Jumping Off the Cliff

When I saw Mark Stevens’ post on The Power of Now, I looked at the picture of someone jumping off a cliff in a wingsuit and thought, “I would never do that.” But then I realized that I had done something very much like that.

About 40 years ago I was working at a software company in Chicago. One day after work the team I was on, including our supervisor, went out to the local watering hole after work. At some point the conversation turned to “have you ever done…”, and then to “would you ever do…” Someone brought up skydiving, and after another pitcher of beer it got to “I’ll do it if you will.” So we all agreed to take the dive together.

We signed up for lessons, and eventually the day came for the jump. We were sitting in the plane, looking at each other and thinking, “Am I really going to do this?” Then they opened the door and told us to line up. We made our supervisor go first. And I have to tell you, watching your boss’ ass go out the door of a plane is one of the greatest experiences you can have.

I realized that I’ve made a few other leaps of faith in my life. I graduated college in 1971 (yes, I’m that old) with a BS in psychology. The Vietnam War was raging, the economy was in shambles, and my degree was not worth much. I got a job as a hospital orderly and was considering a career in nursing. Then I got a postcard in the mail from the Honeywell Institute offering a training course in computer programming.

I went in for an interview and aptitude test. They told me that I would be a good candidate, and I said, “I bet you tell that to everyone.” They said no, in their experience people from the social sciences usually made better programmers than those from math or computer science.

So I took the leap. I quit my job. I took out a loan for $2,000 ($12,795 in today’s money) and went to their programming school full-time for three months. On the last day of class, the instructors were telling us what to expect in our new careers. One of them said, “And when you’re all making $30,00 a year in a few years—” She waited until we all stopped laughing. Average income at the time was about $7,100/year. She smiled and said, “Just wait.” Three years later I was making more than $30,000/year.

Fast forward 30 years. I’m working at a software company in Colorado. My salary is in the low six figures. I love the work, but the company is a nightmare. My wife and I had started a small online store and it was doing pretty well… much better than we had expected. It was bringing in about 20% of my regular salary. I told my wife that if I was able to work in it full time, I could probably bring it up to 70% of my salary and I could quit my job.

A couple of months later the company was doing its annual staff reduction, and they were offering a buyout. We talked about it and I took the leap. I left with a year’s salary, stretched that out to 18 months, and by then I was making 120% of my old salary.

And here I am today, 70 years old, and standing on the edge of the cliff again. Our store survived the Great Recession and the subsequent economic roller coaster ride, but just barely. And we’re just tired of running a commerce site. So I’m trying to build a new career in writing and editing.

If you need to find me, I’ll be out shopping for a XXL wingsuit.