5 Years Ago, I Almost Gave Up!

How I Kept Job-Hopping and Failed Before A Wake-Up Call That Changed Everything.

The household that I grew up in was made up of a father who was an entrepreneur and a mother who was a stay-at-home mom, unless she needed to go out into the workforce to help supplement the income that my father wasn't bringing in.?

There were times where we had money. There were times where we didn't have money. And there was a direct impact on the household when the times were good and the times were not good.?

Despite that, I grew up with a model of two parents who respected one another and who cared enough to make their marriage work. And have us view unity in them.?

But there was a saying in our house, whenever we would say, that's not fair. My mother would give us a very stern look and say, "it's not about being fair."

Whatever you think that fair is? It's not about being fair. Life is not fair. You know that. I don't need to tell you that.?

So then how do you navigate around that in the workforce?

Well, I learned when I was a teenager that I wanted to experiment with every type of job that I could get my hands on. And I did that. From about the age of 16 all the way through to age 40.

I worked in: Hospitality, Industrial, Automotive, Technology, Supply Chain, Insurance, Finance, and Media until 5 years ago.

What Happened?

5 Jobs in 5 Years... But This Was Rock Bottom.

I hit my breaking point. I was angry, depressed, anxious, and broke—spiraling into debt, losing my relationships, and barely hanging on. Sound familiar?

The moment everything changed was when I was rushing to catch a flight for yet another trip to see clients—a trip my boss swore would only happen 25% of the time. Yet, there I was traveling 75% of the time, missing out on life and opportunities that actually mattered.

Late for the flight, I slipped on the wet marble floor. Hard. Knocked out cold with a concussion. And when I came to, soaking wet from the janitor’s mop bucket, I did something insane. I forced myself up, dragged myself onto that plane, and pushed through a brutal workday in Philadelphia, my head throbbing, my heart broken, my life out of control.

Why? Because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. Not my boss. Not my team. Not the client.

And when I got back, sick to my stomach and emotionally shattered, my boss praised me for "doing the right thing." That’s when I knew... I was done.

That day, I made a decision that changed my life forever.

I was DONE being stuck in the same negative work cycle, DONE with companies that didn’t care about me, and DONE with jobs that sucked the life out of me.

But most importantly, I vowed to take control of my career, to stop settling for the jobs I thought I could get and start going after the jobs I deserved.

If this story resonates with you, you’re not alone—and you don’t have to stay stuck either.

What Did I Do Next?

What I learned throughout all of this was that I always had a choice I was always in control of my options, but I never exercised that right because I was too busy feeling sorry for myself and too busy feeling like things weren't fair.

No one's responsible for you, but you and you already know that. So the biggest challenge comes, whether you like your choice or not, you always have a choice. I was in many different situations, whether they were public or private.

Whether they had to do with work or whether they had to do with relationships, whether they had to do with my life, or whether they had to do with my happiness, where the choices were not great choices.?

The options were not great options. Sometimes it felt like one was bad and the other one was worse. But at the very baseline level, I still had an option and even if those options were awful, I had the ability to decide how I was going to react to the option and sometimes I didn't react very well. And a lot of times I needed third party intervention. And there's no shame in asking for third party intervention.?

There's no shame in sitting down and talking to someone whether it's a friend, a family member or a professional and isolating the challenges that you're having. So they stop repeating themselves before you embark on this.?

Because if you're blaming the Recruiters or you're blaming the hiring managers or you're blaming the system or you're blaming the lack of jobs, You have to stop.

• You Need to be your best self before you start applying for jobs. If you just came off of a bad experience and start grabbing whatever you can in the market without reflection of what happened, you’ll fail.?
• Understanding the Recruitment Market - the secrets Recruiters gatekeep to prevent you from getting hired is hurting your job search.
• Preparation is key into the market and these are the skills that will get you found versus staying in the background.?

Maybe you need to start with some self-reflection.

Maybe you need some education or guidance.

If I could go back in time, I would've bothered to understand how HR and Recruitment works when I was a teenager.

It would've saved me time, money, and relationships and alleviated a lot of the worries I carried throughout my sales career.

If you're like me and fed up with the same cycle, you're not alone. It can get better!

Interested in learning more? Visit The hirequity Academy to learn more about How Hiring Managers and Recruiters FIND, VET and HIRE you. Get the job you deserve.

Be on the lookout for my first webinar starting next week.