Libsyn Directory

99. Young Salt at 60: Deborah Hammett on Reinvention, Resilience, and the Freedom of the Sea

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

Release Date: 05/09/2025

127. The Long Game: Susan Friedmann on Purpose, Publishing, and Staying Excited About Life

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

In this episode of What’s the Point?, I sit down with Susan Friedmann, founder of Aviva Publishing and Marketing, to talk about longevity — not just in business, but in life. What does it take to stay engaged with something over time without becoming stale, stuck, or disconnected from yourself? Susan has spent decades helping nonfiction authors bring their books into the world, but what stood out most in our conversation wasn’t simply publishing. It was her honesty about passion, reinvention, and recognizing when something no longer fits. She reflects on starting in the trade show...

126. Choosing a Life Before You’ve Lived It | Alex Dworsky & Gabriel DeSanti from Staj

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

How do you choose a career before you’ve really lived life? That’s the question at the center of this conversation with Alex Dworsky and Gabriel DeSanti, co-founders of Staj. Most of us are asked to decide what we want to do at 18, 20, or 22 — long before we’ve had enough experience to truly understand what those choices mean. And while some people land in the right place, many others find themselves years into a path that no longer fits. Alex shares her experience inside corporate America, where careers often follow a predictable path shaped by expectations, environment, and...

125. Andi Simon: The Stories We Believe—and Why They Make Change So Hard

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

In this episode of What’s the Point?, Bill Ellis sits down with Andi Simon—corporate anthropologist, author, and founder of Simon Associates—to explore a deceptively simple question: Why is it so hard to see what’s right in front of us? Andi has spent decades studying how people think, behave, and—most importantly—how they make meaning. From working with banks and healthcare systems to helping leaders navigate transformation, she’s seen the same pattern over and over again: People don’t resist change because they lack information.They resist change because of the stories they...

124. The Price of Change: David Schnurman on Choice, Family, and What Really Matters

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

In this episode of What’s the Point?, Bill Ellis sits down with David Schnurman to explore a question many of us quietly carry: what do we think will happen when we change our lives? Change often begins with hope. A new job, a new city, a new path — we imagine it will give us clarity, fulfillment, or relief from whatever feels unresolved. But as David reflects throughout this conversation, change doesn’t always deliver exactly what we think we’re buying. Together, Bill and David explore the deeper motivations behind the choices we make. Family expectations, personal responsibility,...

123. Built to Serve: Omar Ritter on Leadership, Discipline, and Living With Purpose

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

In this episode of What’s the Point?, I sit down with Omar Ritter for a conversation about discipline, leadership, and what it really means to live with purpose. Omar’s story is rooted in challenge. He reflects on the moments that shaped him — not just professionally, but internally. We talk about early lessons in responsibility, learning how to carry weight, and what it means to choose growth instead of comfort. Throughout our conversation, a theme keeps surfacing: discipline. Not the loud kind. Not the performative kind. But the quiet, daily commitment to becoming someone you can...

122. Ron Kmetovicz: What We Carry Forward About Money, Work and Independence

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

In this episode of What’s the Point?, Bill Ellis sits down with Ron Kmetovicz—engineer, entrepreneur, investor, and author of Ghost Money: The Pathway to Financial Independence. This conversation isn’t about getting rich quickly. It’s about what quietly sustains a life. Ron reflects on growing up in an entrepreneurial farm family in Pennsylvania, working in early Silicon Valley labs during major technological shifts, and building a career grounded in confidence rather than accumulation. He shares the philosophy behind “ghost money”—multiple revenue streams paired with minimal...

121. Remember You’re Dying: Annie Dike on Change, Courage, and Finding Meaning Without Tidy Answers

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

Welcome to What’s the Point? — the show where we explore what shapes us, what changes us, and what gives our lives meaning over time. In this episode, I’m joined by Annie Dike — a writer whose life has moved through wildly different worlds: a complex early life in Clovis, New Mexico, a career in law, years living and working at sea, and a steady commitment to writing as a way of making sense of experience. Annie begins in Clovis — a place she once wanted to escape, but later came to appreciate for what it gave her: creativity, closeness with her brother, and a tough kind of...

120. Building Something That Holds: Loryn and Edo Nalic on Partnership, Perseverance, and Belonging from Balkan Treat Box

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

In this episode of What’s The Point?, I sit down with Loryn Nalic and Edo Nalic, partners in life and work and the force behind Balkan Treat Box, Telva, and the Ridge Room in St. Louis. Their story isn’t just about building award-winning restaurants. It’s about displacement, resilience, trust, and what happens when two people commit to solving problems together instead of letting adversity define them. Edo shares what it was like growing up in Bosnia during war, fleeing to Germany, living with uncertainty, and eventually coming to the United States alone. Loryn reflects on a very...

119. From Survival to Self-Respect: Jason Van Ruler on Healing Old Patterns

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

In this episode of What’s the Point?, I sit down with Jason Van Ruler for an honest conversation about healing, responsibility, and the quiet work of becoming someone you can respect. Jason shares parts of his story that began in instability—growing up in a chaotic environment, learning early how to survive, and internalizing beliefs about worth that followed him into adulthood. Like many of us, he found himself repeating familiar patterns, even when they no longer served him. We talk about the turning point that came when Jason realized that awareness alone wasn’t enough. Wanting change...

118. The Secure Leader: How Attachment Shapes Trust, Leadership, and Purpose with Dr. Jaime Goff

What's The Point? - Discover Your Purpose

In this episode of What’s the Point?, host Bill Ellis sits down with Dr. Jaime Goff, founder of The Empathic Leader, LLC and author of The Secure Leader, for a powerful conversation on how our earliest emotional experiences quietly shape the way we lead. Drawing from her background in psychology, higher education leadership, and executive coaching, Dr. Goff explains how attachment patterns formed in childhood influence trust, control, communication, and emotional regulation in adulthood—especially in leadership roles. She shares personal stories from her own journey, including growing up...

More Episodes

Redefining Retirement, One Wave at a Time
In this episode of What’s the Point?, Bill Ellis welcomes Deborah Hammett, retired educator turned solo sailor and author of Young Salt at 60. After a 30+ year career as an elementary school teacher and principal on Martha’s Vineyard, Deborah did something few would expect—she learned to sail at age 60 and now lives aboard her boat, Maia, navigating the East Coast and The Bahamas.

Deborah’s story is about more than sailing—it’s about reinvention, lifelong learning, and answering the question: what’s next? From her early dreams of changing society through education to navigating the open ocean with no prior experience, Deborah exemplifies the power of purpose-driven pivots later in life.

Episode Highlights & Key Takeaways:

From Classroom to Cockpit: How Deborah transitioned from public education to full-time sailing.
Tears Are Not a Strategy: Lessons in resilience she passed on to students—and learned herself.
Raising Kids and Building Community: Why Martha’s Vineyard became her home and launching point.
Learning to Sail at 60: The hilarious and humbling early days of flipping lasers and falling in the marina.
Solo Sailing as a Lifestyle: How she learned to manage a 36-foot keelboat and navigate weather, tides, and repairs.
Mechanical Mastery: From bilge pumps to solar panels—how Deborah learned the technical side of boat life.
Unlearning Bias: Facing internal biases and gender assumptions as a female captain.
What’s the Point of Retirement?: Why Deborah believes your post-career years can hold just as much growth—and adventure—as the decades before.

Connect with Bill:

Links for This Episode:

Book: Young Salt at 60 (available wherever books are sold)

Quick Episode Summary:

0:00 Welcome and intro to Deborah Hammett’s unique journey
1:00 What inspired her to take up sailing at 60
3:00 Reflecting on three decades as a teacher and principal
6:00 Life on Martha’s Vineyard and how the ocean called to her
10:00 Family, independence, and growing up with grit
12:00 Teaching kids confidence, curiosity, and how to fail forward
14:00 Challenges with the teacher’s union and burnout at the end of her career
18:00 “Believe in Yourself”: The message her former students still remember
20:00 Life after retirement—travel, divorce, and the courage to start over
24:00 Discovering sailing and falling (literally) into a new life on the water
29:00 Buying Maia, learning the ropes, and sailing solo
32:00 Navigating weather windows and the unpredictability of boat life
34:00 Writing Young Salt at 60 to inspire others to take bold steps
35:00 Why staying active and learning new things keeps you young
38:00 The steepest learning curve: understanding mechanics and repairs
41:00 Self-discovery through travel—and confronting her own biases
43:00 Her answer to “What’s the Point?”: Use your post-career years for something big

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