Carl visited one of his favorite cities in the world — New Orleans and had the privilege to interview the amazing Nick Mueller, co-founder of the World War II Museum. You do not need to be a history buff to Love this episode.

Nick was contemplating his first (un)Retirement in 1990, when he and Stephen Ambrose (best-selling author and celebrity historian) met over a bottle of sherry and discussed the idea of starting a World War II Museum on a historic site right there in New Orleans. The original idea was to raise one million dollars and have a modest warehouse museum by the water. Thirty-four years later, they have raised $400 million and now operate one of the world’s best museums, right in the middle of New Orleans.

Nick was the founding CEO of the museum (after his first career) and just retired again last year at age 84. He’s a remarkable person and the museum is an incredibly moving experience. Along the way he’s made friends and has garnered significant contributions from celebrities Tom Hanks, Tom Brokaw and Steven Spielberg. 

Please make sure to listen to the last 6 minutes of the interview. As Nick talks about the lessons learned from WWII, Carl asks him where he thinks our country is headed now. His thoughtful insights are so inspirational and he gives us some needed hope for the future.

• More about Nick Mueller: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/about-us/our-team/museum-founders/gordon-h-nick-mueller 

• Nick’s new book Preserving the Legacy: Creating the National WWII Museum: https://lsupress.org/9780807184493/preserving-the-legacy 

• Episode Content:  https://pickleballmediahq.com/blog/Nick-Mueller-Interview-Mr-World-War-II-Museum-Co-Founder-and-Former-CEO 

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage: https://capitaladvantage.com/promotion/retirement-planning-guide    • Sponsored by How to Retire and Not Die: https://garysirak.com/how-to-retire-and-not-die    • Join the “I Used to be Somebody World Tour”: https://pickleballmediahq.com/tour    • Subscribe to the “I Used to be Somebody” newsletter:  https://pickleballmediahq.com/contact/subscribe 

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Carl Landau Author, Podcaster

Carl Landau is co-author of the new book, Pickleball for dummies. He has been an entrepreneur since the age of 26 and now in (un)Retirement is founder of Pickleball Media. He has started and sold three successful media companies, published five magazines (software development, winemaking and craft brewing industries). He currently hosts the popular podcast I Used to be Somebody, inspiring 50-plus-year-olds how to build their (un)retirement good life, including, of course, a little bit about the virtues of the game he loves — pickleball.