We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Don Hurzeler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Don below.
Hi Don, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I find my purpose by trying things I think are interesting and then refine them by what others find valuable. In the “career” part of my life, I found niches within my industry where I could become an absolute expert, found them to be valuable to others and got better and better within those niches over time. Those niches became my purpose for working and led me to fulfilling my goals.
In my retirement I did the same thing…but with two changes. First, I wanted to find purpose that my wife of over 50 years could also enjoy. Second, I wanted that “purpose” to be more based on the fun of the activity than the monetary value. We found photography together, got good at it…and guess what…that purpose was found to be valuable to others and has provided us with a rewarding second careers…that we absolutely love.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I retired in 2008, after 40 years in the commercial insurance business. We moved to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and decided to push our limits to enjoy a very adventure filled retirement. We were mentored by a couple of world class photographers who also took us on some very scary and amazing photo shoots…alongside running lava, in the water with big sharks or bigger waves and into places we would never go on our own. Our friendship with the mentors brought great diversity to our set of friends (they are much younger than us and they introduced us to people we have grown to love from every kind of diversity cut you can think of). Our putting aside our fears and trying new and sometimes frightening things has literally made our “retirement” a great big and happy success.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Focus…not losing track of what is most important and keeping that in front of me at all times.
Completion…do what I said I would do…on time, every time and as promised.
Quit fixing things. All “go getters” want to fix things. However, I finally learned that I could be much more valuable by spending my time on the things that were running well and creating the most growth and profit for us…rather than trying to push a heavy rock up a steep hill for basically no profit.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I am not going to name a specific person, but I will identify the type of person or persons that have helped me the most in life and in my career. Those people are my coaches and mentors. People (including parents) who challenged me to try new things, to never give up, to become my best, to be accountable for my actions. Those folks TOLD ME THE TRUTH about how I was doing…encouraged me when I was doing well, held me accountable when I was doing poorly and let me fail and succeed without either one becoming too important. Coaches/mentors and my parents are my heroes.
Contact Info:
- Website: DonHurzeler.com
lavalightgalleries.com - Instagram: @donhurzeler
- Facebook: Don Hurzeler
- Linkedin: Don Hurzeler
