I walked into Tim Donahue’s office carrying a PiRod Banjo Bracket. That was a rack to support cell antenna cables. I needed to ask Tim a question about computer modeling for wind load on that bracket.

I also had to give him the news. I was resigning to start my own engineering firm.

During my job interview nearly three years earlier, Tim asked what I wanted to do with my life. Without hesitation I replied I wanted my own civil engineering firm. It was a risky reply at an interview for a civil engineering job. But it was the truth. I could not have said anything else.

I was sure of it because it had been my dream since the age of 10, when I told it to my grandmother, MeMa Holland.

That day I also told her that I would be a millionaire. She believed the engineer part and the having my own business part too. However, she could not comprehend her grandson becoming a millionaire. Having married at age 13 (not a typo) she was poor and in-debt her entire life. Both her and my grandfather were unschooled (but not dumb). He signed his name with an “X.” On being a self-made millionaire, I might as well have told her that I was going to flap my arms and fly.

Back to Tim. I reminded him of that job interview. His expression dropped. At that interview he had discounted my ‘dream’ as the bluster of youth. Not now. After three years he knew my will.

Even so, he asked if there was anything he could do to keep me at KCI. There was nothing. No money. No title. No office. I wanted to fulfill my dream. To me, there was nothing else.

During my final afternoon at KCI, the office manager came to my desk. Jim, PE, CPA was both an engineer and an accountant. Impressive yes, but academic credentials did not mean he understood human nature.

Jim sat down next to my desk and asked, “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I want to be a millionaire.” I replied. (My reply was honest, but it was not the primary reason. I knew that Jim would not understand my primary reason. Plus, I wanted to challenge him.)

With a big, fat, heap of sarcasm he retorted, “You’re going to find out how hard that is.”

He was right. It was hard.