I have been an entrepreneur most of my life. I started Firestone in the half of the class that made the top half possible. I was a high school drop in. I was more interested in making money. In one semester, I graced them with my presence about 40% of the required time. The assistant principal, Mr. Tritt, was not impressed. So, I took a year off. When I returned and registered as a seventeen-year-old to take my junior year over again, Mr. Tritt told me that nobody had ever returned to high school and finished. But by now, I had figured out the game. They didn’t want me to be there every day. They wanted me to get good grades. So, I went to school and got high marks. I just did it in three days a week. I worked at St. Thomas Hospital at night ($1.21/hr plus 8 cents/hr night shift differential) and got school credit for it. And because I worked nights, I had time to study. I always had money, but no time. I worked three nights a week to make my car payment. I worked two nights to put gas in my car. And then I worked on the weekends so I would have money in my pocket. What was the problem, when friends would say, let’s go out Friday night? What did I have to say? I can’t. I have to work. I had money, no time. Which is the most important, time or money? They both are, right? In life, the tests come first, and then the lesson. It took me years to develop having both time and money.

In 1967, Uncle Sam thought I was a number one draft choice to join the Army. I was young and patriotic. You see, I saw, join the Army, see the world. All I heard was, see the world part. I missed the part about joining the Army. Our class graduated June 8th. I married June 10th and shipped off to Ft. Knox basic training June 26th, during the height of Vietnam. I am proud and grateful for my military service. I learned how working together can keep you alive, and when you think you cannot take one more step, you can go even longer than ever expected, run longer, sleep less. The GI Bill paid for my university degree and the VA provides my health care.
After serving overseas, and working in the medical profession for a few years, I decided to go back to school. I earned a BSc in medical sciences from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. I also started a business that provided a substantial income and allowed me to travel throughout Canada and the world. That business brought in millions of dollars of sales for seventeen years. Then the economy took a dive and so did my manufacturing business. I remember waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. My back was against the wall. That’s when the reality of life sets in and necessity becomes the mother of invention. I decided that night; I never wanted employees ever again. I had over a hundred. If they didn’t show up, I had to do their work. And then I had to stay late to do my work. I never wanted to owe people money, ever again. I owed millions. I thought I was successful when the bank loaned me millions of dollars. Wrong. And, I never wanted people to owe me money again.
Since then, in over forty years, I have launched over ten corporations for myself and built factories. I have helped hundreds of people start and develop their own businesses in many parts of the world. I have traveled to five continents and 26 countries and still counting. I have inspired and educated large audiences and coached individuals. I eventually arrived at the point of having both time and money.
A few years back, when I earned my sixty-five-year pin for long-life service, I realized I have an obligation to pay forward to others, the skills, and knowledge I have mastered. I have discovered many baby boomers foster a renascence and zest for life and want to leave the woodpile higher than the way they found it. They want to simply know the steps it takes to invigorate their lives to begin again. The steps are proven. I have successfully learned those key steps and have been able to teach them to others. As a follow-up to my Best-Selling Book Success Manifesto – The World’s Leading Entrepreneurs and Professionals Reveal Their Secrets to Mastering Health, Wealth & Lifestyle, I have a forthcoming book and documentary Force of Purpose - Driven Against All Odds.
I have downsized to travel and write. I have a beautiful daughter and granddaughter. I enjoy my life of leisure and study from the banks of a remote lake in NC, surrounded by families of deer and photographing Hummingbirds, Blue Heron, and Bald Eagles who come to visit. My life has just begun. I am applying to Columbia University for an MS in Narrative Medicine and will continue to help others tell their life stories through my websites commemoratemylife.me and boomertozoomer.com
Excited to see you at the reunion.