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Hank©[_3_]

On 7/27/2013 6:54 AM, Eisboch wrote:

wrote in message
...

I retired at 49, I am living on the water in the sunshine and we are
comfortable, not owing anyone any money. I did OK.

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When I was in my early 40's I set a goal of having the option to retire
by the time I was 55. Made it with 2 years to spare.
It's amazing what can be accomplished if you establish a serious goal.
Everything you do, every decision you make becomes contingent upon not
obscuring the goal but rather trying to support it, if possible.

In my case it wasn't trying to make as much money as I could so I could
retire early. When I worked for others I was not highly paid and when
I started my company, I was often one of the lowest paid people as it
struggled to get going in the early years. Instead, I focused on
building the value of the company in terms of it's products and
technology and it ultimately paid off, not only for me but for my small
group of stockholders and for all the employees who also shared in the
proceeds of the sale.

When I reflect back on things I've done in my life so far it cracks me
up sometimes. I am far from being particularly smart and I certainly
am not overly educated. Nothing I learned in formal schools contributed
much towards what I later did for a living because until the mid 1990's
there were no formal college level courses or degrees offered in the
technology in which I became involved. Probably a good thing because it
caused me and others who worked in the field to constantly self-educate,
try things and be creative. Looking back, I can see how a degree in a
specific field or technical discipline can sometimes become a limiting
factor because many of the rules have already been established. I call
it the Edison Syndrome. He never went to school to get a technical
degree and later one of his associates claimed that had Edison gone to
college he would have learned that many of the things he accomplished
were impossible to achieve. If I had stuck with being an electronics
engineer, I'd probably still be designing high voltage power supplies
for some company somewhere.

Following nine years in the military, going to school part time and then
at nights under the GI bill after I got out, I've been involved as a
principle in three companies. The first, back in 1981, was as a minor,
sweat equity stock holder. The second was as the principle founder and
CEO of the company that I eventually sold. The third was the more
recent and goofy "retirement" guitar shop project that grew more than I
really intended or wanted it to. It didn't take long for me to realize
that I was never designed for working in a retail environment, so I
turned the shop over to a good friend who has more skill and patience in
that than I.

Second to staying married to an incredibly understanding and supportive
wife of 43 years and raising three kids, I am most proud of the fact
that all three of the companies I either directly created or helped
create are still in business, supporting the families of many people.
That's a good feeling when I allow myself a pat on the back.

All of which leads me to a reflection on this country's current status
and trends. This is mostly for Harry, assuming he's still reading this.

I believe in the concept of free enterprise and the right of everyone to
attempt to achieve whatever their goals are. It's not right for a
company to take advantage of people in it's pursuit of profit but at the
same time it's not right to discourage those who want to achieve more
through hard work to be discouraged by overly repressive government
policies designed to "average out" the rewards. I fear that the latter
is the current trend, not simply by attempted legislation but also by
the perpetuation of a social "mood" that businesses and the management
of them are the enemy. Not all people aspire to the same goals. Their
rewards should be consistent with the effort they put into them.

Harry won't understand any of this, but show him a good bumper sticker
and he'll figure it out eventually. He's still working on "Hope and Change"