Retiring from Air Force after 25 Years

[zzaxx]

Hello folks! I've been lurking here for a few months after reading MJ's book and I thought it was time to introduce myself.

First of all, thanks MJ for writing a fantastic book about business - and life.

I'm (sort of) a Slowlane success story, retiring after 25 years in the Air Force at age 48 and securing my pension (over $70K/year plus medical whether I get up in the morning or not). On top of that, with my experience and education (4 degrees, including a Ph.D.) I have already secured a high-paying job as an engineer, beginning in August.

That being said, if you are in your 20s or 30s, I recommend you take the Fastlane route instead. At 48, even as a decent income earner, I will work until my mid-late 60s if I follow my current track. Transitioning from military to civilian life has led me to reflect heavily on my goals and dreams, and I want the three "Fs" that MJ points out: Freedom, Fitness, and Family. I have the last two, I'm working toward the first. I actually turned down 2 jobs that would have made me a lot more money, but also would have left me firmly entrenched in the Slowlane. My new goal is to retire in seven years (at age 55) or sooner with a money tree firmly in place.

So starting at the end of May, when I started my terminal leave, I began my business venture with my wife. We're building Mobile Apps, with an initial focus on the iPad. Our target product (meeting the need) is interactive books for early readers. My wife taught two of our children with learning disabilities to read and she has some innovative ideas we want to put into practice. To minimize our expenses, we're going to do all the initial product development ourselves. She's a artist/graphic designer and I am pretty decent at programming. The goal is to get the first product on the market in one year, but with baseline code that doesn't change much as we put out new products. If/when we generate sales on the Apple App Store, I'll probably outsource a port to Android platforms.

I began with an Mac Mini I bought for $245 on eBay. All the Apple software tools are free.

I've been using all my spare time to learn Objective C and iOS Programming. For those of you who are interested in getting started in programming your own apps, I recommend these two books:

Amazon.com: Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (Big Nerd Ranch Guides) eBook: Aaron Hillegass: Kindle Store

Amazon.com: iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide, Third Edition (3rd Edition) (Big Nerd Ranch Guides) eBook: Joe Conway, Aaron Hillegass: Kindle Store

Thanks to everyone on this forum for the great advice and ideas. I'm honored to be part of this community, and I'll let you know how the business unfolds.

Jon

 

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