in an organization or in the Hartford Metro area.
Recently, I circled back to Dale Carnegie. As many know, in the communications industry, just about every niche, had become glutted. Even Don Draper from "Mad Men" might be having trouble getting work.
Not that this was new. Many consider communications a glam field and it's always had an oversupply of talent. But the economic fallout from COVID-19 accelerated that. It also put the kibosh on the rate of compensation. Too often prospects for my services offered me peanuts.
From the past I knew: I could change.
I reached back to 2008. The Great Recession. Back then I had launched a small career coaching service. Mostly the clients had been displaced lawyers and new law graduates who couldn't land that first job. I lectured at the New York State Bar Association and my recommendations had been published in the American Bar Association and Abovethelaw.
I kept that business going but it had not been the core competence.
Now it is. Don't ask me how I got the strength to do that. But that I did.
I phased out the communications enterprise.
I plowed resources into career coaching.
I got an article published on reputation restoration in the influential Odwyerpr.com. You bet, it's an effective promotional piece.
Clients referred other clients.
And there is the extreme satisfaction of helping professionals who had been stuck more stuck and most stuck.
In a world full of uncertainty, I am certain of one thing: Career change begins in our head. It's the ability to envision a different path, one full of abundance.
The answers about your professional life are inside you. You will learn through coaching how to open yourself up to them. And get unstuck. Soon enough you will be your own coach. Affordable rates (sliding scale). Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com) Download IntroducingYourCareerCoachJaneGenova
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