I began my own one-man writing company, aptly named Thomas Hanlon Communications, in 2002.But the idea for it came long before.One day, as a third grader, a friend asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I had never given it a moment’s thought, didn’t really like writing or reading at the time, but I immediately knew: I wanted to be a writer.(Well, I really wanted to be a major league baseball player. But that didn’t pan out.) I’ve written professionally since the 1980s, for corporate clients, magazines, universities, individual clients, and more. From 1988 to 2002, I wrote for Human Kinetics, a physical activity publisher in Champaign, Illinois. In 2002, as I mentioned, I founded my own company. My first project was writing a book for a CEO in Effingham, Illinois; this book sold 35,000+ copies. I have written or ghostwritten many books for various clients, including one book that made the New York Times bestseller list. I have written speeches for high-level executives and university deans, articles, website copy, annual reports, and more. My work has taken me to Italy and India, among other places. Newt Gingrich once flew me out to San Francisco to have dinner with him and talk over a potential book project about Ronald Reagan. The book never panned out, the red-eye flight back home was tough, but the dinner was great. And Newt was wonderful.My kids have told me I have lasted this long because I am old. I like to think my longevity, at least in the writing business, is sustained by the values that inform my work and my relationships: respect, trust, honesty, and integrity. Those encompass how I treat people and how I operate.When I’m not writing, I enjoy running and working out. And doing a little yoga now and then to gain back some flexibility, because, let’s face it: I am getting old. But the nice thing about writing skills is they get better with age.Mine have gotten better and better, ever since third grade.