A Passion For Books
This is a great story about a Baby Boomer who reinvented himself and began a new business. I found this story at Start Up Journal - The Wall Street Journal Center for Entreprenuers. Take a peek and enjoy!!
A Passion For Books
Jim Strawn is the classic example of a person taking a passion — in his case, a penchant for collecting books — and turning it into a business in retirement. Last October, Mr. Strawn, age 65, a former finance chief in the radio industry, and his wife, Judy, opened their own store, Smythe Books, in Dunwoody,
GA.Of course, starting a business, whatever the spark, is seldom easy. Mr. Strawn’s story involves many small steps over many years, as well as one unexpected setback: a loss of confidence .A Georgia native, Mr. Strawn graduated from college in 1963 and spent much of the next 35 years in the broadcast business, first with Cox Broadcasting Corp. and eventually as a senior executive with two closely held chains of radio stations.
Midway through this career, Mr. Strawn found a new hobby. The catalyst was a biography of C.S. Lewis, the English author best known for writing "The Chronicles of Narnia.""I never had been a big reader," Mr. Strawn says. But "this book hooked me. I couldn’t put it down." By chance, a family trip to
England was already in the works, and Mr. Strawn decided he would spend part of the vacation learning more about Lewis. The final day of the trip found him at a book fair in
Oxford, where he bought several first editions of Lewis’ writings.
In the years that followed, collecting books became a passion. Mr. Strawn began studying authors and why certain writings were important to them. He attended book fairs in the
U.S. and
Europe and developed relationships with dealers. He enrolled in classes about finding and identifying rare titles. And he bought books and more books, amassing some 2,000 titles in all.In 1998, Mr. Strawn walked away from the radio business, financially successful, but "tired and burned out." He turned briefly to golf and travel and considered "doing something" in the book industry. As the months passed, though, "I began to lose confidence in myself," he recalls. "My experience in radio had been so specialized. My skills didn’t seem to be a match for anything."A new direction came from a breakfast meeting with his pastor, who steered Mr. Strawn toward an accounting job with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a nonprofit group based in
Atlanta. What began as a part-time position turned into a five-year commitment, with Mr. Strawn ending up as the organization’s chief financial officer. Perhaps more important, his work and success at the fellowship restored his confidence, and persuaded him to give the book business a try.
Indeed, when asked today what advice he would give others, Mr. Strawn urges would-be retirees to "keep yourself in situations where you don’t lose faith in your abilities. With non-profits and churches, you’ll end up being a valuable asset, and that could turn into something much bigger."Smythe Books, only five months old, is already expanding; Mr. Strawn was able to lease some additional space and will soon have about 14,000 titles on his shelves, up from about 9,000 when the shop opened. (Buying up the inventory of a bookstore that was closing in
South Carolina allowed him to augment his personal collection substantially.)
Mr. Strawn spends about 40 hours a week at the store, Monday through Saturday. Two retired librarians work with him part time. He delights, in particular, in being able to satisfy customers’ requests for the obscure. "I had a man walk in and ask if I had any books about checkers," Mr. Strawn says. "I told him, ‘Yes, I have two!’ "And he continues to look ahead. "I want to be a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America," he explains. "To be a book dealer of any substance, that’s a badge you need to wear."I still have some goals."
7 Lessons You Can Use:
1. Identify your passion! What do you enjoy doing?
2. Take your time before jumping into a new business!
3. Determine that you will have fun no matter what you decide to do!
4. Continue to use your skills and abilities once you retire from your vocation.
5. Keep your eyes and ears open!
6. Be open to others to speak into your life - Find a mentor or a coach that will challenge you!
7. Set goals (long-term and short-term goals) and go for it!
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Being A Boomer, Mindset, New Ideas, Work
2 opinions for A Passion For Books
Rick
Apr 13, 2007 at 6:10 am
A great story, but how is a 65-year-old a baby boomer? I thought they had to be born after 1945 to quallify.
Or are we just letting anybody in these days?
Darlene McDaniel
Apr 13, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Good catch Rick, my mistake. I do believe however that the principles and lessons of his story work no matter what generation you are from. I will do better.
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: