Carl is amazed when he interviews the one and only Kevin Blake. Kevin is different from most of our podcast guests in that he is only in his 30’s. But he definitely took a big risk to dive into his very successful second act and he shares what he learned with the rest of us. Kevin is a former marketing exec who left a successful career to follow his dream of becoming a magician/illusionist/mentalist. He now has a wildly popular show in San Francisco at the Palace Theater.
Ok, this is a BIG DEAL! Carl interviews a retirement legend in this 100th EPISODE!
It's BONUS day in the Landau Tiki Bar this week. We're featuring The Best of "Pickleball Chronicles with Traver". Even if you're not a pickleball enthusiast, you'll really enjoy this episode. Six fun-filled and heartfelt stories.
Carl is excited to interview David Johnson, an internationally recognized pioneer and leader in the pickleball industry. He co-founded Pickleball Central in 2006 with his wife Anna Copley at the dawn of the modern day pickleball renaissance. He built the company into the largest pickleball retailer and led the acquisition of Pickleball Tournaments and Pickleball Inc. while leading Pickleball Central to tens millions of dollars in sales annually before selling the company to Dundan Capital, owner and operator of the PPA Tour, Major League Pickleball, Pickleball Brackets and other related companies. And David has found new ways to give back to the industry in his (un)retirement.
Want to hear wisdom and insight on finding purpose from a former internal medicine doc who is now a writer, speaker, and podcast host? This week Carl interviews Jordan (Doc G) Grumet has made many significant pivots in his life. After becoming a doctor of internal medicine and practicing for 15 years, Jordan had an "aha" moment where he realized that although his medical career had served him well, he wanted something new, something different, something more meaningful.
What a fascinating story about Mary-Lou Nash who arrived in South Africa with just a backpack and eventually becomes a winemaster. Her Black Pearl winery is in the Paarl valley, near Cape Town. Her story is one of curiosity for the world, taking chances, a lot of hard work and dogged perseverance. In 1995 she had been a teacher traveling the world and decided on a whim to take her backpack and meet her dad in South Africa. She had no idea then that choosing to go to South Africa would set her life on a completely new course.
Carl interviews the unstoppable Stephanie Stuckey, the CEO of Stuckey's. The brand is known by generations as a highway oasis serving up pecan log rolls and kitschy souvenirs. Many Boomers fondly remember family road trips throughout the U.S. when stopping at Stuckey's was a tradition. Reviving her family's company is just the latest in a long list of Stephanie's accomplishments. She's been a Public Defender, a Georgia State Representative, a Director of Sustainability and Resilience for the City of Atlanta and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Georgia School of Law. Stephanie's story has recently been featured in The New York Times, the TODAY Show and the Washington Post.
I'm currently starting my 4th year of what we call (Un)Retirement. And maybe I've learned a thing or two I can share to help you...
In this last episode of 2021, we flip the podcast-- and Diana, Carl’s wife/content wrangler/blogger interviews the host. As she interviews Carl, they do a bit deeper dive into his childhood, his parent's divorce, the family barrel business started by his grandfather, his late-blooming teens, and his college years.
Carl interviews the one and only Dr. Jim Beckett. Dr. Beckett has lived quite a life—and as he says, “I had a childhood hobby that grew into a successful business and now I'm turning back into a hobby!”
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The one-and-only Mike Krukow was a guest on the podcast this week. Carl is a HUGE San Francisco Giants fan and interviewing one of his personal heroes was a major thrill! Mike was not only a star pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and then the SF Giants, but after his playing days were over, he eventually found his way to broadcasting, becoming one half of one of the most famous sports broadcasting duos in the country.
Jim Roddy talked recently with Carl about how he overcame personal and career challenges and the importance of making good people great. Jim is author of the new book, The Walk-On Method to Career & Business Success and has been one of the most popular speakers in the technology industry.
It takes a unique skill set to have the courage to persevere and achieve your goals as a "walk on" without the benefit of first being recruited or having a scholarship. Jim knows first-hand about the challenge of being a "walk on". In college he displayed that same ingenuity, asking the coach for a chance and through grit and determination eventually earned a playing position on the Gannon University basketball team.
Jim saw how these attitudes helped him succeed in magazine publishing and as a national speaker and as a business coach. He learned that other “walk-ons” had used those practices as well and had applied them to their professional careers. His new book features 31 underdog athletes who parlayed their college experience into habits that led to career success. The author has always been inspired by the concept that ordinary people will accomplish extraordinary feats when their energy is properly channeled.
Insights from Jim on accelerating your success:
1. Anyone can change his/her attitudes and practices. Resourcefulness is key.
2. Working 24/7 is not the answer. Dedicate time for yourself. Find ways to increase your knowledge and skills but have fun too.
3. Do something meaningful that has an impact for people-- that will in turn accelerate their success too.
Jim’s previous book, "Hire Like You Just Beat Cancer" features hiring lessons, interview best practices, and recruiting strategies for managers through the perspective of a cancer-surviving manager. Available in paperback format, the book includes detailed examples and time-tested hiring best practices you can implement immediately at your organization.
The Walk-On Method to Career and Business Success was published in Sept. 2020 and is available in paperback and e-book format on Amazon.Learn more about Jim Roddy here!
For the full interview, listen to I Used to be Somebody, Episode #7 with Jim Roddy.
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the I Used to Be Somebody weekly blog.
In this week’s podcast, we talk with Michela O’Connor Abrams about facing life’s challenges head on and starting anew. Michela is the former CEO of Dwell Media, building the company from its early phase as a small magazine about esoteric design to an internationally recognized media brand. This was a huge achievement: The Internet has changed magazine publishing in dramatic ways and the brands that didn’t learn to develop new channels for their customer base sank quickly.
With Michela at the helm, Dwell became a 7-platform media brand. It’s known for showcasing gorgeous photography and innovative design and for bringing together architects, designers, and the trades in creating beautiful places to live.
Although there weren’t very many female CEOs 30+ years ago, Michela was a trailblazer in publishing. Prior to Dwell, Michela led companies from startup to exit and turnaround to high growth, at companies like IDG, Softbank, McGraw-Hill, Ziff Davis and Future Media.
Then four years ago, she faced the unimaginable. First, her mother unexpectedly was diagnosed with non-smoking lung cancer. Soon after that, one of her dearest friends died. Two weeks after that, her husband died, and then two weeks later her father died.
Flash forward to now. Michela says she is “emboldened and resilient.” She said it helped to imagine all four of her loved ones standing in front of her, telling her to go live her life with reckless abandon. “So that’s what I’m trying to do,” she says. I had to answer the question, “When, where and how do I recreate my future?”
Looking forward, she has been eager to draw on her many years of leadership and coaching experience. Michela founded a new media company, MOCA+. Tapping into her vast experience and connections within the industry, she creates a team to help her clients depending on their need: Coaching, fine-tuning, pivoting, buying and selling. She’s loving it!
In her spare time, Michela serves on the board of Arcbazar and is an advisor to Turkel Design, Nebia, Aplat Inc., NextPlay, and NewStory. She is a sought-after speaker on leadership, design, and media and is always game to share her passion for good design and business innovation.
3 key takeaways on beginning anew from Michela:
You choose what “balance” is and what work you take on. There’s so much to get involved in, you have to decide what you really want for you—first.
Ask, “What’s my time worth?” Decide a price/value ratio that not only works for you but for the client as well.
Take enough time off. Michela says she jumped back in after only 2 months but wished she’d taken more time in between business ventures.
For the full interview, listen to I Used to be Somebody, Episode #6 with Michela O’Connor Abrams. For listening details go to our website.
To learn more about Michela check out her website.
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the I Used to Be Somebody weekly blog.
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The best words to describe what Joan Ryan has done throughout her life is………..”Ground breaking.” She is an award-winning journalist and author of five books. Joan has been a pioneer in sports journalism, becoming one of the first female sports columnists in the country. She has covered every major sporting event from the Super Bowl and the World Series to the Olympics.
Joan overcame the challenges of being a female in a male dominated world. She notes “I was competitive, so the more hassle I got, the more determined I got.” She started her career as a sports reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, then became an editor and eventually the first female sports columnist.
Carl talks with Joan about making the transition from decades in sports journalism to becoming a book author and writing for herself. It’s no surprise that her first book, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of the Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters (1995, Doubleday), was a controversial, ground-breaking expose that Sports Illustrated named one of the Top 100 Sports Books of All Time. The book and Joan were featured on Oprah, The Today Show, The New Yorker, New York Times and People Magazine among others.
Three successful books later, Joan again tried something new. Realizing that there was no one really “telling the story” of the then (2008) struggling SF Giants team, she set out to create a media consulting position for herself as an “in-house” journalist—a new concept at the time. She had lunch with CEO Larry Baer… and the rest is history.
Joan’s long experience in clubhouses and locker rooms and then with the SF Giants team made her realize that successful teams, in any type of organization, cannot only be driven by analytics, but that culture makes the difference. It's not an either/or question. “Culture is the bedrock of team chemistry and high performance,” she says. So you know what happened next. Joan’s latest book, Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry (Little Brown, 2020), is out now.
Advice on career changes and life from Joan Ryan:
1. “Ask yourself, how can I apply this skill set that I worked so hard for to something new?”
2. “Anytime you pitch a new idea to someone, you better connect the dots on how it’s going to put money in their pocket.”
3. “It’s essential to find your new tribe, whether it’s a new organization, golf, etc. You have to get out there. Do not isolate. We need connection, we are social beings.”
For the full interview, listen to I Used to be Somebody, Episode #4 with Joan Ryan. For listening details go to our website.
To learn more about Joan's work check out her website.
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the I Used to Be Somebody weekly blog.
Carl interviewed Richard Turner, an active 82 year-old with over 20 years of adventurous (un)retirement in the Tiki Bar studio last week. Richard lives in Sacramento but has a national reputation. His life has taken many twists—from prominent positions in state government to managing a large law firm to taking a dramatic U-turn to professional photographer and poet.
In his early 30s, Richard was already a Deputy District Attorney when he was given the opportunity to work for Ronald Reagan, then California’s governor. Richard says that even if you don’t agree with Reagan’s policies, he was always a gentleman. He worked closely with Reagan and the team understood that the goal was the White House. Richard also stepped up to become Governor’s representative on the scene during the 1969 People’s Park riots.
He then left his plumb job on the Governor’s legal team to become a trial lawyer and start his own practice. Specializing in state governmental issues, Richard grew his firm to 15 lawyers and 40 employees. His life was about work, kids, and their schedules mortgages, graduations—we all know the drill. He felt all the long hours in his work life were taking a toll. “I started to feel that five decades rushed by, like overnight,” and he began to wonder about the world outside his own. As a trial lawyer, his life was characterized by conflict. He wanted more.
At 60, spur of the moment, Richard told his wife he was going back East and would be back in a month. He had no plan, no agenda. He stopped in Idaho, Montana and British Columbia, taking photos with a brand new camera. One morning, before he bucked hay on a cattle ranch, he was sitting on a log as the mist rose from the Bitterroot River. An inner voice whispered, “Richard, you swagger around a courtroom all day arguing with people. There are a lot of other things happening in the world. Wake up before the miracles pass you by.” Richard says his sleep in the woods that night was delightful.
So Richard went from courtroom to darkroom, winding up his client responsibilities at the law firm and embarking on a new career as professional nature photographer and poet—two things he hadn’t done before but took enormous pleasure in—even though his friends and family thought he was crazy. It took some work to wrap things up in his old life, but he says the decision was easy.
Fast forward to now: Richard has sold thousands of copies of his book, “I Can’t Always See My Path, but I Keep on Walking”, a collaboration of his photography and poetry. He has more books in the works and has sold 54,000 of his beautiful, handmade cards featuring his photos. (Do the math.)
Here are some key insights on (un)retirement from the interview:
Richard: “Do whatever it takes to enjoy your life.”
Carl: “Don’t wait for tomorrow to do the things on your bucket list. People always wait for retirement, whenever that is. Do it now.”
Richard: “We get caught up in the troubles of life—the world, politics, family, etc. Life is short. Make an effort to enjoy it and be fulfilled.”
Richard summed up his (un)retirement in just three words: “I feel good!” He went on to say that what has become important to him now is to do something for humanity. He’s certainly found that in sharing his writing and photography with the world.
For the full interview, listen to I Used to be Somebody, Episode #4 with Richard Turner. For listening details go to our website!
To learn more about Richard’s work check out his website to learn more about what he's up to now.
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the I Used to Be Somebody weekly blog.