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One of my favorite authors said that “If people are living the same as always, with their bellies full of food, they'll just go on the same way. If they get hungry and unhappy enough, something happens.”
And boy did it happen…
I was driving home from a particularly rough day at my job. One of those days where everything that could go wrong did. And I found myself stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, wondering how my day could get any worse.
Then, I saw something in my rear view mirror.
“He must see me.” I thought.
“There is no way he doesn’t see me.”
“Ahhh shit.”
CRUNCH
A truck driver failed to check his blind spot when he was lane changing. The initial impact was a shock. But what was really shocking, was that he just kept plowing into my car. And as my door started crushing towards me, I couldn’t help but panic at the prospect of getting pinned in my seat. I yanked my seat belt off and leaped, as well as I could, into my passenger seat and drifted another few feet to come to a rest, my car partially crushed, against the curb.
As I stood outside the ruins of my car waiting for a tow truck to scrape it away, I couldn’t help but think that, just maybe, this may be some sort of sign…
I think a lot of people have the idea that their lives are just going to get better. That one day, without reason, it will improve. But without hard work it almost never does. The truth is, the idea of quitting my corporate job, starting a business, and traveling abroad had been on my radar since my first backpacking trip to Asia in 2014. Like so many others that cliched dream was always racing through my head when I was having a bad day. But it was little more than that, a rumor, a pipe dream that would dissipate with even the slightest hint of realization.
I could never push myself to take action. I think part of the problem was that I liked my job. It paid well, I liked most of the people, and I could honestly see myself working there for the rest of my life. I was comfortable, but for the most part, unhappy. I think that my notoriously bad day told me, vividly, that although my job was OK, there were probably many more stressed and uninspired days, doing work that I wasn't passionate about.
That was my motivation. Not a near-death wake-up call. But an ‘I’m barely living,’ realization.
Within a month my brother (Brad) and I had started forming the idea of a career development business. It was something I had been doing for years and had a lot of experience with. Plus, with my employment in HR, it was a logical side hustle. Brad, on the other hand, was a competent writer, gifted coach, and communicator who could learn the technical side of the work quickly while contributing extensively in other areas.
Thus, we created Top Prospect Careers. It was our passion to help others, like myself, pursue their employment dreams and find roles that made them happy. With a focus on professional growth, we helped our clients by providing customized interview coaching and writing winning career documents. To great success, I should add.
However, we soon realized that there was much more that we could offer with our combined skills. Our focus was still on enabling people to pursue their professional dreams but we branched out into various forms of coaching/training like confidence, motivation, executive presence, hiring, etc.
Today we offer a variety of services from Career Development to Executive Career Coaching all with one simple idea in mind: Helping people feel fulfilled in their professional lives.
Whether we are helping businesses improve their employee communication, interaction, or hiring practices OR giving professionals the confidence and tools to succeed, we are always circling back to one core idea...
Some Businesses and Professionals, Want and Need More.
And that is where we come in.
Top Prospect Career’s goal is to empower people and businesses. To ensure our clients are happy, fulfilled, and successful in their individual professions. And to help businesses create work environments that allow for employees to truly feel valued, happy, and committed.
So far it has been an amazing journey with a lot of struggles and successes. We are looking forward to the next chapter in our story as we continue to expand and hope that YOU will be a part of it.
Thank you for reading my story and I wish you all the best in your own professional journey.
Dan