We must learn from the past to move forward, and Carl's guest this week, Nick Mueller, PhD, has made a huge impact on our world. Nick's "day jobs" as a distinguished teacher, historian, Dean and then Vice Chancellor at the University of New Orleans led him to play a key role in developing learning programs and a University Conference Center in Innsbruck, Austria as well as a UNO Research and Technology Park. But his leading role as the Founding President and CEO of the world-renowned National World War II Museum (and campus) in New Orleans was a remarkable achievement. And he's not done yet.

Nick was born to German immigrant parents in Philadelphia and grew up in Louisville, KY. His father was a Baptist minister and theologian and the family of six traveled the country, often staying with other families. By age 18, Nick says he'd been to 46 U.S. states and 7 countries.

After college, Nick's passion for teaching led to his exemplary career in academia. Everything changed one afternoon in 1990 when Nick and his good friend and colleague, Stephen Ambrose, sat down to discuss creating a National World War II Museum. Stephen was a historian (best selling author and a true celebrity in the day), WWII expert and was finishing a new book. Stephen had located a historical site and had 1,000 oral histories about D-Day. Most importantly, he recognized a huge opportunity to create the museum and knew Nick Mueller could bring the vision to life. Nick adds, "We went broke three times, made a lot of mistakes, we didn't know anything about building a museum, but Steve was so mesmerizing and the board stuck around."

The museum opened in 2000. Thirty-four years and $400 million later, plus steadfast support from Tom Hanks, Tom Brokaw, Steven Spielberg and Congress, the well-regarded museum has seven pavilions and is ranked by TripAdvisor as the #3 American museum and #8 worldwide museum to visit. Nick attributes America's part in WWII to resilience and the classic David and Goliath. "It's a powerful, good story that Americans can be proud of and draw strength from."

In 2017, Nick was going to try to retire again but he's been busy writing books, speaking and leading WWII-themed tours in Europe. At 85, he just launched his latest book, "Preserving the Legacy: Creating the National WWII Museum". Nick looks to the future with enthusiasm. "I'm looking forward to however many years I have ahead of me!"

Nick Mueller's (un)retirement advice:

• "I'm trying to simplify my life. My wife would like me to start with my office."

• "I wasn't running anything anymore and that was a huge change. I have no big deadlines now except the ones I set for myself."

• "Everyone says Follow your passion. Your passions are limited by your age and the time you have left to pursue them. So you have to adjust a little bit."

• More about Nick Mueller​​​​​​​

• Nick's new book Preserving the Legacy: Creating the National WWII Museum

• Sponsored by: Capital Advantage

• Sponsored by: How to Retire and Not Die

• I Used to be Somebody World Tour: Croatia

• Subscribe to the I Used to be Somebody Newsletter

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" blog.

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Tags:    blog   unretirement   WorldWarIIMuseum   author   Nick Mueller   academia   museum  

​​​​​​​"Digital Nomad" Wayne Schmidt pauses long enough for Carl to interview him in this episode. Wayne and his wife, Sally, decided to resign from their jobs in 2017 and began a new lifestyle by traveling the world. So far, they've been to 92 countries! Wayne, a former corporate exec and entrepreneur, has crafted a business that lets him and Sally wander the globe and live their travel dreams.

Wayne grew up in a small town in Australia. "I was a good country boy," he tells us. In high school, he taught himself computer programming. A teacher noticed and even though Wayne's family was poor and he wasn't planning on college, the teacher enrolled him and secured a scholarship. "Thanks to my teacher, he changed my entire life."

After college, Wayne worked as a corporate exec in the accounting and insurance industries as well as founding his own computer start-up company. After 18 years as an entrepreneur, he went back to working in corporate. At the end of 2017, he and his wife were on a long vacation and he started thinking he wanted to keep on traveling. He and Sally talked it over, resigned from their jobs and sold the majority of their assets (including their home and cars) in 3 weeks. They began 2018 "....with no plans, no direction, no jobs--absolutely nothing!"

Wayne says he's made every mistake possible but has no regrets. "There's nothing I haven't done wrong in 8 years!" But he also emphasizes that people in their 50's and 60's have the net worth to travel. He acknowledges that since his parents have passed away and they have no children, that frees them up in a big way. He adds that the traveling life has really improved their marriage and they couldn't be happier. "We have a greater tolerance for other cultures, we have a much slower pace of life and we have become much less focused on a life of consumption and more on giving."

Wayne and Sally call Belgrade, Serbia their homebase now. They say the people are wonderful, it's very affordable and centrally located. "We can fly to Vienna in an hour and have lunch!" They have a website, Travel.Dine.Stay to share what they've learned and he now works about 2.5 days per week providing marketing consulting for accounting firms. Wayne says, "I call it a leap of faith. Be prepared to fall over. It's alright!"

Wayne's (un)retirement tips:

• "Don't plan. The more you plan, you set yourself for failure. Go with the flow. I'm a much nicer person than I was eight years ago."

• "I am not rushing to my grave. We want to go slow. Give me a three-hour meal any day!"

• "Avoid the mainstream media's "top 10" lists of places to visit. Personally, we love a language barrier."

• "Get a financial planner and be prepared to take some risks, even doing something unusual."

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• More about Wayne and Sally Schmidt​​​​​​​

• Forbes Article about The Schmidts

• Sponsored by: How to Retire and Not Die

• Sponsored by: Capital Advantage

• I Used to be Somebody World Tour

• Subscribe to the I Used to be Somebody newsletter​​​​​​​

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" blog

Tags:    blog   unretirement   travel   financial planner   founder   consultant   vacation  

There's never a dull moment in Carl's interview with the one and only Gary Saunders. Gary had a long career as a general manager and exec for many Minor League Baseball teams as well as the University of Mississippi. But Gary is far from done. At 66, Gary is now a sound engineer for the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and popular radio personality with the very cool handle of "HoDad". Plus an array of interesting other part-time jobs he loves while experience a very unique (un)retirement.

Gary and his two brothers grew up in Virginia. His father was a real estate developer and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. As a teen he worked as a laborer for his father on construction sites and quickly learned that focusing on his studies would be a better path. Even in college at Virginia Tech, he knew he wanted a career in sports and dove into sportscasting for various college teams.

After college, Gary applied for a position with the St. Louis Cardinals, only to be discouraged by the sheer number of applicants and the low wages. But a man walked up to him, gave him his card and offered him a job as a Sales & Marketing Director of a minor league team, for about $200 per week. He jumped at the chance and it really kick-started his successful career in baseball. "Many things in life wouldn't have happened without the support of my wife, Eileen. She's my biggest fan," he tells us.

Gary ended his career in December 2020 and he and his wife moved to Florida. "Honestly, my plan was to lay on the beach, go out to lunch, swim in the pool....but after a year as a beach bum I felt very disconnected from real life. I felt like I had no purpose." Gary approached the Pirates minor league team about some sort of part-time job. They offered him a position managing the sound effects and music at the games for the team. "Oh man, it was my dream job!" he says. "I couldn't wait to sign up fast enough!"

When the baseball gig ended in the fall, he didn't want to go back to being a beach bum and decided to focus on getting a winter job too. You'll have to listen to the podcast to get all the details on Gary's job at a fitness resort, writing the "Home Plate Cookbook", jumping at an opportunity to become a radio host, as "HoDad" on the Longboat Luau show, and even a butler for a St. Regis hotel. "I've found it interesting and rewarding and I've met some really great people. All these different jobs and activities come with different tribes of people. They become like a second family. It has really enriched my life!"

Gary's (un)retirement observations:

• "I think I'm the poster child for staying busy in retirement. Target jobs or activities or volunteering that puts a smile on your face and make you feel better about your role in life."

• "I strongly urge people not to think about retirement as sitting on the beach all day. Because you will get tired of that and I know a lot of people think that sounds crazy, that "No way, I'll never get tired of that." But you will. You'll feel like you're no longer part of the real world. You're not engaged and you're not meeting people and you don't have a purpose for getting up and getting dressed every day."

• "It's important to find a thing or multiple things that make you happy and convert that in some way to a part-time job in retirement."​​​​​​​

• More about Gary Saunders​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

• Feature about Gary Saunders

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage

• Sponsored by How to Retire and Not Die

• I Used to be Somebody World Tour

• Subscribe to the I Used to be Somebody newsletter​​​​​​​

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" blog

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Tags:    blog   unretirement   radio   baseball   radio personality   part-time job   radio host  

​​​​​​​While we all may be taking a pause right now due to the economic uncertainty, at some point you to need to focus on YOUR own (un)retirement plan.

The fact is I'm spending more money at this stage of life. Specifically, I mean that I am spending more than I probably should according to the target "100% success rate" of my retirement financial plan. My current spending level means that as of today, there is only about a 70% chance I will still have money at age 92. But I still think these are pretty good odds. I want to do all the things in life I've worked hard for and dreamed of while I have the time and energy. Yes, I want to enjoy it all while I'm healthy, which means TODAY. I don't know what my future health situation is going to be.  

What about you?

Personally, I'm not spending my money on things. I'm spending my money on experiences. For my wife Diana and me, our passion is travel. We're taking a couple of international trips and many in the U.S. Ideally, we want to experience new countries, new cultures, new experiences all over the world while physically fit. I know that at some point, we're not going to be able to do all this traveling. So, I'm taking full advantage of the opportunity now.

Go figure out what you have a passion for and do it NOW! For you, it can be something totally different from travel, but don't waste this special time of your life. One of the saddest things to watch are these soon to be or retired people depriving themselves of all the fun things they can be doing and instead are fixated on the amount of savings they have. They say, "I'll do all those fun things when I'm older". Really? How much older? Why not have amazing experiences now when you can fully experience your life's bucket list? Plus, then when you really are older, you'll have those memories to savor much longer.

My wife hates when I (occasionally) talk about how long I have to live. To me, it's a good reminder to fully live out my (un)retirement years. I encourage everyone to look at a life expectancy calculator based on your age and your current health. In my case my life expectancy is about age 84 That's 16 years for me! Trust me that I'm doing my best to live a long and healthy life. But that statistic doesn't scare me, it motivates me! And let's get real. Our travel expenses will drop considerably when we're in our 80's and 90's, so that's why I'm spending and doing NOW!

Note: I do have a budget set aside for any future health stuff.

What do you think?  What's your plan for your Go-Go years?

Tags:    The Carl Diary   unretirement   travel   finances   health   aging   Go-Go years  

​​​​​​​This episode is about successfully reinventing yourself in your 50's AND building a huge pickleball community. What's not to love about that? Carl interviews Brand Developer and Pickleball Fanatic Mitch Dunn, who left the big ad agency life he'd been living for almost 30 years to pivot to the wide world of Pickleball. Mitch is now the co-owner of one of the largest dedicated indoor pickleball facilities in the country, with over 1,000 members.

Mitch grew up in Louisville, KY, the youngest of five siblings. Due to the age difference, he says he spent a lot of time alone. "I learned creative problem-solving at an early age because of that," he tells us. His love of creative expression stayed with him through high school, college and into his careers.

After graduating from Xavier University, he started with the legendary Leo Burnett Agency. "Boy did I learn a lot about media and brand strategy!" Mitch worked in the big agency biz for almost 30 years, working on all kinds of brands from Fruit of the Loom to Dewar's. In 2019, Mitch became intrigued with and then deeply passionate about pickleball. In 2020 as a side hustle, he launched one of the fastest -growing community clubs in the country, the Cincinnati Pickleball Club. His non-profit, all- volunteer organization eventually led him to the business side of pickleball.

He was a Senior Vice President at Empower when one day he was "uninvited" to stay at the agency and pivoted quickly to becoming a first time entrepreneur. "This part of my second stage of life is being focused on a brand that I created myself!" he says. He is now co-founder of the Pickle Lodge, one of the best places to play in the Midwest.

Mitch and his wife love Cincinnati. "I've never been happier in my entire career than I am right now. I get to make people happy every day. I get to help them have fun and I connect them to other humans. I feel like a kid. I'm 55 but I feel 25 years old."

Mitch's Tips on (un)retirement and becoming an entrepreneur in mid-life:

• "I'm glad I have the life lessons and career lessons to use now."

• "I'm a big believer in 'What if .....?' thinking. Go through the process of asking yes, and....? When you do that, you can come up with a really cool proposition."

• "I really encourage others to embrace pushing through the fear of becoming a late-stage entrepreneur. It's never been easier to start a business right now. You can publish content to communicate about your business. You can shoot videos about your business. You can start a podcast about your business. Those are important tools regardless of what your business is."

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• More about Mitch Dunn

• More about The Pickle Lodge

• Sponsored by How to Retire and Not Die

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage​​​​​​​

• I Used to be Somebody World Tour

• Subscribe to the I Used to be Somebody newsletter ​​​​​​​

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" blog​​​​​​​

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Tags:    blog   unretirement   pickleball   creativity   community   entrepreneur   business