April 9, 2024 • 27 mins
This episode of Let's Get Writing, hosted by Kathryn Taylor, dives into the extraordinary life story of self-made millionaire Jim Scott. Born into a blue-collar family in Newfoundland & Labrador, Jim is a prolific storyteller who shares his journey from humble roots to successful entrepreneur. The conversation offers an honest recount of Jim's early life, highlighting the influences that shaped his path to success.
Jim's memoir, "Seventh Son, My Road to Success," has captivated readers worldwide. The book reflects his incredible journey and provides an inside look at the writing process behind his captivating memoir, including Jim's collaboration with editor Carolyn Chaffey Parsons.
Discover how mentors, teachers, and his wife's family influenced his journey. From joining the mining sector to venturing into real estate and consulting, Jim's path is full of unexpected turns. He shares his experience selling his consulting business, entering semi-retirement, and his continuous draw towards the industry. As a parting note, Jim talks about his plans for motivational speaking and his work on a new book.
Join us for an inspiring conversation with this seventh son. This birth position references family folklore and the rarity of such instances today. This show offers valuable insights for book lovers intrigued by Jim's life and aspiring writers aiming to craft their memoirs.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Music.
(00:20):
Welcome to Let's Get Writing Season 6. I'm your host and producer, Catherine Taylor.
For all my content, please subscribe to my YouTube channel at CatherineTaylorTV.
Now, welcome to the show. Let's Get Writing tells you the stories behind the
stories and introduces you to the writers who create the books that you enjoy.
(00:41):
And today's guest is no exception.
He was born in Windsor, Newfoundland to a blue-collar family in a one-industry
town, and I know intimately about that because I'm from the same area. I grew up in Grand Falls.
Back in the day, they were Grand Falls and Windsor. Today, they're Grand Falls,
Windsor, Newfoundland, and Labrador. A bit of an amalgamation.
(01:04):
Now, my guest's unique path through life led him to success as a self-made millionaire,
and he's sharing his story in the the recently published memoir with Flanker
Press, Seventh Son, My Road to Success.
Please welcome Jim Scott to Let's Get Writing.
Hi, Jim. How are you? Hi, Catherine. Great. Thanks. Thanks very much for having
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me on your show. Oh, it's a pleasure.
Yeah, it's a pleasure. You've been creating a lot of buzz around the province.
And you were even recently here in town for a book signing.
How was it to be back in your old stomping ground telling your success story?
It was surreal. It was nice to get back to see old friends and family I haven't
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seen for a while. I try to get back at least twice a year.
But in this case, I've seen people. saw people I'd never seen
for such a long time and that was like exhilarating and
it was a lot of fun and it was
it was a nice time to see everybody when I
read your book you said at one point one of
your goals in life was to write a book you'd accomplished a
(02:09):
lot of things but you wanted to write a book and share and
you done it I want to talk
to you a bit about that process process and how did
that idea get started for you when did when did that
land well a few years ago of course I've got
like a lot of people that worked with me over the years and I
guess through my own journey in life they got to know me a bit better for working
(02:32):
with me and I you know I worked colleagues before I started my company and then
they joined me and as the time went by and some of my brothers even come on
board with me and they all started to share with me say like you know You've
had such good experiences inside and outside of Canada.
And he said, you tell a lot of good stories. You should write something about it.
And it was sort of a seed that was planted probably around 10 or 15 years ago.
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And I just thought, when I retired, I thought, I'll never forget it.
And I thought, yeah, I could probably do that.
And the initial thought was just to do that. And I thought, I'm going to make
it. So my family and friends, sort of a getaway thing.
Because they were encouraging so much. That's how it started.
When I got Nanner involved to actually put it together so it looked like a book,
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Carolyn Chafee Parsons was a great meet for me in getting her acquaintance and getting her on board.
Basically, it went from there. When it got completed, she actually encouraged
me to show it to the publishers, which I was delighted and didn't think was
– I mean, sometimes you write about yourself and you wonder,
okay, it's a good or a bad. I mean, I never wrote anything.
(03:42):
And so when we hit the flanker, I was delightfully surprised that they wanted to publish.
And it went from there. And it seems to have gotten a life of its own.
I think you probably felt what a lot of people felt.
Feel, and I know that I felt writing my first book, how do you do it? And how do you begin?
(04:05):
And it's, I'm telling you, you went to a great person with Carolyn,
who's actually a distant cousin of mine. So I think writing runs in our family.
And I met her through an event that I was working on.
But so when she, when you went to Carolyn, and a lot of people will say,
Jim, I want to write my life story. I want to write a memoir.
(04:26):
But a lot of those books remain in drawers or maybe in exercise books,
but they never see the light of day.
So did you feel like it was a bit of a mountain to climb that you didn't quite
know where to start, or how did it start?
Well, initially I started off, I felt that I would write a chronological history
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from my beginnings to now. And at that time, I'd just retired.
And I thought, well, I know I'm really good at dates. I'm really good.
My memory is great. great and and like i've got
great like detail reception and stuff like that
but anyway and that's how it started out now when
i first wrote it was a very short manuscript and
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i and i got a couple of friends involved and they read and said well it's not
really you because it's more mechanical it was like you know a to b to c to
d you know whatever so from that when i got carolyn involved she actually did
something you know so simple but effective and she basically talked talked about,
you know, got to know me a bit. And she said, I'm going to send you a document, basically.
(05:30):
And I sent it as a Google document, and it came in, and I opened it up.
And basically, my book was in the middle, chapters to the left.
On the right, she just basically, I want you to tell me stories.
And she picked out an arrow, pointed to a sentence or a paragraph,
give me a story, a thousand words, give me a paragraph about this subject,
you know. And basically, I just started telling stories.
And I was delighted how, you know, one she that,
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you know, that guidance really put me
on the path to where this all went and it all and
i knew i could tell stories and she from the few conversations
that initially she felt yeah you can tell a
lot of good stories because i was telling her bits and pieces of my life and
well how i got her and all that she was like she was really encouraged by that
so she really got me to a space where it actually looked like a book and then
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there were some you know the editing got involved she's got for colleagues to
help her with the formatting of the book.
And then, of course, when I went to Flanker, they'd re-arrange a small bit.
They'd talk, they would change some chapter names that would really connect
with the viewer of the book.
And they tastefully don't. There were chapters I had at the beginning which moved to the end.
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And if you read the book, it's so, just one, it makes one last chapter really
pull up everything you get. It was so tastefully done. I was like, oh, follows.
But it truly was my story. And, you know, there was editing helps and all that.
But basically, it's the stories that I felt that needed to be told that would
sort of give people understanding where I was, where I led to my journey, and to where I ended up.
(07:05):
And it's so ironic, people, today that strangers really tell me a lot of good stories.
But when family and friends read it, they say, I didn't know this about you at the end.
And the other people at the end will say, I didn't know about it at the beginning.
So it was interesting to hear, and yes, to segue into your comment,
but I did get a lot of people saying, oh, I want to write a book.
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And there's actually people who told me about they got a lot of stuff pulled
together and wanted to meet with me after this to say, look, can you help me?
And I raised my hand and said, hey, you've got to call Carolyn. Right?
Call the expert on the writing. But it's true.
You've hit upon something, Jim. and it engaged me with the book as well.
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It's the story. She take us back to that time of growing up and the things you
went through in your life. And I don't know, you do have a good memory.
You covered a lot in there, but you brought us into it.
And I think as with anything, even if it's a memoir, we're there for the stories
and you have that there in spades.
It's really a great read.
(08:09):
And so did you have any anxiety over.
The telling of your story or you know did you ever
doubt that perhaps well you know what are people going to
think or where this needs to be told where was your
head well those moments are there for you
and and i think brilliantly about yourself i learned now
that it's it's it's not easy but i
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i didn't know how hard it was and what when i
say that i got the cousin that got a you know a master's
of literature and she said jim is not even on my book this do you realize that's
the hardest to do and i said you know i said maybe maybe
that's why i didn't know and i'm probably good i didn't know that i
just went into a journey and i thought well i could
tell stories and i knew it but and and we
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talked like i remember carla and telling me exactly we talked about detail
she had jim nobody writes a book with exact dates
how do you remember exact dates and i said for me it's always
been the correlation of something that happened during that
period of my life like my father's death i could
always know that date and where i was too or what so
that that's how i did it but she actually made me take out the actual
(09:12):
dates for example okay and it made sense but at the time to me but i mean i
know and like there was you know lots of stores where people like you know how
do you remember the month again it's about correlation when i some research
tom like i asked a lot of my family friends about the stores does this make
sense That's what I told it.
And like, I actually sat with an attorney and we had talked around the subject. What if?
(09:37):
And what if was, you know, what if I said something wrong? And,
you know, she said to me, first, make sure it's true. Make sure it's positive.
Don't like, you know, make anybody out to something or not. But it is your memory.
But at the end of the day, she said, you know, like, do it freely,
knowing that be truthful to yourself and to the people. No, I never forgot that.
(10:01):
I'm not the type of person who
ever, if I can't help you I'm not going to hurt you that's not who I am,
Yeah, I get that about you. It's interesting that you mentioned the attorney
because you don't want to make any mistakes like Harry did with the book Spare.
You know, you say something and you're thinking, okay, who have I offended or
(10:22):
what have I opened up here?
But then that's something that I hadn't thought of. A very good idea. Good piece of advice.
And what other kind of advice would you have for anyone starting out to do something
like this? I think if I was to say to anybody out there that hadn't thought
about writing a book, just start doing it.
I mean, the beautiful thing about technology today and computers,
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you know, a prime example, you can write a book on a computer port and shut
it, like save it, shut it down, leave it for a while, break just a little bit.
It don't take long. And often while you're reading this, I'm pulling something
together. But once you do that and you've got a foundation built,
like a house, you build a foundation first, well, guess what?
The Carolyn Chaffee person of the world will come in and help put the house
(11:08):
on top of the foundation.
And I think that's the way it's about building blocks. It's about a process.
Don't go thinking, oh, I got to do this. And my initial doubt was six months, all I was like, why?
That don't think in terms of time, just think in terms of, I want to get this
much out and then with some help on the outside.
But make sure you check the stories because maybe sometimes you're telling a
(11:29):
story whether it's about yourself or something that you're writing about, you need to fact check.
And that's something I learned too, that go and ask people that was involved
in that period and they will give you their feedback and say,
oh yeah, right, I forgot about that or add something to it.
You know, again, it's your memories if you're doing what I did and how to biography.
But again, it's more of a memoir, like it's my memories.
(11:51):
If I say something that I thought was right in the room and suddenly didn't,
well, there's still more memories, as long as it wasn't negative or just right
at the launch, but you need to do something in terms of fact-checking. So I think you do.
But just do a piece at a time, and you'll be surprised how fast something will come together.
And when it does, you'll say, wow, I got something.
(12:13):
Now what do I do? Well, that's when you need an editor. When you do that, it changes everything.
Thing and you said you expected to
do it in six months how long did it take you it took
two years from the time i started writing it
said the same thing is that yeah it should have took
you and probably longer because when you read and they say when you write about
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a book it usually takes a lot on and i i don't i didn't know that and i didn't
think that i just thought i can do this and but you know i mean it's just my
determination of who i am and if you read the book you you understand my determination that.
When I want to do something, I do it. You know, I put my, you know,
if I go in the 100% and I want to do it, and if I don't know something about
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it, I'm going to go see someone that did it or so it can guide me and go to the next step.
And here's a good example. This is a segue, but probably put it real.
Like, I've learned how to play golf. Like, I played golf. I was a hacker.
And learned from a lot of friends. I've changed my games just getting a little
bit of coaching, a little bit of mentoring.
And guess what? You learn it. I guess when you get better, you get better.
(13:20):
You gotta do it repetitionally and i think that's where
the book went in terms of writing chronologically and
all of a sudden adding stories and reformatting and
changing things around that makes sense and then the flow
of the book and that be done by the flankers of the world and like i said the
editors and and it's it is an interesting process but you it's like molding
(13:43):
something but if you have nothing to work with you have nothing to work with
so it's to get But we always say get anything down on paper.
Even if it's a bad writing day, you have something down. At some point,
you can rework it or move it through to another chapter.
Well, I was just on an interesting subject. One of the families I wrote with,
the Tuller's, and there's one of the oldest sister shared with me recently.
(14:07):
After reading my book, she said, I have everything wrote down over the years,
data on sheets of paper. And she's 74 years old.
About her family, all the events of her family. there's a
family 25 people and i said look if you want help
with that i can get in and get you to the right
people and and what it's to me it's a
book in itself imagine being born and we're like a 25 children and she's got
(14:29):
dates and of all i mean that's to me the foundation of a book sure sure it is
and it's amazing the big families like you're alone your family reading about
your Your family in the book was interesting to keep it straight in growing up.
So, you know, you had that meeting when you were very young with Martin where
that seed was planted about the seventh son.
(14:52):
And you chose that for the title of the book. Can you talk a little bit about
that? What has that meant to you?
Well, initially, the book was about, like, I didn't know what to call it.
And that's the other thing a lot of authors and I find to say that now because,
you know what I mean? Here I am.
But when you're writing a book, sometimes you're not sure about what I call it.
(15:17):
And my initial thought was, you know, to journey to my success,
just trying to, you know, and I had to bring something up there just to start. So I did that.
Ironically when carolyn got involved and it was only mentioned
once that it was seven son and she said to me this
is eureka moment should you know and i and
she hadn't called me she was so excited and she said jim
i've checked and i can't find a book named seven son take
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the title i said it'll be yours forever and you know
you'll be the first and and it's you know how
rare it is now to be a seven stone most families don't
have big camps and it was a great idea
but then she said put the next expert
down below it right you know my journey
to success so i was like yeah this and and
that's basically where it started but in terms of the seventh son and meeting
(16:05):
martin and stuff like that it was one of those moments that i didn't talk about
a lot because sometimes people in this in the spiritual sense of humanity either
yours i find that you're you're in it or you're not in And,
you know, like there's a quagmire when you talk about it, right?
And for me, it was like, I didn't want, I built on this own way because I know
(16:28):
things that I didn't want to share.
And it almost felt a bit weird. I know that for lack of a term.
But for me, I was like, it was a sign of my life.
I'm not suppressed, but I just didn't talk about it. And those experiences is what I talk about.
And I'll never forget that period when, you know, dad took me to Neatmer.
And I was like, he told me stuff.
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And even today, there's times I'll have those deja vu moments.
And I was like, it's scary.
It was. But now I'm almost like, and this is something really profound,
but most times I just, it hits me here that I know he said these things to me,
this is what will happen.
Or he didn't give in detail, but at the same time, the eureka moments are going to happen, and it does.
And like I said, meeting like Juan, you know, seventh son of seventh son of
(17:13):
seventh son. Like I was, never thought that was a possibility.
And I even checked it. I've actually checked it in, you know,
the Webster dictionary, it says, like, I want to do a billion,
like, there's only eight people, eight billion people in the world. So think to the back.
Mm hmm. They go to that happens so rare.
(17:34):
And like, you know, it was astonishing when you meet these people and that episode
of Eat and Die, not to give away the book too much, but, you know,
that hashing, I mean, it's, well,
and again, I felt a bit weird just talking about it, you know,
but it made sense after to segue into that as being the book,
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because it's a part of me.
And so you know a lot of people often said my family says well you're lucky
you're very lucky you you know but at the same time they'll say you're so determined
and you know you're you're not letting up knock you down and you know i have
had a few knockdowns but that same one has been picking yourself up as we say
here was lucky i wasn't lazy,
(18:18):
right because this doesn't come out of thin air so we've talked a lot about
the writing of the the book, but let's talk a little bit about your story.
You were a young boy, grew up in Windsor, and I really enjoyed when you were
telling those parts of the story as well, because it brought back memories of
growing up in this small town.
And we had a lot of things here in this town that small towns in Newfoundland
(18:40):
didn't have. A lot of experiences.
We had segregation, too, between two communities.
We had a lot of things going on. But as a child and everything you went through
as you You grew up and you worked. Did you see where you were going?
Initially, no, because I was really struggling at the very beginning.
(19:00):
Like I said, I guess when I lost my dad, it was a spot in my life where I was
really lost. And I didn't know what to do.
And one of the things I talk about in the book is when I met my future wife
and her family, the DeWaar family, they were so influential on me in terms of
their attitude towards education.
(19:22):
And, you know, how important it was. And, you know, that conversation with,
you know, the matriarch, you know, Mr.
Duar, and it was so, you know, groundbreaking for me in its own way.
And, like, just those little conversations, you know, prior to having a supper
up there, you know, on visits.
You know, I was dating his daughter, Donna, and it was, you know, like, it was, it hit me.
(19:44):
And, like I said, it made me think a lot about where I needed to be.
And, you know, because when you're going to school, in middle school or something
like that, my teacher would say, you know, it would say stuff like,
you know, you could do anything and, you know, I guess I was a kid that never took a book home
and I guess I would catch on and that's the reason why I think they said it,
(20:04):
but they said other things.
I mean, teachers see things in you that you don't see yourself and sometimes
I, when you go to the peer library, that's when I started school,
I had a bad shit language over there.
There was no, okay, we should take Jim and see somebody. There was none of that. Stuck it up, move on.
You know, and that's no reflection on, you know, our parents or, you know, family.
(20:30):
It was just, that's the state of period you're in.
But in that respect, though, meeting the divorce, it meant so much.
I look back and think, wow, they really got me thinking differently.
And then my thoughts went back up. I started to go back and my teacher said,
wow, they were right. and I didn't see it.
And, you know, around years later, I meet Mr.
Bradbury. He said, I knew you'd do something. And I, he said to me,
(20:53):
I thought you would be in university.
You're a university major. I didn't see it. I know it now. I know if I went
to university now, I can take on anything. I know.
That's not in, you know, like that's not in bowl. That's just in,
that's to me, I know what I can do.
Well, back growing up at the time, we were, this town was a one industry town.
(21:15):
We had the paper mill people could come out with very little
education they could I think leave school at grade eight and
get a well-paying job in the paper mill and be
set for life so there wasn't that same emphasis on
education no it certainly was in my experience in life was assumed you were
going to go to university but there were a lot of people who who didn't a lot
(21:37):
of people who went walked into really great jobs I don't know great always is
hard working hard Hard jobs at times, but they paid well.
And they didn't have to go far from home for it.
So it was a unique period, I think, in the life of our town and the province.
And I think those of us who lived through it are the only ones that will probably
(21:59):
ever truly understand it. Yeah.
Yeah. We were lucky because you think about where we were. We had some highest
paid jobs in the province outside.
That wouldn't equate to back then there was no offshore. Sure, it was lining.
And to be a young man growing up in the 70s, most times you were going for a trade.
(22:20):
There was that element at Flint University. And I had a lot of friends that did that.
But we didn't, for whatever reason, we just got them with most of those and
ended up winning Air Forces or trades.
And that was just the path we were going to take. And now to choose which one.
And I was the oddball, I guess. I chose something nobody else in the factory chose. No worries.
And they didn't understand why. But I think that still goes back to wanting
(22:43):
to be an initiate part of it. And before that, it was more of a body mechanic.
So my view was a trade.
And the trade I picked, nobody else picked. And it was so ironic that...
I just broke out and went to the mining sector. None of my brothers went to the mining sector.
So you don't know where life is going to take you, right? No,
you don't know. But you have to have a general idea, a general thought that you want to get up.
(23:06):
And you did get involved with real estate. You tried a lot of different things.
And eventually, I think your consulting company was where it all landed. And you sold it.
Yep, I did. It was a great experience. Like I said, at the time,
I was going to hang on because, I mean, I was doing well. I had a lot of good employees.
Things were going well from the mining sector, as I had thought.
(23:29):
And all of a sudden, mining is very cyclical, up and down. That's just the way it goes.
And that's all as a commodity. And in the commodity world, like I said,
it flows, ebbs and flows.
And at one of these times, it just bottomed. And it was a hard time.
And I could see the end coming for a lot of small companies.
And the opportunity, you know,
(23:50):
I was basically, I guess, part of that came from the service I was given.
And they did not want to see my company fail. They wanted me to be involved somehow with the firm.
And I think that's where, you know, again, not to give away too much,
but, you know, somebody stepped in and basically said, hey, you should talk to somebody.
And that's where it started to. What it did, I was looking at,
(24:11):
I got to save these 28 badminton.
Because, you know, people would have ended up somewhere else. And generally you do.
That seemed like they didn't like what they were doing. If I could stay there
and still be involved and still be that person in front of it, they'd like that idea.
They wanted to stay aboard, so they were going to jump with me, and they did.
Like I said, it was a good move to move over to the engineering side and just
(24:34):
for them to purchase new.
It was another big journey, right? Mm-hmm.
And you took a little bit of retirement, but you haven't fully retired.
You're still doing some work, which I think is the new retirement.
I really believe that.
My father used to say, when I was a young guy, he used to say,
he was having a lot of friends that were leaving the mill at 65,
(24:57):
and some weren't even a little bit early because of what, the comical lomangics.
These guys, they were his buddies, and they were, the last six months,
they were fretting themselves because they were stressed because they didn't have nothing to do.
They were outside. So, and dad used to always say, do something outside of work
that you would try either personally or volunteer or whatever,
so that way you've got something to do when you were doing it,
(25:17):
just don't go home, sit down and find the TV.
He said, that's, you know, and, and I thought that was so interesting to hear
that as a young guy, my father who had retired, what he was doing,
he like, he actually retired, mill forced them at 65 in 1970, that's the way it was.
He would watch them and then turn around. He was fixing, you know,
(25:38):
carpentry, like the old cases of boxes.
He used to do stuff like that all the time. I was like, wow,
interesting. And when I reached hard, I thought, you know, I'm going to do some golf.
And I was going to go right into the hole, play some dots of where I'm at.
And as quick as I went out, bang, I went back in. And, you know,
that, fair up my truth, is what they say. You know, it's like being in the mouth.
(26:00):
You think you're out, no sort of draws you back in. I don't know if it's a good
analogy, but for me it was because,
I'm still excited, delighted by the whole process that people are still calling
me and saying, hey, Jim, I need you out.
I just got on call before this process here today, and they asked me,
(26:20):
I need some help with some leasing of some building in St.
John's. And they know I can do a bit of everything, which is,
I'm delighted that they're doing it. And it feels exciting for me to have something to do.
Well, I'm sure you're going to have something to do. This is going to initiate
a lot of phone calls, people asking you questions, and I encourage people to read the story.
(26:41):
It's a wonderful, wonderful look at a positive story.
And I think you're, as we, I have to wrap, but I think you want to share that
message with others as part of your vision and also maybe another book in the works.
I'm third way into another book, and the other part I'm trying to look at now
is Motivational Speaking to the Hospitals. I want to do that next to some schools
(27:07):
are now recently and seeing I'm waiting for some feedback so I can look at that.
So listen, thank you very much for having me. It was a pleasure.
And it's a pleasure as well. And keep writing. I guess we'll have you back for
another book when that comes up and have fun on the rest of the journey, Jim.
It'll be my pleasure to come back. And thank you very much.
Everyone. Thank you so much for joining us on let's get writing.
(27:30):
And I look forward to seeing you this season.
And also, don't forget to subscribe on my YouTube channel at CatherineTaylorTV.
Thank you. Thanks. Bye-bye. Bye.
Music.
Music.
(00:20):
Welcome to Let's Get Writing Season 6. I'm your host and producer, Catherine Taylor.
For all my content, please subscribe to my YouTube channel at CatherineTaylorTV.
Now, welcome to the show. Let's Get Writing tells you the stories behind the
stories and introduces you to the writers who create the books that you enjoy.
(00:41):
And today's guest is no exception.
He was born in Windsor, Newfoundland to a blue-collar family in a one-industry
town, and I know intimately about that because I'm from the same area. I grew up in Grand Falls.
Back in the day, they were Grand Falls and Windsor. Today, they're Grand Falls,
Windsor, Newfoundland, and Labrador. A bit of an amalgamation.
(01:04):
Now, my guest's unique path through life led him to success as a self-made millionaire,
and he's sharing his story in the the recently published memoir with Flanker
Press, Seventh Son, My Road to Success.
Please welcome Jim Scott to Let's Get Writing.
Hi, Jim. How are you? Hi, Catherine. Great. Thanks. Thanks very much for having
(01:28):
me on your show. Oh, it's a pleasure.
Yeah, it's a pleasure. You've been creating a lot of buzz around the province.
And you were even recently here in town for a book signing.
How was it to be back in your old stomping ground telling your success story?
It was surreal. It was nice to get back to see old friends and family I haven't
(01:48):
seen for a while. I try to get back at least twice a year.
But in this case, I've seen people. saw people I'd never seen
for such a long time and that was like exhilarating and
it was a lot of fun and it was
it was a nice time to see everybody when I
read your book you said at one point one of
your goals in life was to write a book you'd accomplished a
(02:09):
lot of things but you wanted to write a book and share and
you done it I want to talk
to you a bit about that process process and how did
that idea get started for you when did when did that
land well a few years ago of course I've got
like a lot of people that worked with me over the years and I
guess through my own journey in life they got to know me a bit better for working
(02:32):
with me and I you know I worked colleagues before I started my company and then
they joined me and as the time went by and some of my brothers even come on
board with me and they all started to share with me say like you know You've
had such good experiences inside and outside of Canada.
And he said, you tell a lot of good stories. You should write something about it.
And it was sort of a seed that was planted probably around 10 or 15 years ago.
(02:57):
And I just thought, when I retired, I thought, I'll never forget it.
And I thought, yeah, I could probably do that.
And the initial thought was just to do that. And I thought, I'm going to make
it. So my family and friends, sort of a getaway thing.
Because they were encouraging so much. That's how it started.
When I got Nanner involved to actually put it together so it looked like a book,
(03:18):
Carolyn Chafee Parsons was a great meet for me in getting her acquaintance and getting her on board.
Basically, it went from there. When it got completed, she actually encouraged
me to show it to the publishers, which I was delighted and didn't think was
– I mean, sometimes you write about yourself and you wonder,
okay, it's a good or a bad. I mean, I never wrote anything.
(03:42):
And so when we hit the flanker, I was delightfully surprised that they wanted to publish.
And it went from there. And it seems to have gotten a life of its own.
I think you probably felt what a lot of people felt.
Feel, and I know that I felt writing my first book, how do you do it? And how do you begin?
(04:05):
And it's, I'm telling you, you went to a great person with Carolyn,
who's actually a distant cousin of mine. So I think writing runs in our family.
And I met her through an event that I was working on.
But so when she, when you went to Carolyn, and a lot of people will say,
Jim, I want to write my life story. I want to write a memoir.
(04:26):
But a lot of those books remain in drawers or maybe in exercise books,
but they never see the light of day.
So did you feel like it was a bit of a mountain to climb that you didn't quite
know where to start, or how did it start?
Well, initially I started off, I felt that I would write a chronological history
(04:46):
from my beginnings to now. And at that time, I'd just retired.
And I thought, well, I know I'm really good at dates. I'm really good.
My memory is great. great and and like i've got
great like detail reception and stuff like that
but anyway and that's how it started out now when
i first wrote it was a very short manuscript and
(05:07):
i and i got a couple of friends involved and they read and said well it's not
really you because it's more mechanical it was like you know a to b to c to
d you know whatever so from that when i got carolyn involved she actually did
something you know so simple but effective and she basically talked talked about,
you know, got to know me a bit. And she said, I'm going to send you a document, basically.
(05:30):
And I sent it as a Google document, and it came in, and I opened it up.
And basically, my book was in the middle, chapters to the left.
On the right, she just basically, I want you to tell me stories.
And she picked out an arrow, pointed to a sentence or a paragraph,
give me a story, a thousand words, give me a paragraph about this subject,
you know. And basically, I just started telling stories.
And I was delighted how, you know, one she that,
(05:52):
you know, that guidance really put me
on the path to where this all went and it all and
i knew i could tell stories and she from the few conversations
that initially she felt yeah you can tell a
lot of good stories because i was telling her bits and pieces of my life and
well how i got her and all that she was like she was really encouraged by that
so she really got me to a space where it actually looked like a book and then
(06:16):
there were some you know the editing got involved she's got for colleagues to
help her with the formatting of the book.
And then, of course, when I went to Flanker, they'd re-arrange a small bit.
They'd talk, they would change some chapter names that would really connect
with the viewer of the book.
And they tastefully don't. There were chapters I had at the beginning which moved to the end.
(06:39):
And if you read the book, it's so, just one, it makes one last chapter really
pull up everything you get. It was so tastefully done. I was like, oh, follows.
But it truly was my story. And, you know, there was editing helps and all that.
But basically, it's the stories that I felt that needed to be told that would
sort of give people understanding where I was, where I led to my journey, and to where I ended up.
(07:05):
And it's so ironic, people, today that strangers really tell me a lot of good stories.
But when family and friends read it, they say, I didn't know this about you at the end.
And the other people at the end will say, I didn't know about it at the beginning.
So it was interesting to hear, and yes, to segue into your comment,
but I did get a lot of people saying, oh, I want to write a book.
(07:25):
And there's actually people who told me about they got a lot of stuff pulled
together and wanted to meet with me after this to say, look, can you help me?
And I raised my hand and said, hey, you've got to call Carolyn. Right?
Call the expert on the writing. But it's true.
You've hit upon something, Jim. and it engaged me with the book as well.
(07:47):
It's the story. She take us back to that time of growing up and the things you
went through in your life. And I don't know, you do have a good memory.
You covered a lot in there, but you brought us into it.
And I think as with anything, even if it's a memoir, we're there for the stories
and you have that there in spades.
It's really a great read.
(08:09):
And so did you have any anxiety over.
The telling of your story or you know did you ever
doubt that perhaps well you know what are people going to
think or where this needs to be told where was your
head well those moments are there for you
and and i think brilliantly about yourself i learned now
that it's it's it's not easy but i
(08:31):
i didn't know how hard it was and what when i
say that i got the cousin that got a you know a master's
of literature and she said jim is not even on my book this do you realize that's
the hardest to do and i said you know i said maybe maybe
that's why i didn't know and i'm probably good i didn't know that i
just went into a journey and i thought well i could
tell stories and i knew it but and and we
(08:51):
talked like i remember carla and telling me exactly we talked about detail
she had jim nobody writes a book with exact dates
how do you remember exact dates and i said for me it's always
been the correlation of something that happened during that
period of my life like my father's death i could
always know that date and where i was too or what so
that that's how i did it but she actually made me take out the actual
(09:12):
dates for example okay and it made sense but at the time to me but i mean i
know and like there was you know lots of stores where people like you know how
do you remember the month again it's about correlation when i some research
tom like i asked a lot of my family friends about the stores does this make
sense That's what I told it.
And like, I actually sat with an attorney and we had talked around the subject. What if?
(09:37):
And what if was, you know, what if I said something wrong? And,
you know, she said to me, first, make sure it's true. Make sure it's positive.
Don't like, you know, make anybody out to something or not. But it is your memory.
But at the end of the day, she said, you know, like, do it freely,
knowing that be truthful to yourself and to the people. No, I never forgot that.
(10:01):
I'm not the type of person who
ever, if I can't help you I'm not going to hurt you that's not who I am,
Yeah, I get that about you. It's interesting that you mentioned the attorney
because you don't want to make any mistakes like Harry did with the book Spare.
You know, you say something and you're thinking, okay, who have I offended or
(10:22):
what have I opened up here?
But then that's something that I hadn't thought of. A very good idea. Good piece of advice.
And what other kind of advice would you have for anyone starting out to do something
like this? I think if I was to say to anybody out there that hadn't thought
about writing a book, just start doing it.
I mean, the beautiful thing about technology today and computers,
(10:45):
you know, a prime example, you can write a book on a computer port and shut
it, like save it, shut it down, leave it for a while, break just a little bit.
It don't take long. And often while you're reading this, I'm pulling something
together. But once you do that and you've got a foundation built,
like a house, you build a foundation first, well, guess what?
The Carolyn Chaffee person of the world will come in and help put the house
(11:08):
on top of the foundation.
And I think that's the way it's about building blocks. It's about a process.
Don't go thinking, oh, I got to do this. And my initial doubt was six months, all I was like, why?
That don't think in terms of time, just think in terms of, I want to get this
much out and then with some help on the outside.
But make sure you check the stories because maybe sometimes you're telling a
(11:29):
story whether it's about yourself or something that you're writing about, you need to fact check.
And that's something I learned too, that go and ask people that was involved
in that period and they will give you their feedback and say,
oh yeah, right, I forgot about that or add something to it.
You know, again, it's your memories if you're doing what I did and how to biography.
But again, it's more of a memoir, like it's my memories.
(11:51):
If I say something that I thought was right in the room and suddenly didn't,
well, there's still more memories, as long as it wasn't negative or just right
at the launch, but you need to do something in terms of fact-checking. So I think you do.
But just do a piece at a time, and you'll be surprised how fast something will come together.
And when it does, you'll say, wow, I got something.
(12:13):
Now what do I do? Well, that's when you need an editor. When you do that, it changes everything.
Thing and you said you expected to
do it in six months how long did it take you it took
two years from the time i started writing it
said the same thing is that yeah it should have took
you and probably longer because when you read and they say when you write about
(12:35):
a book it usually takes a lot on and i i don't i didn't know that and i didn't
think that i just thought i can do this and but you know i mean it's just my
determination of who i am and if you read the book you you understand my determination that.
When I want to do something, I do it. You know, I put my, you know,
if I go in the 100% and I want to do it, and if I don't know something about
(12:58):
it, I'm going to go see someone that did it or so it can guide me and go to the next step.
And here's a good example. This is a segue, but probably put it real.
Like, I've learned how to play golf. Like, I played golf. I was a hacker.
And learned from a lot of friends. I've changed my games just getting a little
bit of coaching, a little bit of mentoring.
And guess what? You learn it. I guess when you get better, you get better.
(13:20):
You gotta do it repetitionally and i think that's where
the book went in terms of writing chronologically and
all of a sudden adding stories and reformatting and
changing things around that makes sense and then the flow
of the book and that be done by the flankers of the world and like i said the
editors and and it's it is an interesting process but you it's like molding
(13:43):
something but if you have nothing to work with you have nothing to work with
so it's to get But we always say get anything down on paper.
Even if it's a bad writing day, you have something down. At some point,
you can rework it or move it through to another chapter.
Well, I was just on an interesting subject. One of the families I wrote with,
the Tuller's, and there's one of the oldest sister shared with me recently.
(14:07):
After reading my book, she said, I have everything wrote down over the years,
data on sheets of paper. And she's 74 years old.
About her family, all the events of her family. there's a
family 25 people and i said look if you want help
with that i can get in and get you to the right
people and and what it's to me it's a
book in itself imagine being born and we're like a 25 children and she's got
(14:29):
dates and of all i mean that's to me the foundation of a book sure sure it is
and it's amazing the big families like you're alone your family reading about
your Your family in the book was interesting to keep it straight in growing up.
So, you know, you had that meeting when you were very young with Martin where
that seed was planted about the seventh son.
(14:52):
And you chose that for the title of the book. Can you talk a little bit about
that? What has that meant to you?
Well, initially, the book was about, like, I didn't know what to call it.
And that's the other thing a lot of authors and I find to say that now because,
you know what I mean? Here I am.
But when you're writing a book, sometimes you're not sure about what I call it.
(15:17):
And my initial thought was, you know, to journey to my success,
just trying to, you know, and I had to bring something up there just to start. So I did that.
Ironically when carolyn got involved and it was only mentioned
once that it was seven son and she said to me this
is eureka moment should you know and i and
she hadn't called me she was so excited and she said jim
i've checked and i can't find a book named seven son take
(15:40):
the title i said it'll be yours forever and you know
you'll be the first and and it's you know how
rare it is now to be a seven stone most families don't
have big camps and it was a great idea
but then she said put the next expert
down below it right you know my journey
to success so i was like yeah this and and
that's basically where it started but in terms of the seventh son and meeting
(16:05):
martin and stuff like that it was one of those moments that i didn't talk about
a lot because sometimes people in this in the spiritual sense of humanity either
yours i find that you're you're in it or you're not in And,
you know, like there's a quagmire when you talk about it, right?
And for me, it was like, I didn't want, I built on this own way because I know
(16:28):
things that I didn't want to share.
And it almost felt a bit weird. I know that for lack of a term.
But for me, I was like, it was a sign of my life.
I'm not suppressed, but I just didn't talk about it. And those experiences is what I talk about.
And I'll never forget that period when, you know, dad took me to Neatmer.
And I was like, he told me stuff.
(16:49):
And even today, there's times I'll have those deja vu moments.
And I was like, it's scary.
It was. But now I'm almost like, and this is something really profound,
but most times I just, it hits me here that I know he said these things to me,
this is what will happen.
Or he didn't give in detail, but at the same time, the eureka moments are going to happen, and it does.
And like I said, meeting like Juan, you know, seventh son of seventh son of
(17:13):
seventh son. Like I was, never thought that was a possibility.
And I even checked it. I've actually checked it in, you know,
the Webster dictionary, it says, like, I want to do a billion,
like, there's only eight people, eight billion people in the world. So think to the back.
Mm hmm. They go to that happens so rare.
(17:34):
And like, you know, it was astonishing when you meet these people and that episode
of Eat and Die, not to give away the book too much, but, you know,
that hashing, I mean, it's, well,
and again, I felt a bit weird just talking about it, you know,
but it made sense after to segue into that as being the book,
(17:55):
because it's a part of me.
And so you know a lot of people often said my family says well you're lucky
you're very lucky you you know but at the same time they'll say you're so determined
and you know you're you're not letting up knock you down and you know i have
had a few knockdowns but that same one has been picking yourself up as we say
here was lucky i wasn't lazy,
(18:18):
right because this doesn't come out of thin air so we've talked a lot about
the writing of the the book, but let's talk a little bit about your story.
You were a young boy, grew up in Windsor, and I really enjoyed when you were
telling those parts of the story as well, because it brought back memories of
growing up in this small town.
And we had a lot of things here in this town that small towns in Newfoundland
(18:40):
didn't have. A lot of experiences.
We had segregation, too, between two communities.
We had a lot of things going on. But as a child and everything you went through
as you You grew up and you worked. Did you see where you were going?
Initially, no, because I was really struggling at the very beginning.
(19:00):
Like I said, I guess when I lost my dad, it was a spot in my life where I was
really lost. And I didn't know what to do.
And one of the things I talk about in the book is when I met my future wife
and her family, the DeWaar family, they were so influential on me in terms of
their attitude towards education.
(19:22):
And, you know, how important it was. And, you know, that conversation with,
you know, the matriarch, you know, Mr.
Duar, and it was so, you know, groundbreaking for me in its own way.
And, like, just those little conversations, you know, prior to having a supper
up there, you know, on visits.
You know, I was dating his daughter, Donna, and it was, you know, like, it was, it hit me.
(19:44):
And, like I said, it made me think a lot about where I needed to be.
And, you know, because when you're going to school, in middle school or something
like that, my teacher would say, you know, it would say stuff like,
you know, you could do anything and, you know, I guess I was a kid that never took a book home
and I guess I would catch on and that's the reason why I think they said it,
(20:04):
but they said other things.
I mean, teachers see things in you that you don't see yourself and sometimes
I, when you go to the peer library, that's when I started school,
I had a bad shit language over there.
There was no, okay, we should take Jim and see somebody. There was none of that. Stuck it up, move on.
You know, and that's no reflection on, you know, our parents or, you know, family.
(20:30):
It was just, that's the state of period you're in.
But in that respect, though, meeting the divorce, it meant so much.
I look back and think, wow, they really got me thinking differently.
And then my thoughts went back up. I started to go back and my teacher said,
wow, they were right. and I didn't see it.
And, you know, around years later, I meet Mr.
Bradbury. He said, I knew you'd do something. And I, he said to me,
(20:53):
I thought you would be in university.
You're a university major. I didn't see it. I know it now. I know if I went
to university now, I can take on anything. I know.
That's not in, you know, like that's not in bowl. That's just in,
that's to me, I know what I can do.
Well, back growing up at the time, we were, this town was a one industry town.
(21:15):
We had the paper mill people could come out with very little
education they could I think leave school at grade eight and
get a well-paying job in the paper mill and be
set for life so there wasn't that same emphasis on
education no it certainly was in my experience in life was assumed you were
going to go to university but there were a lot of people who who didn't a lot
(21:37):
of people who went walked into really great jobs I don't know great always is
hard working hard Hard jobs at times, but they paid well.
And they didn't have to go far from home for it.
So it was a unique period, I think, in the life of our town and the province.
And I think those of us who lived through it are the only ones that will probably
(21:59):
ever truly understand it. Yeah.
Yeah. We were lucky because you think about where we were. We had some highest
paid jobs in the province outside.
That wouldn't equate to back then there was no offshore. Sure, it was lining.
And to be a young man growing up in the 70s, most times you were going for a trade.
(22:20):
There was that element at Flint University. And I had a lot of friends that did that.
But we didn't, for whatever reason, we just got them with most of those and
ended up winning Air Forces or trades.
And that was just the path we were going to take. And now to choose which one.
And I was the oddball, I guess. I chose something nobody else in the factory chose. No worries.
And they didn't understand why. But I think that still goes back to wanting
(22:43):
to be an initiate part of it. And before that, it was more of a body mechanic.
So my view was a trade.
And the trade I picked, nobody else picked. And it was so ironic that...
I just broke out and went to the mining sector. None of my brothers went to the mining sector.
So you don't know where life is going to take you, right? No,
you don't know. But you have to have a general idea, a general thought that you want to get up.
(23:06):
And you did get involved with real estate. You tried a lot of different things.
And eventually, I think your consulting company was where it all landed. And you sold it.
Yep, I did. It was a great experience. Like I said, at the time,
I was going to hang on because, I mean, I was doing well. I had a lot of good employees.
Things were going well from the mining sector, as I had thought.
(23:29):
And all of a sudden, mining is very cyclical, up and down. That's just the way it goes.
And that's all as a commodity. And in the commodity world, like I said,
it flows, ebbs and flows.
And at one of these times, it just bottomed. And it was a hard time.
And I could see the end coming for a lot of small companies.
And the opportunity, you know,
(23:50):
I was basically, I guess, part of that came from the service I was given.
And they did not want to see my company fail. They wanted me to be involved somehow with the firm.
And I think that's where, you know, again, not to give away too much,
but, you know, somebody stepped in and basically said, hey, you should talk to somebody.
And that's where it started to. What it did, I was looking at,
(24:11):
I got to save these 28 badminton.
Because, you know, people would have ended up somewhere else. And generally you do.
That seemed like they didn't like what they were doing. If I could stay there
and still be involved and still be that person in front of it, they'd like that idea.
They wanted to stay aboard, so they were going to jump with me, and they did.
Like I said, it was a good move to move over to the engineering side and just
(24:34):
for them to purchase new.
It was another big journey, right? Mm-hmm.
And you took a little bit of retirement, but you haven't fully retired.
You're still doing some work, which I think is the new retirement.
I really believe that.
My father used to say, when I was a young guy, he used to say,
he was having a lot of friends that were leaving the mill at 65,
(24:57):
and some weren't even a little bit early because of what, the comical lomangics.
These guys, they were his buddies, and they were, the last six months,
they were fretting themselves because they were stressed because they didn't have nothing to do.
They were outside. So, and dad used to always say, do something outside of work
that you would try either personally or volunteer or whatever,
so that way you've got something to do when you were doing it,
(25:17):
just don't go home, sit down and find the TV.
He said, that's, you know, and, and I thought that was so interesting to hear
that as a young guy, my father who had retired, what he was doing,
he like, he actually retired, mill forced them at 65 in 1970, that's the way it was.
He would watch them and then turn around. He was fixing, you know,
(25:38):
carpentry, like the old cases of boxes.
He used to do stuff like that all the time. I was like, wow,
interesting. And when I reached hard, I thought, you know, I'm going to do some golf.
And I was going to go right into the hole, play some dots of where I'm at.
And as quick as I went out, bang, I went back in. And, you know,
that, fair up my truth, is what they say. You know, it's like being in the mouth.
(26:00):
You think you're out, no sort of draws you back in. I don't know if it's a good
analogy, but for me it was because,
I'm still excited, delighted by the whole process that people are still calling
me and saying, hey, Jim, I need you out.
I just got on call before this process here today, and they asked me,
(26:20):
I need some help with some leasing of some building in St.
John's. And they know I can do a bit of everything, which is,
I'm delighted that they're doing it. And it feels exciting for me to have something to do.
Well, I'm sure you're going to have something to do. This is going to initiate
a lot of phone calls, people asking you questions, and I encourage people to read the story.
(26:41):
It's a wonderful, wonderful look at a positive story.
And I think you're, as we, I have to wrap, but I think you want to share that
message with others as part of your vision and also maybe another book in the works.
I'm third way into another book, and the other part I'm trying to look at now
is Motivational Speaking to the Hospitals. I want to do that next to some schools
(27:07):
are now recently and seeing I'm waiting for some feedback so I can look at that.
So listen, thank you very much for having me. It was a pleasure.
And it's a pleasure as well. And keep writing. I guess we'll have you back for
another book when that comes up and have fun on the rest of the journey, Jim.
It'll be my pleasure to come back. And thank you very much.
Everyone. Thank you so much for joining us on let's get writing.
(27:30):
And I look forward to seeing you this season.
And also, don't forget to subscribe on my YouTube channel at CatherineTaylorTV.
Thank you. Thanks. Bye-bye. Bye.
Music.
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