Blog / Professional perspective
The Value of Reputation
How a professional reputation opened an unexpected door and led to the founding of Clear Water Consulting.
A little over ten years ago I found myself in a good place. I had just finished putting my three children through college when I had an “aha” moment - that I didn’t need to work 60-70 hour weeks any longer. I had worked REALLY hard starting, growing, and eventually selling my company. My conscience was clear because I had been true to both our customers and to the people who worked for us by ensuring continuity for our customers and job security for our employees after I moved on.
So I gave a month’s notice and when I couldn’t hand everything off in time, I stayed on for an extra week to ensure that everything transitioned smoothly, because I didn’t want to leave anyone hanging. Never have, never will.
The thing is, I had no clue what I was going to do when I walked out that door that last time. All I knew was that I wanted to take the summer off - to exhale after 20 plus years of being “on” all the time. I wanted time to relax, rekindle my love for gardening, and to generally enjoy life before deciding what my next move would be.
You may be familiar with the saying “your reputation precedes you”. Well, that is the only way to describe what happened next. I was about halfway through my relaxing summer when someone in my professional network reached out. His company needed a water expert for a project on the other side of the country and he thought I was the right person for what they needed. After I got off the phone, I found myself thinking “What made them think of me? “Who could possibly want to pay me for what I know?” “I’ve never been paid as an expert before - I’ve been designing and installing equipment all my life”. That I wasn’t worthy – you know, imposter syndrome.
But that’s the funny thing about reputations- his company looked at what they needed objectively. And they knew that I was the right person even though I had no idea that I was the right person. That’s right they knew it before I did. Why? Because of my reputation. And do you want to hear something even crazier - they were 100% right!
That happened over 10 years ago and it helped me figure out my next career move, which was to harness my equipment, chemistry, engineering and operating knowledge and share it with clients. And that’s how Clear Water Consulting came into being.
I’ve shared this story to show you the power that your reputation can have in shaping your professional life. In our next installment, we’ll focus on someone much more important – YOU and your reputation, how it’s formed, and what you can do to boost it.