Jobs

I got my first job at age 12. Every Saturday, I’d go down to the model homes in my neighborhood and water all the plants inside the homes. There were four homes, and I could usually complete the task in an hour. For my efforts, I’d get five dollars. At the time, it felt like a lot.

My next job at age 14 was working in a warehouse. I pulled orders, packed boxes, and did other various tasks. I rode my bike about five miles one way to get to my job. I’d go after school a few times a week. The pay was better, and for the first time, I was making over $100 every two weeks. I enjoyed the job, but quit when I got stuck with a bad manager.

At age 15 I went to work for Auntie Ann’s Pretzels in the mall. I worked the cash register, rolled pretzels, washed dishes, sliced and squeezed boxes of lemons to make lemonade, etc. Again, the pay was higher and I enjoyed the work for the most part. I got frustrated with labor laws though. I remember my boss telling me I couldn’t work the ovens until I was 16, and not to work the dough mixer until I was 18. I rebelled and did everything anyway. I thought to myself, “How can the government say what I can and can’t do? I can work an oven at home. Why not here?”

Some days, during the holidays, I’d work 12 hours with one 15-minute break to scarf down a pretzel and some Coke. I loved the challenge of keeping the production levels up and serving all the people. Later, after I had left, I found out labor laws also capped the number of hours you could work at age 15. I’m grateful to this day that my boss was unaware of those laws. I wanted to work, and no government was going to tell me I couldn’t.

I left the pretzel store at age 16 to work at a snowboard shop called Rocky Mountain Snowboards. I didn’t make the switch for money, but because I loved to snowboard. I worked at RMS for three years. I sold snowboards, skateboards, and inline skates, and did some tune-up work on all of them as well. I loved the job. It was great for finishing out my years in high school, but I could see it really wasn’t leading me anywhere I wanted to go. Plus, in my third year of work at the snowboard shop, I began dating a girl who is now my wife. I knew I couldn’t get married on such a small hourly wage. That’s when I began to get serious about my jobs.

So at age 18, I took a job installing wire closet shelving as a stop gap. I knew I wouldn’t keep the job long, but it paid much better. I had a lot of time to think. It was just me and the owner. When we’d stop at a house, I’d unload the shelving and stage it in each closet of the house, including the pantry, if there was one. The owner would use a jig to drill holes in the closets. I would install the hardware and snap the shelves into place. Then we were off to the next house. We’d do six to 12 houses a day, literally hundreds of pounds of wire shelving.

Finally, after seven months, I quit to engage in a serious job search. I spent six weeks submitting my resume to companies and calling on job opportunities. Finally, after a lot of dead ends, I landed a job with a temp agency. How I got the job was kind of funny. I had seen an advertisement in the paper for a certain position. The qualifications were listed. I was proficient in each area that was listed. So I applied.

When I showed up, the interviewer asked me a few questions, including my college background. When he didn’t hear the answer he was looking for, he told me, “Well, it doesn’t seem like you’re a good fit for the job. Sorry.”

Something inside of me snapped. I told him, “Look, you put an advertisement in the paper asking for someone with certain qualifications. I have those qualifications. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have responded to your ad. If you’re not looking for someone with those qualifications, then don’t lie about it. And stop wasting my time.”

All of a sudden, the interviewer’s demeanor changed. “Well, hold on a second. Let me see what I can do,” he said.

A series of tests followed. I aced all of them. That’s how I got the job with the temp agency, which then placed me in a job at Merrill Lynch. I was 19 at the time.

Honestly, my first position at Merrill Lynch was too easy. All I did was review incoming forms to make sure they were filled out completely. I also checked for a valid plan administrator signature on each form. I had to reference two binders full of signatures. Soon, I had memorized hundreds of different signatures and could pass most forms without checking the binders.

This position lasted a two or three months. I did so well that Merrill Lynch decided to hire me. So I went from being paid by the temp agency to being paid by Merrill Lynch. I also began receiving their benefits. My first official job as a Merrill Lynch employee was in the Payroll department. I processed incoming 401(k) payrolls for various companies who paid Merrill Lynch to be their record keeper.

I spent a year in the position before being promoted into the Client Service department. In my new capacity, I still worked with 401(k) clients. But instead of processing the payrolls, I worked directly with the HR departments at the companies. I investigated issues, conducted compliance testing, wrote report calculators, helped with IRS audits, etc. It was a challenging position. I probably would not have left, except a reorganization put me with not one, but two bad managers. They were both trying to “manage” me, which is to say they were trying to get me to do most of the work while they sat in a closed-door office and did nothing.

I was already considering leaving Merrill Lynch when John Holzmann contacted me about the possibility of working at his company. John and his family had been friends of my family’s for a long time. John and his wife Sarita owned a homeschooling company called Sonlight Curriculum. At the time, John was looking for a marketing guy. He knew of my entrepreneurial bent and my interest in writing, so he thought I might be a good fit.

After a brief test-run, I got the job. I was 23 at the time. Ultimately, my work with Sonlight is what launched my freelance copywriting career. For three years, I did all of the Internet marketing for Sonlight. I wrote copy for the web site and annual catalog. I managed the Google AdWords campaigns. I helped strategize how to grow the company.

But having a job wasn’t for me. The entire time I was an employee, I was always wanting to do things differently than the company was. It was frustrating to not be able to act on all my ideas. I also disliked having to get permission for everything, including simple things like semi-annual dentist appointments.

Finally, when the opportunity presented itself, I quit my job at Sonlight on April 19, 2005. I have been self-employed ever since.

-Ryan M. Healy

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