By: Ken Boone Since February 2019, I've had the privilege of sharing my thoughts with you. What started as a vehicle to settle old scores, quickly became an objective analysis on how one's perception shapes one's reality. Today is Father's Day. It 's the 30th Father's Day I can actually celebrate as an honoree. It's the 6th Father's Day with my son being an honoree. He'll probably text me his best wishes, which is better than what I'll do for him or anyone else, for that matter. Don't get me wrong, I think I'm just as sentimental as the next person. It's just that over the years, my true introverted side has moved to the forefront of my being. I know, because I'm married to a true extrovert. In fact, I sometimes cringe when she starts a conversation with a total stranger. That's until she pulls me into the chat and I end up having a good time. Since February 2019, I've been writing this little blog. Most of the topics were about me growing up and my feelings back then. Most of them were feelings of inadequacy and loneliness, but I would always end the posts with expressions of modern-day gratitude. That formula served me well since February 2019. However, now is the time to place a pause on this blog which may or may not be permanent. The reason why is that the world around has taken over a bigger piece of my life. So, after taking a little break to get used to life as a retiree, I'm coming back with a new blog, which I think I'll title "Much More to Say". It will contain musings by me as well as guest bloggers, if I can snag some along the way. My podcast, "From Grievance to Gratitude" will still be produced, except now will move to a bi-weekly new episode release schedule. I'm hoping that spreading out production of that show will put more meat on the episodes. At least that's my hope. As I bring this post, and possibly this blog, to a close, I'd like to thank all of you who took the time to read these silly little musings of mine since February 2019. Your "Likes" are greatly appreciated. For me, it's been a blast! But wait... there's more!
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By: Ken Boone It's been 21 years since I left the last real job I ever had. Now, I've since worked in many other "corporate situations", as I like to call them. I considered them short-term gigs, although some of them actually lasted for a number of years. I started my career at D&T prior to the merger of two of the country's largest accounting firms, Deloitte Haskins & Sells and Touche Ross & Co. Back in the late 1980s, companies did a lot of that. Staid accounting and law firms were no exception. We heard that there was quite a bit of simmering hostility because of two dirty words regarding mergers - job duplicity. That term was the reason given for many careers being derailed. I was lucky that, at the time, I was doing back-office support work. I had much more paper to push. I was a former Touche employee, and although we had the better office digs, most of the plumb post-merger positions went to Deloitte people . So, the Deloitte people simply packed up their Times Square- adjacent offices and move into our space. It seemed like yesterday when the Touche General Counsel called us into one of the conference rooms to announce that he was being replaced by his Deloitte counterpart. He also announced that most of his deputies were being demoted. Well, not actually demoted, but their Deloitte counterparts would be outranking them. It came as no surprise when I was picked to be on the Legal Department's transition team. My job was simple - I was the one-man welcoming committee. Showing you where they kept the paper clips and where to get a good cheap lunch in the area was right in my wheelhouse. The merger was completed in 1990. My plan was to stay with the merged company for another year before moving on to greener pastures. I won't say that the transition was drama-free, but I can assure you that I did my best to build as many bridges at the new firm as possible. D&T made it through economic downturns, the S&L crisis, the litigation craze, the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, and the spinning off of some of our business divisions. We survived because we stuck together. I even leaned heavily on my friends at D&T when my life was going a little crazy. That year of staying on quickly became two years, then five years, when I became vested in the firm's pension plan. By the time I finally left the firm to start my media company (for the first time), what as initially a two-week temp assignment ended up being an 11-year stint at one of the most prestigious organizations in the world! I'm getting nostalgic because I just finished drafting a contract termination letter to my latest, and hopefully final, short-term corporate gig. I know that I left this organization in better shape than when I first arrived. Whether my client agrees with me or not, I still cool. That's because one score and one year ago, I said goodbye to the best, and last, job I ever had! But wait... there's more!
By Ken Boone: I'm taking a break from cleaning out my studio space. It's long overdue, and I'm getting tired of stepping over boxes, loose papers and microphone cables. If all goes well, I'll be done with this in a couple of weeks. Among the papers I found on the floor was a hand written list of blog posts I'd written and published through May 27, 2019. I recalled how high my spirit soared during that period. It was then that I came up with Plan A for the last 30 years of my life. I was going to build my media "empire" by creating and producing 10 different podcast shows. I was going to write and/or edit a number of interesting blogs. And I was going to cut back on the number of outside clients I would service. To do all of that takes money, and I had a good idea where I would get it. I was eight months away from collecting a pension from my years at the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche. I was also eight months away from collecting my Social Security benefits as an early retiree. I called it my Plan A. I knew there would be challenges along the way. Celia was planning to have replacement surgery on both her hips. The first one was scheduled for July, with the second coming in November. We knew it was ambitious, but the surgeon she wanted was retiring at the end of the year and moving to Florida. Hence the tight turnaround. While the first surgery went without a hitch, I started showing symptoms of what was later diagnosed as congestive heart failure accompanied by uncontrolled high blood pressure. I also found out that my A1C I was two ticks south of a diagnosis of diabetes! That put the kibosh on Plan A. After a pretty scary September, that included a stay in the cardiac care unit, I was released back into the wild with multiple prescriptions, a new diet, and a new outlook on life and faith. Moving to the top of the list was simply staying alive. So, I tabled the podcasts and blog posts and concentrated on following my doctors' orders. I called it Plan B. It was New Years Day 2020, and I was feeling great! I regained the pep in my step. In a few days, I was going to return to my doctors for follow ups. I knew they were going to be impressed with the progress I made. They ordered more tests, which is standard. The results were consistent with how I was feeling. It was a wonderful time to be me. I was given the green light to resume all my normal activities, other than the poor diet. I still had to take 11 pills a day, but the good news it that there were no side effects from any of the medications. In other words, I was free to go to work on Plan C. Returning to my normal activities, I felt as though I hadn't missed a step. I was cranking out podcast episodes, blog posts, and client deliverables. I was effortlessly climbing the stairs in my house. I was greeted by my friends at Publix who kept telling me how good I looked. In the eight months since I laid out my Plan A, the trajectory of my life had changed multiple times. The old Ken would have stressed out over the uncertainty. The new Ken had found his faith. The new Ken actually believed in miracles. So when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, my ears perked up. When I found out that, because of my age and underlying health issues, I was deemed high risk, I was afraid. Some of my best friends also fell into high risk groups. And a couple of them lived alone. I worried about getting sick. Because one of my clients was a nonprofit whose funding came primarily through grants, I had a fear of financial insecurity. Because a lot of my friends were creative freelancers, I worried about them losing business. I did a lot of worrying. Then I remembered that I can only control the things that are within my hula hoop. Although I never left the house without a mask and gloves, I didn't make unnecessary trips out of the house. As for my nonprofit client, I prayed that their funding wouldn't dry up so they could continue their work. As for my freelancing friends, I could use my skills as a blogger and podcaster to get their stories out to the masses. There's still the matter of financial security. Well, a quick peek at the calendar reminded me that I turned age 62 back in January! That means that I'm eligible to draw my pension as well as get early retirement Social Security benefits. That also means that I'm moving on to Plan D. Wait a minute. That sounds a lot like Plan A to me! But wait... there's more!
By: Ken Boone Ever since the stay-at-home orders were handed down, I typically leave the house a maximum of twice per week. And never on back to back days. But this is different. I had to go to the UPS Store to notarize and mail my retirement papers in time to receive my first pension payment on July 1st! I would describe this as nothing short of momentous. I would also like to devote a future post on the fact that this whole thing was both miraculous and unexpected. Yesterday's action officially marked the end of another chapter of my life, and I'd like to get it down on paper. But again, that's a post for another day. Yesterday was also the day that I posted a new episode of Celia's podcast, "ISO Peace & Healing". I enjoy listening to her show so much that I downloaded all of the episodes to my trusty little MP3 player in order to play them in the car. She is such an amazing host and I can't wait for the world to discover and embrace her message. Episode 2 of my new podcast, "Freelancer Survival Stories" will be posted to the world on Friday, June 5th. It features Celia interviewing videographer George Don Denis of Thredd Media. He owns and runs the company with his big sister, Nikki. I've seen a lot of his finished projects and he's really, really good. That comes as no surprise to me! That combination of Celia and Don is a force to be reckoned with. If it weren't for the two of them, I never would have got off the fence and started this reincarnation of my business. I probably would have still been emailing my resume's to dozens of employers who would have just hit the "delete" button. You see, I didn't even merit a tersely-worded rejection letter from them. How do you spell "loser" in North Carolinian? Celia and I met a little over 10 years ago. On our first date at a local Starbucks, I told her about my dream to end my 25 year hiatus from making music. I also told her that I just traded in my shiny, almost new Chevy Avalanche in order to buy some basic recording gear. The purchase was more of an act of faith, because I had no prospects for work, paid or on spec. It came as a total surprise that in just a few short weeks after meeting, Celia told me about an opportunity to get back in the game. She arranged for me to record the theme song for a college film project. The subjects were students in the Art Department at UNC Charlotte. The producer/director was a super talented senior named Nikki Denis. It sounded like it would be a lot of fun, so I immediately said yes. In just a matter of days, I had a bunch of art majors piled up in the smallest room of my house, waiting for George the guitar player. Nikki got off the phone and told me that Don would be arriving in about 5 minutes. Cool, two more people squeezing into that tiny space. I guess I could use my bonus room to handle the overflow. While the gang did "rock, paper, scissors" to determine seating arrangements, the doorbell rang. I opened it to find a young man with a guitar case. "Hey, are you George?" I asked. "Yes, nice to meet you" was his response. He was greeted with a Cheers-like "George" when he entered the recording space. Now we were just waiting for Don to show up. Or maybe not. When Nikki returned to the room after taking another call, she called out "Hi Don", and to my surprise, George responded "Hey Sis". I see. George and Don are one in the same. Wanting to get to the bottom of this mystery, I asked him what did he prefer to be called, he said call him whatever I felt comfortable calling him. So it's been Don ever since. The first track to go down was a beat created by the vocalist. Don and his acoustic guitar was up next. What I heard next was some of the funkiest rhythm guitar work I'd ever heard. And it was laid down in one take! Nikki agreed, but asked him to make it sound more like a banjo. He said "cool" and the next pass sounded like a banjo. Wow! He came back to every session. He added a bass guitar part, some background vocals, and even mixed the finished track with my son, Kenny. He seemed to excel at everything he attempted. That was our first of many encounters with the great George Don Denis. In later sessions, he played guitar, saxophone, provided lead and background vocals on Celia's debut CD. You can even hear his guitar work on the mid-episode Call-to-Action on just about all of the podcasts I produce for the Descant Music & Media Network! As I mentioned earlier, Don and Nikki now own a video production company, Thredd Media. Their work is simply stunning! Even the typically dry corporate videos that we are used to seeing are infused with the "Denis Touch". Their live band performances videos seem to take you into the club itself. Unfortunately, their growing business has been impacted by the pandemic with a lot of contracts either cancelled or put on hold. Because I dedicated my podcast work to giving voice to others, it made perfect sense to create a show that would shine a spotlight on gig workers and small business owners, particularly in the creative arts. It was a no-brainer that one of the first people I would reach out to was Don. While a number of folk told me that they would consider my offer to give them "airtime", Don immediately agreed. That's who he is. After engaging in some long overdue catching up, Celia launched into the interview via Zoom. I wasn't surprised when Don nailed it in one take! Again, that's who he is. We ended the interview with him saying three things:
I can't wait to check off those three items. I would also like to add seeing his sister Nikki again to that list. While it was Celia who told me about the gig, it was Nikki who had to sign off on it. It was she who put Don and I in the same room. The Denis "kids" make a great team, and I'm proud to consider them dear friends/family! Contact me if you'd like to hire them.
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About the AuthorAs owner of the Descant Music & Media Group, Ken is a creator and producer of several podcast shows. He is also a music producer, as well as a writer and an accountant for small businesses and nonprofits. Archives
June 2020
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