How to Find a Job: When There Are No Jobs (Book 1) a Necessary Job Search and Career Planning Guide for Today's Job Market (Find a Job Series) Read Free Page B

person. What ensued was a type of mutiny within my company, and I ultimately ended up firing two other employees and the fourth left the company. My feelings were mixed, as I felt relieved from the pressures of having employees, but anxiously realized that for the first time in many years I was alone. It was an extremely difficult time in my business career.
    Nearly a month after all my employees left my company, an amazing thing happened.  I had been diligently working on placing a former Vice President of Research and Development from the Quaker Oats Company into Sara Lee. I was informed that an offer was forthcoming. Shortly thereafter an offer was in fact made by Sara Lee and accepted by the Vice President. My fee for this placement was nearly $30,000. At that time it was the biggest placement of my executive search career. I was very happy to say the least, but an odd feeling ensued as this relatively large placement didn’t change my attitude about my search business. I had made a decision to leave the business, but did not know how. I decided shortly afterward that I would take six months away from my business and try to discover my true career path.  I have since called this important time away a sabbatical and search for the truth.
    I am a planner by nature and as a result, a consummate saver of money.  My business had been good to me and I accumulated a sum of money to sustain myself for approximately four years without having to make any major changes to my lifestyle. Throughout my six-month sabbatical, I spent an enormous amount of time planning, reviewing my past goals and searching for areas of interest. I also started to write this book, during this time, as writing had always been a passion of mine. In addition to my long time practice of goal setting, I had started to keep an idea file several years ago. I began to study this file where I kept a record of any idea that would come to mind over the last five to six years. Combining the notes from my idea file with my goals proved to be exactly what I needed to help discover my career path. 
    I reviewed my idea file and found that the majority of my ideas interested me but did little to inspire me. Only a few of my ideas that were of interest, both inspired and excited me.  I realized that these were my values, the things that I care about and feel are important.  Further, as I studied my goals, I discovered my unique skills, some innate such as my need and desire for organization as well as my learned skill of running a business.
    A Final Decision
    I decided after several months of planning and endless discussions with friends and family that I was not ready to sell my executive search business. However, I was ready for a change within the structure of the business. I decided to expand on a program I had previously developed called “The Executive Marketing Program.” The principal idea of the program was to market executives to my contacts within companies the executives themselves choose. The initial program I had started several years ago resulted in tremendous sales for the company.
    However, due to the state of the economy at the time, the new program over the following six months was mildly successful. I soon decided that in order to survive in the raging recession, I needed to revert back to recruiting, but maintain the Executive Marketing Program. I was once again, doing what I didn’t want to be doing!
    Back to the Drawing Board
    I went back to the drawing board and reviewed both of my idea and goal files. Finally, after a few failed attempts to find a manager to run my executive search business, I decided once again to sell my company. At this particular juncture in my life, my decision to sell my business was one of the most difficult for me. The reasons for my initial attraction to this type of business remained and continued to keep me involved.  The company had been good to me financially, and it enabled me to experience a great deal of