Reinvent How You Live Out Who You Are

Retirement is about reinvention. Not reinventing who you are – but reinventing how you live out who you are. Reinventing your identity and aligning it in new ways with your purpose. Retirement is about putting attention on our priorities at this point in our lives. Our priorities change over time. What we were once drawn to may no longer hold the same allure for us.

We think we just need a hobby, something to occupy our time. But here’s the thing -- all the interests and hobbies in the world will not fill the hole that our identity has filled. And when that work identity is taken away and not replaced with something else that is meaningful and rewarding to you now, it leaves a gaping hole. You can fill that hole by redirecting your energy in a new and different way, defining passions and strengths for your 60+ year old self, rather than trying to rekindle interests from your 30 year old self. The challenge is to invest in the hard work of discovering a new way of experiencing meaning and purpose. This often requires you to explore a deeper level of self-awareness, a look at your strengths and passions with a new lens.

For example, if we were once drawn towards building and owning a regional $50MM company, today we may be proud and satisfied with retiring and selling a single location $20MM business. The commitment required to take the business to the next level may not be where we want to put our energy now.

And things that still hold allure may now play out differently. How we are drawn to it may have changed. For example, if we always wanted to run a multi-location entity, we may be inclined to open the locations as a means to offer our adult children or key employees a proving ground and a semi-independent management opportunity.

Reinventing simply means you are shifting your priorities and finding new ways of living out what matters most to you now.

It’s time to invest in yourself.

The Disorientation of Selling Your Business

There is a world of difference between being a successful employee of a large corporation and the successful owner of a business that was started from scratch. If you are one of the latter, you know just how much work you had to put into it, with all those sleepless nights, the long days of work trying to get those first clients interested in your products or services and the uncertainty of the first years of business. These are things that all entrepreneurs remember as they gain more success.

Inevitably, there comes a time when they need to find someone who will take over the business. In many cases, their children aren’t interested in the business or aren’t capable of running the business, so their only option is to sell their companies. Some of them decide to maintain an ownership or leadership role -- remaining as Chair of the board, or Chief Operations Officer, but at some point, they recognize that the key to financing the rest of their lives lies in selling the business and collecting enough profit to live the rest of their lives without worry.

This whole decision making process can be a very disorienting experience for owners because their business basically became part of their essence, their identity. At some point it ceased just being a way to make a living. Everything that they have achieved, the things they own and the experiences they’ve had are all linked to this company they built from the ground up. When they decide to sell it, it is like going through a grieving process that is similar to the loss of a loved one. The only difference is that they are relieved of all the hard work and the feeling of always having some responsibility.

Your Business Continuity

           In an ideal world, your business will continue to flourish long after you have exited.  In reality, not everything works out accordingly. Having a solid plan for your business’s continuity after you are gone is very important. Multiple circumstances can arise that, without a sufficient plan, can leave your employees flailing.

            Exit planning from both the owner and those next in line are of the utmost importance because the lack of experience and understanding of how to handle the business should the owner suddenly die or become disabled can be detrimental to the owner’s family, and can possibly bankrupt the business. A buy-sell agreement is essential to the continuity of a business, but it is only one part of exit planning.

            Common mistakes often include, but are not limited to: failing to deal with a financial continuity plan when a co-owner dies, failing to deal with the management or leadership of the business when the “leader” of the business dies, and failing to deal with financial, leadership, or business continuity when the sole owner of the business dies. Morbid as it may sound, we never know when an emergency will be thrown our way. Ideally, a business owner, especially a sole business owner, will have a prewritten continuity plan long before anything should happen. But life is uncertain, and being prepared for the unknown in the business world could make or break what is left of all of your hard work.

            It is an excellent idea to be well prepared if such an occasion should arrive. Planning is meant to be something done before an exit, either an intentional or unintentional exit. Start planning now to avoid having you or your family watch your business suffer.