From Corporate Layoff to Entrepreneur: Jeff Ford's Story of Reinvention After 50

When Suzuki packed up and left the United States in 2009, Jeff Ford lost more than a job. He lost the career he had spent 27 years building. The layoff arrived on April Fool's Day, and the timing made it feel crueler than it already was. "Traumatic, to say the least," he says.

In this episode of the Ageism Survival Guide, John Stech sits down with Jeff Ford, a former automotive colleague turned entrepreneur out of necessity. Jeff spent nearly three decades in the auto industry, and then, in the middle of the global financial crisis, his company folded and returned to Japan. Suddenly he was a single parent with two children and no income, knocking on doors for six months while every door in the automotive industry stayed closed.

Then Jeff did something he never planned to do. He became an entrepreneur.

This conversation touches on every point of what starting your own business actually requires, told by someone who lived every hard lesson:

• The trauma of losing a corporate job, and the brutal reality of not finding a new one
• Deciding to become an entrepreneur when you have been pushed into a corner
• Choosing the right type of business, and why Jeff started with pools before pursuing his real passion, landscaping
• Assuring your financial runway, and why "if you are short on cash, it is only a matter of time before you shut down"
• Funding the business, including how Jeff borrowed against his 401k and created an S corp
• Managing people, and why "loyalty trumps competency sometimes"
• Learning to be the person where the buck stops, even when it means loading up the truck and doing the work yourself

Jeff grew his pool business from a single customer to more than 200, then sold his routes and moved onto new adventures. He even spent time in Africa on a trip to coach young entrepreneurs there. Along the way he learned that in your own business, "you do not own the business, the business owns you," and that no job can ever be too good for you to do.

If you are over 50 and wondering whether entrepreneurship could be your next chapter, this episode is for you.

Connect with Jeff Ford: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkford/

Books Jeff recommends as you decide whether entrepreneurship is right for you:

1. "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/dont-waste-your-life
2. "Beginner's Pluck" by Liz Bohannon: https://www.lizbohannon.co/book
3. “The Intentional Legacy” by David McAlvany: https://davidmcalvany.com/product/the-intentional-legacy-book/

Resources:

Ageism Survival Guide homepage: https://www.ageismsurvivalguide.com