Entrepreneurship interview for case paper.

Hey Linda,

The real answer is, yes, I have a plan.

I've had a written life plan since I was 21. (I'm 41 now)

The end goal of that plan has always been the same (to retire to Hawaii and live happily ever after) but the path to get there has changed and gone in different directions probably 1000 times.

I remember being 21 and being at my parents house, sitting on the couch and talking with my mom, when my dad walked in with a big smile on his face and dropped a big stack of papers on my lap.

On top of that stack was a cashiers check for $165,000. I was totally blown away when I saw it and couldn't figure out what is was all about. My parents were never considered "rich" but dad was always real smart with money. (and up until that point, I was real dumb with money)

My dad was retiring from his job the next week at 55 years old and my parents were moving from Washington to Arizona.

Still with a big smile, my dad said "That's what I'm buying my new home in Arizona with, I'm paying cash!"

My reply was "Huh? You still haven't sold this one yet" Apparently, he didn't have to.

My dad has never been the type to dish out all that great fatherly life advice but what he said then really stuck with me. He said...

"Thirty five years ago when I was your age, I knew exactly where I wanted to be today. Retireing comfortably at 55 has always been my plan"

Then he went on to tell me....

"If you keep spending your money like you're rich, you never will be. Start spending it like you don't have it and there will be extra money there to put away so you can retire at 55 too."

I thought I was superman back then and that early retirement sounded like a pretty cool thing. I put a plan in place to do it when I was 30.

30 came around and I was more broke and in debt than you can possibly imagine. I was starting a new business and thought I was going to take over the world with it and retire by 35.

At 35, still pretty much broke but finally moving in the right direction with most of the debt out of the way. Retireing at 40 sounded realistic at that time and I was on the path to get there.

Care to guess where I spent my 40th birthday? Drunk on margaritas and passed out in a hammock hanging between two palm trees on the North Shore of Oahu. It was a well deserved drunk!

Today, at 41, I could be there if I really wanted to and I could write a check twice the size of my dad's check and still have an income coming in that I could live nicely on.

But I'm not done doing what I do here and my businesses are not at their full potential just yet.

I've moved my retirement date up to my 45th birthday in 2010.

That date is now pretty much set in stone.

So, yeah, I kinda have a plan.

Jim