Aim high…

Last night, the little man and I were talking about jobs.  When he asked what he could be when he grew up, I said he could be anything he wanted.  He responded that he would like to be a large dinosaur.

I’m sure my parental duty at the time was to explain that humans don’t become dinosaurs, but instead I encouraged him to aim high and left it at that.

Before I really understood what it meant to be a consultant, I wanted to be one.

Back at Rollins, I took a graduate level course called Strategic Consulting with the wonderful Dr. Easton.  More than anything, I listened intently to her work history, traveling around and helping a variety of companies with their biggest strategic change issues.  Knowing how hard it was to pin myself down to anything for a prolonged period, this sounded like the perfect option for me.

By design, most college courses prepare you for a rather straight-lined journey into whatever career path you stuck with through your senior year.   The reason only becomes obvious after you’ve been out of college for a while and learn it’s because you can’t predict life.

I earned my scholarship with a business plan I’d developed for my “someday” record label.  This plan was dropped during my college years, when Napster turned the industry upside down and the need for traditional labels or distribution methods followed suit.

Today I earn the bulk of my income managing energy programs and initiatives, and it’s no secret that our industry isn’t exactly hurting for funds right now.  What isn’t covered in the media is that all these “green jobs” being created are flooding the market, making it more competitive than ever before to do what we do.

There are many layers of protection that are afforded to those who work in larger companies.  Sure, they’re subjected to layoffs.  However, there’s only one job to cut when you’re a consultant.  It’s pretty much do or die.  Competition shouldn’t be a concern because you need to be focused on being the best.

Thriving in that kind of environment is what I now know to be the true sign of a promising entrepreneur, which is a suitable term for any successful consultant running her own business.  You can flinch in scary movies or wince at the sight of blood, but if you stop to believe that you can’t keep the work coming in or putting the good work out, you’re going to have trouble paying your bills.

I’ve been doing this enough that I’ve made some fairly big mistakes and a lot of smaller ones.  I’ve found that it’s really not hard to succeed if you just keep getting back up, brushing yourself off and trying one more time.

Aiming high is more than just dreaming big. It’s about giving space to mess up, taking time to learn the lessons and never giving up until your dream comes true. While Joe might have to work a little harder than most to achieve his dinosaur fantasy, I am somehow comforted to know that even the most impossible of goals can become do-able when you compare them to something even more seemingly absurd.