Any of you take a job (career move) that you weren't 100% sure you could pull off?

Just curious..........

How many of you have taken or accepted a job position that really pulled yourself out of your comfort zone? Were you successful? If so/if not, are you happy you took the risk?

I was offered a new position last week with the company I've been with now for almost 2 years, and it's going to definitely pull me out of my comfort zone. The last person in this position was previously one of our top performers (before moving into what is now my new position), but failed miserably during 2008. Seeing an opportunity to increase my income significantly, and distinguish myself from the crowd here, I took the offered position and will be diving in head first. I officially transition as of Monday next week.

Lisa asked me the other night if I was confident that I would be successful. I told her I was confident that I'm better than the guy that was in this spot previously. I also told her that I was confident that I would make more money, or get fired........one of the two or maybe both. LOL. She didn't find the later part of that response as amusing as I did for some reason :d. I guess I'm comfortable making the move because even if I don't pull it off I'm pretty sure I can get into another position very quickly elsewhere, and also have enough stashed to be OK for quite some time if I need to. That's the backup plan though, and I honestly am at the point with this company that if I want to grow and move up, I'm going to have to take a risk to get there. That motivates me.

Anyone have any good words of wisdom or inspiration that have pulled off a somewhat risky career move like this? Or maybe a good story of how you crashed and burned? :d

 

I did about 9 years ago. I went 500,000 In debt and bought my parents milk hauling business and also the house they lived In and I grew up In. Allot of things changed!! Was It worth It? I don't think so. I wish I would of kept my county job I had- 5 days a week, 40 hours a week. My job now- 7 days a week 365 days a year (70 to 120 hour work weeks). I've went as long as 3 months straight with out a day off. As far as I'm concerned the money Isn't good enough with all the stress and hard work that I put Into It. No wonder my dad wanted out of It. Money don't mean everything.

My job Is different then most so my experiences probably don't mean much. Good luck RJ with your new position. I hope It works out great for you!!

 

Yep. Current position. I had NO medical background when I took my job in medical sale.

Still don't understand 99% of the stuff I sell, but it makes me a LOT of money.

 

Good to hear it's working out for you Greg........sales is sales. If you know how to sell you really don't need to know much about what your selling....sometimes when you know too much it's tough to listen to what the customer is telling you.

I really think the new position is going to work out. Basically I'm being moved into a strategic/large accounts position.....the only position of it's kind in the company so there will be a lot of eyes on me, and they will be heavily relying on me for a good bit of revenue. Basically I'll be whale hunting, but I always do my best when I'm under that kind of pressure.

Lisa and I do pretty well right now, but if I can pull this off it's definitely going to give us both a huge jump start on the dream home that we have been working so hard to pull off. I'd like to be in a position to make that happen when the ecomony really comes back strong in a few more years and we can get a fair price for the house we are in now.

I'm already sandbagging the current big deals I have in the pipeline until they count for the new position. :d

 

My only words of advice - Go Big or Go Home.

Shoot me an e-mail with some more info when you get a chance. I need to know if I can still e-mail you when I have problems even though I shouldn't be doing that now anyways. :D

 

You my friend can always email me with questions, no worries there. Just from here on out with new sales I'm focused on businesses with 25+ employees. Previously I was working 5-24 employees.

If you email me and it bounces, you know I didn't quite pull it off.......:d

 

LOL!

 

VERY WELL PUT!!!!!!!!!!



I work the best when I am not in my comfort zone. It keeps you on your toes.

 

i did it once, i got bit... took a chance and left a company that i'd been with for almost 10yrs for a small company that would have been a career change for me... after a week on the job i found out they were hiring me only cuz they were pumpin me for info as they were tryin to land my old company as a client and they suddenyl said they could no longer afford to pay me my salary... they said i'd have to take a 10k pay cut even though I'd already taken a small cut so i could be closer to home... it all worked out and i ended up getting a MUCH better paying job with better benny's and still close to home...

 

was terriffied to come to Chicago from Mpls, but had to do it and get out on my own with my own program... my time in MN had come to an end and i needed to show them folks i was more than just the guy who worked his way up from being an intern 7 yrs earlier!

 

Good luck. I personally haven't made any big undertakings like that, but my girlfriend has. Best I can say is always believe in yourself that you will get it done. She's done VERY well for her career being tossed into a very male dominated sector on projects that were behind the 8 ball. Believe in yourself, have confidence, but also don't be afraid to seek out help if its available and you'll do well.

 

Bump. Been a while since we chatted about this. Any thoughts?

A bit of anxiety, planning on signing paperwork this week that's going to change our life...............

 

I will be happy to have you in the area and we can still use 30 round mags here

 

im going o start my job as a underground miner in august. that will be a big change for me i have always worked in the sun and outside so we will see what happens

 

Thanks buddy - I'm looking forward to it!

It's going to be longer than I anticipated until I'm actually on the ground. Unfortunately the company took longer than I was hoping and I've still got to unload our current house before we will be out there.

Job description and responsibilities changed quite a bit too for them to justify what I needed, basically responsibilities doubled as I'm now running half the country and two seperate teams instead of the one I've been with for the last year. My current team is doing really well, but I've got some work on the other one. Anxious and excited at the same time.

 

Good luck Matt. I think it will work out well for you.

 

More importantly....epic thread bump

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy s4

 

I did it but it was 44 years ago in the Army. I had been to a specialized school and as a Cavalry Captain got thrown into a Major Ordnance slot. I all of a sudden had 140 military mechanics and 60 civilian mechanics working for me I had 8 people in my office with the lowest ranking being an E7. I had 5000 line items of repair parts. I was responsible for all the track vehicles in the training brigade for Fort Knox. I forget the exact number.... but it was around 400 Plus or minus tracked vehicles plus a ton of jeeps and trucks. I survived by delegating and relying on the guys who had been there and done that. We really rocked.... although I had a problem with my boss.. That's another story. I went outside the channels to get myself sent back to Vietnam which he didn't like.... but he was passed over for General and I came out sqeeky clean on the deal. It all lead to me taking 200 people into the woods of Vietnam for 8 months. I brought most of them home. In August my old Co, a retired 3 star, is gathering his flock in Alexandria. me, 3 of my surviving platoon leaders, the Co of Bravo Troop and the XO. My best friend in life is going to see I get there. The Oxygen people here are giving me the tools I need to make it happen I've seen them all except one in recent years. I haven't seen the one platoon leader since 1970.

 

To your original question...yes. Two quick thoughts: 1-The worst of the learning curve is within the first 3 months. 2-When you stretch yourself you also tend to grow you abilities the most.

Good luck! !

-Bill

 

Davidmill, when I reflect on my living standards and daily stresses of life, we lived in luxury compared to you. Props to you.

As for the OPs question, I will be making a big career move in a few years when im done with my time. Of course I wont be 100% sure I can do it and make it successfully in the civilian side, I hear about all these dangers of job security and you can get fired! among all these other things. But my wife is going to med school so Ill have some kind of safety net if things don't work out for me.