 He always sold something. "It started with a hand-me-down bicycle which enabled me to sell and deliver newspapers on a 7.3 mile paper route." In 7th grade Ken picked berries--blue berries, black berries, raspberries--and went door-to-door selling them for pennies. His mom made potholders which he sold for ten cents a piece or three for a quarter. He bought wholesale greeting cards and sold them individually, and he did the same with repackaged seeds he purchased. He even sold hundreds of tins of Suave in order to earn enough points to buy a b-b gun, which his father quickly confiscated.
And he did this all before he graduated from high school. Sales was in his blood.
Ken's father encouraged him to get into sales as a way to earn a good salary. He remembers advice once given to him by his dad, costing nothing to implement: "Comb your hair and shine your shoes. It's the first two things people look at."
After returning from his stint in the Army (17 months and three days in Korea), Ken continued in sales: Planters Peanuts, ice cream, novelties, and a knitting company factory where he began his life-long career in sales via The Fuller Brush Company.
It was here that he found his niche. All he had to do was follow the rules: nine-hour days, eight displays an hour, don't ask little old ladies how they feel today (too much loss of time), never accept a cup of coffee, and never sit down in a customer's home, but most important of all, make the customer feel special.
That last rule, I believe, comes naturally to Ken. He is truly Mr. Warmth. One would never doubt his sincerity. Those two qualities--warmth and sincerity--I am sure explain his success in the field of sales.
After five years with Fuller Brush, Ken from Massachusetts, moved upward and onward with J.R. Watkins Products in Minnesota. He transferred to Buffalo, then on to the home office in Winona, Minnesota. After 14 years Ken joined W. T. Rawleigh Company in Illinois where he was director of Sales, then Vice President of Sales and Marketing, then onto another company in Dallas, Texas.
The one commonality with his last two jobs was the considerable time he spent in airports around the country. He was flying constantly and growing to dislike it immensely.
At age 55, Ken found himself unemployed and felt unemployable because of his age. Subsequently, he made lemonade out of a lemon. He called his first company, The Fuller Brush Company, and asked if he could post their name and an 800# phone number in several major phone directories. That's exactly what he did, thereby starting his own independent distributorship business from his home. He sold their products, recruited customers to pass the word along, and has close to 300 people working for him, all of which takes up approximately ten hours of his time a week.
Although not technically retired, Ken lives the life of a retiree. To him, the greatest part of retirement is the time he has to visit senior citizens who do not have the freedom of movement that he has. For example, today while his wife is at the hair dressers, he will be visiting a couple in the next town, bringing them their favorite menu item--pea soup.
Visiting seniors in their homes gives him great satisfaction--a reverse of the rules he learned with the Fuller Brush Company. No nine-hour days; no demonstrations. Rather, he can sit down. He can ask how they feel, and he can enjoy a cup of coffee for as long as he desires, and he asks for nothing in return.
Ken also enjoys the freedom of time to do as he pleases. He's part of a ROMEO group (Retired Old Men Eating Out) that meets once a week at the diner, and he goes out to lunch every day with his wife, Terry. Retirement was not in Ken's plans when he became unemployed at 55. He was fortunate that his life's occupation, selling, was tied very closely to his passion for interacting with people. That combination has allowed him to be so content in the retirement he never planned for. When asked what he most misses about retirement, he quickly responded, "People!" He has no desire to travel because of his extensive job-related travel history.
When asked, "What advice would you give to someone about to retire?" Ken's immediate response was, "Find something quickly to replace the time you spent on the job--volunteer, take up a hobby, do something or else, or you will be miserable!"
My impression of Ken's main areas of enjoyment for retirement are 1) family, 2) church, and 3) sales, all of which encompass the basis of his enjoyment: PEOPLE!!
As he remarked about his days of selling, "What I sell comes last; people are always first," and that, I believe, is what has made Ken so successful in his working life and in his semi-retirement. He is a special man who positively affects the lives of others--that's his gift to others in his retirement. | 
