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A podcast focusing on the perspectives, lives, and stories of Kansans to provide greater insight into the state we all call home.
Ep05
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Second Acts & Roadblocks: Why It’s Never Too Late
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[00:00:00]
Lee Gray: Today I'm going to introduce you to some famous people. I'm going to introduce you today to some second actors, and I know after you get introduced to them or reintroduced to them today, you're going to have some inspiration.
You're going to see that, you know, inspiration and a second act can happen at any age. And. I'm gonna show you how even people who [00:01:00] seemingly became successful overnight, really didn't become successful overnight, and they had roadblocks. And so I'm gonna introduce you to today to some of these great people and tell you a little bit about the roadblocks that I have discovered that they achieved just like you and I are doing in our second act.
So if you've been thinking about your second act, whether you've been thinking about it for one year or 50 years, this is the podcast for you. So let's get started.
Mary Kay Ash: Building a Values-First Company at 45
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Lee Gray: I had like to introduce you to Mary Kay Ashton. Mary Kay is the founder of Mary Kay Company, and I've gotta tell you, she started her company at the age of 45, and she had been repeatedly, repeatedly passed over for promotions at her male dominated employer. Of course, this was a long time ago, but, and things have changed, but those kinds of things happen.
You don't get the promotion you should get. And so think then you start thinking and dreaming about [00:02:00] doing your second act. And exactly what she did. She also had limited access to financial resources because back in those days, if you weren't a man, you didn't get loans and so forth. So what did she do?
She built a company. She wished that she had worked for, and that's what I love about it. Her company was values first, people second, and product third. Isn't that great? Imagine And that's a, that's a big dream to put it all together. But if you think about it, it's simple and there's likely a dream inside of you that's pushing you and nudging you to your second act.
So here's my opinion, the order in which Mary Kay was so successful with values first, people's second product, third still works today. So think about that. Think about Mary Kay and let that be an inspiration to her. And think about the road, the roadblock that she overcame all those years ago.
Colonel Sanders: Persistence After 100+ Rejections
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Lee Gray: Okay, next I want to, well, let me ask you this. Do you like chicken? Do you like fried [00:03:00] chicken? Do you like Kentucky Fried Chicken Now? I guess it's called KFC, which tells you how a business can grow and change over time. But
I wanna introduce you to Colonel Harland Sanders, who at the age of 65 was on social security. He had started his business, he had had a store started and he was on social security. He was financially broke there are stories said that he was told over a hundred times, no, no, no.
I'm not gonna support your business. I'm not gonna buy from you. No, no, no, no, no. And the thing that that Colonel Sanders said and is said about Colonel Sanders is that he. Believed in his belief in his second act more than he even did about chicken. So his dreams and his belief drove him to success.
In his second act, he didn't have polish. He wasn't an educated person with all kinds of finesse, et cetera. But what he had was [00:04:00] persistence. He had persistence and, you know, persistence beats polish every time. So now you know the success story and the second act story of Colonel Sanders and Mary Kay.
I have another one I'd like to introduce you to today.
Vera Wang: Turning Setbacks into a New Career at 40
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Lee Gray: Next up is Vera Wang. Now maybe you've heard of her, maybe you haven't. She's a designer. She's known for starting a bridal design that sort of. Catapulted the way people wear wedding dresses. But, you know, she didn't start there.
She had lots of steps on the way to her second act, I would say she had multiple acts along the way. She launched her first fashion business at the age of 40, so her actual business. Before that she was a figure skater. She attempted to make it into the Olympics and that didn't happen. And she worked at Vogue Magazine and of course everybody wants to work at Vogue Magazine.
She was [00:05:00] passed over for the position of editor there. So that, you know, imagine being in the design world and, and living and dreaming that design. And boom, you don't get the job that you want, the Vogue position. So what did she do? She said, eh, I'm gonna start myself now. Did she start from zero? No, she had industry experience.
She had worked at Vogue, so she took what she had and transferred those skills right over to her second tax. So you may be thinking today, ah, I could do that. I've got skills, I've got knowledge, I've got experience, and I can transfer that. To my second deck. I know I can. Well, I know you can. And that is a very exciting thing.
So those are three people that I really wanted you to meet and I think what's really important is that this isn't about starting over really it we're never starting over. We're just repurposing. We're taking what we know already and applying some new things and a little twist and a [00:06:00] lot of energy and some.
Powerful dreams and creating something, or creating a second act.
Julia Child: Passion-Fueled Reinvention at 49
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Lee Gray: I wanna introduce you to one, one more. So my fourth one is Julia Child. Love Julia Child. And many of you watching or listening to this podcast may not even know she is, but she didn't start her career. She's a famous chef and she studied in, France and learned how to, Cook French cooking, she brought that back to Americans and everyone, can you imagine back in the fifties, coming to America saying, I wanna teach everybody how to cook a duck. But that was her dream. She wanted to bring chef style cooking into the everyday kitchen in the fifties, and she did just that.
She did not start her career as a chef until age 49.
Julia Child didn't know exactly what she wanted to do early on, but everything she was learning and all the things she was passionate about drove her to this [00:07:00] decision, which I think says that,
she had a genuine interest and passion about cooking, and that's what drove her to her second act. It was the passion, not, not for her, the strategy necessarily, or the money or anything like that. It was that I have to do this, it's in me and I wanna share, and many, many naysayers along the way saying, Nope, no one's interested in French cooking in the United States.
And, And women housekeepers, who are taking care of their homes, certainly do not have time to make a souffle, but she said yes, yes. If they wanna make a souffle, I wanna be able to help them. So she defined her second act clearly in her head and delivered it and is now still talked about in all kinds of circles and set the, pattern for today's cooking shows and everything that happens all over the world.
So thank you, Julia Child at the age of 50. For taking on your second act, we appreciate you.
Your Takeaway: ‘They Didn’t Start Late—They Started Ready’
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Lee Gray: So how do [00:08:00] these success stories of Second Act tie into your second act? I think the simple thing that I want you to hear today is that. They didn't start late. They started ready. They took what they had and applied it to what they wanted, applied it to their dream and used it. So maybe they weren't ready, but boy, they made a decision to do something.
Second, acts are not defined by doing really. They're defined by deciding. The decision has to be made today, I am going to start my second act. It's a decision that has to be made, and I see that every week with my clients that I work with in my coaching business. They decide to be and do the second act every day of their life.
They do that. So if you're feeling that nudge, if you're feeling that little nudge that sense that maybe there's something more for you. Oh, there probably is. It's probably because you just haven't decided yet. You know [00:09:00] it's there and you have a dream, but you haven't made the decision.
Final Challenge & Encouragement: Decide Your Second Act Today
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Lee Gray: So what I want you to take to heart today is that if you're thinking about your second act, and I know you are, and you deserve to have a second act, what's one action that you can take today to get you closer to your second act?
So I loved introducing you to these amazing four people who started their second act later in life, and we can learn from them and overcome our roadblocks just as they did. The success is usually just on the other side of a roadblock.
So what I feel like expressing today after spending time with you and sharing the stories of these four amazing people is I'm excited about your success. I'm excited about the success of the second act. The second act is, is moving. There's a momentum and your part of that. That's very exciting. I am very excited to be a part of that and to support you along your journey, and that's what I feel like [00:10:00] expressing.
What do you feel like expressing.