Leadership
I decided to leave my company this week. We had a national convention coming up and the writing is on the wall. The company has not made a profit in my division in thirteen years of existence. They are going in a direction that will drastically reduce the sales force of which it is very small already. But the straw that broke the camel's back was the revelation that all the work that was done to garner association business...none of the referral letters have ever been mailed to prospective clients. One agent told me the company has not done so for eight years. So all these high profile testimonies gather dust. Agents coming into the company are told of all the association building that has gone on and that letters are routinely mailed with reply cards attached...NOT SO!
This was very disheartening...what I have been told is basically a fraud. So what we have been really doing is cold-calling with the belief that we are following up on a mailing...no wonder we get strange looks from prospective clients.
The parent company has installed their own president in the last month. I look for the Senior Vice President to be canned since he was passed over for the job. There is no where else for him to go. He is a great guy and always pro company but the ways of the company's founder are measured.
What is sad it is really a great company with great product. But they don't seem to know how to market on a national level while our competition trounces us. The "power of personality" can only do so much. We needed a national identity which there is none.
Anyway, I have admitted the frustration and turned in a resignation letter. I will use my licenses and talents elsewhere. Also with the current health situation with my parents I need to be closer to home. Going out to Tim buk Tu has to stop. I need to stay within a 50 mile radius at least.
At home things are as bad as it gets. I had to take mom out off the nursing home and now I am back being a caregiver. Dad seems to have bouts of dementia and makes little sense. I am not sure if it is alzheimer's or possibly that the cancer has gone to his brain. His health insurance is through the VA...which really is not insurance at all. They are not equipped to handle someone like him. I am getting way too stressed out.
I have secured some appointments for a new job next week. I have to decide whether I want to sell or go into administration. If I can approach the income level I once had ...I may decide to do that.
Loneliness is a big factor...there is nobody to share the emotional burden. I have taken mom and dad countless times to hospitals, doctors and therapy. They take it for granted or are unable to understand what is going on. Dad thinks everything is ok...then he goes off on rages. He verbally abuses mom constantly and on occasion attacks her ...shaking her in his frustration. I had to break this up a couple of times. This is why I worry while I am working on the "road". My past company would not tolerate me going back home to take care of things. If I work as an independent...I can make my own rules. I know in a short time they will pass this veil.
I know I need to make some drastic changes in my life...the pain I have has become a "comfort zone". I have to uplift myself...there is nobody at church to help me with this. God the way I view "him" is changing. Much of the emotion I had for "religion" is gone. I may have "gone methodist"...lol! But anyway, it is more of an intellectual process. I accept the teachings of Christ and throw away much of the church trappings. I guess I am not deacon material after-all...thank God.
Well race day approaches here in Indiana. Everybody is all wound up for it. This is a big time for Indiana. It is hard to explain to "outsiders". This is something we really focus on. They had one of the race drivers at a local Meijers. I unfortunately chose that time to shop. People were lined up for miles to get a pix with the driver. It was kind of odd all them hoosiers waiting patiently and politely (as hoosiers do) to get their pix taken with the driver. It was like them going to Mecca...their pilgrimage to the racing gods.
Racing and basketball are instilled in the blood here. It is very primal. They would fight to defend this lifestyle. Liberals stay out!!! People from New York or LA would not get this as a whole. Now NASCAR people would feel right at home...especially the southern states. I say these things with some experience since I have lived as a coast-ie myself in CA. Cars are for cruising in LA...they are not into just making left turns forever as they do at Indy...LOL! I guess you could call this a pagan sport since someone can die doing this and the crowd does have this disturbing "turkey neck " response when there is a pile up. I guess we are not as far out of the tribal mentality as we may think.
This was very disheartening...what I have been told is basically a fraud. So what we have been really doing is cold-calling with the belief that we are following up on a mailing...no wonder we get strange looks from prospective clients.
The parent company has installed their own president in the last month. I look for the Senior Vice President to be canned since he was passed over for the job. There is no where else for him to go. He is a great guy and always pro company but the ways of the company's founder are measured.
What is sad it is really a great company with great product. But they don't seem to know how to market on a national level while our competition trounces us. The "power of personality" can only do so much. We needed a national identity which there is none.
Anyway, I have admitted the frustration and turned in a resignation letter. I will use my licenses and talents elsewhere. Also with the current health situation with my parents I need to be closer to home. Going out to Tim buk Tu has to stop. I need to stay within a 50 mile radius at least.
At home things are as bad as it gets. I had to take mom out off the nursing home and now I am back being a caregiver. Dad seems to have bouts of dementia and makes little sense. I am not sure if it is alzheimer's or possibly that the cancer has gone to his brain. His health insurance is through the VA...which really is not insurance at all. They are not equipped to handle someone like him. I am getting way too stressed out.
I have secured some appointments for a new job next week. I have to decide whether I want to sell or go into administration. If I can approach the income level I once had ...I may decide to do that.
Loneliness is a big factor...there is nobody to share the emotional burden. I have taken mom and dad countless times to hospitals, doctors and therapy. They take it for granted or are unable to understand what is going on. Dad thinks everything is ok...then he goes off on rages. He verbally abuses mom constantly and on occasion attacks her ...shaking her in his frustration. I had to break this up a couple of times. This is why I worry while I am working on the "road". My past company would not tolerate me going back home to take care of things. If I work as an independent...I can make my own rules. I know in a short time they will pass this veil.
I know I need to make some drastic changes in my life...the pain I have has become a "comfort zone". I have to uplift myself...there is nobody at church to help me with this. God the way I view "him" is changing. Much of the emotion I had for "religion" is gone. I may have "gone methodist"...lol! But anyway, it is more of an intellectual process. I accept the teachings of Christ and throw away much of the church trappings. I guess I am not deacon material after-all...thank God.
Well race day approaches here in Indiana. Everybody is all wound up for it. This is a big time for Indiana. It is hard to explain to "outsiders". This is something we really focus on. They had one of the race drivers at a local Meijers. I unfortunately chose that time to shop. People were lined up for miles to get a pix with the driver. It was kind of odd all them hoosiers waiting patiently and politely (as hoosiers do) to get their pix taken with the driver. It was like them going to Mecca...their pilgrimage to the racing gods.
Racing and basketball are instilled in the blood here. It is very primal. They would fight to defend this lifestyle. Liberals stay out!!! People from New York or LA would not get this as a whole. Now NASCAR people would feel right at home...especially the southern states. I say these things with some experience since I have lived as a coast-ie myself in CA. Cars are for cruising in LA...they are not into just making left turns forever as they do at Indy...LOL! I guess you could call this a pagan sport since someone can die doing this and the crowd does have this disturbing "turkey neck " response when there is a pile up. I guess we are not as far out of the tribal mentality as we may think.