How do you imagine your life after age 50? For many of us, that\u2019s when you hope to reap the benefits of all the hard work, late nights, and weekends that you put in years before. Bob McEwen never got that chance. \u201cEarly in January of 2009, I was laid off with many others, primarily because the products I had been managing went away.\u201d<\/p>\n
McEwen, a Six Sigma Black Belt, was managing mortgage insurance products when the mortgage market crashed in 2008. He\u2019d spent years in the corporate world after a stint in the Navy and time manufacturing missile systems. But the real bomb dropped when McEwen received that layoff notice. He knew it was coming, but that didn\u2019t make it any less frightening.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter being laid off, I assumed I would continue in the corporate world, but I was over 50 and the economy was tough,\u201d said McEwen. \u201cI wasn\u2019t getting any nibbles for employment and self-employment had never been on my radar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day my wife came home from work and told me about a franchise expo sponsored by The Entrepreneur’s Source (TES),\u201d McEwen continued. \u201cMy first reaction was that I wouldn\u2019t want to do a franchise. I thought about it, though, then saw an ad in the newspaper, checked it out online and thought it might be worth it to at least check it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a decision that changed the course of his life forever. Bob and his wife ended up spending the entire Friday at Franchise Expo Live, exploring dozens of opportunities. There was so much more to discover that he went back for a second day on Saturday. \u201cOf all of the franchises I spoke to, the sign manufacturing industry seemed to stand out to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how he met Dan Prendergast, an alternative career coach with The Entrepreneur\u2019s Source\u00ae.<\/p>\n
\u201c(I) started to do research on Signworld, a franchise opportunity, as well as a few others Dan recommended,\u201d said Bob. \u201cI did my exploration on others, but always leaned strongly toward the sign manufacturing industry, so that\u2019s where I ultimately ended up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prendergast says his focus is on the client. His role is to help them discover their goals, needs and expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working with our clients to help them understand how to use a business as a vehicle to achieve their I.L.W.E. (Income, Lifestyle, Wealth, Equity) goals,\u201d Prendergast says. \u201cThrough our coaching methodology and the technology-based resources that we use, this helps us, along with the client, establish what their career transition looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bob found that he was able to put his years of experience in manufacturing and finance to use with his SignCraft Solutions business, but he didn\u2019t have any experience with signage before starting the business. Not having experience in the world of a particular franchise is a big concern for many would-be franchisees.<\/p>\n
\u201cSignworld helped relieve some of my fears by confirming that with their training and guidance, I would be able to know what to do,\u201d said Bob. \u201cI visited several sign companies across five different states and it gave me a pretty good feel for what I was getting myself into.\u201d<\/p>\n
The road to self-employment is hardly ever easy and Bob\u2019s experience was no different. \u201cEarly on I worked 70+ hour weeks, six days a week.\u201d But now that McEwen\u2019s business is established, his days have fallen into a comfortable routine, managing projects, meeting customers, and location visits for measurements. Gone are the days of sitting in the same office day after day. Now McEwen is calling his own shots and reaping unexpected benefits. \u201cIt\u2019s also been good to see how we have been able to help our employees support their families and see them grow and progress,\u201d said McEwen. He and his wife now employ ten other members of their community.<\/p>\n
McEwen never regrets making the choice to take control of his career for himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor those facing layoff, I think you need to be open minded and be honest with yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bob McEwen took his journey of discovery and learned that there is plenty of life after layoff left to live. You can begin exploring your options from the comfort of your own home by visiting FranchiseMatch.com<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How do you imagine your life after age 50? For many of us, that\u2019s when you hope to reap the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fm2.dev.craftwebshop.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fm2.dev.craftwebshop.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fm2.dev.craftwebshop.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fm2.dev.craftwebshop.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fm2.dev.craftwebshop.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fm2.dev.craftwebshop.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fm2.dev.craftwebshop.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fm2.dev.craftwebshop.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fm2.dev.craftwebshop.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fm2.dev.craftwebshop.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}