Year three. I’ll be honest — I didn’t know if I’d get here.
When I launched Waterloo Human Capital Management after 30+ years in corporate HR, I had the credentials, the conviction, and the contacts. What I didn’t have was a roadmap for what it actually feels like to build something from scratch, the slow months, the proposals that don’t close, the moments where you wonder if the security of a steady paycheck was actually the smarter play. But in the back of my mind was the grit and determination my brother Jeffrey Douglass had when he decided to leave corporate and become a Financial Advisor.
I’m not having those moments anymore.
This year is shaping up to be a very good year for my practice. Not by someone else’s measuring stick, by mine. The pipeline is real, the work is meaningful, and I’m genuinely hitting my stride. It took time. More time than I expected. But it’s here, and I have a lot of amazing people to thank, especially Jillian Hudspeth.
And that’s the point of this post.
Most people quit before the pieces start coming together.
Goals, real ones, the kind worth pursuing, don’t pay off on a schedule. The first year, you’re building credibility you can’t yet see. The second year, you’re building relationships you can’t yet monetize. The third year, if you stayed the course, those invisible investments start to surface. The pipeline fills. The referrals come in. The work gets better because you’re better.
That’s not inspiration. That’s mechanics. But it only works if you stay in the game.
The hills don’t disappear. You just get stronger.
I spent decades in corporate environments managing large, complex operations and processes, multi-continent footprints, and high-stakes decisions daily. None of that prepared me for the particular challenge of betting on myself. The bumps hit differently when it’s your name on the door.
But here’s what I’ve learned: every obstacle you push through builds capability for the next one. You don’t reach the top of one hill and stop; there’s always another climb. The difference is that you arrive at each new challenge with more tools, more resilience, and a clearer sense of what you’re building toward.
Hard work. Determination. Perseverance. Then more hard work.
I know that sounds like a bumper sticker. It’s not. It’s a sequence.
The work comes first, consistent, disciplined, unglamorous, and yes, sometimes a little ugly effort. The determination is what keeps you working when the results lag the effort. Perseverance is what separates the people who make it from those who almost do.
And then when things do start working, you don’t coast. You recommit. You recommit because the people who sustain success treat every year as a foundation, not a destination. If you’re in year one, or year two, or wondering whether your goal was realistic, I’m not here to tell you it’s easy. It isn’t. I’m here to tell you that the people who get there are rarely the most talented. They’re the ones who refused to stop.
Don’t stop.
Mitch Douglass | Managing Director, Waterloo Human Capital Management, LLC | Fractional CHRO | HR Strategy for Healthcare Organizations