My Last Day in the Family Business

I chose to leave the family business and today I will turn over my office and my key (fob) and the 18-year run of working with my dad, brothers, and coworkers who have become friends.

Today’s my last day at EnergyCAP, the family business where I’ve worked for the last 18 years. In July, I stepped down from my full-time Human Resources role to serve part-time. I wanted to spend more time developing my own business, Chris Heinz Co., and the Christian Life Calling Institute.

But after trying that for a month, I decided it wasn’t working. I couldn’t give either workplace the time, focus, and attention they needed. So, I chose to leave the family business and today I will turn over my office and my key (fob) and the 18-year run of working with my dad, brothers, and coworkers who have become friends.

I am a flurry of emotions, like the night before I left for college and the night before I got married. The transition is impending, the change will be good, I feel I must move on, and there’s nothing stopping it now. But the past was also good, full of blessings and happy memories, and growth that made this next step possible.

For me, there’s both loss and excitement. Life sometimes means holding two opposite emotions in harmony at once.

I will need to live with this tension for a while, when I am not anymore seeing the people that I’m used to seeing every day and when I’m not working with my family, and when I’m not hiring for the company or supporting the employees anymore. I will have to be let into the building rather than let myself in. I will have to hear the news rather than be part of it.

People have asked me if I’m scared to work for myself. The answer is no.

You see, this transition was not done overnight. I've been slowly growing more into myself and making the type of contributions I wish to make in the world. I’ve been testing and learning and trying in a consistent direction. But the tipping point came when it seemed the opportunity cost of not going full-in was too great.

So, I’m going full-in. I want to help people to know themselves, serve others, and live their life calling. And I want to do it full-time. Sometimes your paid work is your life calling, sometimes your paid work supports your life calling; I’ve decided for me, for next, it must be the former.

I marked this transition with a new license plate: LIFCALN

Sure, there’s risk, there’s uncertainty, there’s loss.

Thank you to everyone who has helped me get to this point. There are too many to name, so I won’t even try. But I hold a place in my heart for you. I stand on your shoulders as I try to touch the sky.

My last day in the family business. One season ends and another begins. It's good to be alive.