Oct. 23, 2026

Can You Build What’s Next Without Missing What’s Now?

When the Work That Got You Here No Longer Fits

Inside this issue

Use What You’ve Already Earned
The Family Fit Check
Time to Sprint: Give One Idea a First Test
What’s one thing you need from your work today that you didn’t need five years ago?
Connect with Paul
Check out this week’s episode
The Last Laugh: Ice Fishing
But before we get to all that, here’s what’s…

On My Mind

As messages flooded his phone, Paul Moore thought the worst: that something happened to his daughter. He was returning from a fishing trip in Alaska, close enough to shore to receive notifications, but not yet close enough to have enough signal to open them. When the messages finally came through, they were congratulations about his business. His daughter was fine, but his reaction stayed with him.

By then, Paul had spent years building a life around demanding work. Manufacturing in China gave him the experience and relationships to start Smily Mia, a baby products company inspired by raising his daughter as a single dad. Commercial fishing helped him fund it. When we talked on the podcast this week, he described how that work had supported his family and how he eventually recognized that he needed to spend more time on land.

I think that’s a difficult thing to admit about work that’s been good to you. When a job has paid the bills, given you opportunities, and helped you build something, changing it can feel hard to justify. You know what it provides. You’ve learned how to do it well. The reasons you chose it may still be valid, even as the cost of continuing becomes harder to ignore.

Paul described getting back to land at three in the morning and leaving again at seven. His daughter was sleeping or getting ready for school during most of that window. He could be home between trips and still have very little time to share with her.

A lot of dads know some version of that schedule, even if we’ve never set foot on a fishing boat. We finish a demanding week and spend Saturday recovering. We accept another responsibility because we’ve always been able to handle it. We keep telling ourselves things will settle down without deciding when we’ll take a closer look at whether they actually have.

Providing for a family is a real responsibility, and changing work takes planning. Paul built his business over years and considered ways to keep earning from fishing while stepping back. What I appreciate is that he allowed his daughter’s changing life to influence the decision. The fact that the arrangement had worked before didn’t settle whether it should continue.

We tend to give work a formal review more often than we give the place it occupies in our lives. We assess performance, compensation, and opportunities to advance. I think we also need to ask whether the arrangement still gives us enough room to be the dads we want to be. A job can serve your family well for a time and still need to change as your family does.

Use What You’ve Already Earned

Why it Matters

When you’re considering a new direction, it’s easy to focus on everything you lack. You don’t have the right title, a finished plan, or experience doing the exact thing you’re imagining. Meanwhile, the knowledge and relationships you’ve built can feel so familiar that you stop recognizing their value.

Paul understood injection molding because he’d spent years working with computer accessories. Fatherhood gave him a different use for that knowledge. As he described his background, “it was earned advantage.”

How to Find Yours

Start with a problem you understand firsthand. It might be something customers repeatedly struggle with, a task your coworkers find difficult, or a frustration you’ve experienced as a parent. Then look at three things you could bring to it:

Experience: What have you learned by doing the work, making mistakes, or seeing where things break down?

Relationships: Who do you trust, work well with, or know well enough to ask for an honest perspective?

Resources: What tools, access, or existing work could help you explore the idea?

Be specific. “I’m good with people” is harder to use than “I can help a frustrated customer explain what they actually need.” A former colleague who knows how you work may be more useful than a long list of people you’ve never met.

Look for one connection between the problem and what you already have. That connection gives you a place to begin testing whether your experience could help someone.

Why it Works

Starting with familiar territory gives you something concrete to build on. You can ask better questions, recognize some of the likely obstacles, and see where you’ll need help. Paul’s experience didn’t guarantee success, but it helped him make decisions he couldn’t have made as a newcomer.

Pro Tip

Ask someone you’ve worked with, “What would you come to me for help with?” Their answer may reveal a strength you’ve been overlooking because it comes naturally to you.

The Family Fit Check

Why it Matters

An arrangement can work for years and gradually stop fitting your family. Your kids get older, their needs change, and the demands of your work can expand without anyone making a deliberate decision about it.

Paul described returning to land at three in the morning and leaving again at seven. Technically, he’d been home. Practically, there was very little opportunity to spend meaningful time with his daughter. Recognizing that helped him see that his fishing schedule needed to change.

How to Use It

Choose one work commitment and ask three questions:

What does this make possible?

Include income, stability, flexibility, learning, or progress toward something you care about.

What does this require from our family?

Include the hours, travel, recovery time, and responsibilities someone else has to absorb.

Does that exchange still fit this season?

Consider what your kids need now and what’s changed since you first agreed to the arrangement.

Use a recent week as your reference. Look at what actually happened, including the evening you spent catching up or the weekend you needed to recover.

Then identify one adjustment worth discussing. That could mean changing a recurring meeting, reducing optional travel, sharing a responsibility, or setting a date to reconsider a demanding commitment.

Why it Works

Looking at both the benefit and the cost helps you make a more informed decision. You can appreciate what a job has provided while recognizing that your family may need a different arrangement now.

Pro Tip

Include the people affected by the schedule. Ask your child when they wish you were more available, or ask your partner which parts of the week feel hardest to manage. Their answers may reveal something your calendar doesn’t show.

Time to Sprint: Give One Idea a First Test

Why it Matters

Paul’s advice to people with an idea was direct: “Don’t sit on your idea, because someone else will come up with it.” I admire his willingness to keep putting his work in front of people, even when the response is uncertain.

This sprint turns one idea into something another person can respond to. Give yourself 20 minutes to define it, draw on your experience, and invite useful feedback.

How to Do It

Minutes 0–5: Name the problem

Choose one idea you’ve been carrying around. Write two sentences explaining who it could help and what difficulty they’re dealing with. Use a real example so you can describe the problem without relying on broad words like “better” or “easier.”

Minutes 5–10: Identify what you can bring

Write down one relevant experience, one useful resource, and one person who could offer perspective. Think about what you already understand and where your knowledge ends. Circle the assumption you most need someone else to help you examine.

Minutes 10–15: Make something they can react to

Create a rough sketch, a short description, or a simple example of how your idea would work. Keep it small enough to finish within these five minutes. Someone should be able to understand the problem and your proposed approach without a lengthy explanation.

Minutes 15–20: Ask for a useful response

Send it to one appropriate person. Explain why you thought of them and ask a specific question, such as, “When did you last run into this problem, and how did you handle it?” Add a reminder to review what you learn before deciding on another step.

Bonus 5 Minutes: Decide what would justify a second test

Write down what you’d need to learn before investing more time. Maybe someone describes the same recurring problem, explains why their current solution falls short, or agrees to try a rough version. Choose one follow-up you could take if that happens and set a limit on the time you’ll spend.

Why it Works

A real response gives you information that thinking alone can’t provide. You may discover that the problem matters, that your approach needs adjusting, or that another problem deserves your attention first.

Pro Tip

Choose a first test you can complete within time you’ve already set aside. Learning about an idea should help you judge whether it deserves more of your time, including what pursuing it would mean for your family.

Your Move

What’s one thing you need from your work today that you didn’t need five years ago? Hit reply and let me know. I read every response.

Connect with Paul

Paul Moore is the founder of Smily Mia, a baby products company inspired by his experience raising his daughter as a single father. His background includes more than a decade living and working in China, where he developed the manufacturing knowledge and relationships that later helped him build the brand.

Today, Paul is based in Eugene, Oregon, and his daughter is part owner of Dommy, another company they’re building with his longtime business partner. Their story reflects how closely his family and work have developed together, from bringing Mia to the office as a young child to welcoming her into the business.

Follow Paul

On his websites: https://www.smilymia.com and https://smilymia.com/collections/vendors?q=Dommy

On TikTok: https://tiktok.com/smily_mia_paul

On Instagram: https://instagram.com/smilymiausa

On Facebook: https://facebook.com/smilymiaofficial

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmilyMia

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/SmilyMia/page/6F277F35-3861-447B-9D23-626D6D14B575

On the Show This Week

Continue the Conversation

This week on Gap to Gig, Paul Moore and I talk about building a business while raising a daughter as a single dad. His story connects years of manufacturing experience, trusted partnerships, and a problem he understood personally as a parent.

We also explore the work that made the business possible and the moments that helped him recognize when that work needed to change. Paul is candid about the role timing played, the support he received, and why he eventually stepped away from commercial fishing.

We get into: