It took me 14 years of Retail Leadership to realize that being a "Lifer" wasn't for me.

Before I go any further I want to make it crystal clear that Retail is not "bad" and that I know that there are plenty of examples of incredible humans who have long careers in field leadership.

But, 4 years ago I realized that it was not for me.

My journey started as a Sales Associate working the floor in high school (2003) to a District Manager running stores and Districts in every state West of Colorado.

Finally in 2017 after 14 years of Brick and Mortar Retail, I realized that I didn't want to keep climbing the ladder.

But what else could I do?

As I reflected on all of the possibilities and ways to repurpose my skills I started to realize that I had done a really crappy job of keeping track of my accomplishments.

That's the problem with long careers that are filled with internal promotions...

There isn't really a need for a resume.

So there I was. Stuck.

I had no idea how my skills could transfer out of retail and nearly every accomplishment was based on internal lingo that hiring managers would not understand.

Or so I thought.

As I reflected on my career and put pen to paper taking notes, I started to see a common theme.

I built cool shit to solve real problems.

But what job does this and how do I land that role?

Over the next 30 days I will share my journey from People Management to Product Management with the goal of helping other people leaders find their place in tech.