One Thing I Have Learned in 10 Years

On Monday June 21, 2021, I will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the start of my career. As I have said in previous articles, I am self-taught as far as marketing is concerned. When I started my role at Royal Oil Company as Sales & Marketing Manager in 2011, I was attending college at night. I frankly had no interest in the "traditional college experience" and had preferred to work full-time at a job within my major to gain relevant experience.

Now, due to the size business that Royal Oil Co. was, my responsibilities were that of an "Operations Manager" rather than what my title inferred. While I was primarily responsible for Sales & Marketing, I was also responsible for (or at least heavily involved in) supply chain, finance, purchasing, & some human resources. My business major gave me a lot of knowledge and helped me tremendously in my job at the time, which was my goal.

At Royal, I had 100 salespeople (of whom 50 were consistently active and 50 we heard from once or twice per year) who reported to me. These salespeople were scattered across the country with the vast majority being over the age of 50 and almost entirely male.

For me, this was not an easy position to be put in. I happened into this role simply by dumb luck and extenuating circumstances. I started out as a shipping clerk when, four months in, my boss was let go for doing things on the company computer that no one should be doing. Being 2011, Royal hadn’t quite bounced back from the recession and so, decided that having me do his job (for the same pay) and hiring someone to replace me was a much more cost-efficient choice.

This gave me a severe case of imposter syndrome, which I still struggle with at times today. While I was happy to take on the challenge, I did not ask for nor had I done anything to earn the promotion. I was certainly glad to have an office and be out of the steaming hot warehouse, but I had neither the experience nor the education for the position. I had to learn everything on the fly, and everyone was very quick to point out the littlest of mistakes. Fortunately, I was able to pick things up pretty quickly, and 10 years later I am grateful for the experiences that I have had. I don't know if that imposter syndrome will ever completely go away, but all any of us can do is take it one day at a time.

One Thing I Have Learned in 10 Years

Now, there are hundreds of old adages out there, and everyone seems to have their favorite. One of my favorites, especially in the last couple of years, is “if it won’t matter in 5 years, don’t spend more than 5 minutes being upset about it.”

Now, there will always be some igmo out there who gladly jumps down the rabbit hole to link every possible scenario effecting various outcomes in the future. This type of person either thrives on drama or lives to prove everyone else wrong. I am neither. Something I must re-learn time and time again is that in the end, the problem or mistake doesn’t matter.

For the first couple of years after I started my career I was very, let’s say, passionate. Some people I worked with might say I was a bit of a hothead at times. This was the result of a combination of insecurity, difficult employees under me, and tremendous stress from multiple sources. I never popped off at anyone who hadn’t popped off at me first; I’ve always tried to be a pleasant and calm person. But when a salesperson or one of my coworkers would be getting upset with me, I tended to match their tone and volume, and indeed elevate it. But then one day I had a light bulb moment and asked myself “why am I letting the shipping status of an automotive product get me so upset.”

You see, it’s not that the little things in your professional life don’t matter. Certainly, anything in business does matter and can affect a great many people both in the moment and for weeks to months later. But in the grand scheme of things, nothing whatsoever matters to the point of affecting/interfering with your personal health, mental health, or family life. Those three areas must come first. An exception to this may be if you are in a position that makes decisions which affect the health and safety of others. If this is the case, I submit that if this position starts interfering with your personal health, mental health, or family life; you need to step back and get into a position that does not affect the three areas.

Now, don’t get me wrong… a strong work-ethic is highly important. If you are going to do something, you need to do it to the best of your ability. If you put in your all at your job, chances are good that you will succeed and move forward. But getting upset when things go wrong, yelling at your employees, or taking anger or stress home with you is not worth it. When your time comes, you will not regret the report that came in a day late or the sales goals that were missed. Mistakes happen, all any of us can do is put in the effort and do better next time.

Don’t sweat the small stuff and don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. Competent businesspeople, who are still vested in the job and the company, will put the effort in and make it right.