What do you want to be when you grow up?
If you’re a young person (or even an adult), you have probably been asked this question recently.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
This question drives me nuts! I’m a 42 year old woman and sometimes I still wonder what I want to be when I grow up!
When I was a kid and was asked this question, I like a lot of you, had a nice, canned, and respectable answer so the adults in my life wouldn’t think I was a complete and total screw up.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” they would ask.
“An English teacher,” I would say.
Why?
What else?
I liked to read and write; I had no math, science or caregiving skills; I was terrible at sports; I was decent at music and art, but other people were more talented. One thing I did know was that I liked telling people what to do – so “teacher” seemed like the logical choice.
“Teacher” was on this imaginary list of acceptable career choices.
You probably had a list like this too.
Depending on your family and culture, your list might have been a lot shorter than mine.
Adults who had it together worked “professional” jobs where they earned a salary, reported to an office or school or hospital every day, they had a business card to give you with a nice title, and when they told you what they did for a living, people didn’t respond, “So what do you really want to do?”
Working in the retail or restaurant industries, maintenance, car repair or construction just didn’t hold the same value in our society as doctor, lawyer, teacher, engineer – so I never even considered these as viable options.
For 20 years, I let other people’s society’s and my own expectations of what a successful career looked like, to get in the way of my happiness.
I’ve only been in the retail sporting goods and footwear industry for 12 years.
Why did it take me so long to get here?
Well, I failed. And failed a lot.
I didn’t get the grade I needed to get into the education program in college, so I never became a teacher.
I dabbled in half a dozen careers after college, never finding something that fit.
I was fired from three jobs in the course of about two years.
I ended up with three degrees and racked up a ton of student debt because I didn’t know what else to do.
I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
While I was doing all of this, trying to figure out “what I wanted to be when I grew up,” I was working various retail jobs, always just passing through on my way to what I imagined my “real” job would be someday.
But guess what?
At each of these retail jobs, I was extremely successful. Even as a temporary employee, I often out performed the management staff.
And you know what else?
I was HAPPY.
I actually ENJOYED these jobs. I didn’t dread getting up in the morning and going to work.
And still….
I couldn’t let go of the expectations that I’d set for myself, that other people had set on me, and that society had set on me.
In 2012, I was 30 years old. I’d been out of high school for 12 years. I had several useless degrees, a lot of student debt, and I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.
So I took a break from the relentless pursuit of someone else’s ideas of success and decided to work retail for a bit while I figured out what the next step would be for me.
It was at one of these “temporary” retail jobs where I met someone who would change the course of my life.
This person was the district manager of the retail shoe store chain that I was working at at the time. She was in charge of multiple stores, which was a new idea to me – I had no idea that there was anything in retail beyond being a local store manager. She sat me down and encouraged me to pursue a management track with the company. Here I finally saw someone who was successful in their retail career – not only enjoying what she did, but making good money, and being incredibly influential in our community, even without a bunch of acronyms behind her name.
Suddenly, my eyes were opened. I finally felt free of the expectations that had held me back for so many years. I no longer felt like I had to be what everyone else wanted me to be.
It took me more than 20 years to figure that out.
But as soon as I let go of those arbitrary expectations, I suddenly saw OPPORTUNITY all around me.
Not too long after this revelation, TerraLoco opened in Rochester.
I liked the idea of pursuing my newfound career choice with a locally owned business.
I started at TerraLoco in January of 2013. Within two years I had grown the business, taking over events, social media, day to day store management; I had hired an assistant manager and we had a large team working for us; I was doing merchandising and the majority of the buying and purchasing of inventory for the store.
In May of 2015, the owners offered to sell me the store. And on August 1, 2015, I became 100% owner of a nearly 4,000 square foot retail store with absolutely no business education or experience.
I often wonder what would have happened if my eyes had been opened earlier.
I have no regrets honestly – in fact, looking back, all of my experiences were preparing me for this career all along! I just never realized it.
One of my first jobs in high school was selling shoes at Rogan’s. In college I worked at Foot Locker, which is where I met my husband.
At each of these retail jobs – jobs that I was just passing through on my way to something better – I learned merchandising, point of sale systems, customer service, and retail psychology.
And now, honestly, I have the coolest job ever.
Being a business owner, you get to be your own boss (and yes, I also get to tell people what to do now). I decide where and when I want to work. I set my own goals and benchmarks for success.
The running shoe and sporting goods business is pretty amazing as well. I have met famous athletes, I get to travel, work closely with famous, national brands, and I get to see new products before anyone else.
When I was growing up, my sister and I had this running joke about Rochester celebrities. We’d see a well-known figure out in public: an athlete, newscaster, radio personality, and we’d get overly giddy about our sighting. “Rochester Celebrity sighting!” we’d holler, excitedly. A few years ago, I started getting recognized in the grocery store. I had to call up my sister right away and brag that I was now a Rochester celebrity!
I’ve been lucky enough in this career to be involved in so many opportunities here in Rochester – influencing policies, events and hopefully even people.
I recently met someone who started as a store manager in a run specialty store like mine back in the 90s. He went on to become a sales rep for a big national brand, and is now their VP of Sales, leading the way in the running shoe industry!
Talk about opportunity!!
Why didn’t anyone tell me in 1999 that this was possible? Not just possible, but respectable.
And just a valid a choice as any other career.
Now, I’m not saying that everyone should run out and join the retail or run specialty industry (though, if you’re interested, send me a message)!
What I am tell you is this:
Don’t let anyone tell you a job isn’t good enough. That you aren’t good enough.
Yes, we do need doctors and lawyers. We need teachers and principals. But, we also need someone to keep the building clean and make sure it doesn’t fall down around us. We need people to pick up our trash, plow and repair our streets, build our houses, grow our food, make our tacos, and yes, even sell our shoes.
Everyone has a place in this world.
If you’re happy, can pay your bills, and have time for things you love (family, traveling, hobbies and self-care), that’s ALL that really matters.
Find something you are naturally good at and enjoy doing. Don’t discredit your passions and interests. Even if it feels like the perfect job for you doesn’t exist … it probably does. Take the leap!
Be BRAVE. Be BOLD. Be CREATIVE and KEEP AN OPEN MIND.
This is the key to success.
Not a particular job, or degree, or the number of acronyms behind your name, but the ability to stay curious about yourself, your community, and the people around you.
So the next time someone asks what you want to be when you grow up, go ahead and answer that you want to be curious.
It’s amazing what this one little change of perspective can do.
