In 2011, I was given the career opportunity of a lifetime when the 5th largest office products company in the United States hired me to start, build, and grow a promotional products division. At the time, I was well entrenched and respected as the Vice President of Sales at a top 20 distributorship, but the opportunity was simply too good to pass up. It sure didn’t hurt that the new position would require me to move from Chicago to Nashville. There I was given complete autonomy and over the next two years (and with the help of a great team) the division became profitable 14 months ahead of schedule. The division was growing wildly, ownership was thrilled, I loved what I was doing, and was making more money than I ever dared to hope. I thought the good times would last forever.
I was wrong.
In the closing months of 2013, the volatility of the office products industry finally touched me, as the company I worked for made a business decision to form a strategic alliance with the largest office products enterprise in the country. On the surface, this partnership was only for the office products portion of the business which represented approximately 85% of revenue. In January of 2014 however, my job was eliminated and the division I built was gutted so as not to directly compete with the new partner. To put it mildly, I was devastated. Over the course of the next nine months, I did lackluster work for two distributorships, found my confidence was in tatters, and felt as if my professional life were spinning out of control. I thought the feeling of despair would last forever.
Again, I was wrong.
The simple fact is things are never as good as you think they are, nor are they as bad as you think they are. Good moments – winning the RFP, landing the whale of a client, having your largest sales month – are fleeting. The bad moments are fleeting as well – missing a deadline for your largest client, the sudden resignation of your top salesperson, having a year of negative sales growth. The fact is, business – and life – is in a constant state of flux and always will be.
When business is fantastic, take time to enjoy and appreciate it because it won’t last long. The same goes for when business goes south – it won’t last forever.
After about nine months, I started my own company (brandivate) which accomplished two goals:
- 1. Regain control over my career destiny
- 2. Rediscover my professional confidence
In the five years since I started brandivate, I’ve had the good fortune to work with people I admire, share my transparent authenticity through writing and speaking, and received recognition I never thought I would attain. Heck, I even sold brandivate to PromoCorner in 2017 where I was given the opportunity lead the organization. As I write this, PromoCorner has experienced tremendous growth and I have the honor to do work that matters with a group of caring people. Life is good today.
I'm going to enjoy this moment as I know it won't last forever. Even so, when this moment ends, I know another great one is on the horizon.
Bill is president of PromoCorner, the leading digital marketing service provider to the promotional products industry, and has over 18 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products distributorships. A featured speaker at numerous industry events, a serial creator of content marketing, president of the Regional Association Council (RAC) board, and PromoKitchen chef, Bill has extensive experience coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, and developing branding that resonates with a target audience. He can be reached at bill@PromoCorner.com.