We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Pete Van Baalen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Pete below.
Alright, Pete thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
We decided to launch our website https://much2bdone.com/ this past summer, at the urging of several friends. Like so many who launch a new venture, it is a pasion project.
For me, the passion is not just about the subject matter of the website, travel. It is why we’re devoting time to telling our story and creating a website that is the real driving force.
https://much2bdone.com/ chronicles the travels of my family; me, my wife Ruth and our son Eric. We have been blessed to get to go to many amazing places around the country and around the world. Sharing photos of our favorite destinations, best food and fun attractions is a great way to also share our story to the world.
My wife and I were lucky to adopt Eric when he was just two days old. He has been the center of our world ever since. And because of his special needs, he will be at the center of our universe for the rest of our life too. Like every parent, the person I was before I had a child is very different than the person I’ve been since. The wild ride that is parenting last a lifetime for every parent. But for most people those day to day parenting responsibilities end in the early 20s, give or take a few years. While my son is highly functioning, he is at home with us and will likely never live on his own.
At first, this was a devastating realization. But as is so often in life, challenges become opportunities. Having a special needs kid has plenty of challenges, and a few of them will still occasionally keep me up at night. My biggest fear is caring for our son once my wife and I each pass, or can no longer care for ourselves and him. Yep, that one still sticks with me and is in my thoughts often. But beyond that, the challenges we face have become opportunities.
It’s true, I’ll never have grandkids. And I think I would have been a kick a*s grandpa. But you know what? What I’m missing out there with grandkids, I’m gaining in other ways. Our family is fortunate to have gained lots of extra time together. I know lots of parents who would love the chance to go have lunch, go shopping and hang out with their kid. These are all things I’ve done this morning. What a blessing!
Never in a million years did I expect to be an advocate for minority – special needs adoption. But here we are. There are so many kids in this country and around the world that just need love and attention. For whatever reason, becoming a parent the ‘normal way’ was not meant to be for us. But the plan all along in our mind was to become a family. We were asked about minority adoption as an alternative, and so we thought it through. Saying yes was not an immediate thing for us, but close. What mattered to us all along was that we become a family. Now, it did matter for some members of our family that we were adopting a baby that wasn’t like us. And while there were some things to work through on that front, it was amazing to see the transformation made in the hearts of those individuals.
Over the years, we’ve had some odd looks as we go through life because our family “looks different.” Those looks have come from all races and ages. Without exception, our response has been to simply smile and move on. Once people get past different skin tones, they will quickly see love. And love is the basis for a family, not genetics.
Our family faces its share of challenges, just like everyone else. But we have, and will continue to face them head on, and together. One of those challenges currently is filling the world, and especially our son’s world with positive thoughts, energy and memories. More so that material things, we’ve placed a premium on shared positive experiences.
We’ve created https://much2bdone.com/ as a platform to share those positive experiences. We have everything we need and most everything we want. Adding more material things will not fill our heads with memories that last longer than a few moments. Also, we’ve literally seen through medical testing how our son’s brain responds to positive things vs. negative. Unfortunately for him, and I suspect for a lot of people, the negative reaction in his brain is much stronger and lasts significantly longer than positive reactions.
While the website we’ve created is a place for the world to learn about destinations we’ve ventured to, it is also the place that our son can go to and remember. Through our descriptions with words, photos and videos we can keep reminding him – and any visitor about the value of positive experiences in this world. For years, we’ve checked in on Facebook so that each morning he can start the day off remembering past fun and adventures that we’ve had. The website takes that to the next level.
The site name, Much To Be Done is our approach to travel. We’ve been to many great places, and we certainly have a few favorites. For all that we’ve seen, we realize that there is still so much more to be done, and to see. As for the name of the site, ‘Much To Be Done,’ that inspiration comes from a restroom in Key West, Florida, and a Jimmy Buffett song. As avid fans of Jimmy Buffett, his song ‘Last Mango In Paris,’ which tells the story of a charismatic bartender in Key West, is a great tale, both in song and in real life. As explained in the lyrics of the song, there is a sign in the men’s restroom inside Captain Tony’s Saloon on Green Street in Key West that proclaims one of the many colorful quotes of Captain Tony Tarracino.
I ate the last mango in Paris
Took the last plane out of Saigon
Took the first fast boat to China
And Jimmy there’s still so much to be done
We have made the decision to travel, to create memories, and to explore this amazing world. While we’ve visited many places, the list of destinations we’d like to experience is extensive. There truly is so much still to be done, and though we may never complete the list, our goal is to make a significant dent on it.
As the song reminds us, there is always more to discover and experience. Our objective is to embrace the unknown and explore as much of this beautiful planet as possible, leaving no stone unturned. Writing about our adventures let’s the world see the benefits of personal, positive experiences. It is also a great place for our son to return to and remember the many blessings in his life, from shared memories with family and friends.
Pete, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’ve spent 30+ years in the media business. I started out writing for community newspapers in high school and in college, where I went to Butler University in Indianapolis to study radio and television. After a successful stint in broadcasting, I returned to newspapers where I dedicated the bulk of my career. Some of my experiences in newspapers included starting several websites, magazines and other publications while running the day to day operations for community daily newspapers throughout the Midwest. Since leaving the media world, I’ve been working in the marketing department for a large online retailer for music instruments and pro audio gear based in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Writing has been a passion of mine since an early age. From starting a rogue weekly newsletter at my elementary school to getting my first paid job as a writer in eighth grade, writing has come easily to me. That skill has paid off for me over the years, so a website telling the story of my family’s travel adventures is a natural extension.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Our adoption journey has been all about pivoting. Being told that the likelihood of conceiving a child on your own is a tough pill to swallow, and many marriages can’t survive such news. Our approach was to move forward to what we felt God had in store for us, which was adoption.
Then being asked if we would consider adopting a minority baby was another pivot. This was a tough decision, though not for me and my wife. What mattered most was that we wanted a family, so the color of skin our child had was secondary – for us. It was not secondary for some members of our family and some close friends. We were prepared to go forward with our lives, having to potentially lose connection with very close family members. The amazing thing was the transformation we witnessed, especially with one member of our family who went from being a racist to being one of our son’s biggest advocates.
Yet another pivot was learning about our son’s special needs. The divorce rate for couples with special needs children is high. Raising a kid is stressful under normal circumstances. Add in the pressure of a special needs child, and stress can quickly take over your life. We’ve faced a lot because of his special needs, but our approach was to remember what is important, face the challenge with a united front and take things one step at a time. My wife had a phrase that she must have said to me a million times while our son was growing up, “Don’t borrow tomorrow’s troubles.” And really that is great advice no matter your circumstances. I think it was Winston Churchill who talked about all the things he worried about in his life, the vast majority of which never happened.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Leadership has always come naturally to me. I’m not afraid to take on the role, in good and bad situations. The result of that has been a relationship of trust with my teams. Throughout my career in the newspaper business, I was faced with having to make difficult decisions on staff reductions and even closing businesses.
Employees want to be treated with respect, they want consistency and they want to make a difference in the job that they are doing. As a manager, that is your guideline for what to do. As a leader, which is very different that a manager, making sure those needs from every employee is brought to life.
Many years back while I spent an evening at a project management leadership meeting. Most of the people at that meeting, and most people who think of project management largely think about IT projects and new system installs. I would always go to these meetings thinking about sales and marketing, and I always seem to come away with applicable ideas.
The subject at that meeting was team building and attitude. The presenter discussed how she starts meetings with what she called “Wins and Acknowledgements”. The idea is very simple: each meeting starts with positive information, specifically that was a strategic win for the individual or the team, or an acknowledgement of an event, milestone or individual who helped out. These wins and acknowledgements can be personal or professional.
Sales is so much about a positive outlook. Even the most successful hunters are being told no or not now frequently throughout the day or week. Taking a moment to think about positive people and moments helps refresh the mind, clears out the negative thoughts and allows the individual to refocus on the outcomes that they want to see.
After that, I started each sales meeting with my team with a wins and acknowledgement segment. Participation is not required, but nearly everyone every week came to those meetings with something to share with the group. People would brag about sales or new business development, and they would come and brag about something their son or daughter did at school. For wins and acknowledgements, both were equal and important to share. To drive the point further, I had each person write down their win or acknowledgement on a post it note. I would then collect them and add them to a window outside my office.
Before long, my office window looked more like a stained-glass window at church than my office. That colorful window became a constant reminder to everyone in my department of the positive things that they had accomplished. It became a source of pride for me and for my team, knowing that we were sharing in the positive things that were happening. And people outside of the department started noticing too, asking what the deal was with the window.
Post it notes provided a visual reminder throughout the week of the positive things happening for my team and the entire organization.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://much2bdone.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/much2bdone/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550198897757
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petevanbaalen/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/pete_vanbaalen
- Other: https://www.petevanbaalen.com/