Did you have all the answers when you were twenty years old? I certainly didn’t. Looking back on our younger selves, it can feel like we are remembering a stranger. We don’t wear the same clothes or listen to the same music, yet we trust plans we made before we knew what life was really like. When I was an undergrad, my career path seemed pretty straight forward. I knew that I would be a lawyer. I went to the New England School of Law before receiving my LL.M. in estate planning from the University of Miami. My life was on course. I was practicing law when a client asked me about captive insurance. That changed everything. Starting with that one interaction, I took my career in a new direction.

It has been my privilege to help people open and maintain captives for their businesses but it was not an easy decision at the outset. I had never heard of captive insurance. In fact, the first book I wrote about the industry was done largely as a research project to educate myself. Taking this leap seemed huge because it was. I knew exactly where I was supposed to be in ten years and how to get there only to scrap the whole plan and head into relatively uncharted territory. However nervous I was, there was a real clarity in my choice. You may have only one life, but you are given countless chances to make of it whatever you would like. Even then, I could see that this was my chance to pursue a career that would help people and challenge me daily; a career I could love.

A plan for your career can be an immensely helpful tool so long as it authentically serves you. If you find another option that better suits who you are, take action. The first step is always going to be due diligence. You don’t need to write a book on the subject – though it does not hurt – just be aware of what you are getting into. Maybe you will find this new direction is not what you hoped, but it will likely prepare you for the next step in your career. But, maybe it will be exactly what you need. Whatever the case, you won’t know if you don’t commit to the learning process and accepting the risk of a new opportunity.

I am not telling you to leave your job or that captive insurance is right for you. Only you know what resonates and what fulfills you. This pivot made all the difference in my life, it made me who I am today. I challenge you to be open to when opportunity knocks and to have the courage to make moves that unlock your potential.  After all, courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.

If you would like to learn more about where my pivot took me, visit my website and see what captive insurance is doing for businesses across the country.