Paper boy
Back in St. Joe Missouri I would get up at 4 am and go to the corner where my stacks of paper would be dropped off. I would then carefully pack the papers in my paper bag while putting the rubber bands to wrap the papers in a special pocket for easy access. Wednesday and Sunday papers were the biggest and heaviest. Because of the ads. Hated those days. And, back then, we would deliver the paper twice a day. Once in the morning and again in the afternoon. Crazy to think about now. Didn’t matter the weather. About 225 papers to deliver. The best paper routes were those that had apartments…that was a warm and easy place to deliver papers. In the winter you could hear a paper boy scream for miles if a rubber brand snapped and broke on your hand at 10 degrees. I would also carry a small baseball bat in my coveralls to protect myself against dogs. 🙂
Mechanic
I helped my dad works on cars every now and then. Learned more than I wanted to about cars. One day we thought my air conditioning was out on my car and he told me to go get a yard stick. I did and he put the yard stick up against the compressor and the other end to his ear. I thought he was messing with me. Then I did it on his car and then mine…I could hear it too. He was wicked hard working. To this day I feel a sense of guilt when I take my car in to get the oil changed.
Trapper Keeper Maker
After high school I didn’t go to college. Couldn’t afford it. So, I worked in the Mead paper products factory. I made Trapper Keepers! The coolest of the cool of binders for school. It was the worst job ever! 🙂 I worked on a machine with 6 other people and it was so prone to catching fire that they named it the Heat Seal and they literally put a cage around it to limit the fire spreading to the rest of the floor. One day I got into an argument with my foreman and one of the other employees threatened to kill him for me. I didn’t know if he was kidding or not, but it scared me straight. I quit the next day and vowed to go to college.
Topsys Popcorn
While in the local college I worked at the mall at Topsys Popcorn. We made and sold popcorn. It was the best!
Joe Optican Jewelers
In the same mall I got offered a job at the jewelry store in the mall and the manager taught me a trade. I loved it. Learned how to work on watches and rings and all jewelry. To this day I am the king of untangling necklaces. I became a gemologist and jeweler. I did this throughout my time in college even at TCU to be able to help pay for it.
RA
When I went to TCU I became a Resident Assistant. It paid for my room and board. Loved that job. One year I was the RA in the athletic dorm and the swimmers and track guys were on my floor. (Track guys…definitely got paid) Swimmers were the craziest and strongest athletes ever. One night a couple of football players got into a big fight and I went to check it out. I wasn’t stupid, I wasn’t going to step in the middle of it. But they thought I was going to and one of them grabbed me. But the swimmers had my back. They ran up and jumped on those guys and the football players backed down. Even they were afraid of the swimmers. 🙂
While at TCU I also had another job. I was email. When one department wanted to send a note to another they would hand me the memo and I would run across campus and deliver it. Then wait for the response and run it back. I was email.
Kamp Counselor
During the summers while at college I worked at Kanakuk Kamps as a camp counselor. I wasn’t a very good one. So they put me in charge of the boats. I was Dock Daddy!
Youth Pastor
Right after TCU I had planned to go to seminary to be a pastor but instead I started a job as a youth pastor in Houston. Great time with the kids! Did NOT like the parents. 🙂
Customer Service – MCI
Second worst job ever! 8 hours every day of people upset at you because THEY didn’t pay their bill. This was back when local and long distance phone calls were different and you had to pay to call someone long distance. By the minute! And so people chose a long distance carrier just like today you choose a cell phone carrier.
Finance – MCI
One day I got a job in finance at MCI and that began my career in corporate leadership. I applied for a job that no one wanted. It was because it was over a few people in the department that had sued multiple managers for racial discrimination. No one wanted the job. I took the job and pretty quickly the employees filed another complaint. I stuck with it and won them over…one of my favorite jobs ever.
Finance – Level (3) Communications
I went from MCI to a company called Level (3) Communications. That was a fun job. A startup but well funded. Kool and the Gang played our Christmas party!
Prime Mortgage Group
While at Level 3 a friend approached me and asked if I wanted to buy a small mortgage company with him. We did it. I left Level 3. Crazy now that I look back on it. What was I thinking. A month after we bought it 9/11 happened. We didn’t know what would happen. So much was unknown. But for us, the mortgage business took off. And for the next 2 years it went crazy.
Prime Trailer Leasing
In the middle of the mortgage business another friend of mine convinced me to join him in the trailer business. A great experience but the worst decision financially and career wise I ever made. No other jobs do I regret…except this one. But, I learned, so that’s good.
Grey Mountain Partners
I took a year off or so after my heart surgery and then went to work with a company called Grey Mountain. A private equity group. I loved that role. Loved it. Great people that I learned a lot from. Super smart yet super humble. Did that for about a year when I was offered my first CFO role.
Kidrobot
Adult toys. Not exactly…but I don’t know how else to describe it.
Sascho
Deck stain. Caulk. I have a philosophy…”fail fast”. This is the only job I ever had to deploy that philosophy. I knew it wasn’t a fit and so moved on right away. A great family business.
Sunflower Bank
I became the market president for a bank in Boulder. Started it from scratch. Hiring, finding a building, designing the decor, finding the customers, loaning money. I loved it! I learned so much about commercial lending and banking.
Grey Mountain Charter Financing
From there I started a company with my friends at Grey Mountain to loan money to charter schools for their buildings. It was fun but after a while, it was a lot of travel…my heart needed a break. The investors wanted to keep going but I needed out.
Red Dot Storage
I received a call from “friends” to ask me to be the COO of a self storage company they owned. Loved that job. Learned a lot.
Oil Lube Centers
Right when the pandemic hit a close friend asked me to work with him in his oil business for a while. A great business and I feel honored to be a part of it in a small way.
Why do I tell you all these jobs? No real reason. Except to say…my job is not my identity.
I also just thought when my kids go back and read this they will think it’s interesting.
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