Monthly Archives: February 2021

I Suddenly Realized It Was Time for Change…

Published February 23, 2021 | By daryl

This personal story that dates back to 1977, when it hit me it was time to make a career change. That would ultimately lead to my JumpToConsulting ten years later.

Wistfully gazing out the airplane window as Waikiki receded below — where Mary and I had just spent the week basking in the tropical December sun and playing in the ocean — our conversation went something like this:

ME – “Did you have a good time?”
SHE- “Yes! It was a great time!”
ME – “You now… there IS one thing that pisses me off about this trip.”
SHE – “Like what???”
ME – “That we were almost too “sensible” to do it. But I NOW look at life differently…”

A little background. At the time we were married nine years with two small children and a mortgage. Life was busy and extra money was sparse. Trips to Hawaii were not on our radar for the foreseeable future.

Then a business trip to Hawaii materialized. As an engineer for a defense contractor, I was tasked to install some equipment and brief the military brass (included a General and his staff) at Pearl Harbor on a new system.

As an aside, one of the reasons I got the invitation was my teaching experience gained while moonlighting. It gave me presentation skills that most of my technical colleagues lacked. That experience later proved highly useful as a consultant.

At first, I though we could not afford a trip for two of us. And who would take care of the kids? Although I knew Mary would love to join me (after all, it was December in Minnesota) I couldn’t see a way to pull if off.

That was until Mary prodded me with a slightly sarcastic comment at breakfast one day. Wives can (and should) do that 🙂

Mulling it over on the way to work, I decided to just buy her a ticket too. It was before airline penalties, so there was little risk. I had been secretly saving for a big Christmas gift anyway — what could be better? I was pretty sure she would like it.

That night I gave Mary her ticket to Hawaii. The catch was that we would fly out separately, and she would come a few days later when I was done with business. The kids? Grandma and and an Aunt/Uncle each took one of our boys. It all worked.

There was a small glitch with Mary’s trip. Arriving at the Minneapolis airport (no winter coat although below zero outside) she was informed her flight to Los Angeles was cancelled. What now? The agent grinned and said, “Don’t worry — we already rebooked you on a flight with a later connection to Honolulu.”

Those were the days before cellphones. When her original flight arrived, and she was not on it, there was a brief moment of panic. But a quick phone call home assured me she was on the next flight — about four hours later. No problem — I’ll just wait in the bar.

I must confess when she finally arrived after several Mai-Tais, I was feeling no pain. But neither was she, as the five hour flight from LA also provided complimentary Mai-Tais. Ahh – those were the days, right? It was good that we took a cab to the hotel.

We spend the next week on a second honeymoon, enjoying the beauty of Hawaii, the December weather, and some Mom & Dad time minus the kids.

It was also time for reflection — how do we want to live, and where do we go from here?

The whole experience was a life changer. Six months later I left the defense industry to start a new career as a Sales Engineer, which ultimately put me on the path of my JumpToConsulting.

My advice? If opportunity knocks on the door, ANSWER IT! Don’t be irrational, but don’t be too “sensible” either. As Helen Keller noted, “Life is a grand adventure.” Be sure to enjoy it –particularly if the adventure includes Mai-Tais and tropical breezes in December!

Aloha — Uncle Daryl

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Posted in Anecdotes & Musings, Encouragement | Leave a comment

How We Made $15+ Million by Adding Training To Our Consulting…

Published February 16, 2021 | By daryl

For over 25 years, training was an important part of our consulting business. Financially rewarding, too. But I must confess we didn’t plan it that way…

Here is the story, as shared with colleagues in a program in which I participate. (Teach Your Gift Pro by Mirasee.) My first encounter with Mirasee was in 2018, when I enrolled in a class with the goal of converting existing live class materials to on-line.

Although the course was very useful, due to inertia (mine and the marketplace) I did not proceed — but then COVID changed all that. The result? Last year I did four live multi-day virtual classes on-line, with more in the future.

But as my wife pointed out, I am once again failing retirement. That’s OK, though, as I still meet my three pronged criteria of “Have Some Fun — Do Some Good — Make Some Money.” This is from my post at Mirasee:

Hi B2B Colleagues,

Let me share some marketing insights based on 30+ years of B2B training.

Since 1987, my late business partner and I helped our engineering colleagues learn how to identify/prevent/fix Electromagnetic Interference (aka EMI) problems as part of our consulting business (www.emiguru.com). Yes, esoteric, but stick with me as I share a few things learned along the way regarding B2B marketing.

What started out as a request for help by a couple of clients (Can you teach us how to do a better job next time?) evolved into a financially rewarding training business. 12,000+ students (and about $15 million in revenues) later, the training part is still alive but at a lower level as I ease into retirement.

Not bragging — just offering some encouragement. When we started I had no idea where the B2B training would lead. It has been great fun and obviously pretty successful. But it did not happen overnight.

In 1992, we stumbled into working with a marketing partner — a prominent test equipment supplier to electronics designers (our mutual target market.) We ran the program (promotions, registration, and fulfillment, the latter including arranging meeting space and more.) We shared mail lists (both direct mail and email) and had great field support from their sales force.

We got revenue, and we both got highly qualified leads (those who were both interested and could spend money.) It was win-win-win as the students won too. That relationship lasted about 25 years until it died out due to the increasing cost of promotions and fulfillment.

In 2012, we were invited by a long established training company to be in their catalogue. Another marketing partnership. As they specialized in the defense industry, we developed a highly focused class for their market.

It was not too difficult as we had a lot of consulting experience plus existing materials. In this case, the training company handled the promotion, registration, and meeting arrangements. All we did was show up and teach. Now on line, it is even easier.

In 2018, I signed up for the “Course Builders Laboratory” with the idea of converting two multi-day classes from in-person to on-line. Learned a lot, but due to inertia (mine and the market place) did not move forward.

Then COVID happened. Last year led to four multi-day on-line classes (pilots?) with more on the horizon. The best part — no travel for me or my students — and the market is now world wide. Yea!

Today I am investigating a new potential partnership to resurrect the original commercial course. The financial equation is much more favorable with on-line delivery. Much less cost to promote and fulfill. No travel and hotel/catering costs, and a much broader potential market. I’m excited about the prospects.

As you can see, I am a big proponent of partnering in the B2B marketplace. I hope this has been useful, and that I haven’t blathered on too long. I know much of Mirasee’s past efforts have been aimed at B2C, but rest assured there is a huge market in B2B, particularly with the move to on-line learning. The marketplace if different but there is a lot of lot of $$$$ to be had, along with great satisfaction.

Best wishes — Daryl

PS -Also working on a short B2C course on how to start/build/operate a small consulting practice based on my 40+ years experience. More of a labor of love (see my blog at www.jumptoconsulting.com.) But the real $$$ for me are in B2B – and that is still fun too.

As I pointed out in an earlier post, there is a great synergy between training and consulting. Each can feed the other.

Training, however, requires a lot of time and commitment, so I don’t recommend jumping in with training when starting out in consulting. Long term, however, the payoff is there, and it nicely augmented our retirement funds.

If training has appeal, consider teaching for an educational institution, such as university, junior college, or adult educational program. This can even be done prior to making a full time JumpToConsulting, providing visibility/credibility and experience. In fact, that is how we got started — moonlighting as evening instructors in adult-ed over 40 years ago.

Hope this has been helpful, and perhaps even planted some seeds on how to make your own JumpToConsulting!

P.S. – The $15 million was not all profit, as we had promotion and fulfillment costs. But it was still quite profitable ($10M+) while also feeding the consulting side of the business.