Defining “Retired
Fred Rogers came home each night, made himself comfortable, and then proceeded to engage his audience by sharing nuggets of wisdom in the long-running TV show, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. To this day, I have always imagined that he was finished with his employment years, and like the Grandfatherly figures in my life, he had it all figured out. In a word: Retired!
“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” –Jack London.
Of course, “retired” can’t be stereotyped to everyone’s definition or perception. For example, retirement doesn’t always result in some equilibrium state of contentment where fat pension checks get deposited to your bank account, while you’re out on the golf course. In fact, for some, corporate retirement is anything but blissful.
This is my 3rd in a series of blogs asking the Career Ownership question from the introductory F.R.E.D. article (LINK)
Are YOU FRED? (Frustrated, Retired recently, Entrepreneurial, or Downsized?)
Retired FRED Rogers is Part 3 of 5 in this series asking the question “Who OWNS Your Career?”
Today, let’s examine Retired FRED. Specifically, I’m taking about professionals recently retired from a corporate career. Such retirement exists in many different forms.
That spectrum can range from starting another career – to playing golf 5 days a week – and countless other endeavors in between. The additional “free time” of retirement offers LOTS of new possibilities! Perhaps you’ll do volunteer work, teach children a new skill, work on house projects, or my personal favorite: Travel the world!
Naturally, corporate life retirement – even the case of “early” retirement – typically initiates some fundamental life changes. Relocation, “right-sizing” to a new home, signing up for Medicare, managing retirement investments / Social Security planning, engaging that new hobby (pickleball anyone?), updating your will, and adopting a fresh, new daily routine may require special attention at retirement time. But after that,
What are you going to do NEXT week / month / year?
Remember: You’re going to do SOMETHING as a retirement vocation when you leave a professional career! What will it be?
This past year, I conducted a career ownership seminar that included several recent retirees. The icebreaker was a simple question:
WHY are you here?
“I’m BORED!” That was the profound answer from the very first person to answer the question. He wasn’t the only one. Thinking about it now, I have to admit that even I might get bored playing golf every day (though I wouldn’t mind experimenting with it for a week or two). Seriously though, there were other motives for the retired professionals in that room:
Retired? Are you also BORED? You’re not alone.
• Support retirement lifestyle – One man revealed that his financial standing couldn’t support his preferred lifestyle as long as he’d hoped, so he was looking for supplemental retirement income.
• Seeking a new (ad) venture – Another person had retired in his mid-fifties and wondered what he could do to involve his family in a new business venture!
• Diversify investment portfolio – A retired executive plainly stated that she was not going to work a 9-5 gig ever again. However, she did want to explore possible small business investments that would provide a strong ROI and build equity, with a minimum time requirement from her.
Spend Vocational Time on YOUR terms!
These recent retirees all had different objectives, but they all had one common theme:
They ALL were looking to do something on their OWN terms!They were “DONE” working for somebody else and TIME was the commodity they wanted to control the most.
Another corporate career move wasn’t going to address that objective. So, after the retirement parties are over, what can recent retirees do to allow them the vocational flexibility they want?
If you don’t have your own TV show like Fred Rogers did, then explore other options! One possibility that attracts MANY new retirees is business ownership. Why? Because like retirement, franchise business opportunities are available in a myriad of “flavors”. The owner’s required time commitments vary widely as well. Examples:
• Absentee ownership business models
• Semi-absentee models
• Part-time
• B2B (weekdays)
• Manage-the-Manager models
• Owner operated / full time
• Solopreneur / one-person / consultant-type
• Etcetera (i.e. additional options between passive & active ownership)
Time flexibility isn’t the only thing corporate retirees desire. Many franchises are ideal as family enterprises; not just for couples, but also for multi-generational involvement. These days, it isn’t uncommon to see parents and their recent college graduate kids going into business together.
So, what’s YOUR retirement vocation(s) going to be?
Retired? What is your NEXT vocation?
Are YOU Retired FRED? If so, you’re NOT alone! And, there IS something practical and specific you can do to leverage your position.
Who OWNS YOUR “retirement career”? If you’re not sure what you want to do during your post-corporate vocational time, and you’re ready to explore possibilities, then follow this Step 1 link to learn more about Career Ownership™ !
You owe it to yourself to see what vocational options are out there for your “retirement” years!
Next time, we’ll look more closely at “Entrepreneurial FRED“, and why many professionals are yearning to take control and build their own little empires!
To your success!
Julian Reid, Career Ownership Coach
#retirement #entrepreneurship #CareerChange #JobSearch #CareerTransition #smallbusiness #franchising #retired