I Always Keep My Options Open

This is the premise I've lived by during my career as an employee for various institutions. From this statement one could possibly infer that I'm not very loyal to a company. But there are many subjects to which I'm loyal and the two most important are myself and my family.

Employment would come in third or fourth depending on the value of the current context. If its pay then employment usually ranks lower on the loyalty list because you never seem to get enough pay for the job(s) you do.

Since I keep my options open, I apply for jobs that I feel would give me a good challenge for valuable pay. Such was one job I applied for at the local University. Now, applying for jobs around Cache Valley is nothing new to me, but applying for this job presented some challenging problems.

First, my current employment at Dynamic Screening Solutions is more than just work. Its my company; partly. I own a generous percentage of the company which puts me in a difficult position if I have to tell corporate executives that I'm leaving.

Second, all of that is nothing compared to what I'd be giving up if I left Dynamic Screening Solutions: my baby. My software baby, to be more exact. Our product The ONE Application is a web-based software product that I developed. OK, not by myself, that's impossible. But I was there from nearly the beginning of its development on to production with our current clients. I know everything there is to know about that software and I'm the only person who does in the entire company. Which isn't necessarily good because if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, DSS would have a very difficult time. But as DSS grows this won't be such a major problem.

Third, flexibility. I love the flexibility of being my own boss.

So, while I received a generous offer from the University, I respectfully declined. I was a little disappointed about not being able to join them and try new challenges. But the horizons are much brighter here at DSS. So, I'll keep heading in this direction... Until I reach another fork in the road because "I always keep my options open."