“I just don’t think you were properly prepared for this position, Rick,” said my Sales VP.
The year was 2007 and I was a sales manager at Yahoo! HotJobs.
My Sales Director was moving up and I was interviewing for her spot.
I already knew my destiny lay in financial planning, but I also knew I’d be taking a massive pay cut when I made the jump.
So I figured I’d slide into my Sales Director’s role for a year or two to save up some extra cash and THEN jump ship.
I thought it was in the bag. I was her top-performing sales manager, after all.
But the VP clearly thought otherwise.
(In my defense, he said it was my sales director’s fault I wasn’t better prepared. Maybe he was just softening the blow, but I chose to take him at his word.)
I was devasted. How could he?… But I thought…What the hell!?…
But looking back on it now, it was the best thing that could have happened because it pushed me out of the nest.
If I had gotten the role, I might still be in tech sales dreaming of starting my financial planning firm.
Instead, it forced me to start my financial planning career sooner than I was ready.
It’s 15 years later and I’m living my dream.
It all happens for a reason.
