Link to El Nuevo Herald column in Spanish: Here

This week I received an email from Robert, a reader responding to a recent column I wrote entitled “Shattering Rocks – A Simple Lesson That Will Last A Lifetime”. The feedback I receive week after week as a result of this column and my blog is both humbling and inspiring, but Robert’s email resonated with me on a personal level because he’s facing a difficult professional decision that I am all too familiar with – whether or not to make a career change. While my career change took place years ago at a relatively young age, Robert, like so many in today’s global recession, has been forced to deal with this conundrum later in life which poses a unique set of circumstances, and leads to a topic that is now more relevant than ever. Should older professionals struggling in this economy consider a career change, or should they stick it out and look for new ways to generate revenue within their respective fields? While I cannot make that decision for anyone, I can tell you that either scenario requires a reinvention of sorts. But no matter which path you choose for yourself, remember this: It’s never too late to discover new opportunities, and you’re never too old for new success.

Dear Manny,

Recently someone sent me an e-mail with instructions to visit your website, www.mgtunon.com. As I was looking through your content I came across the article “Shattering Rocks” which I found to be incredibly inspirational. After being in the mortgage industry for over twenty five years, and considering myself to be professionally able, efficient and respected in my field, I find myself, along with hundreds, if not thousands of industry professionals desperately seeking an answer on whether to stay and weather the storm or seek an alternate career path or income flow capable of sustaining a respectable standard of living. After more than twenty five years in the same industry, and at age fifty five, it has not been an easy transition. I have been through adverse times in the past and have always bounced back. I was orphaned at age eleven, served my country in the military, experienced a divorce from my first marriage with two children, lost a business, and fell on hard times twenty years ago among other things. I have no doubt I will be back, in fact the boulder in my path is turning red hot, and shortly I will be pouring the cold water on it with God’s help and the help of my loving wife, children and friends. I made copies of the story for my co workers and shared it’s power of faith.

Yours truly,
Robert

Thank you, Robert, for your note. You are not alone:

• Winston Churchill was defeated in nearly every election for public office until he was elected Prime Minister at the age of 62. In one of his most noted speeches delivered in 1941 to students at Harrow School in Britain, Churchill said, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never, Never give up.”
• Laura Ingalls Wilder did not become a noted columnist until she was in her forties. It wasn’t until she was 65 that she wrote Little House In The Big Woods, the first of her 8-volume Little House series which later went on to become the popular television series, Little House On The Prairie.
• Julia Child’s first book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was published when she was 49. Her television debut followed a few years later when she was in her 50s.
• Renowned novelist and poet, Charles Bukowski, worked at the post office for years until his first book was published at the age of 49.
• Groucho Marx was a famous movie actor experiencing a downfall in his career until 1950, when at the age of 60 he began hosting a new type of TV show, You Bet Your Life, which ran successfully on prime time television for more than a decade.
• At the age of 40, Colonel Harland Sanders owned a service station in Kentucky where he served his home-made chicken dishes to customers. But it wasn’t until he was 65 that Col. Sanders experienced any success with his chicken franchise which today we know as Kentucky Fried Chicken.
• Robert, you’re next. I know that one day soon I’ll be including your success story in a future column so that others may be inspired with your testimony. Let me know how it goes. We’re looking forward to it.

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