Here's my situation: I have worked in the sales field as an Account Executive for the past 8 years. I have hated every minute of it, but now it's more than that. My Bipolar/ADHD condition is making it very very difficult to continue. Right now I am working for a large company running their Project Mgt Office (an office to frontend requests generated from the client not the sales team) and assisting the sales force. They gave me this "promotion" and had me move my family from FL to NJ without ever thinking about what the job should be. I don't even have defined responsibilities. I have a boss who keeps telling me to figure it out myself and every suggestion I make is pretty much shot down or cast aside.

This job cannot last and it doesn't matter if I abandon it or it abandons me. The thing is I don't think I can do another heavy duty sales job. There's no gas left in that tank. My wife has gone back to work PT after 8 years at the local school and there is potential for full-time. The problem is that it's damn expensive to live where we are.

I don't know what to do. I am out of ideas and strategic thinking is not the Mrs. strong point. If we move back to FL by Feb my wife and I have to find new jobs. If we stay in NJ for now my wife can continue working at the school, but the cost of living is high. If I don't make a decent salary we are sunk. Plus, we do want to leave NJ at some point. It is not our kind of place. I can't think of anything else I can do besides sales. I have done some freelance writing, but my condition has held me back. It would take me a while to get in "fighting" form. Outside sales wont work. I just don't have it in me for any more of that stuff. I might be able to do inside sales, but it doesn't pay much.

This year I have done some light project management. In my past life, before this job, I was an IT headhunter. I wouldn't mind doing something like technical writing, but have no experience outside of my freelance articles.

I was sitting here hitting my head against the wall about this problem, when it occured to me that I can reach out to others and ask for help. If you guys have any ideas come to you about this I would really love to hear them.

Well at least you have an idea of what you might like to do (technical writing) Sometimes that's half the battle. What would it take to land a job in that field?

Ok so your boss isn't telling you what to do and everything you say is shot down....sounds to me like he's one of the all to common senior managers who takes the money and evades the responsibility so unless he goes you're going willingly or otherwise.

You indicate you don't want to stay in NJ.....well that settles it...exit strategy time.

My suggestion would be to look at your project management skills, possibly with a bit of study/training and looking to shift into that area for a while. Project management is fairly homogenous and highly people orientated

Meanwhile as a second string explore the techncal writing by trying to find out how the sector functions. Ther's probably a range of different types and you should consider which type suits you..freelance, in house, work from home..etc.
Technical writing would have very little people orientation and as such is markedly different from what you've been doing.

so ultimately I would say it comes down to you assessing whether you want to be in a people focussed business environment or not.

Activate your networks of contacts and start using them to sniff out leads, talk to friends and discuss it with your wife. Part of this process may involve alot of socialising and visiting friends, entertaining contacts etc so ensure your wife is OK with you being away/out late and understands why you're doing it. Its going to be your last heavy duty sales job....selling youself into a completely new market.

kilt

I have given some thought to your post and it has been very helpful. Thank you.

All of kilted_scotsman's advice here is good. I especially like this point:

Activate your networks of contacts and start using them to sniff out leads, talk to friends and discuss it with your wife. Part of this process may involve alot of socialising and visiting friends, entertaining contacts etc so ensure your wife is OK with you being away/out late and understands why you're doing it. Although I don't even think effective networking has to be about late-night schmoozing. Mostly it's just a matter of contacting people you've worked with in the past and letting them know they can help you in this way. You can do that at lunch, at breakfast, or less effectively over the phone or via email. There's no right formula for networking, but networking is a lot better than going it alone.

Its going to be your last heavy duty sales job....selling youself into a completely new market.GREAT point. I'm a techie, not a salesman, but I still believe that we're all doing sales and marketing of some sort -- of our ideas, or in this case of yourself.

One more thing: There are two "parameters" you need to estimate because they will help you strategize:

How long can the status quo in your job continue before it has to end (either with you getting laid off or with you going so berzerk that you have to resign)?
How much time can you dedicate to the job hunt while holding down this job?
The second point is usually really tough for me. If I'm demoralized about my day job, I come home and feel too burned out to make much progress looking for a new one. I've left jobs without my next job in a way that looked irrational because I couldn't see any other way to start building something positive.

But obviously you want to smooth the transition as much as possible, which is why you need to estimate both those factors to plan how much of a job search you can manage before things hit the crisis threshold.

Don't let it go too far cycling brother, most bosses can't differentiate angry jerk from manic episode, I speak from extensive experience.