Certainly, I have the Recession to thank for my very positive turn of events. During good times very few marketing decision-makers need a guy to increase sales when sales are booming. But, when the ‘cupboard is bare’ as it has been for the past year, I have been busier than a one-armed paper hanger!

Sadly, a few of these inquiries waited too long and found themselves already drowning in negative cash flow or worse having their assets repossessed. They just waited too long to take corrective action.

I’m not a miracle-worker. Granted, I’ve been fortunate to account for some very exciting turn-arounds but only because the opportunities and circumstances were aligned with my expertise and skills and the clients followed through with my timely recommendations.

The old definition of luck of ‘when opportunities meet the prepared mind’ may seem trite but it’s true and I have my father and my old high school Latin Teacher, John Bell, to thank for his often quoted, “everything one experiences in life is grist for the mill”.

For years, I labored diligently and stayed the course pursuing my laser-focus of mastering the sales prospecting process rather than wandering off course and trying to become all things to all potential clients who needed presentation, closing, and customer service skills training.

Make no mistake; many times I was tempted to accept sales training assignments outside of my area of expertise to pay the bills. I stayed the course and remained focused on b2b (business to business) sales prospecting and new business development challenges and now, I’m thrilled to say, it was the right thing to do!

This past weekend, I finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, the best-selling ‘success’ book, which was filled with countless stories and affirmations of why it pays to become an expert in a discipline and how where we come from and how those around us are truly responsible for our successes in life.

“I chose the path less travelled and it has made all the difference’ Robert Frost’s memorable poetic words ring true, again. My purpose with this blog posting is to remind those who are at the crossroads of their careers to pursue a life’s work they genuine enjoy and a career where their expertise can be counted on to deliver relevant and timely value to others.

Years ago, Zig Ziglar, whom I once met at a National Speakers Association Convention, advised me to follow my heart and do well what I enjoy most even though the compensation (at that time) may not meet my expectations because eventually I would triumph and be paid what I am worth.

Those ‘years ago’ are now and I’m thankful I followed his sage advice!