Wally Blume did pretty well for himself after college. The discipline and solid work ethic ingrained in him by his parents served him well, and for two decades he enjoyed a comfortable career in the grocery business with the Kroger Company. Starting out as a store co-manager, by the age of thirty he was promoted to middle management in the Kroger dairy foods division.
In the mid-1980s his career experienced a hiccup when Kroger did some downsizing and eliminated numerous middle-management positions, including Wally’s. Thankfully, he quickly secured a new position working for Country Fresh dairy. He worked in sales and marketing for their milk and ice cream products, and because of his position, soon developed an extensive network of connections in the ice cream business.
When an opportunity arose for a position as an independent broker representing a small ice cream ingredient manufacturer, Wally chose to make the leap to being his own boss. He quickly discovered that he loved the independence, and also loved marketing creative and original ice cream flavors for the company. But when the small manufacturer was bought by a large conglomerate, business went in a new direction, and Wally wasn’t on board.
Skeptical about the company’s introduction of strange new ice cream flavors like tomato and guava, Wally and a partner decided to leave the comfort and security of the corporate world and branch off to start creating their own flavors. As a result, Moose Tracks® ice cream was born. This delicious combination of Moose Tracks® Fudge and peanut butter cups swirled into vanilla ice cream took the nation by storm.
In the twenty years since Moose Tracks® was first introduced, its popularity hasn’t waned. Wally eventually bought out his partner, and together with his wife, June, launched Denali Flavors®, Inc. According to the Moose Tracks® website, the Blume’s business “has grown to become one of the nation’s leading developers and marketers of innovative flavors for the ice cream industry.”
Wally was sixty-two years old when he mortgaged all his assets and launched his own company. It was a gamble that certainly paid off. In her book Is This Seat Taken? It’s Never Too Late to Find the Right Seat, author Kristin Kaufman comments on the lessons we can learn from Wally’s life:
“Often, we choose to stay in our safe zone and continue along the path most traversed by others. There is a façade of contented comfort staying amidst the crowds on the moving sidewalk of life. It can be scary to jump the barricade to walk against the flow… [Wally] faced an uncertain endgame, but he was willing to bend into formidable wind to pursue it.”
Now in his late seventies, Wally Blume is doing something he loves, and achieving greater success because of it! It took courage to step off the “moving sidewalk of life” and venture out on his own—especially so late in life. But Wally knew it was the direction he needed to go.
How about you, are you content to continue along the path most traversed by others? Or have you considered jumping the barricade and walking against the flow?
