From Vacuums to Vision: A Blueprint for Career Transition
By Mark Wigginton, MS, LPC, BCC
I’ve reinvented my career more times than I can count.
From selling vacuum cleaners’ door to door to coaching GovCon professionals through their next chapter.
From delivering daily intelligence briefs to Air Force command staff to leading international workshops.
From therapist to sales pro to midlife transition coach.
Some might see a winding path. I see a pattern anchored by one constant: the ability to connect through clear, purposeful communication.
That one skill, and the strengths beneath it, carried me through every transition. And I now help others uncover their skills as they face their next chapter.
Midlife Isn’t a Crisis. It’s a Crossroads.
For many in the GovCon space, midlife doesn’t arrive with a meltdown, it arrives with a question:
“What’s next?”
You’ve achieved a lot. You’ve built expertise in highly structured environments, mastered compliance-driven roles, and navigated the proposal grind. But maybe the contract ended. Maybe there was a sudden change in your agency. Maybe the spark is gone. Maybe you’re wondering whether it’s time to shift.
That’s not failure, it’s transition.
And the first step isn’t to rewrite your resume. It’s to own your story.
Step One: Reclaim your transferable skills.
People often ask me how to “pivot” careers. I ask them to start with a different question:
What’s the thread that’s always been there, whether or not you got paid for it?
In my case, it was communication. I could sell products, brief military leaders, or teach life skills to incarcerated men because I know how to connect and convey ideas in a way that made people listen and believe.
That’s a transferable skill.
It’s not tied to a job title. It’s tied to me.
If you’re reading this from within the GovCon space, wondering whether you’re “qualified” for something new, I can almost guarantee you’re underestimating how transferable your skills really are.
Even when I didn’t realize it, communication was always my through-line. It’s what opened doors, built trust, and helped me reinvent.
It’s what carried me from lugging a vacuum cleaner door-to-door in my 1971 Datsun to building teams that supported multi-billion dollar government pursuits. From brown bag presentations to podcast interviews. And from job seeker to coach.
Step Two: Apply it in new contexts.
That same skill, communication, eventually carried me into the world of government contracting.
While I wasn’t deep inside the federal system, I often found myself supporting those who were: proposal writers, capture managers, BD professionals, and GovCon consultants navigating change.
To deepen my own understanding and credibility, I joined the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) and earned two industry-recognized certifications:
- APMP Bid/Proposal Practitioner: Demonstrating mastery in best practices and leading others in producing compliant, compelling proposals.
- APMP Capture Practitioner: Focused on the early phases of the pursuit; coordinating strategy, opportunity shaping, and positioning to win.
These certifications didn’t just sharpen my knowledge; they showed me how transferable my background really was. Communication, strategic thinking, stakeholder management. Skills I had honed elsewhere were exactly what this world needed.
Step Three: Name your strengths.
There’s a difference between what you can do and what energizes you. That difference is where strengths come in.
I use tools like the VIA Character Strengths (VIA) survey to help clients recognize their natural ways of showing up in the world.
Over the years, I’ve taken the VIA many times. Often at a turning point. What changed wasn’t just the results, but how clearly, they reflected what I needed at that moment to grow and move forward.
During my early to mid-career, I was still finding my voice.
Creativity, Wisdom, Humility, Kindness, Love of Learning helped me build trust, adapt quickly, and communicate with empathy in uncertain environments.
My career advanced and I became a top-performing sales consultant supporting business-to government proposal projects.
Creativity, Love, Justice, Social Intelligence, Wisdom helped me build rapport fast, align cross-functional teams, and move proposals forward under pressure.
Today, I’m in the post-midlife stage. I’m at a new beginning.
Gratitude, Perspective, Hope, Social Intelligence, Spirituality bring calm, clarity, and a deeper sense of purpose to how I communicate and coach.
This evolving collection of strengths isn’t a list on a page. It’s an indicator of personal growth.
It’s why I connected with customers as a kid.
Why a single conference talk led to a career breakthrough.
Why I now help others navigate their next move with clarity and compassion.
If transferable skills are what you bring, your strengths are how you bring it.
You already have what you need.
When people ask me how I made it through 20 jobs in 15 years before finding work that truly fit, I don’t say luck.
I say clarity.
Clarity about what I do well.
Clarity about what matters to me.
Clarity about how I want to show up in the world.
If you’re facing a career transition, that clarity is available to you, too.
It’s in your past roles, your unpaid work, your feedback loops, your energizing moments, and even your failures.
Especially your failures.
Try This: Find the thread.
Write down every job or role you’ve ever held, from your first teenage gig to your current one.
Don’t edit. Just list.
Then look for patterns.
What did people thank you for?
When did you feel most alive?
What came easily—when everything else felt hard?
Chances are your future is hidden in those answers.
About the Author
Mark Wigginton, MS, LPC, BCC, is a midlife career coach, licensed professional counselor, and APMP-certified proposal and capture professional. His work spans sales, mental health, federal consulting, and career development. Mark supports clients in the GovCon ecosystem and beyond to identify transferable skills, align strengths, and make confident transitions into what’s next. He writes the Your Next Chapter newsletter and offers coaching at FocusingOnResults.com.