And Now for Something Completely Different

Andrew Shaddock

“And now for something completely different” has been a recurring thought at times during my life. On one such occasion I was driving up Highway 5 from Los Angeles to Stanford in 1983. I had worked in audit and accounting for thirteen years, and landed in a good spot at Twentieth Century Fox in Los Angeles. This was a good thought, to offset those moments when I asked myself what on earth I was doing going back to school.

It was also my thought as I invested my points to secure a spot in Professor Lynn Phillips’ Marketing 101 class. Something completely different. Professor Phillips was an incredible, energetic, and inspiring teacher who – others will remember this – had everyone on the edge of their seats paying rapt attention. He was also a very skilled and competitive squash player. Memorably, he quickly reduced this new discipline to an analysis of three things; customers, competitors, and “fit” – something even an aging accountant could latch onto.

Fast forward about fourteen years and I was managing a computer service bureau in Southern California. A friend and I had planned to buy out the owners of the business, let’s call them John and Kim, but we were far apart on price and I had been given a one-month notice of termination. John was a mainframe computer programmer and Kim an MBA whose responsibilities were cost estimating and invoicing.

At that time, software for the specialty of the service bureau, name and address processing for direct mail, was migrating from mainframe to personal computers, with increased functionality and a cost about 90% lower. I had spent lots of time working with and embracing the new software.

On my birthday in early April I played “hooky” with a friend to go skiing in the local mountains. When I returned I had two phone messages from customers with whom I had worked. Word was out that I would be leaving the company and the question was the same, “Can we still work with you?”

As it happened, I had given plenty of thought to “And now for something completely different” and to the class of Professor Phillips. I had just built a house near the beach that included a home office with a PC and a view. I had a good grasp of the needs of my customers and the means to meet those needs with the new PC software. What is more, I enjoyed the work. I thought that this was a “fit,” and everything I knew about customers was positive.

What about competitors? I had heard from several customers that they disliked having to work through three or more people to process a job – an account manager, a customer service person, and the poor schmo who actually did the work. The process was cumbersome, and things got lost in translation. Well, I would be all three of these people. Problem solved.

But what about the closest competitor, the service bureau I was leaving? Kim was spending more and more time away from the office, mostly on bird watching trips to exotic places around the world. When she was away, John, who handled several clients, was clearly depressed. He would often be absent from the office. He would return phone calls belatedly if at all. When he did come into the office he would have a bottle of wine, would look horrible, and carried a smell that would permeate the whole place. I was reminded of Professor Phillips (let me complete this) when in one class he asked the question, “Are these the people you want to compete against?” Oh YES!!

I told the customers who had called that I could not meet with them until after my termination date of April 15. So, on April 16 I drove to Santa Barbara to meet with a catalog company and by mid-morning I had signed a contract that meant that I was in business for myself. This was a life-changing moment, and indeed something completely different.

I have been working from home now for 22 years. The internet has enabled me to work as needed from around the world as my wife and I pursue our love of international travel – notably one time on a small cruise ship in the North Sea, in rough seas, in the middle of the night, the only time when the internet speed was tolerable.

For all those years I have been able to watch neighbors leave their expensive homes in their BMWs or SUVs to join the rest of the world on the freeways of Los Angeles and return in the evening stressed from the commute. I have then been able to walk down the beach or ride my bike to Peet’s Coffee, make a bunch of friends, make much deeper roots in the community, and enjoy Manhattan Beach at its uncrowded best.

It is now 2020. “And now for something completely different” is on everyone’s mind. My wife, despite early reluctance, is now working from home twenty feet away from me and loves it. She never wants to return to an office. Her company and others are finding that working at home can be beneficial for employer and employee alike. These are interesting, if difficult, times.

I cannot believe that thirty-five years have passed since GSB. The fond memories are still so clear.