David B. Bohl Bio
If you asked David Bohl what he did professionally three years ago, he could have said that he was an operating partner of a $40 million private equity firm. He was driven. He thrived on 15-hour workdays, life in the fast lane and everything that success brought with it, including wealth and status.
Today if you ask Bohl what he does, he'll answer, "I'm a husband, father, friend and life coach."
What changed in a few short years was Bohl's realization that running a multi-million dollar firm that helped other ones grow by more millions, and hob-knobbing with corporate big-wigs throughout the world were taking physical and psychological tolls on him.
A young capitalist who lived the American Dream, Bohl came apart at the very seams he'd sewn himself. He was dependent on antacids, abused alcohol, spent his weeks in Manhattan, and flew to London for one day, then back home to the Midwest on weekends.
Oh, and this reflection of Gordon Gekko has a wife and two children.
Bohl was jolted from his lifestyle on a flight from New York to Chicago one night when a bump awoke him from a deep sleep.
"I was so out of it that I couldn't even figure out it was just a little turbulence – and was terrified," he said. "I knew I was on a plane, but I couldn't remember whether I was flying to work from Chicago to New York, or returning home. I totally panicked."
"I flagged down the flight attendant and asked her where we were flying. She must have thought I was insane!"
Bohl said he took that moment as his personal wake-up call.
He'd missed family events, including milestones with his children that he knew he could never get back, and he found himself lucky that they still wanted him to come home and stay awhile. The family packed their suburban Chicago home and relocated to a quiet city in southeastern Wisconsin. Bohl was 35 years old at this transition.
Like many aspiring entrepreneurs, Bohl said he emerged from his teenage years with a high priority for partying and materialism. A native of Milwaukee, WI, he earned a finance degree from the University of South Florida. After a friend who worked as a pit trader in Chicago came to visit, Bohl abandoned his desire to become a financial analyst. He rejected a job offer from a national real estate appraisal company and went to work as a runner on the trading floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange. That tripped a marathon that included stops at Raymond, James & Associates as an institutional sales trader, KC-CO Investments, L.P. in Chicago, S.G. Warburg & Co. in New York and back to KC-CO before starting his own firm.
Today, things are much calmer in the Bohl household, with the exception of two rambunctious Black Labrador Retrievers. The 47-year-old Bohl likes to spend unstructured time with his wife of 23 years and their children, although those times are spread across state lines as his son and daughter attend universities in New York and Florida. His wife returned to her career after raising their children, so he is the primary home care provider. He said he has even taken up healthy cooking so that the couple does not fall back into a habit of catching non-nutritious snacks on the run.
Bohl is a sports fan – LOVES football of all kinds. He skis, boats, sails, reads about two books each week and volunteers in the alcoholism and addiction community. He thrives on backyard barbeques, tailgating with friends and family at ball games whether they're inWisconsin or on his children's campuses.
When Bohl works with others to empower them to live lives of peace and happiness, he releases his past from the can to keep his clients from making the same mistakes he did.
"The thing I'm most grateful for is that I have the ability and opportunity to change, and I did," Bohl said.
Contact:
David B. Bohl
Reflections Coaching LLC
Slow Down FAST
N77 W28559 Appaloosa Lane
Hartland, Wisconsin 53029
Email: david@slowdownfast.com
Web: http://www.SlowDownFAST.com
