Roadblocks While Working Toward Our Purpose

Getting a taste for what it was like to work toward a clear purpose offered a feeling I hadn’t really experienced elsewhere in my work life. Seeing the direct impact I could have on someone else’s career, and how that impacted their entire life, by sharing things I had learned that helped me and Cindy may have been as close as I’ve been to the pull of an addiction. The challenge was that all the new job opportunities seemed to be taking me in a completely different direction.

As I wrapped up What’s KILLING Your Profitability? (It ALL Boils Down to Leadership!), I shared how near the end of my time with the manufacturing company I no longer felt like I had the support of my boss or his boss - both of whom had recently joined the organization from the same other company. In detailing that, I explained how emotionally draining it was to feel like I had no choice but to move on from where I had worked my entire adult life. If I’m being honest, that sucked! I truly believed the position I took when I left that role would be what I retired from. I enjoyed most of the people I worked with and was fascinated by what the organization did, but it wasn’t doing much to fulfill that taste I had gotten from chasing my purpose. Since I had all that spare time though, only working ten hours each day there, I was able to start the licensing process with Maxwell Leadership. That was the largest one-time investment we had ever made into personal or professional growth - and we had been investing heavily into growth and development for fifteen years leading up to that point! The cost certainly pushed me to make the most of it, and the interaction I had with folks who have become some of my closest friends and mentors helped me develop an ever clearer picture of how I could move closer to that purpose.

I wasn’t looking for a different job, but what ended up being my last full time role kinda found me. I was content where I was but this next role was a growth opportunity and back in the construction field. While it didn’t require me to put my tool belt back on, I will say that I was definitely attracted to working in the sector I started out in as a young teenager. During the job interview, I was very open with the owner of the company that I had recently started my own business - although what I had started then barely resembles what we do today - and that we didn’t need to move forward if that created any concerns for him. I promised that it wouldn’t interfere with the position he was interviewing me for; I’d always give him what he was paying for and more. He was good with it all so away we went.

The job was fine. I’m still not sure if it was heavier on compliance than I anticipated or if I was that much more pulled toward our purpose; likely the latter. Regardless, even fumbling through the things I was doing to develop others through my little business gave me exponentially more fulfillment than what I did to fill open positions and keep OSHA from screaming at the company I worked for. Over the next year or so, that makeshift business continued to gain momentum. Cindy was working in what started off as a dream job during that same time, earning more than the two of us combined just a year or two prior. The dream rapidly became a nightmare so by the fall of 2016, barely a year after forming Dove Development & Consulting, I encouraged her to resign and move into (now) our business full time. I’m forever grateful, but it was extremely hard for her at the moment.

Twelve months after Cindy stepped away from full time employment, I made the decision that I couldn’t pursue our purpose with everything I had and do all I felt needed to be done in the full time role I held. I provided the owner of the company I was working for two months (not weeks) notice so I could help him identify a viable replacement, and I helped intermittently for another month after that to help my successor get up to speed. I’d love to tell you that things took off like a rocket from there. I’ve been extremely transparent with you to this point so there’s no point in sugarcoating anything now… Not only does working with your spouse come with different challenges than just being married, we had to navigate self employment, no employer-paid health insurance, and a freaking global pandemic that prevented us from doing the bulk of the work we were being paid to do for almost a year - and that’s only listing a few of the roadblocks we had to navigate.

This is clearly just an overview of some highs and lows covering several years, but hopefully it provides some perspective of how even some of the best doors of opportunity can get stuck at times. Thankfully though, having our clear purpose helped us yank those doors open, or find an even better door that would open. Keeping that purpose in front of us kept the tough times from pulling us down. It’s also allowed us to increase the impact we’re able to make so we’ll dig into that soon…