From Corporate Life to Goat Parenting: My Journey

After a decade of consulting, I traded corporate meetings for farm life. Now, I’m back to blogging—and here’s why.

Seven years ago, I left my consulting career in Calgary. I moved to the East Kootenays with my partner and sweetie Patti. We raised chickens and goats, gutted and renovated a farmhouse, planted an orchard, and ran a tourist café. I even drove a crane truck. Big changes, but we jumped in anyway.

One stormy night in the “goat barn”, Susie was about to give birth for the first time. It was a moment we’d both anticipated. The loud screaming of our little goat echoed up to the farmhouse, letting us know it was time. Patti and I, first-time goat parents, had set up a separate straw pen inside the old wooden garage. We’d made all the other preparations we could.

We’d read that Nigerian Dwarf goats often have twins. Susie looked so big we thought she might be carrying triplets. Turns out, she had just one big kid.

Family and friends had gathered for the ‘real farm experience.’ After a while we realized something was wrong. A nose and one hoof peeked out, but that’s all. Someone had to reach inside to help.

Erin, with the smallest hands, volunteered. She found one leg was ahead and the other was pointing back, making him very stuck. Both front hooves should be pointing the way out, like a diver. There just wasn’t enough room inside Susie to reposition the leg. It was clear Susie and her baby were struggling.

A Life or Death Decision

By 3 a.m., we faced a hard decision. Susie was exhausted. The baby goat’s breathing, which we were monitoring by his exposed muzzle, was slowing down quickly. It was clear that we had to choose between her or her kid. We prepared for the worst. But then, with a final heroic push at the last possible moment, he slid out. The first words he heard were: “You little ******! Why would you do that?”

Today, Nimbus is a healthy, four-year-old goat with a unique white-on-black coat that looks like a skull. It’s a story we laugh about now, but it was a tough night. Erin named him after the storm clouds he was born under.

Rediscovering Purpose in Vancouver

Since then, Patti and I have moved to Vancouver for her career. We’re figuring out what the last third of our lives will look like. And whether to return to the farm or not. Meanwhile, friends are homesteading at our place, adding children, ducks, pigs, and even cows to the mix.

I tried and failed to find meaningful work online. I realized that every significant job I’d ever gotten involved some kind of personal connection. With no network locally, my first attempts at sending out resumes cold did not go well. So I’m restarting this blog, looking for networking events, making new friends, and joining some local organizations. I’m also freelancing in project management, and doing a little paid writing.

Why not just retire quietly?

I love writing, reading, and sharing. Decades of reading business and leadership books have fueled my imagination, broadened my strategic thinking, and fine-tuned my B.S. meter.

I’ve led software teams out of failure, trained staff, and stood up and run a million-dollar-a-week project management office. I’ve been part of a successful billion-dollar bid and helped many companies raise their game. Experience has honed my skills. Hard work has sharpened my tools.

Recently an entrepreneur trying to grow her business asked me to look over her client’s work plans. It was fun and exciting for me. I was gave guidance and shared resources that actually helped, and that got her excited as well. That was the spark I needed to start consulting again. Instead of trying to get hired to work for someone else.

What I’ve Learned and My Brand Promise

For me, now, it’s about sharing what works. So this is my ‘brand promise’: I will never knowingly waste your time talking about things I haven’t experienced. If it’s project management, work plans, or getting things done, then I’m you’re guy. Personal productivity, decision-making, or motivating and leading others to do the same I’m also really good at.

I also won’t keep you on the hook forever. I once heard management consultants described as ‘corporate intestinal tapeworms.’ I’ve been in rooms where a consulting firm discussed ‘client retention strategies’—keeping clients dependent—and tapeworm is an apt metaphor. But not something I’m interested in doing. I hope you are delighted with my services, and then ‘fire’ me. After I’ve done what I’d said I would. I’ll count that as a success.

If I don’t know something, I’ll tell you. Maybe I know someone who can help, or we can figure it out together.

Sometimes, you just have to reach into that goat and to figure out what’s going on. Even if you’ve never done it before. But it’s easier if you’re in that barn, on a stormy night, with someone who’s been there before.

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