A carefully chosen path...?

As I have eluded, there are some changes coming in the Kestner household. These new ideas and career thoughts have been in the works for awhile, but now is the time to act on them.

Many of you know that Marcy is finishing up her schooling and will be looking for and/or has found work working as a medical coder. There is no illusion that she will be making dynamite money out of the gate, but the opportunity is there, and she has found something that she will enjoy doing.

Many of you also know that I have done construction related work for all but 2 1/2 years of my married life. I have loved my career until recently. The economy has taken a downturn, receivables have been a pain to collect and payables have been a stretch to pay. Add to this mix that my body is starting to break down, and we have a recipe for hard times. I do not heal like I did when I was younger, and my body is always in pain due to soreness and such. I have had some employees over the last few years off and on, but having them do the "heavy lifting" has left me with more headache in management and less productivity due to the lack of lead flow. I am not blaming The President, Congress, customers, employees or anyone else - I am just stating the facts as they pertain to me.

Marcy has been urging me to do something else for awhile now. She doesn't want to be married to an old broken down goat in a few years and with divorce out of the question, I have to give my body a rest.

I have found it difficult to "move up" within the Costco structure as Costco policy places a large amount of weight on seniority. To get into a job responsibility there that would pay well enough to call Costco my career as well as work full time could take 4-6 years. I don't have that kind of time to wait. Too bad I didn't take the opportunity to work for them back when I was graduating high school - they are a great company to work for.

At any rate, I have been looking for a good career choice that can pay the bills, while letting my body take a break. I have had 2 resumes out for about a month now and have interviewed for 2 positions. I was number 2 for the first interview I had. Then, my phone rang from a company that I didn't expect. I had talked to the local manager about one opportunity, but the call came from the main store in Idaho Falls regarding a job opportunity I didn't expect. I interviewed the next day and was offered the job the day after that. Negotiations have been pleasant, and I feel that the company has given me a fair pay plan.

They see in me a sincere person with a hard work ethic. I see a lot of faith from them offering me the Business Manager / Assistant Sales Manager position at Bish's RV in Idaho Falls. I was a customer first and frankly that is when they started looking at me.

....Let the adventure begin......

Bish's RV Sales is the #1 retailer of Jayco trailers in the region and also one of the largest RV dealers in general in Idaho. 2010 has proven to be an "up" year for RV purchases regionally, and now is a good time to go back into retail sales. I will have to earn the respect of the sales staff from a position of management, which will be a challenge, but I look forward to working in the financing world once again. I believe that Bish's is an ethical company - if they hadn't been, I would not be a customer, let alone an employee. I will be starting this new life June 5th.

Closing my construction operations will be a bittersweet moment. I still have some loose ends to tie up before I am completely out. Thanks be to all of my past paying customers. Thank you to Costco for working with me and my schedule.

I am grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow.

There you have it - let the grumblings begin!