Nearing my sixth anniversary in May as a true-blue retiree, I observe and marvel at how those who have left the grind of work to spend their time untethered to a desk and deadlines.
Well, I met a Talbot County resident who didn’t stop working when he retired at 52. Instead, he bought a business where he could use his hands while dealing with customers. He’s now 69 and again contemplating another retirement.
His story, while not unusual, still interests me. He left a 32-year career with a healthy pension, saw a business opportunity and grabbed it. Along the way, he tasted success, then ran into the Amazon phenomenon and had to adjust.
This retiree turned small businessman is Brad Fout, owner of Calico Gallery in Le Hatchery in Easton. A friend suggested I spend time with him, and I’m glad I did. His story fascinated me. He was a young retiree who decided to trade a good job as a software engineer with a major corporation to ownership of a St. Michaels shop.
No right way defines retirement. It’s a time for creativity, personal growth and following your dreams, even as a senior citizen perhaps slowed by physical aches and pains.
Brad Fout, found a way to use his hands for framing and his brains and savvy to run a small business, beginning in 2001. He built a reputation for custom framing and a bustling toy business. All was going well until he ran full force into a recession in 2007-2009 and the Amazon juggernaut. Toys were easily and inexpensively available by e-commerce.
In 2015, Fout closed his shop in St. Michaels and moved his custom framing operation to Le Hatchery, closer to his customers in Easton and Oxford. He also discovered that retail businesses can no longer depend on “goodwill value” when it comes time to sell.
As I listened to this affable gentleman talk about his successful career with Western Electric (later Lucent Technologies), I was impressed by his willingness to take a chance by leaving the corporate world for the often difficult world of small business in a small town. He wanted to use his hands to be creative, and he did. His wife joined him in his post-retirement enterprise.
I also admired his “all in” approach as evidenced by serving three times as president of the St. Michaels Business Association and the catalyst behind the town’s Midnight Madness in early December.
In a Dec. 13, 2013 article in Forbes magazine entitled “Bored With Retirement? Then Un-Retire and Go Back to Work,” Carolyn Rosenblatt wrote, “Having purpose in our lives is a feature of being emotionally healthy whether we are retired or not…Likewise, we need structure, whether it comes from a job or from self-imposed volunteerism or other pursuits we enjoy.”
During the past six years, I’ve watched friends navigate their post-work years through volunteerism, travel, hobbies, reading, exercise, family, consulting and, inevitably, physical reconstruction of knees, hips and backs. They seem content after productive work lives. They have no regrets.
Brad Fout gave me an entirely new perspective. He retired young. He moved to Talbot County. He sought a way to use his hands and bought a business unrelated to anything he had accomplished in the corporate world. He gambled and succeeded. A recession and the impact of Amazon were unforeseen.
Though not alone in developing a second or “encore” career after an early retirement, Fout sought a work life outside his comfort zone. He’s had to adapt.
Retirement has many looks.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.
Tom Stevenson says
Having a number of hand-crafted frames made by Brad Fout in our St. Michaels home, we appreciate the unique set of skills that he brought to his work at Calico Gallery. His quality and craftsmanship, along with his expert advice on just the right frame and matting created a final work far superior to what I expected when I brought something into his shop to be framed. His sense of community was obvious when he discussed the merchant concerns as they battled the recession and other headwinds. Brad is missed in our small town, and your article on his contributions to our community are much appreciated.