March 8, 2013
Good morning from Collegeville,
“Job Growth in US surges”. That was the lead in for today’s Marketplace Morning Report on MPR news. Working on a college campus, I am aware of the constant thought, “What am I going to be when I grow up?” Most of us evolve into a job, in my case faking it to get a job as a draftsman, which lead to being asked to jump ship from Control Data Corporation, where I had risen to “Lead Draftsman”, to a job as a “Facility Manager” for a start-up company, Norwood Engineering. Norwood Engineering was the brain child of a drafting supply house salesman, Dick Engebretson. Dick managed to raise $250,000 of capital from a group of St. Paul investors in 1967 to launch the very first “computerized drafting service bureau” in the US. Norwood Eng purchased a 6 foot by 9 foot Calcomp flatbed plotter for $70,000 and it only took a couple of years before we had to file for bankruptcy. The software was not ready.
I got laid off on my daughters first birthday, August 1, 1969. Two guys who worked under me, Butch and Red, went on strike until management hired me back. When the manager, Ron Crew, said, “What could Gary do, we don’t need a facility manager?” Butch suggested that Gary could be the sales force, since the founding partners who were performing that function had all been let go. It was Butch who suggested that I read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie I ended up as the last General Manager with only Butch and Red on the payroll and we shut the company down for good after the stockholders refused to put any more money in to the venture. They did not have faith in three young men in their 20’s. Butch died way to young of a brain tumor and Red and his wife Linda own a movie theater in Hutchinson. I stayed in sales.
The APHC show this week is a repeat of a show originally broadcast in March of 2002. Special guests include cowgirl singer Stephanie Davis, Peter Ostroushko and guitarist Mike Dowling. Cindy Cashdollar sits in on steel guitar with the Guy’s All Star Shoe Band. Enjoy the show.
“Don’t let the noise of others opinions drown out your inner voice.” Steve Jobs
Category : General 