How my work has shaped me

As of the fall of 2026, I have created this document to better explain my pivots and iterations. Big pivots were at ages 29, 38, 42, 47 and 52 . . . with many iterations along the way.

Early work and family

As my parents separated (multiple times), then divorced in my early teens, I began working earlier than some. I was happy to contribute by buying my own bike, clothes and car.

I was a decent athlete in high school and was a co-captain on our football team.

A year out of high school, I married my high school sweetheart (she is still putting up with me). At that time, I was going to college full time (a Jr. College Phys. Ed. major) and my wife was working full time. However, my wife had some health issues and could not work for some time. At that point, I did not have the motivation to continue school full time and work full time. My lottery number at that time was 39 and in the state of MI, the military was drafting through lottery number 190. I did not want to go to Viet Nam. I spoke with a retired Navy recruiter who advised, “If single, go Navy, if married go Air Force (USAF).” I was also told that I could be guaranteed one of my four job choices, so I picked jobs that kept me out of combat. So, after 5 semesters (and an AA degree) I enlisted in the USAF.

Service in the USAF

My USAF experience was great. I was chosen to be the flight leader for 48 basic trainees (at 21, I was the oldest among the troops!). I then had training in accounting & finance. At my permanent station, I worked in 3 areas: military pay, travel pay & leave accounting. I worked with some airmen from Personnel to in-process new arrivals at that base. With an upcoming major influx of troops to that base, I developed a method to decrease in-processing man hours by 75% and was awarded the USAF Commendation Medal. Later, when the USAF consolidated military pay in Denver, I was chosen for more schooling and became responsible for transmitting financial transactions to Denver. This was my first exposure to IT. Even later, I was chosen to be the administrator for a program, then known as BLIS, the acronym for base level information system. This gave me access to finance and personnel data. I could pull together some interesting reports. I swear that I never did this, but I could have . . . pulled together a list of WAFS (women) that were single, were officers and were redheads.

A new direction in business

My USAF experience convinced me to switch my college major to business. I attended college year-round for 6 quarters to secure my Bachelor’s Degree. Noteworthy for me was a computer programming class where on day one the professor asked if we had purchased the book we needed, gave us passwords to a computer, told us we’d have to develop a purchasing and an inventory program, then announced that if we had questions, that he’d be in his office. In an independent studies class the professor had me write a paper that the professor then used for a speech at a national marketing convention. My VA benefits for college were $366/month and I was able to exit college with no debt. This cannot be done today.

Shortly before I received my Bachelor’s Degree (I was already sending out resumes), I got a call from a head-hunter. Someone that I had college classes with suggested that this gentleman call me. The first question for me was, “Do you have automotive experience?” Yes, as I had worked at an automotive parts store while completing my college degree. The second question was, “Is it true that you paid your own way through college?” This too was true. I paid my way through Junior College and earned the VA benefits to pay my way to a bachelor’s degree.

I graduated from college on a Wednesday night and the very next day started as an assistant buyer of automotive products for a chain of farm stores. Soon, I was promoted to buyer. I became responsible for the 2 largest product lines for that retailer. I was there for 3 years – they had 19 stores when I arrived and had 25 when I left. I was able to grow my product lines at a greater rate than the corporate rate. I credit this to 2 practices. One is to always work to get closer to customers. When in doubt, I would regularly call automotive area supervisors in the stores and ask questions. I also learned how to ask better questions, to include conversations with our suppliers. I think that this evolved from what I came to know as TTP; TTMP. This stands for Talk To People. If that fails, then Talk To More People. At some point, I came to realize that curiosity is a great information gathering practice. Before I left this company, I was also involved with IT (called “data processing” back then) to better support the buying function. My interface with IT continues. This was my first regional market exposure.

Consumer products and product development

My next move was to a multi-billion, multinational company as a Senior Buyer. I was one of 10 Sr. Buyers in their catalog division (also one of 5,000 people in that corporate office). As Sr. Buyers, we did not work with what the company produced. We only worked with outside suppliers. During my tenure there, most often, this was the fastest growing division for the domestic part of our business. Our margins were a concern, so we tended to be most interested in items from manufacturers that were exclusive to us or limited in distribution. I became practiced in identifying manufacturers who were efficient converters of differing raw materials and/or manufacturers who were efficient with differing manufacturing techniques. For the US and Canadian markets, I wrote/updated 18 market (segment) plans a year and did so for 9 years. The study of competitors for space appropriation (catalog page space – or- lineal feet in stores) became well practiced. As time passed, I got more involved in product development. Noteworthy to me was learning that costs tend to be tied to transactions. Thankfully, this is less true for profits. For one product, I increased my cost by 5 cents by adding a feature and raised the selling price by 1 dollar to have unit sales increase by 50%. At one point, I was chosen to travel to Ottawa, Canada to testify before Customs & Excise, Revenue Canada (a memorable event). At another point, my products were chosen to be placed in more distribution centers, primarily as these were high volume items. I learned a lot at this company, much of what was put to good use in my later employment. This was a great experience for me, but I chose to leave and investigate what might be next.

Marketing, manufacturing, and growth

I was only briefly unemployed. One of the investors/directors with a holding company and a prior consultant to the last company (who knew my work there), contacted me about an opportunity in one of the companies that their holding company had recently bought. As W. Michigan can be small, I felt that I could help this company, but discovered that it might not be easy. I had an attorney help me draft a 5-year employment agreement and started as their CMO. This was a 50-year old company that manufactured decorative products, but had not had a new product in decades. Tooling costs were low and the products were relatively easy to photograph. I immediately saw opportunities in the mail order industry (catalogs). I struggled with the old guard to get one new item tooled. It was successful. More opportunities existed, especially in personalized products. I could identify possible products, but could not make them pretty. To today’s date, one of my best decisions ever was to hire an art director. 30+ years since, we still find ways to work together. At one point, changes were being made so fast that the frustrated head of manufacturing walked off the job. I was promoted to COO. This was new to me, but I loved it. I promoted and helped develop 4 supervisors on the shop floor. We significantly changed the plant layout. We instituted a universal parts program. We introduced multi-tasking. Historically, purchases to support manufacturing were made based on the assumption that materials were the largest cost factor. But, often labor was a greater part of our cost, so we invested a little more in our purchases and saved lots of time and labor. We grew so fast that we had to install 2 new computer systems. The first system cost was $25,000. Less than 2 years later, another system cost another $100,000. But, this was to support a portion of our business that grew 10-fold over that time period. Over 4 years we introduced 40 new products, doubled our profit margin and doubled our sales. As my salary and bonus went up each year, I was told that my employment agreement would never be extended. I started to make plans for “next.” At the end of the 4th year, I cashed my bonus check, waited 3 days, (for the check to clear) then resigned.

Starting a company—and learning from loss

Next . . . did not work out as I’d hoped. As I’d bought lawn & garden products for 9 years and marketed them for another 4 years, I thought I knew enough to start up a company to make outdoor plant hangers. At that time the number one home improvement upon home purchase was a deck addition. We commercialized 6 unique plant hangers. Both utility and design patents issued. Rather than approach mail order marketers, I approached mass marketers and discounters. I was paranoid about being knocked off, so invested heavily in tooling to insure “not being knocked off.” A major lesson learned here – not to invest heavily in fixed costs on startup! Sales rose slowly, but never enough. Over 27 months of operation, we had only 4 profitable months. Near the shut down, a major home improvement retailer said that they would “buy” if we changed our packaging. That would have cost $25,000. I did not have the money. Nobody would invest in us or loan us at this point. Total loss? $187,000. My loss? $147,000. Additional lessons? The difference between fixed and variable costs. Plan on iterations from the start. Going forward, I might buy a seasonal business, but I would not start one again. What I learned about myself. When you wake up at age 47 with near zero net worth, it is hard not to think of yourself as worthless. I’m glad I experienced this. I do not want to do this again. If I can help others in their businesses, I will.

It was during the struggle of a large (for me) startup, I started product development consulting as well as developed a storage rack sold primarily to mail order catalogs. This provided income when the plant hanger company did not.

A move into real estate

Then, after 20+ years in consumer products, I switched to real estate. Why, you ask? Because I was tired of traveling N. America. Because I’d missed a lot of my children’s growing up. Because I met a real estate agent who was thinking of opening up his own agency. We’d met as I had to sell our home on a lake in Michigan to satisfy the business bank loan for the plant hanger company. I joined the county’s leading real estate agent. For the first 9 months I did all of his closings. For the next 9 months, I worked with a builder to get a new office built. I worked on naming, logo, collateral material, etc. Within a few months of opening the new company, the phones were ringing so much that I was asked to answer the phones and sell. Primarily because I got involved in property development (subdivisions, etc), within 2 years, I became one of the top 10 real estate agents in the county. We started with 5 agents (the original plan was to be a small group of top producing agents), but by year 5 there were 43 agents there. It became an organization that I no longer wanted to be affiliated with.

So, I opened my own real estate company. I knew enough to differentiate myself. I developed collateral material that no other office had (nor could have). I was careful to not do what other agents and/or offices did (this kills differentiation). Over time, my rate of repeat and referral work skyrocketed, so as to no longer spend money to advertise . . . as my past clients advertised for me. I spent the last 10 years as a sole practitioner and daily competed with other offices with 30-40 real estate agents. Another benefit that accrued to me in my small office was that large companies did not want their business being discussed around a water cooler in a larger real estate office. I started to slowly constrict this business in 2018 (became picky which business I chose), then closed/retired in late 2020. Also, during this 17 year stint, I consulted with a turnaround/restructure company. Also, It was during this time that I began to write what I refer to as my Nudgits.

Strategy, writing, and what comes next

As a post script, I have been involved in a lot of strategy, branding and naming work. In the early 1990’s, I discovered that successful brand names are never more than 2 words and never more than a combined set of 3 syllables. I named all of my companies and developed the stories to support the brand. I have also helped others do this. I always solicit help on logos to support the name and brand.

I’ve long embraced the idea that research is what you’re doing when you don’t know what you’re doing. So, I’ve become an avid reader. I also now interface with AI. A favorite AI prompt of mine is to state what I think I know, then ask, “What am I missing?” I’ve also long embraced the idea that we write to know how we think. So, I write every day. I post some of this to social media. I have also developed documents that I can share with those that I get to work with.

Today, mostly retired, I consult with business owners/operators. I continue to work on my Nudgits. So, my work continues. As many have helped me, I hope to help others.