You planned your career well. You had the right major, learned the right skills, landed the promising job and were on your way to the top.
What you hadn't counted on was the company moving offshore . . . the job becoming obsolete . . . the family emergency that required a move . . . or just getting bored with what you were doing.
What you need is another career — a second act. While a transition sounds daunting, some have been surprised to find that the contingency plan can be as good as — or better than — the first career.
Take the initiative
Like many others, Brian O'Neal had his career cut short when the Ford automotive assembly plant in Hapeville closed last year. Having worked on the line for 10 years and been an elected United Auto Workers union representative for two, he suddenly needed to start over.
Brian O'Neal found himself in the market for a new career when the Hapeville Ford plant closing was announced. He became a Realtor; this house is one of his listings in Stockbridge.
"I knew friends who sold real estate, and [I] had thought about trying it," O'Neal said. "When they made the [plant closing] announcement in January [2006], I knew I had to get it done, now."
O'Neal purchased a CD from the Georgia MLS Training Institute (for real estate careers), studied at home and passed the real estate licensure exam in August 2006. He took a job with Coldwell Banker Bullard Realty and worked two jobs until the plant shut down in October.
"Switching careers was scary and nerve-
racking. When you have been doing something for 12 years, making a good living, and have excellent benefits, it's hard to start over," he said.
He was grateful for the buyout package and for his wife's job as a radiology technician. They had health insurance and a safety net.
"It's hard to convince people to let you sell their house when you're first starting out. Fortunately, I had friends at Ford who were moving," O'Neal said.
He had only four listings the first six months, but now he has 18 homes and three commercial properties listed and is assisting a few home buyers. "Not bad for a rookie," he said.
Given the opportunity to apply for work at the new Kia plant being built in West Point, O'Neal decided to stick with the new career.
"I'm confident and excited. If I can survive the real estate market now, I'm going to be doing exceptionally well when the market picks up, and I have a better life," he said.
He likes being his own boss and doesn't miss the 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. schedule at the plant. "We're expecting our first child in two months, and I'll be able to be with [my daughter] in the mornings."
He's also learned some valuable lessons about moving from Plan A to Plan B.
"You've got to do it on your own," O'Neal said. "The Georgia Department of Labor did a good job of posting positions and training opportunities for our displaced workers, but you have to be prepared to make the change yourself.
"I wouldn't be selling real estate if I hadn't worked as an elected representative and learned people skills. My job at the plant was to negotiate between the hourly and salaried workers, to keep the peace and keep things flowing."
Learning to listen and solve people's problems carries over into selling people's homes.
"It's stressful for them, so part of the job is to keep them calm and hopeful," he said.
Use what you know
Cheryl Richards-Mann spent 23 years at a market research firm and had moved up the ladder to chief operating officer. When the company moved to California, "it almost felt like a divorce," said Richards-Mann, now president of Atlanta Home Care Partners Inc.
Instead of moving, she took what she knew how to do well to find her second career.
"I found an executive coach and researched what I wanted to do next," she said.
After listing all her goals, aspirations and talents, she realized that she was well-suited for a service industry. She was used to satisfying customers but no longer wanted to crunch numbers or interpret data.
"I had a lot of compassion and love of the elderly, and I wanted to provide a service that would give back to the community, especially to the generation that gave everything for us," Richards-Mann said.
She looked at franchises in the home-care industry, but she knew she would be paying for services she didn't need; she had persuaded her husband, Lewis Mann Jr., a CPA and former business owner, to join her in the venture.
"I didn't need someone to tell us how to set up a payroll or run a company, and we wanted to be free to bring our own ideas into the business," she said.
The couple worked with an industry consultant who had managed a successful elder-care business in Kentucky. "She helped us brand and market our company, and I still turn to her for advice," Richards-Mann said.
Atlanta Home Care Partners Inc. has been operating since February. Richards-Mann has hired five caregivers and has 13 others ready for clients. Her company helps people with the nonmedical activities of daily living.
"I've been lucky to find really conscientious, compassionate caregivers, but I'm a classic overachiever and sometimes wonder, 'What have I done?' I've sunk my life's savings into this business and asked my husband to join me," she said.
Besides relying on her research and business talents, Richards-Mann has used her community connections and savings to help make the transition.
"I married a Decatur native, and we know a lot of people," she said. They've marketed through churches and community organizations.
"My husband put me on a savings plan 15 years ago. Learning the art of saving for a rainy day allowed me to do this," she said. "Without savings, I would have been forced to take another job."
Learn something new
Using your skills and assets is essential, but so is having the ability and willingness to learn new skills when starting fresh, said John Druckenmiller, owner and publisher of Hometown Headlines Inc., an Internet media group that serves northwest Georgia. A print journalist for 26 years, Druckenmiller moved from Atlanta to Rome to become editor of the Rome News-Tribune in 2002.
Von Grady (from left), a caregiver with Atlanta Home Care Partners, and the company's president, Cheryl Richards-Mann, help prepare lunch for client Laurette de Jarnette. Richards-Mann started the company after the market research firm where she was working moved to California.
"The move was a lifestyle choice. Both my wife and I had jobs we enjoyed, but, between the long hours and commutes, we feared that our son would be growing up on I-285. We wanted to raise him in a small-town environment," Druckenmiller said.
That desire didn't change, even though differences of opinion ended his newspaper job after 17 months.
"Within hours, I had a cellphone and the business cards to start a PR company in Rome," Druckenmiller said.
But in launching a Web site called Hometown News to help his clients, he discovered an untapped niche that he had the skills to fill. Business professionals, community leaders and residents wanted to know the latest news about local developments, education, politics, health care and restaurants.
He's since developed other county news sites, a dining guide and a site for local family activities. He gets an average of 1 million hits a month on the combined sites.
Druckenmiller knew how to report stories; he had to learn to sell advertising.
"You have to learn to sell yourself and your integrity. You plant a seed, and it might be four months before you hear that they're interested, but 80 percent of our advertisers have stuck with us," he said.
"If you're in a location you love, look at your skills and community needs and talk to people you trust," he advised others who need to change careers. "If you hear enough 'I think so's,' then do it."
Get back up
"Don't let failure cause you to think of yourself as a failure. Get back up," said Joyce Morley-Ball, educator, counselor, therapist, motivational speaker, author, poet and radio personality. "You have to try, try again. The problem isn't falling; it's not getting back up. It's taking lemons and making lemonade."
The youngest of 14 children growing up in the bean fields of Florida, Morley-Ball's Plan A was to be a teacher. She got a bachelor's degree in elementary education and psychology from the State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo; a master's degree in counseling as well as specialist degrees from SUNY Brockport; and a doctoral degree in counseling, family and work-life from the University of Rochester in New York.
She taught and was an administrator in the public school system for 15 years and was dean of students for the Rochester City School District by 1988.
"My goal was to become superintendent of schools, but I was holding a parent conference in Franklin High School when two girls started fighting. In trying to break it up, I was thrown against file cabinets and sustained neck and back injuries that kept me out of work for 18 months," she said.
The injuries — and the system's failure to pay workers' compensation — were devastating to her.
"I made the decision not to go back to the system, and, in 1990, I packed up everything and moved to Atlanta to start a counseling/consulting practice," she said. "I soon realized that people would pay to hear me speak."
That led to her becoming a national motivational speaker, which opened doors for her to use her skills as an executive coach, a popular radio guest and talk-show host, an editor for Family Digest, and the author of two books, "Weary But Not Worn: A Spiritual Reawakening" and "Seeds for the Harvest of a Lifetime: Increasing Self-Awareness, Self-Esteem and Improving Relationships." She's a recognized expert on relationships and healing.
"My plan was to be superintendent of schools, and, if I hadn't been injured, I would have stayed on that path, but God gave me an ability to help others, and he told me to go to the masses. His plan was much bigger," Morley-Ball said.