How To Land The Career of YOUR Dreams
You can do whatever you want. It's that simple. It's amazing what can happen when you let go and let 'The Big Guy' do his thang...
But, I've always had a hard time letting go, I have a very independent personality and enjoy being in control of my own life and circumstances. I had a hard time succeeding in school by this blessing of a curse, so I never made it very far in my higher education. I just 'knew' I could do it on my own and that I was obviously wasting my time sitting in these classes, throwing money out the window like every 18-year-old does.
So I decided to try it on my own.
I grew up in a farming family and agriculture has been my passion since birth, it is in my blood. I knew that I wanted to pursue a career within it but I never could pinpoint what that was. I didn't want to farm, I didn't want to teach, and I didn't want to work in an elevator forever. Up until this point in my life, those are the only options I believed you had to work in agriculture (of course besides being the handsome cattleman's wife.)
However, I did, in fact, start my career working in an elevator during harvest as the scale person. Glamorous right? Somebody has got to do it or how would we ever get the grain from farm to table? Anyways it turns out I truly enjoyed this experience and that transferred into my work. By the end of harvest, I was promoted and transferred to the head office as a commodity trader/office assistant. I learned so much in that year. The lingo, the math, international deal making, helping farmers "hedge" their products and the list just goes on.
From there through effort and the will of God I managed to land a job with the largest family-owned cattle company in the United States, Cattle Empire, as a Risk Management Trainee and then onto becoming the manager of their communications department leading the online communications, educational outreach, and coordinating the internship program. 8 years and a few right turns later I am now the owner of my own marketing firm specializing in large beef operations while simultaneously running our own cattle company along side my husband.
Do you want to know how I went from college drop-out to the career of my dreams? Check it out.
I prayed. A lot.
I prayed for new beginnings. I was dealing with some self-induced life circumstances that were less than desirable (Broken heart, damaged family relationships, lack of finances, lack of maturity, etc.) I prayed for patience. And I prayed for God to protect me. I was scared and I was young, I thought I had this whole life thing figured out at the ripe old age of 20 and then life hit me like a 10-ton mallet and I soon learned that was not the case.
I received guidance, openly.
Do you remember in the beginning of this post how I said that I am independent and strong-willed? Well, that tends to transfer over to many areas in my life. And it can be difficult 1. for me to slow down long enough to hear what others are saying, and 2. for me to swallow my pride enough to recognize that another persons input can be just as valuable as my own. But I sucked it up and I let others help me. Dennis Landis from Landis Ag Placements was a huge motivator in the process of changing my way of thinking and opening my eyes to the world of possibilities within the career field of agriculture.
I was willing to move... Across the country.
All of my family lived within 30 miles of me. Everything I knew was in that small town in Ohio. But I knew that if I wanted more if I wanted to be more, and if I wanted to chase the dreams that were planted in my mind I had to be willing to go wherever the opportunities led. Sure you can find a way to make money wherever you are but generally, if you are chasing a specific dream or career you are going to have to go to where 'it' is. In my case, it was the western U.S. to nowheresville, Kansas that happens to be the beef epicenter of our great country. And was also located exactly 1,000 miles from my parents home.
I did whatever they needed me to.
In short, I proved myself with my talents and abilities. I took training and went to seminars I soaked up everything about the topics at hand on the internet that I could find at the time. I learned new technologies and taught others how to use them. I looked for solutions to problems and implemented them. I worked. Hard. There was no task too small for me. I made myself valuable.
I decided what I did and didn't like to do.
Then I got really, really good at the things I enjoyed and I was able to create my own little niche position within the company. It definitely helped that they are open minded and progressive but I had already proven myself to them as well.
And now I continue to take training and go to seminars. To soak up everything about the topics at hand on the internet that I can find. I learn new technologies and teach others how to use them. I look for solutions to problems and implement them. And I make myself valuable.
If you do all of these things in the very near future you will be able to work exactly the way you want to in exactly the place you want to. Unfortunately, just like weight loss or wealth building, there is no magic pill, you will have to put in the work and the hours. But it's worth it and you can do it.
