A few years ago I was working in Business Development for a Fortune 500 Company. My job required me to travel every week. On yet another night away from my family in Tucson, I found myself sitting in the Marriott Hotel room flipping channels and eating a salad from a box that I had put together at Whole Foods. To say that I was miserable was an understatement. For over a year I had been peddling my infection control products to multiple hospitals from state to state and missing my family terribly.
For many months I was struggling with the idea of leaving my job to follow my passion. I kept asking myself what I wanted to do. I knew that I always liked coaching and mentoring my sales team and new hires, but could I earn a living doing that? As thoughts of “is this what I was meant to do?” swarmed through my brain, I happened upon a strange TV show called Billy The Exterminator, Captivated I watched as this leather wearing, stud accessorized “tough guy” from the south, enthusiastically tracked down vermin and released them into the wild.
That night I watched him rid a house of wasps, snakes, rats and raccoons. He was amazed and awed by how much waste and destruction these rats had left. “Wow” this guy has some serious passion for this stuff,enough to have his own company and hit TV show. Pretty impressive I had to admit.
Billy’s passion for extermination and helping people get rid of pests totally inspired me. And as I sat there watching this show with my fork in mid-air and my mouth wide open I thought, wouldn’t it be great to have as much passion for what I do as he has for what he does.
And then…. I got it! A light bulb went off in my head and the word “COACHING” popped in. Why not become a coach. I was already passionate about mentoring and helping others, so why not do it professionally? After speaking with my husband and sharing my enthusiasm for what was to become my new career, quit my job and went to school to study coaching.
I DID IT!! I started my own company.
It wasn’t always easy, starting a business from scratch is not an easy endeavor, but I had and still have such a passion for helping people achieve their life long goals and find success that it out out-ways the tough stuff.
Billy the Exterminator doesn’t know how much he changed my life. I bet he wasn’t even thinking about how he could change the course of someone’s life by exterminating rodents, but his passion certainly made animmense impact on my life and for that I am incredibly grateful. Perhaps Billy can help you to. Ask yourself what you are most passionate about and maybe find your own calling.
Thanks Billy.
Stephanie Wachman, Executive Coach and owner of Life In Balance, www.stephaniewachman.com
