A couple of months ago I made a big decision and decided to work for my family business. My father has owned and operated a sporting goods store for the past 30 years.  It’s a great shop and my dad has busted his ass since before I was born to keep it a successful business.

I struggled with the decision to work there for a long time.  I have always felt some moral obligation to be there with a little bit of pressure from the outside.  (For the record, no pressure whatsoever was put on me by my parents.  Ever).  Neither of my siblings seemed to have any interest.   And me being the oldest I would always get the question “Why don’t you just work for your dad”.  I knew I could do well there, I knew I could be comfortable, but I also sometimes felt it was the easy way out.  I wanted to do things my way.

I’ve always had big dreams and big ideas about my life and my career.  Those were not playing out like I had expected.

Right out of college I got a job with the New York Islanders Hockey team I was there for four years (That could be a whole entire other blog in itself, I will write a book about it one day).  To sum up that experience really briefly, it was an extension of college except we had salaries and the resources of a professional sports organization at our disposal.  I made amazing friends there, we were a family.  A crazy, drunk, dysfunctional family, but a family none the less. 

When I was let go from the Islanders I was unemployed for 6 long, hard months.  It wasn’t hard only because of the lack of funds but because it is not in my charachter not to be working.  I worked for my dad a little here and there.  I still wasn’t ready though, I had to give things another try.  I wanted it to be my choice and on my time.

When I felt frustrated and almost deceived by the job I took after unemployment I decided it was time for me to make a move.  I craved some stability in my life and my mind and heart told me I could have some peace of mind and security that I had been so desiring by joining my family.  While my previous job didn’t pan out the way I wanted it to, I had learned so much from it.  I had become very educated in online marketing and social media.

So when I did finally make my decision, I wasn’t going there to sharpen skates and stock shelves I wanted to change the dynamic of the business and really take it to the next level. This included computerizing the entire store inventory (the business is still run the same way it was 30 years ago) and making a website and an online store as well.

It was the right choice for me, it allows me to help my family and use my love for online marketing with the flexibility to take on other projects if they presented themselves.

For the past two months I have been entering in every single item in this 5,000 square foot, filled to the brim, store.  It is torturous to say the least.  But it will all be worth it.  It will.  And who’s to say I still won’t have a big and powerful career.  I’m just getting started.  Being here isn’t throwing in the towel, in fact I see it as the ultimate challenge.