A Big Orange Idea (GBE2 107)

Half my life ago.

That is a bad topic for someone in their mid fifties.

Even saying that is admission that I am more than half way to the exit.

Working at this little retail start up with the big orange idea.

With four semi crazy people that knew they could do hardware better.

Seventy hour weeks.

Cold pizza from the Thursday Night marketing meeting eaten for breakfast on Friday.

Going from four stores

To eight

To twenty six.

To fifty five when I left, exhausted three years later.

Leaving a fortune behind.

Bitter?

No. 

I wasn't cut out to be rich.

I would have been miserable.

But Bernie Marcus is still the coolest person I have had the pleasure to know. 

Comments

  1. sueJune 5, 2013 at 5:28 PM

    who's Bernie - other than my husband, and all work is not fun I agree. I think you fixed the comment problem and oh yeah I'm older than you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another Government EmployeeJune 5, 2013 at 5:54 PM

      Well, it was a while before Home Depot got into Ontario.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Marcus

      He is the founder, and in a lot of ways, the heart and soul of the company.

      Delete
  2. Catch My WordsJune 5, 2013 at 9:16 PM

    It's great that you are not bitter. Maybe one day you'll make that fortune all over again.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/2013/06/gbe2-half-my-life-ago.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another Government EmployeeJune 5, 2013 at 10:25 PM

      Eh. Don't really care. My neighborhood is gentrifying and I am surrounded with 30 something up and coming yuppies. I watch them with their "toy" competitions and kind of laugh to myself. I had lots of friends whose marriages and lives went down in flames trying to follow that road. Small house. Small mortgage. Good sleep.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousJune 7, 2013 at 10:05 AM

    I would be miserable trying to top the Jonses. I like being a VW camper van, not a lambourghini. Nice post Mr. Mitchell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another Government EmployeeJune 7, 2013 at 8:47 PM

      That is what I want to do when I retire. Live in a microbus like an old hippie.

      Delete

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