My father-in-law had 60 years of entrepreneurial experience when he died.
We recorded about 30 minutes of it.
Joe Dow passed away at 86, leaving behind his wife of 50 years, six children, fourteen grandchildren, and decades of experience building a business, raising a family, investing in real estate, navigating setbacks, and living his own version of the American dream as an immigrant.
Some Wisdom Disappears If We Never Capture It
Joe Dow started his business in 1964. He had seen it all. The ups, the downs, and everything in between. Joe had a heart to help people. And like many experienced entrepreneurs I know, Joe didn’t think much about his story or the philosophy behind it. It was simply what he knew because it was what he lived.
Joe Dow on the phone in his office sharing his wisdom to help a client.
By 2019, Joe was in his eighties, and I started thinking more about how much of his story still lived only inside of him. I had always valued stories and what we could learn from them, and I wanted to hear more while I still could.
So on August 18, 2019, I sat down with Joe at the breakfast table, put a little Yeti microphone between us, opened my computer, and started asking questions. We talked for about 30 minutes before I could tell he was getting tired, so we stopped.
I had every intention of continuing the conversation because I had more questions, and Joe certainly had more stories. But with four growing kids and a business of my own, life quickly moved forward, and I thought there would always be another day to sit back down and pick up where we left off.
That Day and Conversation Never Came
Five years later, Joe passed away. We buried him on August 18, 2024, exactly five years to the day after we recorded that conversation.
I still don’t know what to make of that date beyond what it meant to me. I had spent five years assuming I could return to a conversation that I could no longer finish. Now, there would be no opportunity to ask, “What happened next?” or “What did that teach you?” or “Why did you make that decision?”
Joe’s wisdom didn’t disappear entirely when he died. It lives on through his family, the people he helped, and the stories we keep telling about him. But there were stories I never heard or experiences he could never share because I never made the time and space to sit down and ask him again.
We captured just 30 minutes of more than 60 years.
This has stayed with me, and Joe’s story is a big part of my why behind Built Authority.
What Feels Obvious Might Not Be to Someone Else
Joe’s death made me think differently about something I now see all the time with experienced entrepreneurs.
When you’ve been doing something for 10, 20, or 30 years, so much of what you know starts to feel obvious. You’ve made decisions, solved hard problems, survived setbacks, made mistakes, lived with the consequences, and learned things along the way. Over time, those experiences begin to shape how you see the world.
Eventually, you stop noticing where your perspective comes from because it becomes part of who you are. And what feels obvious to you might not be obvious at all to someone who hasn’t lived through what you have.
I know this from my own experience too. For years, I used what I had learned in business without really recognizing its value in developing and sharing. When David C. Baker first asked me when I was going to write a book, my immediate response was, “Me? Write a book? What do I know?”
Turns out, I knew more than I thought I knew.
The same might be true for you.
Your Experience Can Become Your Greatest Asset
There is an important distinction here. Experience alone doesn’t automatically make it an asset. You have to go back and examine it.
What happened?
What did it teach you?
What would you do differently now?
What patterns have repeated themselves across different chapters of your life?
What do you believe today because of something you lived through 10 or 20 years ago?
When you start asking questions like these, individual experiences begin turning into stories. Those stories reveal lessons, and when you look across enough of those lessons, patterns begin to emerge. Those patterns can eventually shape the beliefs, principles, and perspectives that form how you think.
On a call in the studio, helping an entrepreneur tell their story and share their philosophy.
You have spent your entire life accumulating experiences that no one else has experienced in exactly the same way. Those experiences have shaped your perspective and taught you lessons that might help your family, your team, your clients, your market, or someone you may never meet.
The question is whether all of that stays inside of you.
With Joe, I assumed we'd have more time. That unfinished conversation reminds me there isn’t always more time.
So maybe the question isn’t simply, what do you know?
The deeper question becomes: What are you going to do with what you’ve learned while you still have the opportunity to share it?
It’s your story. Live it well.
