Jan. 13, 2026
Eddie Torba on Building a Career That Lets You Show Up for Your Kids
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What does it mean to succeed at work without missing the moments you never get back?
Eddie Torba has spent decades in retail execution and operations, helping major brands adapt, rebuild, and evolve through massive industry change. Along the way, he made intentional career decisions to stay present for his family, from working nights and weekends early on, to shifting into remote corporate roles, to building a small consulting practice on the side.
Eddie shares how to:
• Design a career around family instead of fitting family into leftover time
• Choose flexibility and stability without treating them as opposites
• Build trust at work by delivering results, not logging hours
• Protect family dinners, school events, and everyday moments that matter
• Set boundaries that prevent burnout and protect mental energy
• Create morning and weekly routines that support focus and balance
• Explore a side path without overwhelming yourself or your family
• Be honest about capacity before taking on extra work
• Help kids understand the human effort behind convenience and consumption
• Teach responsibility, work ethic, and perspective by example
• Measure success by presence, not titles or constant availability
Eddie’s story is a reminder that careers evolve, seasons change, and showing up consistently for your family is a choice you make again and again. His approach is practical, thoughtful, and deeply rooted in the belief that work should support life, not replace it.
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Gap to Gig Episode 10 with Eddie Torba
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[00:00:00] I pride myself. I've never missed a Christmas program. I've never missed a Halloween parade. I've never missed, you know, in the kindergarten read alongs, anything like that. So being able to see that stuff and live it and not have to watch it from somebody's iPhone and sending me the message, you know, that that's experiences that I've, you can't get back.
Michael: Welcome to Gap to Gig, the show for dads reimagining how work fits into life, not the other way around. It's where we talk about what comes next, how to make sense of the in between and who we become in the process. I'm your host Michael Jacobs, and today I'm thrilled to have with us Eddie Torba. He's a retail execution expert who works full-time with Ad Populum and also runs a consulting practice, EWS Consulting. He's helped bring structure and clarity to major retail initiatives and is currently supporting efforts to reestablish the Party City brand in new channels. What really stands out about Eddie is how intentionally he's built his career around his family.
Instead of chasing the next rung on the ladder, he's built a [00:01:00] hybrid path. It gives him stability, meaningful work, and room to be present for his kids as they move through their teenage years. His guiding belief says it all work to live, not live to work. Eddie, welcome to the show. I'm excited to have you here today.
Eddie: Thanks Michael. Appreciate, appreciate being on the show today.
Michael: My pleasure. So before we get into the, the business and balance aspect of things, what does a regular day look like for you right now, both at work and at home?
Eddie: You know, honestly, I'm, I'm the first riser at home, so I am up well before everybody else in the house. I get my quiet time, first cup of coffee and help get the kids ready for school. You know, they're teenagers, but you know, they're really good students, so I help get them pushed out the door. I take my son to school actually, and then from there, jump into work, put in my time at work for, you know, for, for what I need to at that point. I'm still a firm believer in family dinner, so stop at a certain point. Pick up whoever needs to get picked up from school, after school activities, you know, get some type of dinner on the [00:02:00] table. Hopefully, all four of us in the family can sit down, have some conversation, and then it's usually a race to all the different activities at night. And then, you know, if I'm satisfied with what I've done for work for the day, I kind of shut things down. If not, you know, with the family, things got in the way or anything else came up, I'll go back, finish up my day at work and yeah, so it's, morning to night, full day.
Michael: Yes. Sounds
with
Eddie: two kids.
Michael: Like, sounds like it. I love how you emphasize the, the dinner aspect of it. It just, there's at least that one time of day where you all come together or try to all come together and have those conversations.
Eddie: Yeah,
Michael: That's,
Eddie: We got about a 70% success rate through the week for it. But you need that. It's just a daily check with everybody in the family.
Michael: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. All right, so for listeners who might not know the world of retail execution, what do you focus on day to day in your role at Ad Populum?
Eddie: So right now with reestablishing the Party City brand the, the Party City went in through bankruptcy [00:03:00] last year. Another company Ad Populum came along and purchased the intellectual property. So, Party City is still a brand that is, you know, very popular, so, we are reestablishing that having store within store concepts with, with some other retailers.
Right now, we've launched with Dash Mart locations where you can actually go to partycity.com, have inflated balloons delivered to your house. So, in that case I have been training and working, you know, in support with these new connections that we have on how to inflate balloons themselves cause that's a science involved in it as well.
Michael: Sure.
Eddie: But then also using, you know, some brand standards that we had had in the past and, and what our customers from Party City expect. We want to be able to deliver that same party experience.
Michael: Got it. Got it. And on the consulting side, what kind of projects or opportunities do you take on when they come your way?
Eddie: So right now I work with a small business based out of Chicago. I help, you know, I'm there roughly once a week and help day-to-day operations of how [00:04:00] to run a small business and, and what things to look at. So I partner with that gentleman, and then also any, you know, and I know I'm not gonna start the AI debate with you right now.
Michael: Appreciate that.
Eddie: You know, a, a lot of things that I can do in, in specialize in data analysis, brand standards, user guides, efficiency reports, or efficient, you know, ways to efficiently approach items can be done through AI. I like to believe that I still bring in that human element to that,
Michael: Yep.
Eddie: and use past experiences from running retail stores to working in corporate environments, cross-functional teams. So, I like to, you know, any opportunities that come that way. You know, it's been small so far which has been perfectly fine with me, but being able to use those, those past experiences.
Michael: Sure. That makes sense. So you're helping. You're helping a small business right now. You're also helping Party City reestablish itself and do new retail channels. What has that experience taught you about resilience, reinvention, or kind of leading through change?[00:05:00]
Eddie: You know, look back right now at a year ago and roughly a year ago of when Party City announced its bankruptcy. And you know, that was, I worked in store operations in that and you know, thinking that it was going to be over at that point, but seeing a company purchase its intellectual property and move forward and how it can be redeveloped in a non-standard brick and mortar retail store. So, and I think with, you know, it, everyone uses Amazon. Everybody uses DoorDash and Uber Eats and in everything is to our fingertips right now, and it's how can we evolve that type of retail experience to a fingertip approach
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: where it just shows up magically.
Michael: Right, right. What's been kind of the biggest challenge then of going from store operations, like having physical stores now, to making things more at your fingertips?
Eddie: You know, the biggest obstacle would be that, that experience piece that was involved with, with running a brick and mortar retail store.
Michael: [00:06:00] Sure.
Eddie: You can have a negative positive customer experience. It's all about how you treat those people when they walk through your door. When it's at fingertips, you're losing that, that personal approach. I'll take balloons, for example. If you were to order, you know, somebody were to order balloons for their child's first birthday, typically they're gonna go into a store, they wanna see the colors, they wanna see what it looks like. They, they can imagine it, they could see it in their home or in their, you know, banquet hall, wherever they're having the celebration at. Now doing it online and online only you, you lose that personal experience. So, and that is probably what's difficult too. You know, brick and mortar retail stores you can train, you can train, you know, the 700 stores and all the staff and you can be able to identify those people that can bring those experiences to life.
And whether it's balloons or grocery or office supply, whatever it is.
Michael: Right.
Eddie: But now working with individuals and working with companies, I should say that have, it, it's just all behind the scenes. There's no customer interaction, one-on-one interaction and our, you know, customer services, our, [00:07:00] our customer service telephone numbers that you call if you actually can get ahold of somebody.
You know, it's, it's not that personal experience that we were used to from 25, 30 years ago.
Michael: Right. Right. And so your work has been, it sounds to me like, personalization, well not, maybe not personalization per se, but personal interaction has always been an important element of the work that you do and how you translate that now to more of a online experience or an indirect experience if it's a store within a store concept.
Eddie: Correct.
Yeah.
Michael: Trying to, how do you bring that human element to what is becoming a lot less human today is
Eddie: a little
Michael: bit of a challenge.
Eddie: And within a store within a store, you're taking maybe can't lead too much into it right now, but we're, you know, dropping in a Party City experience into a retail store that doesn't have anything to do with a party experience, and how do you help that company and change [00:08:00] that mindset a little bit and be able to work with the that store staff to have that personal experience on something which is brand new to them as well.
Michael: Yeah, and I imagine there's some crossover between the themes of your work of this, the human element of it and guiding people also comes home with you. There, there's crossover between work and home. Like there might be less human element in your work today, but you're still trying to implement that, but at home you also have that human element. You have to meet your family where they're at. You have to meet them kind of one-on-one. You have to be personal with them at home. You can't just like, there, there's no chat bot for them to go to to get their,
Eddie: Right.
Michael: their
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: parenting advice or spousal advice or whatever it may be.
Eddie: Correct. Yeah. I mean, you could try, you, you can type in anything into an AI right now and get some type of response, whether it's the right one or not.
Michael: Sure. Obviously you have the personal element home, but there's still going to be some personal element [00:09:00] at work as well.
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: I know you mentioned at the end of the day you have to prioritize family over work, right? And like you said earlier, you know, dinner, family dinners are important, even if it's not every day, it's as often as you can do it.
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: Is there a specific moment or experience that, that changed that priority for you where it was like family becomes I need to prioritize family here or was it, has it always been that way or were you work centric, you know, early in your career?
Eddie: So I certainly was work centric, you know, definitely before you know, I had children and when I came engaged and, and got married and kids came, you know, a couple years after that. I was a retail store manager, so it just kind of fit to what I was doing.
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: You know, and, and being a retail store manager gives you a little bit of freedom and flexibility with writing your schedule.
You know, there's obviously certain retailers are always gonna, you know, have, have some [00:10:00] guidelines to write, but it was able to, you know, it allowed me to have the opportunity to work. My wife's a teacher, so she definitely Monday through Friday, you know,
Michael: summer
Eddie: breaks, winter breaks, spring breaks, that type of stuff.
But, you know, definitely Monday through Friday and I knew that, you know, that at the time running retail stores, having that ability to write my own schedule was probably the best fit for my family to be able to, you know, have the kids home as much as possible, you know, not have to rely on daycare Monday through Friday.
So, you know, there's more night shifts that I worked. There was more weekend shifts that were required, but that gave me the opportunity to be home with the kids as often as I possibly could and limit the time that they're with a babysitter. So, it kind of fell into place, but as it was falling into place, it just made sense, and, you know, it was great because brand retail stores up until about five years ago. And I, and I pride myself, I've never missed a Christmas program. I've never missed a Halloween parade. I've never missed, you know, in the kindergarten read alongs, anything like that. So being able [00:11:00] to see that stuff and live it and not have to watch it from somebody's iPhone and sending you the message, you know, that
Michael: Right.
Eddie: that's experiences that I, you can't get back.
And I am so happy that I was able to do that with the career that I was shaping at the time.
Michael: Love that. That's, I'm the same way. To me, it's all about the experiences, right? It's the memories that are created from that and like, sure your kids will go through a hundred different school plays or school activities that you'll go see in different sporting events, that they'll do different games and practices and, and what have you, but to be able to look back on those memories and be able to share those with your kids as they get older, to me, there's nothing more valuable. And to prioritize being there for those events. And I know, I assume that it is equally as valuable for the kids to have their parents present,
Eddie: Oh, absolutely.
Michael: Right? Like it means the world to them. The people that are most important to them are there
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: [00:12:00] supporting them. They might not realize it in the moment, but I think as they look back that there's, there's a lot of value that
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: as a dad bring just by showing up. Just by being there, right?
Eddie: Absolutely.
Michael: And so as you went from store manager to more of a, can I say corporate role?
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: How did being a dad kind of influence that shift in kind of how you structured your career going from the retail world to more of a corporate role?
Eddie: Yeah, you know, and again, it's no secret sauce with it, it was an opportunity that, that, you know, presented itself. At the time I was running a Party City retail location and, and was an opportunity for a temporary position for, for, you know, to assist store operations, delivery, and it was remote, right?
So.
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: That, that right there, you know, there, there's no secret to that. I mean, that is a huge benefit. So, and, and I'm grateful for that for every day. So [00:13:00] when I took that role on, it, I was still able to work, you know, I was able to work from home, so it actually gave me even more time to be available and, and I've had the opportunity to work for some awesome people. And they've always stressed the importance of family, but in that there was a trust involved as well. You know, I, I understand that they allow, you know, great leaders will allow you to be able to spend time with your family and do things that are important to you, but in turn, it's a trust they, there's work that needs to be done or you know, that, that you're giving them your absolute best. So again, it just, everything just kind of fell into place with that. And you know, I, I was able to identify from a temporary position what it needed to go to a actual full-time position, and I was able to create that, which was fantastic as well.
But, you know, and as we talked about earlier, at the end of the day, I had to, you know, make that adjustment or make that, make that decision that I accomplished what I needed to get accomplished today. Or did I go above and beyond [00:14:00] my expectations that I set for myself? But if I hadn't, then I put the additional work in.
But again, working remote, you could do that at 10 11, 1,
Michael: Right.
Eddie: one o'clock in the morning.
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: So you know, so it was again, it, it, I don't want to take away the fact that working remote was a huge benefit during all of that.
Michael: Absolutely. How often do you find yourself working late at night or, you know, after you have dinner with your family, do activities, spend time with the, the kids or take them to activities? How often do you come back at 10 o'clock at night and be like, oh, you know what? I need to sit back down on my computer and get a few more things done?
Eddie: Yeah. You know, in the past when I had different responsibilities it was very often, but again, it was, I had a level of expectation that I set for myself. So it was always going above and beyond. Right now, my, my responsibilities though are not less, they're just different. So, and with the kids being a little bit older and more [00:15:00] afterschool activities, that gives me a more structured day, a longer time period of the day.
So not as often, but again, it's, you're still making that decision every day: did I get everything done? And, and I'm not typically one to save something for the next day.
Michael: Got it. What do your kids notice most about your work? What do they think you do all day?
Eddie: They have no idea what I do all day. You know, and it's funny, when we have the conversations at home, then they, you know, they have no idea. Very easy. My, my wife's a teacher, she's a fourth grade teacher.
Michael: Yep.
Eddie: Identifiable, you know?
Michael: Yep.
Eddie: When I tell them that I'm a retail execution, you know, expert, no clue what I'm talking about.
They just know that I work. And there's days that I work much longer than I probably should. And there's days that you know, that, that I just work a standard day. So, but yeah, no idea what I do day in and day out.
Michael: They know you do something.
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: Have you ever had to make a tough call where your family came before work?
Eddie: [00:16:00] You know, again, that, that probably goes back to what we, what I discussed, you know, a little while ago, is that tough call and it's nothing against being a retail manager. I, I learned so much from that. And for, you know, any recruiter that might be, you know, watching your show, listening to the podcast, I mean, retail, good retail managers are such untapped potential, I believe in, in so many different environments. However, you know, I, I don't wanna say I didn't enjoy it, but I always thought that I could possibly do a little bit more, but I knew that at the time that was the right fit for my family and, and going and trying to find something Monday through Friday, nine to five, you know, wasn't going to work and, and it wasn't going to help me be the dad that I want, the present dad that I wanted to be at the time.
Michael: All right.
Okay, so a lot of dads think they have to choose between stability and flexibility. How has balancing full-time work with consulting changed your perspective on that if it has at all?[00:17:00]
Eddie: Yeah, I, I don't think you, you make the choice between stability and flexibility. I think you have to balance the two of those in a way that you wanna make sure that at the end of the day you got everything accomplished at work that you needed to while still being able to, you know, have that family time, but stability where you have to be, have that, that structure around your day-to-day life
Michael: to be
Eddie: able to set yourself up for success, right? You gotta have things organized and, and at least that's worked for me, I should say.
Michael: Yep.
Eddie: So, I don't think it's a decision between one or the other. I think it's, in my opinion, it's a mix between the two.
Michael: Sure. No, that makes, that makes a lot of sense. Are there boundaries or habits that you have to help you kind of protect your time and energy?
Eddie: Oh, absolutely. You know, Sundays are a day that I like to just make sure that there's nothing on the calendar unless it's a dance competition or a volleyball tournament that I have to go to, but other than that you know, in the summertime, I, I [00:18:00] take the doors on the roof off the Jeep and, and go for a drive. In the wintertime, you know, it, it enjoy part of the holiday season, whatever it is. Sundays are definitely a day that I wanna make sure the calendar's clear for. Same thing and then every morning too, in, in the past I used to wake up and the first thing I do is, you know, make a cup of coffee and go right to work. And that could be at 5:30, 6 o'clock in the morning. Again, benefit from working at home. What I've learned probably in the past 12 months is still wake up early because it's, my body's just adjusted to that. But have that time, that quiet, 30, 40 minutes to yourself, sip on a cup of coffee, organize your thoughts for the day. Personal email, fantasy football team. You know, make sure you're all set up for the week, just those things. Just
Michael: have that
Eddie: little bit of time before you jump into the day like that. So yeah, definitely set those boundaries up. And, and try to stick to 'em as best as you possibly can. 'cause once you break it, once, it's, it's easy to break it again.
And then you're stuck in the loop of [00:19:00] always having something, always having some type of work in front of you, and it's just, it's not good for your mind. It's not good for your spirit.
Michael: Right. Yeah, I love to hear that. It, it seems like a consistent thread amongst people I talk to, whether it's guests on the show or dads outside of the show of you've gotta have time for yourself, like you can't take care of the ones you love. You can't take care of your work if you're not taking care of yourself,
Eddie: Correct.
Michael: right?
Like, yes, you have a job. Yes, you have family responsibilities, but you can't excel at those if you're struggling yourself, if you don't take that time to recharge yourself, if you have no energy for anything, because you don't give yourself time to recharge in whichever way it is, whether that's, you know, managing your fantasy football team or going for a run or whatever it may be that you use to recharge yourself.
If you don't do that, it [00:20:00] becomes very challenging to then take care of your other responsibilities. At some point, you'll just wear yourself down, you'll burn out, and you won't be able to do the things that you want to do and that you need to do to take care of your family, take care of your work, et cetera.
So it's, it's always reassuring and nice to hear the routines that people like yourself do to make sure that you have that balance, that you're able to, you take care of yourself so you can take care of your other responsibilities and those around you.
Eddie: Absolutely.
Michael: So, what advice would you give to dads who wanna explore a, a side path or build something small on the side without overwhelming themselves or their families?
You have EWS Consulting, for example, which you do in addition to your, your full-time job and still be an active present parent. But if another dad was listening to this right now and wanted to figure out, like, and maybe I wanna do something else on the side, something [00:21:00] I'm interested in that my work doesn't allow me to do, what advice would you give them?
Eddie: You know, and you hit it right there, something that you're interested in. So you definitely wanna make sure that if you're going to pick up some type of side, you know, gig or consulting or whatever it is, it's something that you, you definitely gonna enjoy. Cause if you try to throw on something additional to what you're already doing full-time and it's something that you don't like, then it becomes more of a job.
And that's just not the right approach in my opinion. Secondly, you, you gotta be honest with yourself. Can you take that on? Whatever it is, whether it's something that might be two hours a week, 10 hours, whatever it is. But do you have the time to be able to do that? And then to be able to be honest with yourself, honest with whomever it is that you're working with, whether it's a client or different job or different, whatever it is.
But be able to make that choice too when you start to feel that you are over your head, and, and be able to have that flexibility to make those adjustments so you're not feeling like that, but if you [00:22:00] don't think you can do it, then don't, or try it at a very small rate and let it grow. Let it build that way.
Michael: Right, right. Don't take on more than you could chew right off the, right off the bat, perhaps. Take it in small steps, right? One step at a time as you, as you start to build it. And yeah, and I agree with you on the, the passion part or the, the interest part, right? Like if you're not interested in it, it just becomes another responsibility that you're probably gonna drain more energy than it is going to bring in whatever value that you're trying to get from it.
Eddie: Yeah.
Yeah.
Michael: So yeah, I think that's a, a couple of really good points here.
Eddie: And you gotta make the choice, too. Are you, are you doing it because you, want that for yourself? You want a new avenue, you know, new opportunities. Are you doing it because of you need more money. I mean, there, you know, financial aspects, you gotta make that choice too and, and have that help make your decision for you.
Because [00:23:00] again, if you take the wrong approach at it, then it's another job, another thing I have to do. And it's not gonna see the success that you would normally see if you, if you have a more positive approach to it.
Michael: Absolutely, absolutely. You won't see the success and you won't have the satisfaction either,
Eddie: Right?
Michael: right?
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: You manage a consulting business. You manage your day job, you manage your family, and you see a lot. You've seen a lot in your years of experience now, and you've watched retail adapt again and again.
How has seeing all that change shaped how you think about fatherhood or leadership at home or, or has it?
Eddie: You know, I see that with my kids being, you know, teenagers, 13, 15. My daughter's gonna be 16 pretty soon. And all they've known is the convenience of current retail, the convenience of Amazon, or, you know, DoorDash. We're not a DoorDash family, but they, they know about it, right?
Michael: Sure.
Eddie: It's, you grab your phone and they have phones.
I mean, what, what, [00:24:00] 13, 15 year olds don't have phones right now, so, my son, "Dad, can I order Jimmy John's?" Sure, go ahead. He's got my card, he orders it, whatever. But I want him to stay grounded to the fact that if he hits those buttons, that order is going somewhere. There is a person who is picking that order, who is making that sandwich, or Amazon, you know, packing that box, getting on a truck.
There's a delivery driver, there's, there is a human element behind all of that that they are don't see.
And final result if you're not paying attention to the front door. You hit some buttons and whether it's, you know, 30 minutes later for something to eat or two days later for, you know, a package to arrive, it just arrives.
But they need to know all the steps behind that and all that goes involved with that, and multiply that by every order across the country and every time. So they, they need to stay grounded to those things.
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: And it, you know, realize that there's. It's not that easy. There's also a financial piece too, that you have to work to get these things, but my 13-year-old son will figure that out [00:25:00] a little bit later on.
Michael: Right.
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: It's interesting you bring that up because convenience today, as you alluded to earlier, kind of takes away the human element a bit, right? And the impact that you have on others with each order that you place, yes, it's so convenient to place those orders, but then people have work to do, and
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: not everybody can do those jobs or wants to do those jobs,
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: but to respect what people are doing for you to give you what you ordered,
Eddie: Correct.
Michael: Right?
They're, it's easy to take that for granted, right? And it's easy to not necessarily respect the work that they do or the time that they put in. Which again comes back to this element of being human and treating others as humans and to recognize that. I think it's, it's really important. I it find it very interesting that [00:26:00] that's the perspective that you've, you've taken cause I think that's for kids, especially teenagers, right? I have two teenagers myself and it's, you can see like, yes, they're very intelligent and they can figure out how to do things. They don't necessarily realize the impact that each decision makes.
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: The impact of a decision that you make.
Even if it's as simple as ordering a sandwich, it impacts others, right? Somebody's gotta make that sandwich. Somebody's gotta clean up after making that sandwich. Somebody's gotta put that together. They're earning a living so that they can support their family too. And someday, you know, my, my son has worked retail jobs, he's worked in food service.
Like he's seen customers come in that take 'em for granted, and they treat the, those employees not well and, right? And they can have that same impact even at a young age. So that's a, that's a really important lesson. I, I'm glad you brought that up. I appreciate that.
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: Speaking of lessons, what lessons about balance or perspective do you hope your [00:27:00] kids take from watching you work?
Even though they don't understand what you do, they still see that you work.
Eddie: No, absolutely. You know, in, in this, it happened last summer and, and it was fabulous. So my daughter's 15 at the time,
Michael: Sure.
Eddie: wanted a summer job, and now my daughter does competitive dance at school, competitive dance on the side, recreational dance on the side. She does additional training that is involved in, in being, you know, competitive dancers.
Fantastic. As a freshman. She made the varsity team, you know, a little shout out to her right now. She wanted a job over the summer and, and there were some differing of opinions. I was a hundred percent behind it. You know, my daughter wanted it and, and there was some difference of opinion, you know, for, from my wife.
And, and it was as simple as, you know, let her enjoy her summer. My daughter pushed and she interviewed and she got her work permit from high school, from her guidance counselor. And she was a lifeguard at a local pool. She had to pass a lifeguard test, you know, she had to do a lot of different stuff, [00:28:00] prepare, and then go to work and show up. And she sacrificed, you know, this is a summer job, so you're sacrificing some nights, some weekends, you know, working around, you know, 4th of July and the summer holidays, that type of stuff. But she wanted to, she wanted that experience. She said it herself. I wanna be able to see what it's like to work.
And, and we know that during the school year, it's not the best for her to get a job, right? Her availability would just be terrible. But she used the summer to do that, and she knew that soon to come, she'll be 16. She wants to be able to put gas in the car. She wants to be able to go out with her friends and get some dinner or whatever it is. So she made that choice and I couldn't be more proud of her and especially when she started to see, you know, the paychecks come in, but she had learned there was work behind that.
Michael: Right.
Eddie: And it wasn't just hang out in a chair all day, you know, and, and sit out in the sun. Like there's work that's done at a local pool, you know, behind the scenes that lifeguards have to do that people don't realize.
So, for her to see that balance herself [00:29:00] was just amazing and it, and it's, you know, I don't know if I necessarily taught that to her, but watching her experience that for those three months last summer was absolutely fantastic.
Michael: I bet, yeah, that's, that's gotta be quite impactful on her and I bet,
Eddie: yeah.
Michael: I bet if you were to ask her, or if someone were to ask her, you know, where she learned that responsibility from, she's probably gonna say, I've seen my parents go to work every day. I see them show up and they still get home for dinner, and they still do what they need to do so they can then spend time, they could spend their Sundays, you know, with the, the doors off on the Jeep driving and just enjoying the, the nice weather, so
Eddie: Correct. Yeah.
Michael: right.
That, that's a great story. That it very impressive that, you know, at 15, you know, she pushed to
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: not just get a job, but I have to go and get a work permit. My son had to do the same thing when he got his first job. You have to go and get a work permit, right? You have to go to the high school, you gotta fill out the paperwork.
Eddie: Makes 'em think outside of the box, go outside of their comfort zone again, right now, [00:30:00] social media, you know, they're, they're not, not a lot of kids are prone to having, you know, live conversations
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: with grownups, so again, and, and for her to go on an interview, like that's life experiences that you won't, you know, forget.
And in fact, they, they called her back already. I'm taking her for her recheck interview, you know, next week. So as they're preparing for next summer and she's all for it, she's excited for it, she's glad that she's doing it again. So I just
Michael: awesome.
Eddie: life lessons that it's teaching her and she's already thinking, what does my summer schedule look like with dance?
How do I, you know, pivot that, so, it's, it's just awesome experience.
Michael: Absolutely. And I think the key word there is experience, right? Like she's getting these experiences now so that as she continues to, you know, go through her schoolwork and gets into college and
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: pursues her career, she's already got some experience of taking responsibility and seeing what different jobs are like.
And just kind of opening your eyes to what life has to offer, right? Like, like you said, you're not necessarily on the phone, on social media constantly. You [00:31:00] are out there interacting with other humans again. So it's,
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: Experience is so, so important at any age. I mean, yes, a seven-year-old can't go and get a job necessarily, right?
But they can experience different things. They can go to different, do try different activities. They can read different books and just learn different things at any age. When you get to that age of, you know, 15, 16, you know, depending on your environment, there may be an opportunity to get a different type of experience.
That experience could be work. So
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: yeah, that's, that's really cool. One last question before we get into the speed round. When you think about your career and your family side by side, what does doing it right mean for you?
Eddie: Yeah, at the end of the day or when, when my kids are growing up, they, as long as my kids can say that Dad tried. He busted every day and, and he, he did what he could you know, make, made [00:32:00] sure that there was always plenty of food on the table. Nice house and nice things and nice clothes and, and not, not necessarily myself.
Same thing for my wife as well. Like just so they can take that and not show an appreciation back, but just appreciate it themselves
Michael: Sure.
Eddie: and then make the next steps they can to do, you know, hopefully we've set forth a good example so when they start their families that they are more successful than the two of us.
Michael: Yeah. Love that. That's awesome. All right, we're going to take things down a few notches from the serious discussion we've had so far. Speed round five questions really have nothing to do with anything, but they're fun to ask. And,
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: We're gonna go through 'em real quick. So what's the first kids show theme song that comes to mind?
Eddie: Ducktails theme, theme song.
Michael: The best kids theme song of all time. Yes, a hundred percent. Yeah, I could sing that all day now. That will be stuck in my head for the next week,
Eddie: Good.
Michael: but I'm not mad about it.[00:33:00]
Eddie: No.
Michael: It's such a good song. What was your very first job?
Eddie: Cutting Grandma's grass. 10 bucks.
Can of Coke
Michael: Oh, wow.
Eddie: out of the fridge. Good conversation. Best job ever.
Michael: That's awesome.
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: Would you rather spend 24 hours with a toddler-sized T-Rex or a T-Rex-sized toddler?
Eddie: Toddler-sized T-Rex.
Michael: Why is that?
Eddie: It could probably still kill you, but I mean, it, I I should be able to outpower it, right? Like get it into a room, lock it in a cage, something like that. But a, a toddler-sized or a T-Rex-sized toddler that would, no, I, that's a lot chasing around of something you have no control over.
Michael: Right. You have no control over when they're a toddler-sized toddler.
Eddie: Exactly. Yeah.
Michael: Let alone a T-Rex-sized one.
Eddie: Right?
Michael: Yeah. No, that's a, that's a fair answer. What's your go-to karaoke song?
Eddie: Well I don't do karaoke, but if [00:34:00] it, if I were to, Knee Deep by Zach Brown Band features Jimmy Buffett. Kind of an oxymoron cause I don't like the beach itself and song's pretty much about being on the beach, but.
Michael: Yeah. Excellent, excellent. What's the weirdest thing you've ever carried around in your bag, briefcase or pockets?
Eddie: Poker chips.
Michael: Poker chips?
Eddie: Yeah. There was a, I, I had a job about 20 years ago, I traveled Monday through Friday, traveled all the time. I was a regional field trainer, so literally Monday through Friday, road warrior, and this was when online poker was legal.
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: So I played a lot of online poker nights in hotel rooms, and I learned how to shuffle poker chips like the professionals do on TV just by keeping them,
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: with me at all time.
And I'd set up, play online poker and I'd have my poker chips as if I was playing real poker and, I'm very successful at it for a while. My wife's engagement ring was pretty much paid for by online [00:35:00] poker winnings. So,
Michael: Amazing.
Eddie: she's probably not going to see this or hear this. She still doesn't necessarily know that, but let's put it this way, if she's gonna see this show, she would've stopped watching it by this point. So she sees enough of me.
Michael: That's fair. That's fair. Well, that's, that was great. Eddie, this conversation's been full of practical wisdom. I really appreciate you sharing about your business, how you kind of balance that with your personal life and about just being present where it matters. And before we wrap up, I'd love for people to know how they can follow your work or reach out if they wanna learn more about what you're doing through EWS Consulting or, or otherwise.
Eddie: Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's still in its infancy. You know, I, I've started the consulting company about eight months ago. So, you know, I don't have any social media pages at this point right now, but my email address and I, I know that it's kind of an archaic way of communication at this point, but it's etorba@ewsconsulting.online.
[00:36:00] I
Michael: Okay.
Eddie: I should say, so etorba@ewsconsulting.online would be the best way to reach out for me. Again, it's, you know, brand standards, efficiency reports, data management, data analysis, user guides, you know, templates. Again, a lot of tools that are at people's fingertips right now in AI, but I certainly give it a more personal approach than maybe an AI or, or a chat bot tool can give.
You know, and, and learning and growing it as best as I can and, and just adding additional, you know, expertise to it when I can.
Michael: Awesome. Appreciate that. We'll put that in the show notes as well, so people have an easy way to, to reach out. Eddie, thank you again for joining us today. You gave some amazing ideas, gave some great practical advice. I really appreciate it. And finally, if you're a dad listening to this and trying to figure out what comes next, maybe you're in between jobs, starting something new, or just looking for meaning in your work, head to gaptogig.com, subscribe to the Gap to Gig newsletter, and if you took something valuable from this episode, send it to a dad you think could also [00:37:00] benefit. Until next time, I'm Michael Jacobs and this is Gap to Gig, where we're building work that fits your life, not the other way around.
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[00:00:00] I pride myself. I've never missed a Christmas program. I've never missed a Halloween parade. I've never missed, you know, in the kindergarten read alongs, anything like that. So being able to see that stuff and live it and not have to watch it from somebody's iPhone and sending me the message, you know, that that's experiences that I've, you can't get back.
Michael: Welcome to Gap to Gig, the show for dads reimagining how work fits into life, not the other way around. It's where we talk about what comes next, how to make sense of the in between and who we become in the process. I'm your host Michael Jacobs, and today I'm thrilled to have with us Eddie Torba. He's a retail execution expert who works full-time with Ad Populum and also runs a consulting practice, EWS Consulting. He's helped bring structure and clarity to major retail initiatives and is currently supporting efforts to reestablish the Party City brand in new channels. What really stands out about Eddie is how intentionally he's built his career around his family.
Instead of chasing the next rung on the ladder, he's built a [00:01:00] hybrid path. It gives him stability, meaningful work, and room to be present for his kids as they move through their teenage years. His guiding belief says it all work to live, not live to work. Eddie, welcome to the show. I'm excited to have you here today.
Eddie: Thanks Michael. Appreciate, appreciate being on the show today.
Michael: My pleasure. So before we get into the, the business and balance aspect of things, what does a regular day look like for you right now, both at work and at home?
Eddie: You know, honestly, I'm, I'm the first riser at home, so I am up well before everybody else in the house. I get my quiet time, first cup of coffee and help get the kids ready for school. You know, they're teenagers, but you know, they're really good students, so I help get them pushed out the door. I take my son to school actually, and then from there, jump into work, put in my time at work for, you know, for, for what I need to at that point. I'm still a firm believer in family dinner, so stop at a certain point. Pick up whoever needs to get picked up from school, after school activities, you know, get some type of dinner on the [00:02:00] table. Hopefully, all four of us in the family can sit down, have some conversation, and then it's usually a race to all the different activities at night. And then, you know, if I'm satisfied with what I've done for work for the day, I kind of shut things down. If not, you know, with the family, things got in the way or anything else came up, I'll go back, finish up my day at work and yeah, so it's, morning to night, full day.
Michael: Yes. Sounds
with
Eddie: two kids.
Michael: Like, sounds like it. I love how you emphasize the, the dinner aspect of it. It just, there's at least that one time of day where you all come together or try to all come together and have those conversations.
Eddie: Yeah,
Michael: That's,
Eddie: We got about a 70% success rate through the week for it. But you need that. It's just a daily check with everybody in the family.
Michael: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. All right, so for listeners who might not know the world of retail execution, what do you focus on day to day in your role at Ad Populum?
Eddie: So right now with reestablishing the Party City brand the, the Party City went in through bankruptcy [00:03:00] last year. Another company Ad Populum came along and purchased the intellectual property. So, Party City is still a brand that is, you know, very popular, so, we are reestablishing that having store within store concepts with, with some other retailers.
Right now, we've launched with Dash Mart locations where you can actually go to partycity.com, have inflated balloons delivered to your house. So, in that case I have been training and working, you know, in support with these new connections that we have on how to inflate balloons themselves cause that's a science involved in it as well.
Michael: Sure.
Eddie: But then also using, you know, some brand standards that we had had in the past and, and what our customers from Party City expect. We want to be able to deliver that same party experience.
Michael: Got it. Got it. And on the consulting side, what kind of projects or opportunities do you take on when they come your way?
Eddie: So right now I work with a small business based out of Chicago. I help, you know, I'm there roughly once a week and help day-to-day operations of how [00:04:00] to run a small business and, and what things to look at. So I partner with that gentleman, and then also any, you know, and I know I'm not gonna start the AI debate with you right now.
Michael: Appreciate that.
Eddie: You know, a, a lot of things that I can do in, in specialize in data analysis, brand standards, user guides, efficiency reports, or efficient, you know, ways to efficiently approach items can be done through AI. I like to believe that I still bring in that human element to that,
Michael: Yep.
Eddie: and use past experiences from running retail stores to working in corporate environments, cross-functional teams. So, I like to, you know, any opportunities that come that way. You know, it's been small so far which has been perfectly fine with me, but being able to use those, those past experiences.
Michael: Sure. That makes sense. So you're helping. You're helping a small business right now. You're also helping Party City reestablish itself and do new retail channels. What has that experience taught you about resilience, reinvention, or kind of leading through change?[00:05:00]
Eddie: You know, look back right now at a year ago and roughly a year ago of when Party City announced its bankruptcy. And you know, that was, I worked in store operations in that and you know, thinking that it was going to be over at that point, but seeing a company purchase its intellectual property and move forward and how it can be redeveloped in a non-standard brick and mortar retail store. So, and I think with, you know, it, everyone uses Amazon. Everybody uses DoorDash and Uber Eats and in everything is to our fingertips right now, and it's how can we evolve that type of retail experience to a fingertip approach
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: where it just shows up magically.
Michael: Right, right. What's been kind of the biggest challenge then of going from store operations, like having physical stores now, to making things more at your fingertips?
Eddie: You know, the biggest obstacle would be that, that experience piece that was involved with, with running a brick and mortar retail store.
Michael: [00:06:00] Sure.
Eddie: You can have a negative positive customer experience. It's all about how you treat those people when they walk through your door. When it's at fingertips, you're losing that, that personal approach. I'll take balloons, for example. If you were to order, you know, somebody were to order balloons for their child's first birthday, typically they're gonna go into a store, they wanna see the colors, they wanna see what it looks like. They, they can imagine it, they could see it in their home or in their, you know, banquet hall, wherever they're having the celebration at. Now doing it online and online only you, you lose that personal experience. So, and that is probably what's difficult too. You know, brick and mortar retail stores you can train, you can train, you know, the 700 stores and all the staff and you can be able to identify those people that can bring those experiences to life.
And whether it's balloons or grocery or office supply, whatever it is.
Michael: Right.
Eddie: But now working with individuals and working with companies, I should say that have, it, it's just all behind the scenes. There's no customer interaction, one-on-one interaction and our, you know, customer services, our, [00:07:00] our customer service telephone numbers that you call if you actually can get ahold of somebody.
You know, it's, it's not that personal experience that we were used to from 25, 30 years ago.
Michael: Right. Right. And so your work has been, it sounds to me like, personalization, well not, maybe not personalization per se, but personal interaction has always been an important element of the work that you do and how you translate that now to more of a online experience or an indirect experience if it's a store within a store concept.
Eddie: Correct.
Yeah.
Michael: Trying to, how do you bring that human element to what is becoming a lot less human today is
Eddie: a little
Michael: bit of a challenge.
Eddie: And within a store within a store, you're taking maybe can't lead too much into it right now, but we're, you know, dropping in a Party City experience into a retail store that doesn't have anything to do with a party experience, and how do you help that company and change [00:08:00] that mindset a little bit and be able to work with the that store staff to have that personal experience on something which is brand new to them as well.
Michael: Yeah, and I imagine there's some crossover between the themes of your work of this, the human element of it and guiding people also comes home with you. There, there's crossover between work and home. Like there might be less human element in your work today, but you're still trying to implement that, but at home you also have that human element. You have to meet your family where they're at. You have to meet them kind of one-on-one. You have to be personal with them at home. You can't just like, there, there's no chat bot for them to go to to get their,
Eddie: Right.
Michael: their
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: parenting advice or spousal advice or whatever it may be.
Eddie: Correct. Yeah. I mean, you could try, you, you can type in anything into an AI right now and get some type of response, whether it's the right one or not.
Michael: Sure. Obviously you have the personal element home, but there's still going to be some personal element [00:09:00] at work as well.
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: I know you mentioned at the end of the day you have to prioritize family over work, right? And like you said earlier, you know, dinner, family dinners are important, even if it's not every day, it's as often as you can do it.
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: Is there a specific moment or experience that, that changed that priority for you where it was like family becomes I need to prioritize family here or was it, has it always been that way or were you work centric, you know, early in your career?
Eddie: So I certainly was work centric, you know, definitely before you know, I had children and when I came engaged and, and got married and kids came, you know, a couple years after that. I was a retail store manager, so it just kind of fit to what I was doing.
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: You know, and, and being a retail store manager gives you a little bit of freedom and flexibility with writing your schedule.
You know, there's obviously certain retailers are always gonna, you know, have, have some [00:10:00] guidelines to write, but it was able to, you know, it allowed me to have the opportunity to work. My wife's a teacher, so she definitely Monday through Friday, you know,
Michael: summer
Eddie: breaks, winter breaks, spring breaks, that type of stuff.
But, you know, definitely Monday through Friday and I knew that, you know, that at the time running retail stores, having that ability to write my own schedule was probably the best fit for my family to be able to, you know, have the kids home as much as possible, you know, not have to rely on daycare Monday through Friday.
So, you know, there's more night shifts that I worked. There was more weekend shifts that were required, but that gave me the opportunity to be home with the kids as often as I possibly could and limit the time that they're with a babysitter. So, it kind of fell into place, but as it was falling into place, it just made sense, and, you know, it was great because brand retail stores up until about five years ago. And I, and I pride myself, I've never missed a Christmas program. I've never missed a Halloween parade. I've never missed, you know, in the kindergarten read alongs, anything like that. So being able [00:11:00] to see that stuff and live it and not have to watch it from somebody's iPhone and sending you the message, you know, that
Michael: Right.
Eddie: that's experiences that I, you can't get back.
And I am so happy that I was able to do that with the career that I was shaping at the time.
Michael: Love that. That's, I'm the same way. To me, it's all about the experiences, right? It's the memories that are created from that and like, sure your kids will go through a hundred different school plays or school activities that you'll go see in different sporting events, that they'll do different games and practices and, and what have you, but to be able to look back on those memories and be able to share those with your kids as they get older, to me, there's nothing more valuable. And to prioritize being there for those events. And I know, I assume that it is equally as valuable for the kids to have their parents present,
Eddie: Oh, absolutely.
Michael: Right? Like it means the world to them. The people that are most important to them are there
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: [00:12:00] supporting them. They might not realize it in the moment, but I think as they look back that there's, there's a lot of value that
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: as a dad bring just by showing up. Just by being there, right?
Eddie: Absolutely.
Michael: And so as you went from store manager to more of a, can I say corporate role?
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: How did being a dad kind of influence that shift in kind of how you structured your career going from the retail world to more of a corporate role?
Eddie: Yeah, you know, and again, it's no secret sauce with it, it was an opportunity that, that, you know, presented itself. At the time I was running a Party City retail location and, and was an opportunity for a temporary position for, for, you know, to assist store operations, delivery, and it was remote, right?
So.
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: That, that right there, you know, there, there's no secret to that. I mean, that is a huge benefit. So, and, and I'm grateful for that for every day. So [00:13:00] when I took that role on, it, I was still able to work, you know, I was able to work from home, so it actually gave me even more time to be available and, and I've had the opportunity to work for some awesome people. And they've always stressed the importance of family, but in that there was a trust involved as well. You know, I, I understand that they allow, you know, great leaders will allow you to be able to spend time with your family and do things that are important to you, but in turn, it's a trust they, there's work that needs to be done or you know, that, that you're giving them your absolute best. So again, it just, everything just kind of fell into place with that. And you know, I, I was able to identify from a temporary position what it needed to go to a actual full-time position, and I was able to create that, which was fantastic as well.
But, you know, and as we talked about earlier, at the end of the day, I had to, you know, make that adjustment or make that, make that decision that I accomplished what I needed to get accomplished today. Or did I go above and beyond [00:14:00] my expectations that I set for myself? But if I hadn't, then I put the additional work in.
But again, working remote, you could do that at 10 11, 1,
Michael: Right.
Eddie: one o'clock in the morning.
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: So you know, so it was again, it, it, I don't want to take away the fact that working remote was a huge benefit during all of that.
Michael: Absolutely. How often do you find yourself working late at night or, you know, after you have dinner with your family, do activities, spend time with the, the kids or take them to activities? How often do you come back at 10 o'clock at night and be like, oh, you know what? I need to sit back down on my computer and get a few more things done?
Eddie: Yeah. You know, in the past when I had different responsibilities it was very often, but again, it was, I had a level of expectation that I set for myself. So it was always going above and beyond. Right now, my, my responsibilities though are not less, they're just different. So, and with the kids being a little bit older and more [00:15:00] afterschool activities, that gives me a more structured day, a longer time period of the day.
So not as often, but again, it's, you're still making that decision every day: did I get everything done? And, and I'm not typically one to save something for the next day.
Michael: Got it. What do your kids notice most about your work? What do they think you do all day?
Eddie: They have no idea what I do all day. You know, and it's funny, when we have the conversations at home, then they, you know, they have no idea. Very easy. My, my wife's a teacher, she's a fourth grade teacher.
Michael: Yep.
Eddie: Identifiable, you know?
Michael: Yep.
Eddie: When I tell them that I'm a retail execution, you know, expert, no clue what I'm talking about.
They just know that I work. And there's days that I work much longer than I probably should. And there's days that you know, that, that I just work a standard day. So, but yeah, no idea what I do day in and day out.
Michael: They know you do something.
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: Have you ever had to make a tough call where your family came before work?
Eddie: [00:16:00] You know, again, that, that probably goes back to what we, what I discussed, you know, a little while ago, is that tough call and it's nothing against being a retail manager. I, I learned so much from that. And for, you know, any recruiter that might be, you know, watching your show, listening to the podcast, I mean, retail, good retail managers are such untapped potential, I believe in, in so many different environments. However, you know, I, I don't wanna say I didn't enjoy it, but I always thought that I could possibly do a little bit more, but I knew that at the time that was the right fit for my family and, and going and trying to find something Monday through Friday, nine to five, you know, wasn't going to work and, and it wasn't going to help me be the dad that I want, the present dad that I wanted to be at the time.
Michael: All right.
Okay, so a lot of dads think they have to choose between stability and flexibility. How has balancing full-time work with consulting changed your perspective on that if it has at all?[00:17:00]
Eddie: Yeah, I, I don't think you, you make the choice between stability and flexibility. I think you have to balance the two of those in a way that you wanna make sure that at the end of the day you got everything accomplished at work that you needed to while still being able to, you know, have that family time, but stability where you have to be, have that, that structure around your day-to-day life
Michael: to be
Eddie: able to set yourself up for success, right? You gotta have things organized and, and at least that's worked for me, I should say.
Michael: Yep.
Eddie: So, I don't think it's a decision between one or the other. I think it's, in my opinion, it's a mix between the two.
Michael: Sure. No, that makes, that makes a lot of sense. Are there boundaries or habits that you have to help you kind of protect your time and energy?
Eddie: Oh, absolutely. You know, Sundays are a day that I like to just make sure that there's nothing on the calendar unless it's a dance competition or a volleyball tournament that I have to go to, but other than that you know, in the summertime, I, I [00:18:00] take the doors on the roof off the Jeep and, and go for a drive. In the wintertime, you know, it, it enjoy part of the holiday season, whatever it is. Sundays are definitely a day that I wanna make sure the calendar's clear for. Same thing and then every morning too, in, in the past I used to wake up and the first thing I do is, you know, make a cup of coffee and go right to work. And that could be at 5:30, 6 o'clock in the morning. Again, benefit from working at home. What I've learned probably in the past 12 months is still wake up early because it's, my body's just adjusted to that. But have that time, that quiet, 30, 40 minutes to yourself, sip on a cup of coffee, organize your thoughts for the day. Personal email, fantasy football team. You know, make sure you're all set up for the week, just those things. Just
Michael: have that
Eddie: little bit of time before you jump into the day like that. So yeah, definitely set those boundaries up. And, and try to stick to 'em as best as you possibly can. 'cause once you break it, once, it's, it's easy to break it again.
And then you're stuck in the loop of [00:19:00] always having something, always having some type of work in front of you, and it's just, it's not good for your mind. It's not good for your spirit.
Michael: Right. Yeah, I love to hear that. It, it seems like a consistent thread amongst people I talk to, whether it's guests on the show or dads outside of the show of you've gotta have time for yourself, like you can't take care of the ones you love. You can't take care of your work if you're not taking care of yourself,
Eddie: Correct.
Michael: right?
Like, yes, you have a job. Yes, you have family responsibilities, but you can't excel at those if you're struggling yourself, if you don't take that time to recharge yourself, if you have no energy for anything, because you don't give yourself time to recharge in whichever way it is, whether that's, you know, managing your fantasy football team or going for a run or whatever it may be that you use to recharge yourself.
If you don't do that, it [00:20:00] becomes very challenging to then take care of your other responsibilities. At some point, you'll just wear yourself down, you'll burn out, and you won't be able to do the things that you want to do and that you need to do to take care of your family, take care of your work, et cetera.
So it's, it's always reassuring and nice to hear the routines that people like yourself do to make sure that you have that balance, that you're able to, you take care of yourself so you can take care of your other responsibilities and those around you.
Eddie: Absolutely.
Michael: So, what advice would you give to dads who wanna explore a, a side path or build something small on the side without overwhelming themselves or their families?
You have EWS Consulting, for example, which you do in addition to your, your full-time job and still be an active present parent. But if another dad was listening to this right now and wanted to figure out, like, and maybe I wanna do something else on the side, something [00:21:00] I'm interested in that my work doesn't allow me to do, what advice would you give them?
Eddie: You know, and you hit it right there, something that you're interested in. So you definitely wanna make sure that if you're going to pick up some type of side, you know, gig or consulting or whatever it is, it's something that you, you definitely gonna enjoy. Cause if you try to throw on something additional to what you're already doing full-time and it's something that you don't like, then it becomes more of a job.
And that's just not the right approach in my opinion. Secondly, you, you gotta be honest with yourself. Can you take that on? Whatever it is, whether it's something that might be two hours a week, 10 hours, whatever it is. But do you have the time to be able to do that? And then to be able to be honest with yourself, honest with whomever it is that you're working with, whether it's a client or different job or different, whatever it is.
But be able to make that choice too when you start to feel that you are over your head, and, and be able to have that flexibility to make those adjustments so you're not feeling like that, but if you [00:22:00] don't think you can do it, then don't, or try it at a very small rate and let it grow. Let it build that way.
Michael: Right, right. Don't take on more than you could chew right off the, right off the bat, perhaps. Take it in small steps, right? One step at a time as you, as you start to build it. And yeah, and I agree with you on the, the passion part or the, the interest part, right? Like if you're not interested in it, it just becomes another responsibility that you're probably gonna drain more energy than it is going to bring in whatever value that you're trying to get from it.
Eddie: Yeah.
Yeah.
Michael: So yeah, I think that's a, a couple of really good points here.
Eddie: And you gotta make the choice, too. Are you, are you doing it because you, want that for yourself? You want a new avenue, you know, new opportunities. Are you doing it because of you need more money. I mean, there, you know, financial aspects, you gotta make that choice too and, and have that help make your decision for you.
Because [00:23:00] again, if you take the wrong approach at it, then it's another job, another thing I have to do. And it's not gonna see the success that you would normally see if you, if you have a more positive approach to it.
Michael: Absolutely, absolutely. You won't see the success and you won't have the satisfaction either,
Eddie: Right?
Michael: right?
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: You manage a consulting business. You manage your day job, you manage your family, and you see a lot. You've seen a lot in your years of experience now, and you've watched retail adapt again and again.
How has seeing all that change shaped how you think about fatherhood or leadership at home or, or has it?
Eddie: You know, I see that with my kids being, you know, teenagers, 13, 15. My daughter's gonna be 16 pretty soon. And all they've known is the convenience of current retail, the convenience of Amazon, or, you know, DoorDash. We're not a DoorDash family, but they, they know about it, right?
Michael: Sure.
Eddie: It's, you grab your phone and they have phones.
I mean, what, what, [00:24:00] 13, 15 year olds don't have phones right now, so, my son, "Dad, can I order Jimmy John's?" Sure, go ahead. He's got my card, he orders it, whatever. But I want him to stay grounded to the fact that if he hits those buttons, that order is going somewhere. There is a person who is picking that order, who is making that sandwich, or Amazon, you know, packing that box, getting on a truck.
There's a delivery driver, there's, there is a human element behind all of that that they are don't see.
And final result if you're not paying attention to the front door. You hit some buttons and whether it's, you know, 30 minutes later for something to eat or two days later for, you know, a package to arrive, it just arrives.
But they need to know all the steps behind that and all that goes involved with that, and multiply that by every order across the country and every time. So they, they need to stay grounded to those things.
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: And it, you know, realize that there's. It's not that easy. There's also a financial piece too, that you have to work to get these things, but my 13-year-old son will figure that out [00:25:00] a little bit later on.
Michael: Right.
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: It's interesting you bring that up because convenience today, as you alluded to earlier, kind of takes away the human element a bit, right? And the impact that you have on others with each order that you place, yes, it's so convenient to place those orders, but then people have work to do, and
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: not everybody can do those jobs or wants to do those jobs,
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: but to respect what people are doing for you to give you what you ordered,
Eddie: Correct.
Michael: Right?
They're, it's easy to take that for granted, right? And it's easy to not necessarily respect the work that they do or the time that they put in. Which again comes back to this element of being human and treating others as humans and to recognize that. I think it's, it's really important. I it find it very interesting that [00:26:00] that's the perspective that you've, you've taken cause I think that's for kids, especially teenagers, right? I have two teenagers myself and it's, you can see like, yes, they're very intelligent and they can figure out how to do things. They don't necessarily realize the impact that each decision makes.
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: The impact of a decision that you make.
Even if it's as simple as ordering a sandwich, it impacts others, right? Somebody's gotta make that sandwich. Somebody's gotta clean up after making that sandwich. Somebody's gotta put that together. They're earning a living so that they can support their family too. And someday, you know, my, my son has worked retail jobs, he's worked in food service.
Like he's seen customers come in that take 'em for granted, and they treat the, those employees not well and, right? And they can have that same impact even at a young age. So that's a, that's a really important lesson. I, I'm glad you brought that up. I appreciate that.
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: Speaking of lessons, what lessons about balance or perspective do you hope your [00:27:00] kids take from watching you work?
Even though they don't understand what you do, they still see that you work.
Eddie: No, absolutely. You know, in, in this, it happened last summer and, and it was fabulous. So my daughter's 15 at the time,
Michael: Sure.
Eddie: wanted a summer job, and now my daughter does competitive dance at school, competitive dance on the side, recreational dance on the side. She does additional training that is involved in, in being, you know, competitive dancers.
Fantastic. As a freshman. She made the varsity team, you know, a little shout out to her right now. She wanted a job over the summer and, and there were some differing of opinions. I was a hundred percent behind it. You know, my daughter wanted it and, and there was some difference of opinion, you know, for, from my wife.
And, and it was as simple as, you know, let her enjoy her summer. My daughter pushed and she interviewed and she got her work permit from high school, from her guidance counselor. And she was a lifeguard at a local pool. She had to pass a lifeguard test, you know, she had to do a lot of different stuff, [00:28:00] prepare, and then go to work and show up. And she sacrificed, you know, this is a summer job, so you're sacrificing some nights, some weekends, you know, working around, you know, 4th of July and the summer holidays, that type of stuff. But she wanted to, she wanted that experience. She said it herself. I wanna be able to see what it's like to work.
And, and we know that during the school year, it's not the best for her to get a job, right? Her availability would just be terrible. But she used the summer to do that, and she knew that soon to come, she'll be 16. She wants to be able to put gas in the car. She wants to be able to go out with her friends and get some dinner or whatever it is. So she made that choice and I couldn't be more proud of her and especially when she started to see, you know, the paychecks come in, but she had learned there was work behind that.
Michael: Right.
Eddie: And it wasn't just hang out in a chair all day, you know, and, and sit out in the sun. Like there's work that's done at a local pool, you know, behind the scenes that lifeguards have to do that people don't realize.
So, for her to see that balance herself [00:29:00] was just amazing and it, and it's, you know, I don't know if I necessarily taught that to her, but watching her experience that for those three months last summer was absolutely fantastic.
Michael: I bet, yeah, that's, that's gotta be quite impactful on her and I bet,
Eddie: yeah.
Michael: I bet if you were to ask her, or if someone were to ask her, you know, where she learned that responsibility from, she's probably gonna say, I've seen my parents go to work every day. I see them show up and they still get home for dinner, and they still do what they need to do so they can then spend time, they could spend their Sundays, you know, with the, the doors off on the Jeep driving and just enjoying the, the nice weather, so
Eddie: Correct. Yeah.
Michael: right.
That, that's a great story. That it very impressive that, you know, at 15, you know, she pushed to
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: not just get a job, but I have to go and get a work permit. My son had to do the same thing when he got his first job. You have to go and get a work permit, right? You have to go to the high school, you gotta fill out the paperwork.
Eddie: Makes 'em think outside of the box, go outside of their comfort zone again, right now, [00:30:00] social media, you know, they're, they're not, not a lot of kids are prone to having, you know, live conversations
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: with grownups, so again, and, and for her to go on an interview, like that's life experiences that you won't, you know, forget.
And in fact, they, they called her back already. I'm taking her for her recheck interview, you know, next week. So as they're preparing for next summer and she's all for it, she's excited for it, she's glad that she's doing it again. So I just
Michael: awesome.
Eddie: life lessons that it's teaching her and she's already thinking, what does my summer schedule look like with dance?
How do I, you know, pivot that, so, it's, it's just awesome experience.
Michael: Absolutely. And I think the key word there is experience, right? Like she's getting these experiences now so that as she continues to, you know, go through her schoolwork and gets into college and
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Michael: pursues her career, she's already got some experience of taking responsibility and seeing what different jobs are like.
And just kind of opening your eyes to what life has to offer, right? Like, like you said, you're not necessarily on the phone, on social media constantly. You [00:31:00] are out there interacting with other humans again. So it's,
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: Experience is so, so important at any age. I mean, yes, a seven-year-old can't go and get a job necessarily, right?
But they can experience different things. They can go to different, do try different activities. They can read different books and just learn different things at any age. When you get to that age of, you know, 15, 16, you know, depending on your environment, there may be an opportunity to get a different type of experience.
That experience could be work. So
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: yeah, that's, that's really cool. One last question before we get into the speed round. When you think about your career and your family side by side, what does doing it right mean for you?
Eddie: Yeah, at the end of the day or when, when my kids are growing up, they, as long as my kids can say that Dad tried. He busted every day and, and he, he did what he could you know, make, made [00:32:00] sure that there was always plenty of food on the table. Nice house and nice things and nice clothes and, and not, not necessarily myself.
Same thing for my wife as well. Like just so they can take that and not show an appreciation back, but just appreciate it themselves
Michael: Sure.
Eddie: and then make the next steps they can to do, you know, hopefully we've set forth a good example so when they start their families that they are more successful than the two of us.
Michael: Yeah. Love that. That's awesome. All right, we're going to take things down a few notches from the serious discussion we've had so far. Speed round five questions really have nothing to do with anything, but they're fun to ask. And,
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: We're gonna go through 'em real quick. So what's the first kids show theme song that comes to mind?
Eddie: Ducktails theme, theme song.
Michael: The best kids theme song of all time. Yes, a hundred percent. Yeah, I could sing that all day now. That will be stuck in my head for the next week,
Eddie: Good.
Michael: but I'm not mad about it.[00:33:00]
Eddie: No.
Michael: It's such a good song. What was your very first job?
Eddie: Cutting Grandma's grass. 10 bucks.
Can of Coke
Michael: Oh, wow.
Eddie: out of the fridge. Good conversation. Best job ever.
Michael: That's awesome.
Eddie: Yeah.
Michael: Would you rather spend 24 hours with a toddler-sized T-Rex or a T-Rex-sized toddler?
Eddie: Toddler-sized T-Rex.
Michael: Why is that?
Eddie: It could probably still kill you, but I mean, it, I I should be able to outpower it, right? Like get it into a room, lock it in a cage, something like that. But a, a toddler-sized or a T-Rex-sized toddler that would, no, I, that's a lot chasing around of something you have no control over.
Michael: Right. You have no control over when they're a toddler-sized toddler.
Eddie: Exactly. Yeah.
Michael: Let alone a T-Rex-sized one.
Eddie: Right?
Michael: Yeah. No, that's a, that's a fair answer. What's your go-to karaoke song?
Eddie: Well I don't do karaoke, but if [00:34:00] it, if I were to, Knee Deep by Zach Brown Band features Jimmy Buffett. Kind of an oxymoron cause I don't like the beach itself and song's pretty much about being on the beach, but.
Michael: Yeah. Excellent, excellent. What's the weirdest thing you've ever carried around in your bag, briefcase or pockets?
Eddie: Poker chips.
Michael: Poker chips?
Eddie: Yeah. There was a, I, I had a job about 20 years ago, I traveled Monday through Friday, traveled all the time. I was a regional field trainer, so literally Monday through Friday, road warrior, and this was when online poker was legal.
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: So I played a lot of online poker nights in hotel rooms, and I learned how to shuffle poker chips like the professionals do on TV just by keeping them,
Michael: Yeah.
Eddie: with me at all time.
And I'd set up, play online poker and I'd have my poker chips as if I was playing real poker and, I'm very successful at it for a while. My wife's engagement ring was pretty much paid for by online [00:35:00] poker winnings. So,
Michael: Amazing.
Eddie: she's probably not going to see this or hear this. She still doesn't necessarily know that, but let's put it this way, if she's gonna see this show, she would've stopped watching it by this point. So she sees enough of me.
Michael: That's fair. That's fair. Well, that's, that was great. Eddie, this conversation's been full of practical wisdom. I really appreciate you sharing about your business, how you kind of balance that with your personal life and about just being present where it matters. And before we wrap up, I'd love for people to know how they can follow your work or reach out if they wanna learn more about what you're doing through EWS Consulting or, or otherwise.
Eddie: Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's still in its infancy. You know, I, I've started the consulting company about eight months ago. So, you know, I don't have any social media pages at this point right now, but my email address and I, I know that it's kind of an archaic way of communication at this point, but it's etorba@ewsconsulting.online.
[00:36:00] I
Michael: Okay.
Eddie: I should say, so etorba@ewsconsulting.online would be the best way to reach out for me. Again, it's, you know, brand standards, efficiency reports, data management, data analysis, user guides, you know, templates. Again, a lot of tools that are at people's fingertips right now in AI, but I certainly give it a more personal approach than maybe an AI or, or a chat bot tool can give.
You know, and, and learning and growing it as best as I can and, and just adding additional, you know, expertise to it when I can.
Michael: Awesome. Appreciate that. We'll put that in the show notes as well, so people have an easy way to, to reach out. Eddie, thank you again for joining us today. You gave some amazing ideas, gave some great practical advice. I really appreciate it. And finally, if you're a dad listening to this and trying to figure out what comes next, maybe you're in between jobs, starting something new, or just looking for meaning in your work, head to gaptogig.com, subscribe to the Gap to Gig newsletter, and if you took something valuable from this episode, send it to a dad you think could also [00:37:00] benefit. Until next time, I'm Michael Jacobs and this is Gap to Gig, where we're building work that fits your life, not the other way around.