The first part of my plan is to focus on my family.

Without a solid home foundation … it is very difficult to succeed.

You need a base of operations that will support you through the tough times and to celebrate the successes along the way.

My plan for family is to be the best father and husband that I can be.

If there was a contest for being family man of the century … my goal is to receive this award when I die.

A few of the goals within this part of the plan are …

• Purchase a tent trailer to spend time camping this summer
• Teach my oldest daughter how to ride her bike
• Build monthly daddy and daughter days in my schedule
• Once my youngest transfers to the bottle … build date nights in our schedule

My wife likes it when I focus on house stuff … so in addition I plan to …

• Fix-up the garden / yard (our grass needs some care and feeding this year)
• Fix-up a few things around the house (why do houses leak so much?)
  
• Finish the basement (not much of a handy man so I plan to contract this out)

This area of focus also includes extended family and friends … so I plan to put monthly family and friend nights … as well as a monthly guy’s night … into the schedule.

As I clean out my desk … fond memories return.

As I walk through the office … I remember the good times.

I know I have made the right choice … but the thing I will miss the most is the relationships … the connections … that I have built up over the 18 odd years working at The Bank.

This is the hardest thing about moving on … saying goodbye.

I would like to say goodbye to my team … for putting up with me as I continued to change, adapt and improve my leadership style.

I would like to say goodbye to my friends, peers and co-workers … for making my stay here so enjoyable.

I would like to say goodbye to my many bosses over the years … for indulging me as I’ve done my best to contribute to the organization.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with many amazing people … I would like to personally thank each and every one of you … for making a positive impact on me … and I hope I was able to make a positive impact on you.

I plan on keeping in touch with as many of you as I can.

If I don’t get a chance to say it in person … as I make the rounds through the office this week:

I wish you well on your journey.

I’m sure our paths will cross again in the future.

This week I told my boss and my team that I did not apply for any of the new internal positions … that I will be taking the package … that I will be leaving.

It caused quite of spin.

It’s interesting to watch how people react to the changes going on around them.

Most people were quite excited for me … way to go!

Others were worried about me … had I thought everything through?

Some were more focused on how this affects them.

I find it fascinating to watch the group dynamics … the ebb and flow … the emotional energy … that moves around a group of people.

There is so must power within this energy.

It’s too bad that most people don’t even see this energy

They don’t even realize that they are caught up in it.

It’s this energy that good leaders will harness.

They see how their actions impact this energy … they know how to mold it … to shape it … to bring the best out of people.

I wish more people would just notice it … that would be a good first step.

These things never happen at an ideal time.

You see … we (my wonderful wife and I) have just give birth (mostly my wife) to our beautiful second daughter (we just celebrated her 3 month on this planet last week).

My wife left here day job over 6 years ago to stay home with our first daughter (also very beautiful) who will be turning 8 in April.

So here we are … my wife and I and our two kids … with me wanting to leave a safe and secure corporate job (an 18 year career) … to chase my dream and follow my passion.

If I was on my own … if I was the only one impacted … I would have made the leap years ago … but when you have responsibilities … when other people are relying on you … it’s not that easy.

I told myself that it was more safe and secure to stay within my existing job.

However … is it really more safe and secure?

What I’ve come to realize is that … when you work for a corporation … it is no more safe and secure then working on your own.

You see … the concept of a safe and secure job … is an illusion.

I’ve seen too many lay off’s … too many job eliminations … to continue believing in the fantasy.

Now … don’t get me wrong … you can make a nice living working for a corporation … I did it for 18 years.

To survive in a corporation you need to understand one key thing … don’t count on having your current job forever.

You see … at any moment … the political landscape may change.

Even if you have a great relationship with your current boss … or your boss’s boss … it doesn’t matter.

Someone three, four or five levels up (in really large corporations) may decide that your division will be sold off … or … merged with another division … or … spun off as a separate company … or … outsourced … or … I hope you get the point.

I’ve also come to realize that these things never happen at an ideal time … and if you wait for the ideal time to follow your dream … you will be waiting a really long time.

That’s because … there is no such thing as the ideal time.

Or … (I like this one better) … the ideal time is now.

The only reason that I’m able to do this … is that I started down this path over 4 years ago … when I felt safe and secure.

So I encourage you to do that same thing now … when it’s safe … begin developing your plan … start building the relationships … learning the skills you will need … so that you will be prepared when it happens to you.

And trust me … if you are working for a corporation … at some point in your career … it will happen to you.

And it won’t be at the ideal time.

Over the past week I’ve had more advice (both solicited and unsolicited) then I can recall in recent history.

The piece of advice that is coming up most often is … you guessed it … sales (and marketing).

In a nut shell … the advice is … to make it on your own … you will need to learn how to sell.

At first I thought … groan … I hate sales.

But … as I thought more about it … it made sense … if I want people to purchase my services … if I want to make a living … build a thriving business … then I will need to learn how to sell.

So … this week … my goal has been to understand sales.

There are so many aspects to sales and marketing that I need to understand.

I’ve come up with more questions then answers … some of them are:

• What is my brand … my niche?
• Who is my Customer … who is my Client?
• What do they need? What do they value?
• How can my products and services help them?
• What are the benefits of my products and services?
• How can I influence them to see the benefits of my services?
• What is my USP … unique selling proposition?
• Why pick me over all the other possible success coaches?
• How can I sell … what do I say … how do I act?

What I’ve realized is that … this is only the beginning … sales is not something that you study for a few weeks and … voila … you have the skill.

It’s something we have been doing since we were born … that we are doing today … and … will continue to do until the day we die.

Every interaction we have … every impression we make … every word we speak … affects the sales process.

Very quickly I’ve come to realize … based on an excellent conversation over lunch (thank you Alex) … is that the key to successful sales … it to build relationships … to build connections … to establish trust … and ultimately … to help people buy.

Now this is not some gimmick to persuade people to buy your product or purchase your services.

Because the goal is … to help people buy … without trying to sell your services.

Yes … you heard me … without trying to sell.

This is truly an outstanding concept … and I feel that I’m just touching the surface here … that once I truly embrace this … that this would really work.

It just seems to make sense … the best sales interactions that I’ve ever had … two things were present.

1. The sales guy (or gal) I was dealing with wasn’t trying to sell me anything
2. I felt that the sales gal (or guy) had my best interest in mind

I recall a time when a salesmen even told me that his product was not right for me.

Now is that powerful or what … instead of pushing the sale … and potentially damaging the future relationship … assuming that I would be dissatisfied … he told me that the product was not right for me.

I’m going to be applying this concept over the next few weeks … and I promise to report back how successful it is.