Step One

Well, it's been quite a while since I posted to this blog. And with good reason!

I battled it out for a long time. I was struggling in the Financial Services industry for a few years. I picked a great time to try and market life insurance, IRA's, etc. People in this Country have often been face with the decision: life insurance vs. food. Guess what wins?

Well, I figured it was high time to accept things for what they were, and reinvent. I took a long, hard look at what I was qualified to do. I also thought about what it is that I like to do, and if there were a way to get work elsewhere.

It's no secret that I love all things food. In September, 2011, I found a match. I'm working for a food company that's quite prominent in my area. I'm doing something I love as much as, if not more than, my former Wall Street career. Wall Street, in my eyes, is no longer the prestigious, honorable industry it once was. The sub-prime lending debacle led to the massive bailouts, which led to more mismanagement, and more of the same. It's disgusting what this generation did to Wall Street. I saw it coming years ago when I realized that the only qualification necessary to work for a brokerage firm was a birth certificate. No more need for an impressive resume when patronage jobs were plentiful. I saw this practice put some very unqualified people into some very important positions. This led to shortcuts and fast-buck artists, and as Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch can attest, this led to a massive industry failure. So the time was right for me to give up all hope of securing a respectable position with any of the surviving firms.

Now I work for a company whose sole mission is to make people smile, happy, full and healthy. I get to offer great foods, menus, tips and tricks to my customers. And I get to learn about great new ways to cook, eat and be merry!

And let's face it: people will always need to eat, right?

Now I make about 1/10th what I made at Merrill Lynch. But after guys like Stan O'Neal and John Thain were done with Merrill, there was nothing left. Bank of America took Merrill Lynch over and helped it narrowly avoid the fate of Lehman Bros. and Bear Stearns. They were a disgrace to the industry and I sort of feel lucky to no longer be attached to Merrill, particularly now that it is a part of Bank of America. (we all have a pretty good idea how honorable that company is, right?)

My new career holds a lot of hope and promise. I grabbed onto the bottom rung of the ladder at my new company, but I'm happy announce that I've already pulled myself up one rung.

More to come. Soon.

Love to hear your thoughts...