Episode 361: Olivia Foli’s Life Updates as a College Student Athlete, Part II

Episode NotesOlivia Foli, our daughter, entered the fall of 2022 as a Junior at UW-Madison with an intermittent debilitating nerve issue she first noticed in mid-July. By October, she had to alter her training schedule. Her rowing coaches amassed a team of sports trainers, medical and specialized doctors, chiropractors, and therapists to determine what was causing this burning nerve and skin pain in her upper back. Olivia was suddenly put in charge of her mental and physical well-being for the first time. Please find out how she managed.After seven months of tests and trying all kinds of therapies, her sports medicine team is still determining an exact diagnosis. They went through the six common rowing injuries ruling them out one by one. Lumbar back pain, no. Shoulder impingement, no. Stress fracture of the ribs, no. Iliotibial Band Friction Syndrome, no. Extensor Tenosynovitis of the wrist, no. Hip labral tears, nope. From all the information gathered, they think the nerve pain stems from a Costovertebral Joint Dysfunction or Shingles. Olivia is experiencing a complication from Shingles called Postherpetic Neuralgia because it has lasted for many months. Most people know that Shingles come from the chickenpox virus, which added to the mystery circling the diagnosis because Olivia had the chickenpox vaccine, and most people who get Shingles are over 60 years old.This was the first time Matthew and I weren’t directly involved in meeting the team to help her get a diagnosis and treatment for the burning nerve pain. Getting information second-hand, even when it is accurately told and with a team that Olivia trusts, evokes worrisome emotions as a parent. Doing our research gave us more information and added to our concerns. Part of the maturation process we hadn’t anticipated was Olivia managing a chronic injury and the accompanying generalized anxiety.We’ve had a pretty good run, this being her first injury. I thought to myself, of course, the first injury is complicated and can’t easily be fixed. Isn’t that how it often goes? At some point, whatever we get into, our mental and physical selves are stretched to their capacity. Our psyche collapses, and we build anew learning more about ourselves and those around us creating something different than we imagined, a better more meaningful life. Olivia realized she has a fantastic support team that extends beyond the family. In life, it is essential to be circled by people you trust and respect and who care about you and you about them.We are embracing resiliency and will keep you posted on how this spring’s rowing season goes. I am so impressed with our youth and a huge thank you to Olivia’s coaches and sports medicine team. They are team awesome!Olivia's 21st Birthday Celebration with Friends: Aubrey, Helena, Kelly, Grace, and KirstyListen in and discover how Olivia’s life unfolds as a 21-year-old and her plans for this next phase of being a college student athlete. DOWNLOAD NEXT STEP After Listening: Challenge yourself and do the Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring (C.A.L.M.) Activities, below.

Episode Resources

* Five Most Common Rowing Injuries (and How to Prevent Them) | Ro...

Episode 360: Olivia Foli’s Life Updates as a College Student Athlete, Part I

Episode NotesToday’s Special Guest Mentor is our daughter Olivia Foli (2nd seat in the picture). Last January, we aired our first two podcast conversations. Olivia talked about graduating high school during the COVID-19 pandemic and entering UW-Madison as a freshman. The school was in lockdown. Everything was restricted, and classes were online. Olivia described the degree of isolation she felt living in the dorms and the anxiety and depression that accompanied it. I thought it important to discuss the mental health challenges of our youth that we are hearing so much about.In the 2nd podcast conversation, we discussed adulting and self-reliance. This included discussing how Olivia met the seven Universal Human Needs: connection, honesty, physical well-being, play, peace, autonomy, and meaning. Both episodes can be found in this episode’s resource section.The upside of the COVID-19 pandemic is a new appreciation for our emotional and social well-being. Olivia said she used the time during covid to get to know herself better and continue learning while some dreams of playing violin in the orchestra and joining the rowing team were put on hold.Olivia’s sophomore year provided new opportunities. She joined the orchestra as a violinist and was able to join UW-Madison’s Women’s Rowing Team. Socially, she was able to meet tons of people and begin forming long-term friendships. Our first two podcast conversations aired in January 2022. Olivia was about to enter the official start of UW-Madison’s rowing season.In this conversation, you will hear what Olivia experienced:* Starting and competing in a new sport at the college level,* Choosing the lightweight team vs. the open-weight team,* Team travel out of state and competing in Regatas,* Team dynamics and overcoming negativity at Cocoa Beach training last year and changes this year,* Leading as an upper-level student-athlete,* A day in the life of a student-athlete,* Roommate dilemmas, dynamics, and changes from one year to the next,* Giving roommates room to grow and become adults, and* Coursework for her majors in psychology and Spanish with a minor in women and gender studies.I’m encouraged to see the resilience in our youth as they work through the aftermath of the pandemic. Enjoy. DOWNLOAD  NEXT STEP After Listening: Challenge yourself and do the Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring (C.A.L.M.) Activities, below.

Episode Resources

Olivia’s 1st Podcast ConversationOlivia’s 2nd Podcast ConversationThe Heart of Resilient Relationships EpisodeUniversal Human Needs Exercise pdf

Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring

After listening, do these three C.A.L.M. Activities:* Take this risk or do this adventurous task: Write down the sidelined activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Decide if you are going to let those activities go or whether achieving them is still important. Create a new priority list. I missed socially gathering with family, friends, and clients so I am expanding my social activities. It feels wonderful.

Episode 359: Little Birdie Buddies of Minnesota with Heather Boschke

Episode Notes

Even though crystallized snowflakes continue falling in the Midwest, signs of spring surround us. Longer days of sunlight melt the most recent snowfall. You can hear birds chirping on walks outside. Today is a perfect time to talk about Guest Mentor Heather Boschke’s first book, Little Birdie Buddies of Minnesota, now available. 

Little Birdie Buddies of Minnesota is part of Heather’s lifework to leave pieces of her heart wherever she goes. “Set free that voice that lives inside you,” she suggests. Heather dedicated her book “to anyone who hasn’t yet discovered their wings to fly – they are always there and ready for takeoff.” And she writes, “to my lovebird, Tom; thank you for making me feel both held and free.” We discuss the meaning of being held and free in her marriage.

Throughout our conversation, Heather describes Universal winks that she notices when it is time to change. Before Heather felt held and free with her lovebird Tom, she was engaged to someone else. The wedding date was set. The dress was purchased, and then a wink from the Universe arrived. The wedding preparations gave Heather a preview of her future. A future she realized she didn’t want. Heather acted upon that Universe wink by calling off the wedding.

Letting go of conformity is transformative. And so is being in a relationship without judgment, conditions, and free of unsolicited advice. That’s how Heather felt when she brought up the idea of illustrating and publishing a book to Tom. Tom encourages her to spread her wings. She knows she is loveable and can let out what is in her heart. She enables you to follow the tugs of your heart and flex your wings. “Hard times prepare us for the next part of our life,” says Heather. Her life reflects the fulfilling outcomes of responding to winks from the Universe. Her heart sings and dances with joy.

We also explore a few other business and life topics—the book publishing process. Naming the birds in Heather’s book, we are most like; how Heather is healing from the death of a pet; our new arrival; and how Heather uses LinkedIn.

Book Publishing. Heather used print-on-demand to publish Little Birdie Buddies of Minnesota. The Universe wink came to her through a voice she heard in 2020 telling her to start drawing again. Find out if Heather will self-publish her second book. I found her unique insights helpful to any emerging author.  

 Twenty Minnesota birds are outlined in her book. “Lucy the Loon is Minnesota’s state bird. She is shy and thoughtful, and the water is her favorite place to be.” She has named each bird and its characteristics. Heather encourages us to name the birds most like us. You’ll find out which birds we identify with the most. Who is Gilda the Goldfinch? Always cheerful, friendly, and loves to dance. What about Winnie, the red-headed woodpecker who is bold, strong, and likes to lead? Who chose three birds? The hardworking, helpful, and adventurous tree swallow named Sydney. Betty the black-capped chickadee who’s tough, daring, and good at making new friends. And Owen, the Baltimore oriole with a good imagination, likes building things. Everyone can learn a few things about birds and themselves by reading Little Birdie Buddies of Minnesota.

Pets and LinkedIn. As Heather and I began getting to know each other, Heather shared the recent loss of Rex, her dog. After our conversation, she emailed the following LinkedIn post of a spontaneous leap Rex took onto her lap before a zoom meeting. With her permission,

Episode 358: Filling Life’s Buckets with Heather Boschke

Episode Notes

Bring vitality to your life, strengthen your relationships, and expand how you contribute to the world by clarifying your life’s buckets. Heather Boschke talks about how she fills her life buckets by understanding what sets her soul on fire in life and her relationships. We ponder this essential question, what sets your soul on fire?

Heather Boschke is a strategic marketing leader with over 20 years of experience that spans Fortune 20 companies to non-profit organizations. She acquired a marketing degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from the University of Minnesota. She is an adjunct professor at Metro State University and teaches marketing.

One of the activities Heather loved as a child was drawing. As the seeds of conformity took hold in middle school, her artistic expressions went dormant until 2020. The coronavirus pandemic opened a new portal for Heather to recapture the joy she felt drawing in her childhood while simultaneously reinventing how she expresses herself now.

Heather began creating bird illustrations and discovered a desire to share her love of birds with others. These illustrations and her knowledge about birds are showcased in her children’s Little Birdie Buddies of Minnesota book this year. Her inner bird is singing as she fills another of her life’s buckets, expressing herself through bird watching, illustrating, and becoming a self-published author.

As you might have noticed, birds are a theme in Heather’s life. In 2021 Heather left the corporate world and started her marketing firm, Vogel Venture, to help small and mid-sized organizations drive growth and engagement regardless of team size or budget. The word Vogel means bird in German, which speaks to her heritage and the strategic (bird’s eye) approach combined with the tactical planning she brings to clients.

Vogel Venture evolved out of being laid off and being fired once. Heather wrote a post about those experiences on LinkedIn. An illuminated path to entrepreneurship appeared out of her contract marketing work. She followed it by starting Vogel Venture. A second path opened after a conversation with a prior work relationship. Heather decided to co-create The Joy Corner, a regular segment on Nichole Niemann’s virtual show called Arkansas Style. The Joy Corner Exploring your life’s buckets can feel like flowing down a river. Opportunities pop up when you are in the flow of life.

Heather flexes her marketing prowess, another of life’s buckets, as we discuss engagement and re-enforcing marketing fundamentals. To know your end users, storytelling, and anchoring marketing activities by measuring results are good places to start. Creating simple anchors like a monthly theme can elevate your brand and structure your marketing efforts. “Marketing efforts can flounder when there is no structure,” says Heather.

The vlogs on Heather’s website are worth exploring. They are short and to the point, like this: “It is important to show up on social media. Think of social media as prospect warm-up.” Heather tells us more about that concept.

In another vlog, Heather highlights that your brand is a promise. She describes what it means to answer the question, “what is the experience you want your customers to have?” Trader Joe’s is an example of a positive customer experience. Heather describes how she feels from entering the brightly lit store, collecting her desired groceries, encountering cheerful cashiers, to walking out through the automatic sliding, steel-framed glass doors.

Episode 357: Construct a Résumé of Failures to Discover Something New

Episode Notes

I like going below the surface to understand what makes people who they are. I love all the stuff. The successes, the failures, how people overcome challenges and setbacks, what brings people joy, and all the transformative moments that shape our character and entrepreneurial lives. I love being part of people’s evolutionary process and connecting them with people and resources.

An unexpected package arrived on my doorstep during last week’s epic snowstorm. It looked like someone covered our neighborhoods with soft-serve ice cream and swirls atop the snow drifts—remnants of severe winds. The storm hit the Midwest. A whopping 11.3” of snow fell in Golden Valley, leaving us a winter wonderland view.

Inside the bubble-wrapped package were a note (You’re in the book!) and a signed early copy of Joanne Lipman’s book, Next! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work. Oh, how I love books. The smell. The purple book cover, yellow-colored hardcover, and binding. The chapter headings, content, and print. Everything.

My mind went to the beginning of 2021. I received a call from a pioneering journalist and author. Joanne Lipman was the voice on the other end of the phone line. I didn’t know of her at the time. She listened to my 2018 podcast conversations with Art Fry, the inventor of Post-It Notes. Joanne said she was writing a book about the power of reinvention in life and work and wanted to interview Art. She asked if I could connect the two of them.

 Next! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work provides a toolkit to make meaningful transitions in life. It is chuck full of case studies, personal interviews, and the latest research on how people reinvent their lives and how they work. Joanne is a brilliant storyteller and avid researcher.

I quickly opened to the Acknowledgement section on p. 282, where I am mentioned. “To podcaster Nancy Meyer for putting me in touch with Art Fry.” Wow! Tears snuck into my eyes. Joanne took the time to acknowledge me in print.

Then, I flipped to chapter 3, Eureka!, where Art Fry’s story unfolds. Joanne described both the journey of Spencer Silver, who invented the 3M glue he couldn’t find a use for, and Art, the intrapreneur at 3M, who came up with the Post-it notes idea while singing in his church choir. Art used Spencer’s glue to improve our lives. I use Post-it notes almost every day! The ‘aha’ moment for both of them was years in the making, and Joanne outlines Art and Spencer’s journey beautifully and accurately in her book.

Back to the beginning of the book, I immersed myself in reading every word. Her book is divided into two parts; the disparate ways in which we pivot and navigate change when we have no choice. After hundreds of personal interviews and academic research papers, Joanne observed a specific pattern when people pivoted in their lives and careers. This particular pattern, she suggests, could be a Reinvention Map. Although the pattern seems straightforward on the surface, like Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, it isn’t.

There are four aspects to reinvention she tracks through history. We start with a search, then we struggle. An event causes us to stop what we are doing before a solution emerges and a path forward is revealed. She outlines variables as when you are on a post-traumatic grow...

Episode 356: Leading with Practical Intelligence, Part II

Episode Notes“Practical intelligence,” says Robert Sternberg, who coined the term, “includes knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect.” Malcolm Gladwell writes in Outliers: The Story of Success (2012) that practical intelligence is “knowing how to do something without necessarily knowing why you know it or being able to explain it.” I discuss examples of both aspects of practical intelligence.Knowing What, When, and How to Say Something One of the many jobs I had before starting WeMentor, inc. was as a phone solicitor for the Minnesota Special Olympics. The first skill I learned was rehearsing a prepared script that described the importance of contributing to our Special Olympians and a variety of answers for when people would say no. “Do you mind telling me why you cannot donate right now?”My manager, Don, was terrific. He knew how to coach and knew how to motivate me. A pat on the shoulder. A quick pep talk when I needed it. Strategies for overcoming rejection and emotional roadblocks. Don did this for everyone. And he kept a close watch on the numbers. He would whisper in between calls how close we were to reach our hourly goals. The room was filled with about 7 to 11 other telesales people. My only request was to have my desk in front of a six-inch window slit to see outside. I needed a focal point.In the first week, I became the #1 telesales person in the New Hope office and Minnesota. I made 30 to 40 calls per hour from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., five days a week. New people were trained by sitting next to me and listening to how I talked with potential donors and closed the sales. I refined what I needed to say to whom and knew when to venture off script to engage the person on the other end of the phone. Week after week my numbers were impressive, and I was motivated to do well.All was going well week after week. I started listening to motivational tapes while riding my bike to work daily. Zig Ziglar was my favorite. “You can have everything in your life you want, if you will just help enough people get what they want.” This famous quote of his resonated with millions of people, including me.About eight weeks in, I get into a funk and lose my mojo. I made sales but couldn’t maintain my #1 status. It was torturous every hour for five days straight; I couldn’t hit my sales goals.Don put things into perspective, saying it happens and encouraging me to stick with it. Some of the others were glad I wasn’t perfect. My funk allowed someone else to shine while I got a dose of humility.Outside of calling hours, I went on a few deliveries to meet the people making the donations and attended some Special Olympians in training. This helped me understand the bigger purpose of my efforts.After that downer of a week, I regained my groove and broke my #1 sales goals. A new inspiration emerged. I asked Don what becoming the national #1 telesales person would take. I remember the sales numbers being within reach. At the five-month mark, I became the #1 telesales person in the country. Outside of that one week, I was able to be #1 at something. It felt great.Years later, I was told my sales record took years to beat nationally and a few decades locally. Cool, I motivated others to generate more donations to support athletes with intellectual disabilities. They count on salespeople like us to help them change their lives and better their circumstances. Gotta love that.I learned from that experience that knowing what to say to whom, when to say it, and how to say it for the maximum effect paid off in generating thousands and thousands of dollars to support a great cause. Tailoring my message to fit an audience of Twin Cities residents started with a tailored message...

Episode 355: Leading with Practical Intelligence, Part I

Episode Notes

Practical intelligence is on my radar screen. Who has it, and who doesn’t? Why is it a critical aspect of small business success and life fulfillment? Our society would be better off if practical intelligence were valued as analytical and creative intelligence and not belittled. We need all three types of intelligence in entrepreneurial leadership and life. And here’s why.

I listened online to a panel discussion in 2010 of three MBA students who became entrepreneurs. A Stanford Graduate School of Business professor assembled a forum to discuss “what they don’t teach in business school about entrepreneurship.” All three panelists have had major successes and a few failures. I realized that what they described as lacking in their education was practical intelligence. 

They learned about sales but were never required to sell. They received accolades for their strengths but needed guidance on their weaknesses, which helped forge complimentary business partnerships. Having all the answers worked at school but not in starting new businesses, where trusting the discovery process is critical in finding your niche.

Listening to the panel reminded me of another Stanford student, Elizabeth Holmes, who dropped out of school and founded Theranos, Inc. at 19 in 2003. Amazingly, she raised over $70M touting a breakthrough technology that could give you information from a simple finger prick blood sample. Theranos, Inc. was valued at $10 billion in 2013. The Theranos technology or automated devices didn’t stand up to scrutiny. The devices had a fatal flaw; they didn’t work.

Why weren’t the venture capitalists and private investors trying the devices for themselves? Blind faith and believing the hype? Or were they missing practical intelligence? They trusted without verifying the equipment. This skill comes in handy when raising a teenager. Trust and verify.

If we embraced practical intelligence, we would be less vulnerable to manipulation, exploitation, and scams. We would invest monies in entrepreneurs who demonstrate how they can shift and do what is necessary to build a business or lead a democracy. We would know how to see through the hyperbole and falsehoods and dismantle the narcissism behind the mystic. Next week I will showcase examples of entrepreneurs demonstrating practical intelligence.

Where do we learn practical intelligence if analytical and creative intelligence is taught in school? We learn practical intelligence through experience in a wide variety of environments, adapting our behavior and expectations on the spot, and through meaningful conversations with others who share their experiences. It is referred to as ‘street smarts’ or ‘common sense,’ with the contrast being book smarts.

What if we equally valued, encouraged, and integrated the development of all three forms of intelligence in all classrooms and all subjects? We would be more appreciative of the benefits of acquiring analytical, creative, and practical intelligence. We would probably feel more whole and confident because society isn’t downgrading a vital aspect of our humanness; adaptability and responsiveness.

Robert Sternberg coined the phrase practical intelligence and developed the triarchic theory of intelligence; analytical, creative, and practical intelligence. 

* Analytical intelligence “plays a significant role in one’s overall intelligence. It involves critically analyzing one’s cognitive and physiological strengt...

Episode 354: Why I Am Doing This Podcast

Episode Notes

Why am I doing this podcast? Here is the semi-long answer to that question. It is more exciting when you hear me answer the question.

The bottom line is that resilient relationships flourish with meaningful conversations. I knew that. I also knew that we learn best through stories. When we get the nudge to change, it helps to hear how others redefine how they lead as they redesign their businesses. I have had thousands of conversations since I started WeMentor in 1992 to change the leadership in this country and worldwide, and guest what? I needed a platform to capture those stories and share them with others.

This podcast has been a gift from the source. It was divine intervention—a game changer. I had been looking for a medium to capture the conversations that I was having with clients. I didn’t know when my search would manifest into something worthwhile and affordable, so I stayed on the hunt, gathering information as I went.   

A 2015 family road trip to the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming inspired and answered my search. This wasn’t my first visit to the Tetons. I worked in the 1980s at the Grand Teton National Park one summer in between college semesters. On this trip, I wanted to show my old stomping grounds to my husband, Matthew Foli, and our 13-year-old daughter, Olivia (I mistakenly said 8 years old). I cleaned bathrooms and fire pits and painted picnic tables.

I was proud to be the first woman to have a cabin and be in charge of 50 campsites at one location and a five-mile bike ride to clean about 20 other campsites by Jenny Lake Lodge. Movie stars stayed at the main lodge. I saw Angie Dickinson from afar. Angie was a movie star and became famous in 1974 for her role in Police Woman.

A photographer took a photo of me biking at Jenny Lake for his travel brochure. A mouse was my cabin mate. I fed her breadcrumbs and talked to her. It was a fantastic summer hiking, biking, meeting people from all over the world, making new friends, and having friends and family visit. They could set up camp next to my cabin.

One day that summer, my boss showed me a letter he had received from a camping patron who said the bathrooms were the cleanest she had ever used in a national park. I told him it must have been during the weekend my parents visited. My mom, bless her soul, she crossed over in 2020, helped me clean those dirty bathrooms with a toothbrush—the memories.

An ’aha’ moment surfaced during that 2015 road trip. To get to the Grand Teton National Park, we made a big oblong loop from Minneapolis to Wyoming and hit the Badlands in South Dakota on the way back. We drove through Iowa and then headed west through Nebraska. As we approached the upper northwest corner of Nebraska, we lost our radio connection and almost ran out of gas. Matthew took out his iPhone and plugged it in to listen to some podcast episodes he had downloaded before we left. We were getting into podcasts at that time. Krista Tippet’s, On Being podcast captivated our attention. Immediately, I was enthralled by the lack of commercials and uninterrupted listening. My senses were alive. The On Being podcast focuses on immersive conversations and explorations into the art of living. This episode was about yoga. The audio was crystal clear, and Krista’s voice was soothing and informative. I fell in love with the platform.

The Grand Teton National Park was unrecognizable as we approached it. The Grand Teton mountains were still there, but the campsite areas had been totally renovated. Nothing of what I remembered was there; even the entrance to that park area was different....

Episode 353: A Hilarious Conversation with My Youngest Sister Monica

Episode Notes

Do you need a little mid-winter pick-me-up? A little humor to brighten your day? When I was young, we six siblings would debate about who was the funniest in the family. My youngest sister Monica Olson emerged as the winner. I encouraged her to do stand-up, but she would instead share her humor with family and friends. And now, you can hear her for the first time.

Before the holidays, Monica offered to let me tape our conversation. She wanted a relaxed conversation, and I needed a guinea pig, so we discussed my new role as podcast editor instead of having an in-depth conversation about her life as a multi-venture entrepreneur, raising four children, divorce, and remarriage. You wouldn’t think that taking on the editor role of a podcast would be funny, but as it turns out, we found it hysterical. I hope you can laugh with us and alleviate the pressure and stress in your day.

My reason for airing this conversation is to emphasize that we need to bend someone’s ear when facing difficulties. I was fortunate to have my husband, Matthew, and my youngest sister, Monica to keep things in perspective with acquiring a new skillset under pressure and deadlines. The good news is that we don’t need hundreds of people. We need one or two encouraging people.

Our conversation is like many with her. A breath of fresh air and hilarious. I want to do more podcast conversations with Monica. Could you give me your feedback?  What do you think? Would you like to hear more from Monica? Please let me know any other topics you would like to hear about too. Respond HERE.   DOWNLOAD

 

 

NEXT STEP after listening: Challenge yourself and do the Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring (C.A.L.M.) Activities, below.

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Episode Resources

About Eagle Bend, Minnesota

About Eagle Bend

Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring

After listening, do these three C.A.L.M. Activities:* Take this risk or do this adventurous task: Who, outside yourself, is a source of humor and support in your life? If you don’t have a person, imagine that kind of person showing up in your life and how good that would feel.   * Apply Self-Compassion: Appreciate humor where you find it. Bask in it. Relish in it. Find joy and inspiration in it.* Welcome Appreciation: I greatly love and appreciate my youngest sister Monica. She is a delight, a source of comfort, and an empathic listener. She also gives me solid advice and a dose of reality when needed.

Episode 352: Building Multi-Million Dollar Businesses with Skip Thaler, Part V

Episode Notes

In my fifth conversation with Skip Thaler, we discuss change. The kind of change we initiate and the type of change forced upon us. Skip describes a problem he had to recognize before selling 25 rental properties. A hard truth to face when he and Jill, his wife, were adding their 25th and last property to a portfolio that took 20 years to acquire, beautify, rent, and manage.

Skip’s eyes opened up to the government not protecting property rights during the covid-19 pandemic, riots in Minneapolis and St. Paul, rising expenses, and the inability to pass on the increased costs to renters. The confluence of events led to the new opportunity Skip pursued. He has a lifetime of turning lemons into lemonade. Skip believes that “unsolved opportunities opened his eyes to another opportunity.”

A peer gave him some good advice as Skip worked through the emotional side of this life-changing decision. One of Skip’s fellow landlords told him they were only stewards of the properties for a certain period of time. That statement helped Skip let go.

In preparing to talk with me, Skip was talking over with Jill their life changes since 2020. Jill summed up their life perspective succinctly. She said, “We always have to be prepared to pivot.” And pivot they did.

Skip goes into the details of what it took to work through 50 real estate and investment transactions. All were completed in zoom meetings. The life of the entrepreneur is learning while on fire. Skip needed to determine whom to sell to and be present at 25 real estate closings. Once he sold the rental properties over nine months, he needed to research and invest the proceeds quickly for tax purposes. I love how he and Jill went about exploring new opportunities. The research led to new opportunities to invest in private REITs and move their residence.

Florida is a tax-friendly state that does not impose an income tax on individuals and has a 6% sales tax. According to Investopedia, corporations that do business in Florida are subject to a 5.5% income tax. You are exempt from paying state income tax if you are an LLC, sole proprietorship, or S-Corporation. Based on their research, Skip and Jill decided to sell their Lakeville, Minnesota home to one of their sons and move to Florida.

On the investment side, Skip discusses purchasing private REITs and how you can and cannot evaluate warehouses in Macon, Georgia, that Amazon owns, and Lowe’s warehouses. “Private REITs are not traded on a national stock exchange or registered with the SEC. As a result, private REITs are not subject to the same disclosure requirements as stock exchange-listed or public non-listed REITs.” Skip, and Jill are willing to take the risks that accompany the purchase of private REITS, even though their access to information is limited.

In this conversation, I learned the profound resiliency of Jill and Skip Thaler. It is essential to pivot to land on your feet, which Skip and Jill have a track record of doing. Assess the opportunity. Collect the data, analyze the facts, work through fear, and then apply your intuition to discover what is important. Taking charge of your journey,