This week we got to me Ellen Quint, CEO of Next Act Unlimited. Ellen talks with us about the 10 principles she uses in her own life and with her clients. Ellen shares some very life-changing stories which caused her to make adjustments in her life to facilitate working with retirees. She gives us nuggets of knowledge, you don't want to miss. She is also currently writing a book that will be coming out in 2023.
Ellen's Website: https://www.nextactunlimited.com/
Transcription:
00:03
Welcome to changing the rules, a weekly podcast about people who are living their best lives, and advice on how you can achieve that too. Join us with your lively host, Ray Lowe, better known as the luckiest guy in the world.
Ray Loewe00:17
Good morning, everybody. This is I think, a lively host, although sometimes I worry about that a little bit. But we're here in our studio in Willow Street, Pennsylvania, I have to get that right because we moved our studio from New Jersey recently, and we're here with our engineer, Luke, and Luke is going to make sure that all of this runs correctly, and that we have a successful podcast. So I want to remind everybody that the name of our podcast is changing the rules. And you know, all through our life, we're saddled with rules. And I remember growing up, my parents told me what to do. And then the church told me what to do. And then my school teachers told me what to do. And then I went to work and my job, people told me what to do. And there was a quote by a very interesting guy by the name of Steve Jobs. And you know, who we know from Apple his Apple career. And he came up with an interesting quote, and he said, you know, if you're living your life under somebody else's rules, you're not living your life. And so what we're introducing here in our show is some of the luckiest people in the world. And one of the things that the luckiest people in the world do really well is they sift and sort through the Bank of rules. We all have rules, we know we have to have rules. But sometimes we have to get rid of some that get in our way. Because rules tell us what we either have to do or what we can't do. So the luckiest people kind of sift and sort and make their own rules and make them work. And what we're trying to do here today is bring in another one of the luckiest people in the world as a role model for people who want to take control of their lives and live them under their own terms. So today, we have Ellen Quint, and Ellen, say hello to everybody. Hello, everybody. Okay, and Ellen has a company called next act unlimited. And we're gonna get into that a minute in a minute. But Ellen has a really great story. And it's very typical of what the luckiest people in the world go through. Because we know in life that nothing works the way we want it to work. And so the luckiest people in the world have found ways to constantly reinvent themselves, to stay on the track to keep themselves happy and engaged, and doing wonderful things for wonderful, wonderful people. So, Ellen, you're on? Why don't you tell us a little bit about your history and where you're coming from? And then we'll move forward.
Ellen Quint02:49
Sure, why don't I start with now, where I live, which is in, I'm actually talking to you from Morris County, where we have a weekend house, which is now our full-time house since COVID. Where I live, I live with my husband of 43 years. I'm the mother of two boys who are hardly boys anymore. Who blessed me with three wonderful grandchildren who are the light of my life. And just to provide your listeners with a visual because this is a podcast, and they cannot see me when I was young, and people used to ask me, What do you want to be when you grow up? I would always say five feet. Well, honestly, I never made it to five feet. And now, unfortunately, I'm heading in the opposite direction. So my goal now and if you mentioned I'm now the CEO of Next Act Unlimited. Where through workshops and coaching, I help current and since the retirees build their next act, as a matter of fact, Ray I am recommending to all of my clients that they listen to this podcast because I think there are some wonderful messages even though your target audience is not necessarily totally mine, you can be for yours is for everybody. I think it's a wonderful resource. And then I will tell you one other thing, my goal, my vision is to become the Dr. Ruth for positive aging. And I think physically I kind of look like that. And so
Ray Loewe04:23
That's for a short person and a powerful body. Right. And with a powerful mind. That's great. Okay, so let's go back into history a little bit. So your career started somewhere and you did a lot of work, I think for nonprofits. So give us some history and then we'll talk about moving into the dark side.
Ellen Quint04:46
Right. So to go way back. I earned a master's in community social work and spent about 20 years in training and human resources for a very large national nonprofit. And it was an Excellent, very fulfilling career. But the organization was going through some significant changes. And so in 2000, I made the decision to look outside to, as you mentioned, to what I call it, the dark side or the for-profit world. As you and I discussed this in the side, this is an area your listeners might be interested in because we're working with retirees, people who have spent their lives in the corporate world, and now feel, okay, I want to give back, I wanted to take all of my experience and go into the nonprofit sector. It's not an easy transition. It's something I work with people on all the time. And there are ways to be more successful at it. And in fact, in this time of the great resignation, there are many more opportunities and possibilities. But that's an aside, maybe we can talk about that some other time. So back in 2000, there was a similar The reason I read that there was a similar work environment, a similar job market, and it was labeled the war for talent. And as a result, there was much more openness to consider someone like myself coming from the nonprofit world for the for-profit world. And being one of the luckiest people in the world. I was very fortunate to be hired in training by Deloitte, one of the large professional services firms. One of which you know well, they right because she worked for one of the big four.
Ray Loewe06:21
I did. Yep. That was part of the dark side. You're right. So go on, Ellen.
Ellen Quint06:26
It was probably the big eight set or the big 16. Even this is is? Yeah, one of the evidence. I feel like I'm one of the luckiest people in the world. And it was a great match. Every day, I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge across the plaza of the World Trade Center to get to my office in the World Financial Center. And then 911 happened. And it was a beautiful, beautiful, I don't know if you remember, it was a beautiful, sunny, crisp day. Someone was coming to me my office, so I had to get there early. So I took the subway and I walked up from the subway. And everybody was standing there looking up at the World Trade Center buildings, and there was smoke debris flowing out flames flowing out. It was really like walking onto a set of a disaster movie. And I realized after that some of the debris because I saw pictures were bodies coming down. And I everybody was paralyzed. Everybody was just standing there looking. And I didn't know quite what to do. I decided okay, I'm just going to walk home. So I turned around and started heading towards City Hall Plaza towards the Brooklyn Bridge. And there was an explosion that shook the ground. And then everybody started screaming. And people were running everywhere. And I realized that it was the second plane had hit. I just kept walking over the Brooklyn Bridge and looked back. And now I saw that both towers were in flames with smoke coming out and billowing billowing smoke. And I was listening to my Walkman radio. I don't know if you remember the Walkman plugged into my Walkman, and was listening to the news. And the stories were crazy. Nobody knew quite what was going on. It was so beyond anybody's imagination. I kept walking home, got home, got up to my 10th-floor apartment. And I watched as the World Trade Centers disappeared in smoke in ash, they were there. And then a second later, they weren't there anymore. It was a profound experience that lasted a very long time because we continue to feel the repercussions of that. And personally, I felt the repercussions of that because two months later I was downsized.
Ray Loewe08:47
Okay, so you were up close and personal at an event that most of us are glad we weren't up close and personal with. And let's talk about your transitions from a couple of things. Because you worked from the nonprofit and a big nonprofit by the way. I think it was a Jewish Federation. Is that correct? The Council of Jewish Federation Yeah. So So you were heavily involved in a whole lot of nonprofit activities, you then went to Deloitte, a consulting firm, and did training for the things that you were good at, but a different career in a different environment. And then we had this event occur, and the event was not one of your choosing. So so how did you react at that point in time, because you had to reinvent yourself again? To keep going, what went on through your head and what happened?
Ellen Quint09:42
What I did was basically take some of the techniques that I've used with clients, which is to have them really take a look at what would be an ideal job to go for. Because I realized I really had a choice. I could go back to nonprofits and look heavily in nonprofits, I had a 20-year career doing that. Or I had a wonderful year working for a well-resourced, large profit organization, Which direction did I want to go in. And I realized that in my target in the center bullseye of my target was really that I wanted to work for a for-profit, well resourced, large organization. But the environment in New York at that time was really terrible. People were living with uncertainty post 911, I was again, being the luckiest person in the world was able to find a job in a large insurance brokerage, a large global insurance brokerage, I won't name it. But it was a great job title. I was executive vice president of learning and development. But it was a terrible job. And so a couple of months later, when Deloitte called me again and said, Would you come back and actually head the group that you left, I left as a manager, they want to come back and actually lead the group. I said, Yes. I said, Yes, I had to go. And I would be working again, adjacent to the World Trade Center. And at that point, it was a big hole filled with rubble. And I had to decide if I could go around that coal every day, and look out those windows and see what was there. But I decided, yes, and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Because then I had a wonderful, exciting, stimulating 20-year career at Deloitte.
Ray Loewe11:31
And then we had COVID, all right, so what happened? What happened at the COVID stage?
Ellen Quint11:41
You know, there's that there's an author named Bruce Feiler, who has written a book that refers to these events as life quake. And that's really what it felt like, you know, all these things feel like major life quakes. So yeah. So June 2020, I got the call saying you are being downsized. I didn't leave until November of 2020. But in that time period, between June and November, I decided to take my focus to take the experiences that I had in screening and facilitation and development, and do something that I've been thinking about doing for quite a long time, which is to create my own practice, my own consulting business of next steps unlimited, as you mentioned, which is focused on helping current and soon to be retirees feels their next step.
Ray Loewe12:29
Okay, and give us if you wouldn't mind a rough idea of, of age here, because I think it's significant. You could have retired, right?
Ellen Quint12:40
Absolutely. I was thinking of retiring in November, December of 2020, when I'd be turning 68. Okay, so I was left with 67. And yeah, so and to be honest with you, I was super old for being at Deloitte, they had the retirement age of the partners of 62. So I was a real gray hair, which I didn't have back then. But I was gray hair in that environment.
Ray Loewe13:09
Okay, so So you had to reinvent yourself a couple of times here, you know, you had your original career, you went over to what we call the dark side affectionately because it really wasn't the dark side. And then you, you had these two major events. And, you know, what I find is the luckiest people in the world take these events, we have them. They're part of life, we can't get away from them. Whether it's personal sickness, whether it's 911, whether it's a COVID kind of a thing. And the world changes and every time the world changes the luckiest people figure out how to get around those changes and make the rules work for them. So congratulations on that. But what I wanted to get to is, you had a number of statements that you made when we were prepping for this interview that I'd like to get on the table. And then we can talk a little bit about the new book that's coming, where people can find out more about these things if they want. So let's start out with preparation meets opportunity sprinkled with grace. Come on.
Ellen Quint14:19
So Ray, you as the luckiest guy in the world to speak all the time to the luckiest people in the world must have a book full of definitions of luck, or what luck looks like. So for me, this is what love has always looked like. And it's been my guiding principle which is luck is preparation meets opportunity. And as I've gotten older, I have realized it is also sprinkled with grace. So it's all your work needs to work of some higher power. meets opportunity. And as I've gotten older and wiser and smarter I've also really added on to that my third agenda, which is a quote from Thomas Edison, which is that opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. And I have certainly found that to be true.
Ray Loewe15:22
Okay, now again, because time is getting short over here, you have come up with 10 principles that you use every day with your clients, to help them figure out where they want to go in life and how to help create other luckiest people in the world. So, so take a minute, let's just go through them, we're gonna have to go through them pretty quickly. And we'll understand we'll talk about your new book coming out. And this is where people are going to be able to really get into the meat of this, but let's start out with you are the CEO of you.
Ellen Quint15:55
Right, and by CEO, I mean, you are the chief, everything Officer of you. So, especially for people who have come from the corporate world, where they have had wonderful support that they don't even realize that they've had, all of a sudden, you are responsible for the whole ballgame.
Ray Loewe16:14
Okay, and you better deal with it somehow. Right?
Ellen Quint16:18
Exactly, which gets the principle to, which is get real and deal. And that involves with knowing your numbers. And that's not just your financial numbers. It's also your health numbers. So and you realize things change, just a quick, a quick story on that I always had low blood pressure, all of a sudden, at 67, I started having high blood pressure. So I had to really take all of these behaviors that I had gotten used to and now shift it. So it's really important to recognize that you change and you have to become very real about these numbers as they shift.
Ray Loewe16:57
Okay. And again, I'd like to probe into these but given our time constraints, I think what use it or lose it was next on your list.
Ellen Quint17:06
Exactly. And then that's to do with building muscles. And that's just not physical muscle. I consider luck, a muscle. And it's a muscle that you have to work on. Including a gratitude muscle and your mental and emotional and spiritual muscles. So you use it or lose it. But you got to work on them.
Ray Loewe17:24
Okay, so why don't you take it just give us the list of the rest of them so that we get them all in quickly. And
Ellen Quint17:34
I'm gonna do it New York City, New York quick, okay. So principle for downsize to upsize. Principle five, kill the loneliness before it kills you. Principle six. Pursue purpose to find fulfillment. Principle seven. Appreciate your time, affluence. Principle eight give give, but set boundaries. Principles nine, enjoy the journey, not just launch. And then principle 10. Plant seeds of gratitude, watch them grow your legacy.
Ray Loewe18:18
Okay, and if you do all of those, you're going to be one of the luckiest people in the world, Aren't you?
Ellen Quint18:24
Exactly. Exactly,
Ray Loewe18:27
you know, I'd love to spend the time to go into more of these, you know, I think I think we may have to have you back on another podcast? When do you think your book is going to come out and give us the title of the book.
Ellen Quint18:40
The title of the book is "The Top 10 to thrive practical principles to maximize the third third of your life". And as to when it is going to come out? Ray, you are working on a book, you know that there's a mystery involved in this?
Ray Loewe18:57
Especially today, right?
Ellen Quint19:00
So I would say in about a year. Okay, so
Ray Loewe19:03
you'll let us know, we'll have another session before that, probably. And we'll try and get closer to when the book comes out. Because I really want to know more about these 10 principles. They're tantalizing. And I can taste some of them but I'm not sure I understand them completely so so we'll come back and you know, just thank you so much for being with us and sharing a big part of your life with us. And your stories about the impact of COVID and the World Trade Tower, kind of a thing, and thanks for being one of the luckiest people in the world and sharing with us. So Ellen Quint. Next Act unlimited. We're going to list your website and everything in the podcast notes that we put so people can contact you. And just again, thanks so much for being with us and join us again and another week we're going to have another exciting guest and it will be another one of the luckiest people in the world, and Luke, sign us off
20:05
thank you for listening to changing the rules. Join us next week for more conversation, our special guest and to hear more from the luckiest guy in the world.