I’m still working. But just barely. My kind and talented staff allows me to stroll into our corporate office around mid-morning and wax eloquent on the way things used to get done. They nod their heads and then rush out to complete the work that allows The Change Companies® to stay solvent in a new digital decade.
I smile, sit at my desk and dream fondly about all the jobs I mastered (kind of) before I started our company in 1988. They add up to more than 30 different positions entrusted to me between the ages of 10 and 45. In large measure, they represent the higher education lessons that allowed me to launch a successful publishing company.
Below, in no chronological order, is a sprinkling of my professional experience:
- I spotted bowling pins before American Machine & Foundry (AMF) technology came along.
- I was dean of students at two small colleges.
- I picked up golf balls early in the morning – and got paid by the bucketful.
- I wrote editorials at a suburban newspaper.
- I worked diligently at night, cleaning up at a funeral home (and went to bed dead on my feet).
- I worked for a loving, older couple at a little flower shop – and learned what kindness was all about.
- I worked in the cast house at Reynolds Aluminum. Hottest job I ever had.
- I was vice president of business development for a large healthcare organization.
- When I needed cash, I was a bartender at many establishments (one of the most enjoyable jobs I ever had).
- I started two sports magazines and did almost everything to get the publications to press… then went broke.
- I washed windows, specializing in old, three-story homes.
- I was the chief fundraiser for several large not-for-profit organizations.
- I was a sales guy over and over again. I loved it.
I could go on and on, but this blog is already too long. My point to my staff: If you fire me, I can always find another job.