An Unofficial Resume

All professional resumes start with an Objective; one short sentence to summarize a job search goal.  Well, that’s not ideal, but if you need an official resume it’s available at the bottom of this page.  Let’s turn this around.  I’ll tell you about me, and then you can tell me what you have to offer that might be interesting or a good fit. 

The next part of a resume is Education.  At my age formal education is ancient history, but the education of life would fill books.  If a degree or letters after my name impresses you then we probably are not a match.   

Work Experience.  Now this is more interesting, although work experience and life experience are very closely intertwined.  I’ll try to give you an overview that might be helpful, then we can have coffee and fill in the blanks. 

I’m 58 years old.  You’re not suppose to ask, so I thought I’d just toss it out there.   In August of 2020 I contracted Covid and nearly died.  The virus left some semi-permanent damage that continues to challenge me mentally and physically.  I’ve spent a lifetime in business and as a published writer.  Now assembling thoughts and ideas take a little more effort than they once did.  I’ve made dramatic improvements in the past year and I’m operating a small hobby farm and inventing creative ways to harvest fish waste – I bet you’ve never tried that. 

I’ve been married to my best friend for 35 years.  We live on six acres near Port William with our son’s family and our three grandkids.  We have more family on adjacent land with my daughter’s family and two more grandkids.  We’re blessed beyond measure!
God, Country and Family are the three pillars of life and they are what makes life worth living… living to the fullest. 

But let’s back up. 

Back in the late 1980s and early 90s I drove motor coach for a tour company out of Grayling, Michigan, I also drove school bus.  Later, we moved further north and I worked for Pellston Public Schools as their Director of Operations.  That job opened a number of doors for me.  Not only did I supervise the physical operations of the school and the employees that supported it, but I also did Time and Asset Analysis for a consortium of Michigan School Districts.  That effort changed the financial landscape for a number of school districts and saved countless millions of dollars statewide for the schools.  Simultaneously I was responsible for overseeing and administrating of a major school renovation.   

I left the schools in early 2000s and started my own business.  My company imported and distributed high efficiency heating systems and related supplies. My wife and I managed both wholesale and retail websites and a physical store.  Our business went from a struggling home business to the nation’s largest business of it’s type in one decade.  Owning a multi-million dollar business of that nature means I’m the HR director, the sales director, the purchasing manager, personal manager, the shipping manager, the trucking and logistics manager and much, much more – that doesn’t fit into a resume very nicely. 

The business was sold in the early years of the next decade and in the spring of 2013 my wife and I sold our home and everything we owned and drove into the sunset in a home we built from a 40’ motor coach.  Those years on the road were some of the best years of our life.  From our moving home I was still actively engaged in building websites, marketing, and more.  I also wrote and published three books with more on the way.  During that time we worked and played with more companies than we can remember.  I worked with an old friend who had been a supplier for me.  I helped him with a startup of a new product line that has since gone on to be a successful multi-million dollar manufacturing and distribution company.  I also worked with another old friend, who was once a competitor.  We didn’t make a multi-million dollar company, but we had a lot of fun trying. 

We worked for Amazon two different years in two different parts of the country during their pre-Christmas surges.  We cleaned toilets at a campground and we sold cider and donuts at a cider mill.  We spent a couple of years doing site surveys for shopping centers from Florida to Maine and everything in-between.  We worked on blueprint details while parked on the shore of Lake Superior, and helped a struggling widow remodel her house in Florida while she gathered the shattered pieces of her life. 

We started businesses, built friendships, buried loved ones, and watched our family grow.  We experienced the Church that God intended; we cried with those who hurt, we laughed with friends and cried with others.  The stories and experiences could fill volumes.  So, you want work history and experience?  No, I’m afraid a resume is for engineers and career-driven men.    

I’m not looking for a career.  I can stock shelves or drive a truck, I can work from home or in your office, I’m an ordained minister and hold a Class B CDL, I can oversee a project and manage employees.  But more importantly, I can work with you and help you achieve your goals.  I’m looking for new experience, new opportunity.  I don’t care about pay as much as flexibility and the freedom to help you achieve your goals.   

You tell me what you have.  Let’s talk, maybe meet for coffee.  The Chinese virus left me a little wounded, but I’m fighting back and I’m ready to work for you and with you; to come alongside you and help you make your dream a reality. 

– Dave Rush