I haven't touched this blog in a really long time. I haven't had much time for reflection. It has been a year of change, and lots of it. I went back to work this year. I hadn't worked professionally since before our move to Los Angeles. I have tried many "business opportunities" along the way in an effort to earn an income, and be home and available to my family as much as possible....and well, let's just say, I had little success. What ever it is that makes a person successful running a home based business, I do not have "it".
So, I went back to my "roots", Training development and facilitation. Having been out of the business for a decade, my development skills were very outdated. Software changes, the way training is done has changed, much of it being converted to self paced or webinar models vs. traditional classroom training. I couldn't even find my writing samples. For heaven's sake, they were on floppy disc's somewhere, I had a few printed copies of my work, but not much. My resume had a 10 year gap in it. I was pretty discouraged.
I got a lucky break. A colleague of my husband's (who is also in the business, long story, but I got him his first facilitation gig many moons ago), was looking for facilitators to include in an RFP for Boeing Aerospace. My husband said, well I am not available, but I know a really good facilitator with a wide open calendar, my wife. Turns out the company he was representing was a company with whom I had old ties and connections, and my professional reputation, old as it may be, was still worth something. I was back in the game!
So! Long story short, that is where I have been for the last year. What I thought would be a 6-8 day per month facilitation contract, turned into a very busy schedule with a good deal of travel. I had an incredible experience working with Boeing. I met some great people, but by mid June, I was a worn out, husk of a human being. I was physically, and emotionally exhausted, and needed a break. Thankfully, that was the end of the contract.
So, I went back to my "roots", Training development and facilitation. Having been out of the business for a decade, my development skills were very outdated. Software changes, the way training is done has changed, much of it being converted to self paced or webinar models vs. traditional classroom training. I couldn't even find my writing samples. For heaven's sake, they were on floppy disc's somewhere, I had a few printed copies of my work, but not much. My resume had a 10 year gap in it. I was pretty discouraged.
I got a lucky break. A colleague of my husband's (who is also in the business, long story, but I got him his first facilitation gig many moons ago), was looking for facilitators to include in an RFP for Boeing Aerospace. My husband said, well I am not available, but I know a really good facilitator with a wide open calendar, my wife. Turns out the company he was representing was a company with whom I had old ties and connections, and my professional reputation, old as it may be, was still worth something. I was back in the game!
So! Long story short, that is where I have been for the last year. What I thought would be a 6-8 day per month facilitation contract, turned into a very busy schedule with a good deal of travel. I had an incredible experience working with Boeing. I met some great people, but by mid June, I was a worn out, husk of a human being. I was physically, and emotionally exhausted, and needed a break. Thankfully, that was the end of the contract.
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