Reset: The Art of Letting Go
As many of you know, I made a big career change this year.
It was hard. Many tears were shed. I was with my former, fantastic company for nearly eight years. They helped me to become the person and professional that I am today. I will be eternally grateful. They truly changed my life for the better in a million different ways.
At my prior company I had the opportunity to help them scale from 4,000 units to nearly 16,000 units under management. I did everything from business development, operations management, leadership, and quality control, to handling late night emergency calls for drunken resident altercations, holiday kitchen fires and multi-unit leaks thanks to movers knocking sprinkler heads loose and dousing properties in many inches of standing water. You name it, I probably handled it. I was honored to help set the standards for the company and assist them in growing to the #3 largest property management company in Washington State, while also planting the flag in Oregon with our first management contract (soon followed by many more).
At a certain point, I got bored. I felt restless and stifled, like the opportunities to grow and learn were limited. An opportunity presented itself, and after many months of conversation, I decided to take the leap. I am so glad that I did.
It can be terrifying to make a career change, especially when you love the people you work with and work for. Ultimately, six months out, I’m grateful for the opportunities and the lessons, but mostly for the relationships I have taken with me that I will cherish forever.
What factors led to my decision? My hope is that my experience can help guide your own career decisions, so that you can experience more success and fulfillment by being true to yourself and your own desires.
I no longer felt challenged. We continued to grow, but my ability to influence that growth began to stagnate. I realized that I love being a part of a start-up. I want to make change that leads to rapid growth and helps us quickly capitalize on opportunities to meet our goals. I like the excitement and the rapid pace. A more corporate environment feels stifling to me. I want to be in a role where I can be strategic, creative, entrepreneurial and quickly see the fruits of my labor. What do you need to feel fulfilled and continually challenged? Do you get that where you are now? If not, how might you change things to get more of what you need to feel satisfied in your work?
My career decisions had become fear-based instead of opportunity-based. I had begun worrying more about losing all that I had built, instead of being excited about possibilities. I had gone from taking calculated risks and moving quickly to walking on eggshells. I feared the unknown and losing what I already had. But what I needed most was to let go and try something new. I worried no other company would be as full of smart and kind people as the one I knew and loved. I stayed when I should have taken flight. I needed to trust in the magic of new beginnings and believe in my own potential and the goodness that was out there waiting for me. I say this as an agnostic, fairly anti-woo-woo person. But I think there is real truth to the saying that you get what you put out in the universe. You attract what you expect. All the little things you think, say and do bring you closer to what you focus on. Once I began to let go and allow for the unknown and what-ifs, my spark reignited.
I felt taken for granted. This one is really painful to talk about. I gave so much of myself for so many years. All of my ideas, my energy, my free time, my evenings and weekends, my maternity leave, my vacations, my physical health, my family’s well-being - all were sacrificed on the altar of “what’s best for the company.” I felt like it was an extension of myself and my own family and believed they would care for me in return. You reap what you sow, right? Well, that is only certain if you own it. Even then, things can happen. An economic downturn, a sick business partner, a lost account - all that and more can happen and wreck your plans. There is a time and a place for a mentality of “the opportunity is the payment.” Once you have proven yourself and your worth, and your commitment, and your values, you need to be properly compensated, trusted and respected in return. No one should expect undying commitment and gratitude in return for a simple paycheck. It is always more than a business exchange and your fair market value for what you bring to the table needs to be recognized beyond just your monetary value. Your integrity should not be questioned once you have proven yourself and your values. The respect you feel at work should not depend on the vagaries of a client’s mood. If you find yourself in a situation where you are treated as less than you deserve, you owe it to yourself to demand better.
I wanted to learn new ideas, strategies and ways of doing business. I still wholeheartedly believe in the strategies and philosophies that brought so much success to my prior company. However, I wanted to learn the best from our competitors and other related companies. How did they do business and why? What rationale did they have for reaching different conclusions about how to move forward in similar situations? What was their secret recipe and how would learning it enable me to be more effective, more discerning and more well-rounded? I have found myself embracing new ideas that would have been so antithetical to my prior company but absolutely work. There is no one single road to success. Business strategy and execution is much more art than science. I learned the building blocks in my MBA - but only real-world experience taught me how companies really grow and scale. A spreadsheet is no match for actual on-the-ground experience.
So what are you afraid of? What do you want to try? Is there something holding you back from taking that necessary next step? What fears do you need to clear away to lift the fog and allow you to move forward with confidence, peace and positive energy?
I hope you choose to embrace growth, change, and new beginnings. Letting go can be so beautiful and so courageous.
If you’d like to chat more, message me at hello@kendehlandco.com. I would love to chat with you and help you take that leap of faith in yourself and the potential of new beginnings.
