Two Things Not to Discuss at the Dinner Table: Scott Migli Buries His Funeral-Directing Past

Scott Migli knows that there are times in life that provide a chance for a person to take control of his own destiny. Such chances are not freely handed out and they may not be pretty, but he is a standout example of what happens when a person stops allowing the talking heads to run his life and begins pursuing his dreams.



He was already a successful man, one of the top funeral directors in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a position he had sought since young. A good job; a great wife; his parents were proud of him. It seemed he had it all and lived the dream, but on the inside he just was not happy.



Scott wanted a job in politics, to help shape the world. Politics had fascinated him his entire life, even as a boy, but his parents had implored him to avoid that life: too dirty or too mean or too something. Not the right path for their little boy.



But when he began working as a funeral director, Mom and Dad were no longer around to dissuade him; he started dabbling in the political world, first helping out with local candidates' political races. "As human beings, none of us want to disappoint our parents. But I just got to point where I said this is my life and I'm going to do what I want with it, and did."



He loved it, everything he knew it would be, yet there was a problem. The more he became involved with politics, the more disengaged his work in the funeral home. The fork in the road. The time in Scott's life when he knew he had to choose whether he wanted to continue directing funerals or shift down the road he had been dreaming about since age ten.



With a wife five months pregnant and little support from his parents, Scott took a cut in annual pay of almost $20,000 to join a Republican campaign team in Harrisburg. Soon he took a job working with Wilson Research Strategies, a Republican polling service that collects and researches information about particular sections of people for political parties and businesses. If a candidate wanted to find out how people in his district felt about a proposition, for example, Scott would be responsible for gathering information on the subject, and explaining to the candidate the feelings of the local constituency.



His greatest professional triumph in the field was actually one of his first great defeats. He was working in Florida, helping a congressional candidate being destroyed in the polls, with 2% name recognition and down by 40 points. He was playing the part of the bug, his opponent the windshield. When assigned to help, the candidate had $600,000 left to spend on the race; his opposition had four times that at his disposal. Against all odds, Scott helped his candidate shock the country, almost winning him the race, losing in the home stretch by just 6%. Such efforts garnered a 34-point swing, the political equivalent of Rocky I.



With his pull-no-punches attitude and drive to be the best, Scott worked his way to the top echelons of the company, now vice-president. He has appeared as a pundit on MSNBC, and is set to begin managing Jim Gerlach's bid for Pennsylvania governor this year. For someone who received his college degree in mortuary science and did not become involved with politics until almost 30, Scott Migli is proof that you can be what you want and have a successful life on your own terms. "No matter what anyone says to you in life, no matter who it is, do what you want to do and do what will make you happy."





Written by: Wes Culp (for uwemp.com)