Having my 1st child at 19 and being a single mom forced me to make some hard decisions. I had finished 1 years of college in the field of Hospitality Management. Spending my pregnancy working holidays and nights, I realized I did not want to raise a child under those circumstances. Once my son was born I took my 1st job as 411 operator, good money with great insurance. For me no job is ever just a job, this is where I learned and payed a lot of attention to the innerworkings of a high volume call center. What make it work, what made it fall apart, what employees liked as well as hated. This is where my miseducation of the business world began. Every job I held I took on educating myself and understanding the hairball of systems and in turn would analyze what could make them better.
I spent 10 years of my career working at a major candle manufacturer in New England. When I started in 2000 the direct to consumer catalog, website, and call center was just getting off the ground. The “call center” was a ramshackle office in the corner of a fulfillment warehouse. In my little corner of the world as our department took on new roles, tasks, and staff and grew over the course of 10 years is where I learned what to, and not to do. Within such a large organization many departments are siloed and run on their own software. I had a real desire to understand how the departments communicated. What were the relationships? How did they work? What were the ramifications if they didn’t? During this time I learned about websites, configurators, ERPs, Bank Feeds, Inventory, Logistics, Supply and Demand, Marketing and how it all ties into Customer Service and how a single break in the chain can bring an organization to its knees.
After 10 years, some good times and a lot of headaches, I felt the need to explore other organizations to see if they were experiencing the same challenges. Could I help them improve some of their process from what I had learned and in turn also learn new skills. The answer was yes. After a few more organizations and a few more bumpy rides I was finally able to take all the things I have learned and put it into action to help many more organizations in a more of a consulting role with a Major ERP software company.
Why am I telling you this? I never finished school, I have never taken a supply planning course in college, but I understand what the real life struggles of both large and small organizations are. Most people I know are not working in the career they went to school for, they learned and grew in the field the fell into, for me I happened to love it as well. I found a real passion in solving problems and making improvements. I truly believe there is always a better way to do something. I am not talking about cutting corners that affect quality, I am talking about streamlining and continual improvement. The only constant is change and change = progress.
Don’t be discouraged. No not believe that you will never amount to anything just because you didn’t take that leap when you think you should have. Take stock in what you love and also what you excel at, you might be surprised on where it leads you. It lead me to a career in consulting to help people identify process issue and help find solutions not only improve process but also business objectives.
Who knew that the girl that came from divorced parents, a single teen mom, a double divorcée that never finished college would amount to anything. I did… and that’s what matters.
Womanufacture & Hustle 