After 25 years in corporate America, it was time to do something new. I started by pulling together a group of 6 people (non-family, non-friends), sort of a informal focus group, to brainstorm with me on what my best options were for a new career. After 3 hours of discussion, the group decided I would make a great career coach.

I have be doing that ever since. It was a powerful recommendation.

After watching my father waste his life away at a meaningless job that provided "security" I made a decision early in life that I wouldn't allow any label to stop me from trying out new ideas and taking risks.

I began my life in the social sciences. By the time I was in my late 20s, I was the director of an institution for disturbed children. I moved on to become the exec of a community social service agency where I used innovative tools to work at communal change rather than sticking with the old time way those places function - take care of the weakest members of the community. I began joking, "When I'm thirty-seven, I'm going to retire, move west and open a little store."

It is when I am joking that you have to watch out for me. At 35, I started exploring what I might enjoy doing. In the meantime, just to prove I wasn't slipping down at what I was being paid to do, I created the environment for the community to engage is a major construction project - a home for its aging citizens - one that provided the dignity and progromatic services they deserved. I discovered that they would need over $3,000,000 to get it off the ground and they wouldn't go for that as an added budget item. So, I did a massive survey to discover that the community all believed in the project but wouldn't put up the money. I got a grant from the NIH that provided 75% of that amount and shamed them into putting up the rest. They have their beautiful home to this day, though I have been gone from that community for 31 years.

I explored all the possibilities and discovered a franchise through which I could own a leather furniture store for a reasonable investment. I travelled around the country to other franchisees to see what was what. I discovered a lot of people like myself - no experience in the field but wanting an opportunity for entrepreneurship. On my 37th birthday, I resigned, moved 3000 miles west and opened a 2600 square foot store which grew into two branches and 7800 total square feet of floor space ... and a warehouse!

I bought in and got the Seattle franchise - virgin territory. Within five years, I built it from a literal hole in the ground to the leader in the local industry. I sold it and went back to my "old" profession, except this time, not as a worker bee but as an owner of what turned into a chain of clinics in the addictions treatment field. I know how to take risks, how to advertise, how to get viable leases, how to hire and fire and how to present a product or service and sell it. And I take such pride in what I do that if I can't be the best, I won't play.

As I began to age, I added an extra piece to the puzzle. I became a published author at 48 and parlayed two books into new ventures like public speaking at nice fees and sales of books at these speeches which added to income. I was also offered a part-time position as an adjunct professor at a local university to teach a course in their graduate psychology department thanks to the books. I loved that becasue I could pass on my wild ideas to the newest members of the profession.

I retired at 64, thinking I'd had enough but after a few years of idle play, I decided to invest in a little real estate and piddle around in renting condo units to students.

I spent two years researching the market and found an ideal location and price range. I'm still doing that. I kept a small piece of my clinical practice and still see a few clients at home in my office - no overhead.

So, at 69, I'm busy and involved and enjoying life. I have no idea what will come next but I will continue to explore the possibilities.

I joke that I would like to become a towel boy at a high class whorehouse but I know what would happen: I'd end up owning it and having all the headaches of a profession that, like politics, depends on turning bullshit into gold to make money. I never had to fake it to make it and I don't think I could start now. And, I could never exploit my kids to get elected like a certain politician is now doing. I can't give you her name, but her initials are Sarah Polin!

Hope this helps you with your idea collection.

Oh, I almost forgot. My son and granddaughter are touring musicians - not that that is the point of this story. Last year, they performed in the town I helped rethink their ways of helping their citizens. After the show when the fuss is usually all about my adorable granddaughter who is the drummer in the band, all the older memebrs of the audience could ask them was, "Are you related to a guy who has your last name and worked for our community over 30 years ago?" When my son told them that he was my son, they couldn't buy enough of his merchandise ... which he and my granddaughter kindly autographed for them! A few of the people his age remembered him from the few yuears he spent in school there. Yeah, it pays to give your all wherever you are. You never know what kind of legacy your kids will inherit from it!

So, Gordon, what were the skills and strengths you were using before that led you to this 'new career', or did you discover new abilities that you never realized before? Thanks for the contribution.

Wow! that's a lot. Thank you.

However, a few questions...would you think after offering so much there would be further questions?

1. Do you think if you were female this would have been so possible?

2. Do you think your location or location facilitated these moves?

3. You were obviously very motivated and energetic, what would you say to persons who are afraid to change? For whatever reasons?

4. Were you at all fearful at any stage or was it all fun and happiness?

Congratulations on your going 'beyond' and still having goals and enthusiasm...this is what I want to motivate others to do, in my Coaching. I may have to interview you later. Ha!

I would like to hear from women on the move. Come on. Tell your stories. Thank you.

Gender had nothing to do with what I managed to accomplish. When I put my money down on a business the bills were of all denominations but of no gender. The ideas were genderless.

My wife had to go along with all these changes in where we lived and still maintain her profession which she did through 6 cities we lived in. She loves a single profession but has worked in various facets of it and her determination to succeed probably exceeded mine. She kept adding credentials to make herself eligible for different kinds of work in the teaching profession. Now she is the literacy specialist for her district which means she teaches teachers how to teach reading a writing. She professes no knowledge of 'rithmetic ... thoigh I'm sure she could learn it if she wanted to!

Both of us became published authors in our forties. She has an advanced degree in English Literature. I had no courses past college composition 101. When you want something badly and are willing to learn the elements of the work, you can do anything.

Fearful? I was scared s--tless when I took all the money we had and opened a business i knew nothing about 3000 miles from where I had ever been! Being scared saved my life. It forced me to learn everything there was to know and be one step ahead of all the people whose idea of business was to take away every cent I earned with one cockamamie scam or other - like do my advertising for me. Sure. Without ever having a course in advertising, I learend enough to create an award-winning campaign that returned far more than the 10:1 ratio that the books said to expect from advertising dollars spent in that business.

I creaed new tools for sales space usage by reading across fields instead of in-field. Psychology was an important part of my years in business. I could predict with accuracy many things that business people would have had no idea had meaning in selling. I could plant seeds in different ways that sales people.

It is just life and as long as there is food on the table, it is all just a game that you play to win without playing to harm anyone else.

Thanks for your powerful input and your validating your wife's side of the story. I would love to hear it from her. May I ask, is your circle of friends or acquaintances like you both, or are your pace and accomplishment unusual among them? Your approach epitomizes my coaching approach and focus: transcending through transitions, and aiming at potential and limitlessness. I think you both pulled out all the stops. Take care.