Where to start? I had a grand plan in the summer of 2022. I was professionally burnt out, barely getting through my workday without feeling completely drained. So I took a sabbatical--which is the polite way to say I quit. Up to that point, tech and marketing jobs were plentiful and I figured after a few months break, I would have countless options and offers for new opportunities. And then tech got laid off. Meta by 21,0000. Google: 12,000. Amazon: 8,0000. Salesforce: 8,000 (and counting).
As the holidays came and went and a new year began, 2023, I thought things would pick up. And the did. All of a sudden recruiters were replying back to my applications. Hell, recruiters were reaching out to me on LinkedIn. That fear I felt at the end of 2022 was misplaced. I should have just enjoyed the holidays and waited until a new year brought new budgets and new roles. I was wrong.
As early January turned into late January, turned into February, a trend emerged. For two months, I consistently had 3 - 4 companies that I was actively interviewing with. Positive conversations with recruiters led to great conversations with hiring managers, then team interviews and in some cases, homework to show marketing skillsets. After two months of this cycle repeating itself and being told 'no' more ways than I can count, I was getting frustrated. I was sad and beginning to doubt my skillset and experience. I wondered what I could do differently to stand out. Realizing what was in front of me was an obstacle, the quote and book title of the same name by Ryan Holiday hit me hard, "The obstacle is the way."
Applying and interviewing for jobs was only one way, a single opportunity, to accomplish my goal: get back to my marketing career. What I failed to consider were the other paths available to me to accomplish this goal. Marcus Aurelius's full quote on this topic better defines what came next, " The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." I was letting job applications, interviewing and "nos" impede me from my goals. Once I stopped focusing on the single obstacle in front of me, new options opened up.
Which led to me, finally, creating my own website. My own company. My own brand. No question, this is still a tough time and process. Whether I get a full-time role is no longer important to me. It's convenient and preferred, but it no longer dictates my career or my happiness. Which leads me to why I created Obstacles are Opportunities and not just relied on my "corporate" brand of James Carroll Consulting. So many of us get stuck focusing too much on the problem in front of us and solving it. That obstacle can be called many things: decreased budget, increased efficiency, tight deadline, etc. Within that obstacle though, what are we ignoring or deprioritizing because we're so fixated on what's in front of us, we can't see past our own nose? That's what I want to help people with. It can be called creativity, out-of-the-box thinking or any other cliche you want. At the end of the day, it's using our constraints and obstacles as leverage to create new and better opportunities.
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