Today this Baby Boomer declares he is OFFICIALLY SEMI-RETIRED…

For the past several years, I’ve been grappling with my occupational status. Thanks to the recession, consulting activities have been less than full time, meaning I had more free time. Discovered I rather enjoyed that.

But when people assumed I was retired, I’d correct them. Guess I wasn’t ready to join the ranks of the old geezers. However, a  couple of recent events changed my thinking.

The first event was a college reunion last week. About fifty of us lived in a housing co-op that was a “poor man’s fraternity.” We had two old houses that might even be classified today as slums. We were definitely at the bottom of the social strata, but who cared? (Think Animal House...)

Most of us were poor but ambitious, and willing to work hard. But we played hard, too, and had a great time. We drank a lot of beer, and pulled off our share of stunts. We bonded, and formed life long friendships.

A few years ago, we started holding annual reunions. This time, about 25 showed up for the weekend. While many were retired, nobody was sitting around in a rocking chair. Everyone was enjoying a wide range of activities. Most confessed they were busy as ever.

We also toasted those who were no longer with us, including John of green shirt fame. Several months ago, John was planning to finally join us this year, but cancer won. A sad reminder of our mortality, and a bit of a wake up call.

The second event was reading the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Her book describes her research and personal experiments on finding happiness. It was a year long journey of self-discovery that she documented and shared.

She had numerous key points and suggestions, but two that resonated were “Do what you TRULY like, not what you think you should like,” and simply “Be Yourself.” I decided it was time to do both. The consulting biz has been fun, but it is no longer a top priority.

This declaration is strangely liberating, and even a bit exciting. To me, this represents a critical shift. My priority will no longer be on earning my living as a consultant, but rather on other activities such as grandchildren, travel, and the JumpToConsulting project (and activities it may spawn.)

In simple terms, here is a thought that summarizes my new direction:

I care more about making a difference than simply making a living.

You are welcome to ride along, regardless of your age or retirement status. We’re all on this life journey together!

P.S. So how does this affect my consulting business? Not much, really. I’ll still stay involved with the practice, but on a secondary basis to other  pursuits.  Won’t be actively pursuing new clients, but will still take care of existing clients as time permits. Will also be active in our training activities.

Furthermore, my business partner is NOT retired, so I’ll back him up as needed.

© 2012 – 2014, https:. All rights reserved.

“Behind every successful man is a woman who is still amazed.” Or so the old joke goes. In reality, success as an entrepreneur is often highly dependent on a supporting spouse. If you don’t have that support, it may never happen.

This post was inspired by a Mother’s Day e-mail from Perry Marshall of AdWords fame. Perry tells how his wife Laura continually supported him — through thick and thin — in his many entrepreneurial adventures. What a great tribute!

Similar story here. More than once,  my co-conspirator Mary (see the story on the goofy hat) gave me the nudge I needed. That support and confidence made all the difference.

To wit:

–1978- Frustrated in my engineering position, I saw an ad for a sales engineer. Even though I’d never done sales, I ranted and raved that I could probably do the job. Finally, Mary piped up and said, “Why don’t you just send in your resume, and see what happens?”

• She was right, of course. Incidentally, I didn’t get the job, but eventually I did get into technical  sales. (Persistence pays.) That experience was a great help later when making my own JumpToConsulting.

-1982- Fired from the technology startup I had helped get off the ground, I ranted and raved about working for others. Having moonlighted in the past, I floated the idea of hanging out my shingle. Mary said, “Why don’t you try it and see what happens?”

• Once again, she was right. (Did I mention she also saw the writing on the wall at the startup several months prior to my firing?) I promised not to gamble the house, so I gave myself three months to book business or it was back to Corporate Land. It didn’t work, but eventually I did make the final JumpToConsulting. (Once again, persistence pays,)

-1987- Two corporate jobs later, I was REALLY itching to do my own thing. It looked like my corporate sales job might disappear, so I started making alternate plans. More ranting and raving, and more support from Mary —“Why don’t you try it and see what happens?”

• Success this time! But, the first day in business the stock market crashed, which was very SCARY. But we survived, and we’re now closing in on almost 30 years as full time consulting engineers. Behind the scenes, Mary kept the books and ran my office. (And as a bonus, I get to sleep with the bookkeeper – she just groans when I say that.)

Along the way, Mary also found time to mother two boys into successful young men, who now have their own families and who blessed us with six wonderful grandchildren.

So thanks, Mary!  With all my love and gratitude,

Daryl

P.S. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who support your entrepreneurs… and all who are entrepreneurs in your own right!

© 2012 – 2016, https:. All rights reserved.

So said a favorite boss, many years BC (before consulting.) His advice that day has stuck with me over the years, and has served me well. I’ll elaborate shortly.

The catalyst for this was a recent post by Seth Godin (another bald guy fascinated by small business.) He talks about solving problems, rather than just identifying them. He also advises that you “go find the help your organization needs to solve them.”

Thank you, Seth. That sounds like a solid endorsement for consultants.

Back to my old boss. It was almost thirty years ago, and I had been hired as a Field Sales Engineer. I’d only been there two weeks when told I needed to submit a monthly status report. The format was one page, with three problems and three successes.

Not sure what to do, I approached my boss. “What’s this all about?” I muttered. “I haven’t even been here a month. No successes to report. Furthermore, admitting problems at the last place I worked was like giving somebody a knife to stick in your back.”

• John smiled, and then said, “Let me share my business philosophy. Businesses have problems. We hire people to work on those problems. If you’re not working on solving those problems, then what are you doing here?”

I quickly replied, “John, I think I’m really going to like working here!” What a refreshing approach. Sure was an improvement over the last place.

• He went on, “The only way you’ll ever get into trouble with me is if you sit on a problem too long. If you need help, just ask. By the way, I hired you because I sensed you like to take the ball and run with it — please do so now.”

I worked for John several years, and enjoyed it immensely.

I’ve shared this story many times with clients in trouble. This can be particularly helpful when someone feels they are to blame. Problems in business? Don’t be upset or embarrassed – problems are perfectly normal.

My attitude — now that you’ve brought me in as your consultant, let’s work together to solve those problems. Like puzzles, the problems often turn out to be interesting, and a great chance for everyone to learn and grow.

Hope you enjoyed this bit of advice. So what problems are you working on?

© 2012, https:. All rights reserved.

Since I selected an Independence Day motif for my blog, it is only appropriate to offer some Independence Day musings. As stated elsewhere, freedom was a major motivator in my JumpToConsulting. But I didn’t realize it right away. Rather, that epiphany came a few months later.

Driving back from a client and listening to the radio, the commentator was discussing small business. He then quoted a survey that showed that the majority of small businesses were started for freedom — not, as many assume, for money or even power.

I about drove off the road. Yes, I suddenly realized! That was the main motivator for me too. The first few years were lean — made a little less money and worked many more hours. But it was all worth it for the freedom to do my own thing, to make my own decisions, and even to clean up my own messes.

But freedom is not for everyone, and that is OK too. Some people prefer the security of a steady paycheck, or the camaraderie of the water cooler. Other have family responsibilities that preclude taking financial risks. And many are very content with things as they are in the world.

Over the years, I’ve run into several examples of the above. After brief discussions, I’ve even discouraged some of them from making the JumpToConsulting. After all, not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur. But if you want to change the world and the itch is there, it is hard to fight it (see previous post.)

I suspect our nation’s Founding Fathers felt the same itch. After all, many  were already independent businessmen — Ben Franklin, Paul Revere, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and more.  Some were even  traditional “consultants” — John Adams (lawyer) among others.

All valued their freedom, and were willing to work, fight, and even die for it. As Ben Franklin said at the signing of the Declaration of Independence “We must hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” Said in humor, it reflected the seriousness of the situation.

Fortunately, none of us face being hanged for making a JumpToConsulting, or any other jump.  Their success gave us the freedom to pursue our independence today.

So thanks Ben, Paul, Tom, George, John, and all the rest!

Happy Independence Day, and remember, “UNCLE DARYL wants YOU.. to find your FREEDOM too!”

© 2011, https:. All rights reserved.

Have some fun… do some good… make some money. The perfect consulting project meets all three criteria. Two out of three is still often OK, and on occasion, I’ve even stooped to one out of  three. But these are three criteria by which I judge potential consulting projects.

Have some fun… For me, this is probably the most important. Life is simply too short to spend time doing things you do not (or no longer) enjoy. This comes from someone who daily wonders, “Where did the time go, anyway???”  Or, as Bob Parsons of GoDaddy says (Rule 16), “We’re here for good time — not for a long time.”  (Note – My older son was the GoDaddy controller in the beginning, working with Bob on a daily basis – now that was fun.)

Having fun means different things to different people. For some, it is learning something new.  For others, it is creating something, or perhaps solving a complex problem. Or it may just be the simple satisfaction of doing your best.

Having fun also means liking the people you work with with. You don’t need to put up with clients that are overly abrasive.  Unlike a full time job, as a consultant you can actually “fire” an obnoxious client. I’ve done that a couple of times in the past 30 years.

Do some good… This is closely related to the first criteria. In fact, doing good can provide immense satisfaction, and can still be the basis for a successful consulting practice. Best of all, you don’t need to do your good for free (unless you want to.)

A good example of this is Lynn, the retired nutritionist mentioned in an earlier post. Lynn originally volunteered her valuable skills to a local Native American community in the Phoenix area.  Her sole goal was to do some good.

After several months, she was asked is she could help other communities throughout the state.  Only this time, she would be paid. Unknown to her, a grant had been secured to support her efforts. She said yes, and truly had some fun, did some good, and made some money. And she  nicely augmented her retirements savings, too.

Make some money… Although third on the list, this is the ultimate goal of any business. Even non-profits need money to fund their efforts and pay their expenses. Nothing wrong with not making money, but if you do that all the time, you probably have a hobby — not a business. Even the IRS looks at it this way.

Not every project needs to make money right away. For example, you may be testing a concept or idea, and find that you lost money on the initial try. If that happens, don’t despair — take the lessons learned and try again. After all, you paid for the lessons.

However, you eventually want to make money on your consulting projects. Don’t just focus alone on having fun and doing good. Without profits, you don’t get to stay in the game. See the advice from my friend Marv.

Finally, if you end up making a lot of money and still want to change the world, you can always give it away. Look at  Bill Gates — his foundation has done a lot of good, and I can’t help thinking he has had a lot of fun along the way.

Although you’re not Bill Gates, you can still have some fun, do some good, and make some money with your business.  Comments?

© 2011 – 2017, https:. All rights reserved.

Looks can be deceiving…

My business partner and I were cruising the show floor at a professional symposium, when one of the younger members of our technical community stopped us and asked, “How do you guys do it, anyway? Everything you touch turns to gold…”

We both looked at each other, and grinned.  I said, “Do you want to tell him, or should I?”  And then we both proceeded to explain that, in fact, many things we had tried over the years had NOT worked.

Or as I summed it up, “You’ve never seen all the dead bodies. We killed them quick, and then buried them. Occasionally we were able to nurse one back to life…”

Here are three examples, and the lessons learned:

• Although we have a successful training business as part of our consulting practice, it took us several times to get it right. And even then, we’ve had to readjust.
• Lesson learned — if you thinks the idea has merit, change it as needed.

• After five years in business, just when we thought we had it all figured out, our primary market tanked and the business stopped — dead cold.  It was panic time, but then we diversified into several other markets.
• Lesson learned — don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

• In the late 1990s, we joined the dot.com frenzy with an on-line web portal. We had visions of big advertising bucks that never materialized.  It also was a huge time and money suck. We finally sold it to a magazine where it fit much better than with a consulting practice.
• Lesson learned — Some businesses just don’t belong together.

With over thirty years of working together, we’ve had a few other misadventures, too. No, not  everything we have tried has succeeded — that is the nature of  business.

As the old Kenny Rogers song goes, “You got to know when to hold them, and know when to fold them… ”

But even with the disasters, consulting game is still great fun!

© 2011 – 2021, https:. All rights reserved.