I Lost Everything at 60 This Is What I Did Next. — Transcript

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1. 0:00At 60 years old, I lost my business.
2. 0:02I had no retirement account, certainly
3. 0:04no savings, and about $1,300 left in my
4. 0:07checking account.
5. 0:08That was enough to cover the mortgage,
6. 0:10some food, and buy me about a month
7. 0:12before I had to start figuring out what
8. 0:13to do next. So, after I'd spent most of
9. 0:15my working life in one industry, I
10. 0:18resorted to applying for jobs at Walmart
11. 0:20and Costco. And I couldn't even get a
12. 0:21callback on a $12 an hour door greeter
13. 0:23job for either place. Now, how scary is
14. 0:26that? So, that was my reality at 60
15. 0:28years old. But,
16. 0:30what I did next completely changed how I
17. 0:33look at what 40-plus years of experience
18. 0:35is really worth. I started working in
19. 0:36the automotive aftermarket in 1973, and
20. 0:39like most, was just an employee working
21. 0:41for others. Then, at age 47, I got the
22. 0:44bright idea to start my own business.
23. 0:46And I ran that for 13 years,
24. 0:48but eventually it started struggling.
25. 0:50And I started doing all the things
26. 0:52you're not supposed to do when you're
27. 0:53trying to save a business. You know,
28. 0:55maxed out the credit cards,
29. 0:57took a HELOC out on all the equity in
30. 0:59our home,
31. 1:00playing games with cash. I just kept
32. 1:02convincing myself that, you know,
33. 1:04tomorrow will be a better day, next
34. 1:05month will be a better month.
35. 1:07Just need one more good job. But,
36. 1:10eventually there was just nothing left
37. 1:11and nowhere to go. I got down to where I
38. 1:13had enough money left to make one
39. 1:15partial payroll. And with that, I had
40. 1:17five guys working for me at the time. I
41. 1:19pulled them into the office and, you
42. 1:21know, trying to hold back tears, told
43. 1:23them what was up, that I had no more
44. 1:24money left after this, and then, you
45. 1:27know, just to stop working because
46. 1:28there's no way I was playing that game
47. 1:30where, "Hey, just keep working and I'll
48. 1:32owe you and I'll pay you." We all know
49. 1:33how that works out. They took it okay.
50. 1:36Obviously, you don't like no notice on
51. 1:37something like that. And a couple of
52. 1:39them were actually nice enough to come
53. 1:41back in the following couple days at no
54. 1:43pay, and help me tidy up a few things,
55. 1:45and, you know, prepare to shut down. So,
56. 1:4713 years in business ended in dramatic
57. 1:50failure. Super embarrassed, and ashamed
58. 1:52of myself. Obviously, I blamed myself. I
59. 1:55I the business owner. It all lands on
60. 1:56me, no matter what. But there was also a
61. 1:58strange sense of relief. There was
62. 2:00almost like an instant weight off my
63. 2:02shoulders. The business had been beating
64. 2:04up me and my family. I was doing
65. 2:05everything I could trying to save it. I
66. 2:07knew that more debt just wasn't going to
67. 2:09save it. You know, it's finally enough
68. 2:10is enough. One [snorts] of the hardest
69. 2:12realizations to come to terms with was
70. 2:14mean, I knew the work. Yeah, I knew the
71. 2:16industry, but
72. 2:19I didn't know how to run a business
73. 2:20regardless of past successes. Being good
74. 2:23at your craft and running a business are
75. 2:25two completely separate things.
76. 2:27After everything, I had less than $1,300
77. 2:29left in our checking account. No
78. 2:31retirement funds as I said, no savings.
79. 2:33Business bankruptcy was coming and a
80. 2:35personal bankruptcy was following that
81. 2:37because I had to sign personal
82. 2:39guarantees on equipment leases. But I'm
83. 2:41a pretty optimistic person in general
84. 2:43and my first thought is my life isn't
85. 2:45over. I just need to pick myself up and
86. 2:47dust myself off. I had about a month to
87. 2:49get this figured out cuz the mortgage,
88. 2:51needing food, and the bills don't stop.
89. 2:53Basically, I needed income immediately.
90. 2:55So, the obvious thing seemed to be go
91. 2:57find a job. So, I found myself applying
92. 3:00online for a door greeter job at Walmart
93. 3:02and Costco.
94. 3:04I didn't mind work. Right now it was
95. 3:05just keep food on the table. But I said
96. 3:08I couldn't even get a call back.
97. 3:10So, not only was it maddening, it was
98. 3:11also kind of scary because the clock's
99. 3:13ticking. I even applied to CarMax as a
100. 3:16mechanic.
101. 3:17And they called back.
102. 3:19Only problem was their online
103. 3:20application decided I needed to be a car
104. 3:22salesman and
105. 3:24I could probably figure that out, but I
106. 3:25just couldn't believe that's where all
107. 3:27this led. And all this has made me think
108. 3:29back to when I was a teenager, the big
109. 3:31Catch-22 where you're trying to get a
110. 3:33job, but you can't get a job cuz you
111. 3:35don't have any experience, but how do
112. 3:37you get experience if you don't can't
113. 3:38get the job? But you get in and finally
114. 3:40got 20-30 years worth of experience. Now
115. 3:43here we are old and we have the
116. 3:45experience and why can't we get a job?
117. 3:48At the same time, I was trying to help
118. 3:49my guys with finding jobs. One of my
119. 3:52guys was a good mechanic, and there was
120. 3:53a local repair shop that we had done
121. 3:55some work for that was close to where he
122. 3:57lived. So, I called up the owner, told
123. 4:00him what was up and why I was calling,
124. 4:02and we got into the conversation and he
125. 4:03was asking about the equipment that he
126. 4:05was considering bringing this type of
127. 4:07work that I did in house.
128. 4:09And wanted to know if he could come down
129. 4:10and take a look at it before it went to
130. 4:12auction. And I said, "Sure,
131. 4:14that's fine." So, he came down one
132. 4:16evening and we're talking and I laid
133. 4:18everything out. I didn't have anything
134. 4:20to hide. So, you know, we laughed and
135. 4:22then the next morning
136. 4:24he called me asking what were my plans.
137. 4:27And I said, "Well, the current plan is
138. 4:28waiting for Walmart to call me back
139. 4:30about a door greeter job." And we
140. 4:31laughed and he said, "Hey,
141. 4:33how about you come on up and let's
142. 4:34talk." So, I went up there, he gave me
143. 4:36the tour and he was kind of telling me
144. 4:38what his plans were and why. And we
145. 4:41retired back to his office to kind of
146. 4:43start the interview. So, we're kind of
147. 4:44sitting there in silence staring at each
148. 4:46other when I blurted out, "Yeah, I'm 60
149. 4:49years old, but I believe I still have
150. 4:50value." We both laughed, but I meant it.
151. 4:53I wasn't sure what that value was going
152. 4:55to look like here, but I was pretty sure
153. 4:57I wasn't going to be working at Walmart.
154. 4:59He offered me the job basically being a
155. 5:01machinist and assembler. So, the week
156. 5:03after I started, we found ourselves
157. 5:04going to a trade show and we're buying
158. 5:06equipment. Come back, set up in like a
159. 5:09800-ft old enclosed loading dock.
160. 5:13Everything jammed in there, you got to
161. 5:14step sideways to get around, but here we
162. 5:17are, we're in business. So, it's pretty
163. 5:19exciting and we had set goals and for
164. 5:21the first month we more than doubled
165. 5:23that and it just went nuts from there.
166. 5:25The first couple years were almost 100%
167. 5:27growth rates year after year. So, this
168. 5:29is wonderful and exciting as I said.
169. 5:31And he had the patience to work with me
170. 5:33on the business side of things cuz his
171. 5:34eventual goal for me was to manage that
172. 5:37division. So, here I am working like
173. 5:39crazy, but I'm loving it. I mean, got
174. 5:4015-hour days 5 days a week and I work
175. 5:43weekends, too.
176. 5:44I I wanted us
177. 5:46His success mattered because my success
178. 5:48depended [clears throat] on it. And I
179. 5:49did this for more than a year. And I'm
180. 5:51not trying to brag or anything. I I was
181. 5:54rebuilding. And things started to
182. 5:55stabilize, too, in life and with family.
183. 5:58I mean, I joined a retirement plan as
184. 5:59soon as I was eligible for it. That's
185. 6:02first time ever. Was even managed to
186. 6:03sock away a little bit here and there
187. 6:05out of each paycheck. We got through the
188. 6:07personal bankruptcy, and we obviously
189. 6:09learned how to live within our means. We
190. 6:11also had no debt. Basically,
191. 6:14couldn't pay for it in cash, you didn't
192. 6:15need it. But again, I was starting over,
193. 6:17and I was already comfortable with the
194. 6:19idea I was pretty much going to be
195. 6:20working the rest of my life. But life
196. 6:22happens, and sometimes you're thrown
197. 6:24curveballs. Couple years later, our
198. 6:26youngest daughter passed away suddenly
199. 6:28at the age of 26. Obviously, that
200. 6:30changed our family. But sometimes
201. 6:32something horrible becomes the catalyst
202. 6:34for what life brings next. The big
203. 6:36positive thing out of it came that it
204. 6:38pulled family together. My wife started
205. 6:40spending more time with her sister down
206. 6:41in Florida a couple times a year. Then
207. 6:44one day I get the call
208. 6:46saying, "I want to move to Florida."
209. 6:49Well, that's the last thing I'd ever
210. 6:50hear out of her mouth cuz Florida was
211. 6:51always hot and humid, and she couldn't
212. 6:53stand it. But it made sense. We were
213. 6:55ready to leave the house where our
214. 6:56daughter passed away. It was good time
215. 6:58we were downsizing at our age,
216. 7:00and we really did need something
217. 7:02different. But moving meant leaving my
218. 7:04job. And here I am with the same
219. 7:06question again,
220. 7:07"How am I going to earn?" So, I gave the
221. 7:09company plenty of notice. We sat down
222. 7:11with the owner and the general manager.
223. 7:14I mean, over the years we were more
224. 7:15brothers, even though we were certainly
225. 7:17an employee-employer relationship.
226. 7:19Explained to them what was up and why,
227. 7:20and they certainly understood.
228. 7:23We started talking about, you know,
229. 7:24transitioning and who in the department
230. 7:27was going to step up into my position,
231. 7:29or they'd have to go outside and hire,
232. 7:31you know, what that meant overall. And
233. 7:33during this conversation, we discovered
234. 7:35there was one thing my years of
235. 7:36experience really did matter. It was on
236. 7:38the failure analysis and warranty side
237. 7:40of things. Basically, figuring out what
238. 7:42went wrong and why and what are we going
239. 7:44to do about it. You know, was it
240. 7:45workmanship? Was it manufacturing, a
241. 7:48part defect? Was it an assembly error?
242. 7:51Was it a customer error? I mean, I've
243. 7:53seen so many things break and fail over
244. 7:55the years that kind of came natural and
245. 7:57just didn't think that much of it. But
246. 7:59everyone else in the department at that
247. 8:00time was like 25 to 30 years younger
248. 8:03than me and they hadn't been around
249. 8:06enough to see all this. So, all of a
250. 8:08sudden, my age isn't a weakness. Turns
251. 8:10into an asset. We sat there in our
252. 8:12meeting, we figured out how to do this
253. 8:13remotely.
254. 8:15We didn't call a consulting or anything
255. 8:16like that at the time. It really just
256. 8:18amounted to, "Hey, we still need you for
257. 8:19this." So, in July 2021,
258. 8:22wife and I packed up, moved to Florida
259. 8:25and the remote consulting business
260. 8:26started. And I'm still doing it today at
261. 8:2872 years old. I work fewer hours, make
262. 8:31really, really good money, I'm in
263. 8:33control of my time,
264. 8:35which is the whole point of being in
265. 8:36retirement. The company gets knowledge
266. 8:38without having to keep me on the
267. 8:39payroll.
268. 8:40So, it's a win-win for both of us. Now,
269. 8:42I'll be honest with you. I've averaged
270. 8:44over $4,000 a month since then and
271. 8:46they're still paying me today. So, the
272. 8:48irony is, at 60 years old when this all
273. 8:50started, couldn't get a job as a door
274. 8:52greeter at Walmart and hadn't realized
275. 8:55the experience I had was worth much more
276. 8:57than that. I didn't have any degrees,
277. 8:59didn't need to go get a degree, didn't
278. 9:01have to learn some trendy new business,
279. 9:03got to stay in the field that I loved
280. 9:04and didn't have to reinvent myself. We
281. 9:06found a problem that 40-plus years of
282. 9:08experience had taught me and how to
283. 9:10solve it. So, if you feel like you're
284. 9:12that 60-year-old me with $1,300 left to
285. 9:15his name,
286. 9:16you're not down and out for the count.
287. 9:18Things can look completely different a
288. 9:19year from now. I mean, I thought I still
289. 9:21had value at 60 and minute. What I
290. 9:23didn't realize at the time and didn't
291. 9:25fully realize it until we decided to
292. 9:27move to Florida was all the ways that
293. 9:29that value could be used. So, back to
294. 9:32the catch-22 example. Starting out in a
295. 9:34career, can't get a job. Late in your
296. 9:36career, you got all the experience and
297. 9:38more, and you can't get a job. In my
298. 9:40case, and maybe yours, the answer was
299. 9:43that we created the job. If any part of
300. 9:45my story sounds familiar, you may
301. 9:47realize that you need to make a change.
302. 9:49But, you may not really be sure what's
303. 9:50preventing you from making that change.
304. 9:52I've put together a simple 2-minute
305. 9:54worksheet called What's Really In Your
306. 9:57Way. It'll help identify where you're
307. 9:59currently stuck, and what deserves
308. 10:00attention next. It's free. I'll put the
309. 10:03link below. It really only takes a
310. 10:04couple minutes, like five questions.
311. 10:06Answer the questions honestly, and see
312. 10:08what comes up that makes you think.
313. 10:10Because after everything I've gone
314. 10:11through, I have realized that the answer
315. 10:13isn't trying to find another employer
316. 10:15willing to hire you. You may not need
317. 10:16another job.
318. 10:18You may need to just look differently at
319. 10:19what you already know.