“Full Speed Ahead”: The Story of My Dad’s Career Odyssey

In honor of Father’s Day, I’d like to share a story about my dad, Peter Freedman.

This is different than what I wrote for Mother’s Day, because I didn’t interview him about one goal. Instead, I learned more details than ever before about all of the steps that led him to where he is today, going all the way back to the beginning.

Seriously. Our conversation started by talking about when he was 10 years old.

So this post is on the long side (it’s written in 7 parts), but is a worthy read!

Our talk reminded me of my post about connecting the dots. I wrote about how small decisions lead you somewhere you couldn’t have guessed when you began. Turns out, my dad is the perfect example of this – and he helped me add some new insight to that original idea. More on that later.

I always admired how my parents have seemingly wandering, fascinating career paths. They have both had not just several different jobs in their career, but several different careers in their career.

This is why I have always shuddered a little at the phrase “career path”. A path indicates the journey will be clearly defined, and for my parents that was not the case. I like to think of their journeys instead as “Career Odysseys”.

So let’s begin!

Part 1: California Dreaming

My dad’s parents divorced when he was 10 years old, moving him from Park Forest, IL to Santa Barbara, CA with his mom. There, he was introduced to the mountains, desert, ocean, and just one season year-round. He was also introduced to a new culture compared to the midwest (for better or worse).

Eventually he and his mom went back to Illinois so that he could finish high school, but a piece of California stayed with him.

He told me “high school was pretty much a drag”, and that he didn’t have a very clear direction of what to do afterward. In his spare time he liked tinkering with go kart engines and riding his motorcycle, but what kind of career could that lead to?

He eventually enrolled in the general studies program at Southern Illinois University (SIU), got decent grades, but didn’t enjoy it. That is, except for his P.E. scuba diving class. He had always been a strong swimmer since his time in California, and now he was scuba certified.

This reminded him: Santa Barbara had one of the best commercial diving programs in the world.

So he left SIU, packed his Honda 150 motorcycle into the trunk of his 1967 Green Ford Galaxy, and once again moved out to California.

Part 2: Diving into Career #1

He knew the program was extremely competitive, but he was still considered a resident of California, giving him a slight preference over non-residents. With that and a strong application, he was admitted.

School taught him everything from machine shop operations, to welding, to diving technologies, and even to explosives. After graduating he got a job, rode his motorcycle across the country – this time to Louisiana – and worked as a diving tender in the Gulf of Mexico.

Here is one of the most important experiences my dad had:

He got fired.

According to him, he forgot one of the most important lessons they taught him in school: how to “work wise”. In other words, how to think and act on your feet, and how to work with other people. He wanted to do more than run errands for other divers, and his ego got the best of him. He told me while reflecting on this,

“Sometimes it helps to get fired at the right time”.

He bounced back and got a job working in a more technical job at a bigger diving company, waiting to be transferred to an offshore diving operation once a spot opened.

Six months later, he transferred to the North Sea working off of boats, barges, and oil rigs all doing pipeline related work. He did two, 18 month stints offshore there…I’m told that these stories would need to wait for another blog post. Darn.

Here, crucially, he learned first aid and operated the gas mixture and respiratory side for the divers. He also gained management experience, and by not playing too much poker, he managed to save a good chunk of money (since there’s really nowhere to spend it on an oil rig).

At this point he decides to take a break, and use some of his money to travel the world. Ultimately, he returns to California, only this time, he misses the friendly midwest culture, and even the changing seasons. So off he goes, back to Illinois.

Part 3: Breathing Life into Career #2

Using his experience in first aid and respiratory care, he got a respiratory therapy job at St. Francis Hospital in Blue Island, IL. Here, he met my mom. They became friends, and eventually more than friends (ew).

When I was a naive, optimistic kid, my sister told me that our parents met as they entered a revolving door at the same time; their eyes locked, love at first sight, as they kept going round, and round, and round…

Much to my dismay, this is not true. But it’s a nice thought, so I’ll keep it.

They took classes together to earn their formal respiratory therapy certification when they realized they may not be fully committed to this path. Their hobby was photography (an interest they share to this day), so they joined the Chicago Camera Club.

Here, they were exposed (pun intended) to working in a dark room. Meanwhile, their adventurous spirits, along with a little bit of oil rig money in the bank, inspired them to leave their hospital jobs and start their own business: a camera store called Photo Craft.

Part 4: Developing Career #3

Owning a business is expensive, so my parents moved into a trailer for $50 per month, in the middle of a farm field. Literally. I saw it once.

Their business grew steadily by doing photo finishing, having dark room supplies, and selling camera accessories. But there is a lot of inventory and overhead in this line of work, at a high cost.

Meanwhile, on New Year’s Eve in 1982, my sister was born. At this point, my dad correctly surmised that it was time to find ways to bring in more revenue.

Right around this time, computers and video equipment came onto the market, so they started selling electronics. My dad also started selling some of the earliest computers on the market through the store, and while doing so, he gained database and programming skills on his own and created the store’s first point of sales system.

Bottom line, he knew more about computers than most at that time.

He started working weekends at a computer store in a nearby suburb, Homewood (where I would eventually grow up). Here, he was exposed to outside sales, and the money was more than the store was bringing in. They thoughtfully phased out their business, and my dad became the businessy, computery guy we all know and love today.

Part 5: Sold on Career #4

There’s so much I could write about my dad’s career in sales at computer companies. Over the years the company he worked for would get bought out by another, to the point where I admittedly did not always know the name of the company he was at.

In fact, we have a joke in our family that my dad worked for the CIA…because none of us knew exactly where he worked or what the heck he did.

But he earned his MBA, had a second kid (yours truly), and learned a second lesson the hard way: it’s better to move on to something new rather than plateau where you are at.

This turned out to be a common theme over his next few jobs, and in time he learned the benefits of moving forward rather than getting comfortable.

Also during this time, he had his first formal experience with project management. He was involved with multi-million dollar opportunities for companies who wanted to outsource their IT operations, and he led a large team of people going after these accounts. Things were looking pretty good.

This brings us to 2008, i.e., the Great Recession.

Part 6: From a Hard Stop to Full Speed Ahead

He was laid off just before I graduated from college, for a total of 18 months. He quickly realized that getting a job in sales during this time was not realistic, despite how hard he looked for opportunities doing what he did before.

Every day he got up, got dressed, headed down to his office in the basement, and looked for a job. He’d reappear for lunch around noon, descend again, and not return until 5:00pm. Like so many others, his full-time job was looking for a job.

Pretty soon he put his small business experience to use and started his own company, Sales TeamSource. This time, he started a consulting company in cloud computing, which was in its early stages. He put 100% of his effort into this, but it was not as lucrative as he needed it to be.

While managing his company he remembered how much he enjoyed project management, so he simultaneously earned his Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. He had the formal hours needed from his last job to qualify, and he studied hard to pass the exam.

After 18 months, a new company, and the letters “PMP” after his name, he was able to land a job as a project manager for an IT company.

From here he leaned on the lessons he learned over the years: how to “work wise”, and to not overstay his welcome. He continued to challenge himself and seek new opportunities. He even quit a job at one point, despite a good salary and benefits, to be an independent contractor.

Now, he’s happy with where he is at; so happy in fact, that I even know the name of the company and can explain what he does to people…the days of “my dad works for the CIA” are long gone.

Part 7: What Else is There?

There is so much more I could write.

I didn’t even talk about that he races his car as a hobby:

Or that he has a second job managing his late father’s water treatment consulting company, Arthur Freedman Associates:

Or that perhaps most impressively, during his time being laid off he became an expert at Guitar Hero, beating the competition by playing over his head or behind his back:

Hey, the guy knows how to have fun, too.

There are several pieces of wisdom I have heard my dad say since entering my own Career Odyssey (always in a fun, racing theme):

“More gas, less brakes!”

“The only roadblocks are the ones you create for yourself.”

And my personal favorite: “Full speed ahead.”

Before learning this story in detail, those sentiments seemed to me like pieces of advice any dad might give to his daughter; now, I realize they are the result of a lifetime of adventures, lessons, and hardships, and he is giving me the opportunity to learn from his experience.

With that in mind, here are my key takeaways when it comes to embarking on my Career Odyssey:

• Connect the dots yourself when you can.
• Be aware of your surroundings. What opportunities exist that you can take advantage of?
• Switch gears. Be agile and open to change, especially when facing a setback.
• Don’t overstay your welcome.
• And remember to play a little bit, too.

Thank you for the lessons Dad, and Happy Father’s Day!