.png)
If you are one of the 80,000 Baby Boomers who is approaching or currently in retirement and looking for a way to generate income to supplement your savings, Social Security, and pension – you are NOT alone!
This is what I call this the 3-legged stool.
If one leg is broken, your retirement could be in jeopardy.
Many of the women I work with are looking for a way to produce extra income by starting a business that will allow them to leverage their unique abilities and talents as well as give them the freedom to travel, take care of themselves, and give back. I believe for most Boomers, the new retirement solution will be a combination of working, learning, and sharing with a lot of fun included.
There are four steps I recommend you take before making any major life changes or taking an early retirement:
Step #1: Create a financial plan
Yes, this means meeting with a financial planner who can advise you on what you want to do before you do it. A financial planner can help you look at your current income, expenses, debt, investments, insurance, and corporate and government benefits to help you see alternate scenarios before you take a leap.
Examples of alternate retirement scenarios could be downsizing, working part-time, examining how working longer affects pensions and Social Security, and even moving overseas where costs are much lower. Our Contributing Expert, Kathleen Peddicord of Live and Invest Overseas, blogs for us on retiring overseas. Check out her article here!
In fact, reducing your expenses by just $10,000 per year during retirement can have the net effect of $250,000. This is because at 4%, it would take an additional $250,000 to generate that $10,000 over a 30 year period.
Doing a financial plan can also tell you how much income you need to generate from a business in order to cover your income shortage.
Step #2: Create a formal business plan
One common mistake I see people make is to retire with the idea they can start a business which will give them freedom and income, only to find themselves overwhelmed, losing money, and wondering what they got themselves into. This is why it is important to work with a business coach or your CPA to create a business plan and help identify what type of business you want to create.
A business plan will also show how you will generate revenue, programs, products, services, and identify the key players you need in the business. There is a lot more to this, including branding, marketing, and outsourcing, but the key here is to plan before you leap. You can keep your business model very simple by doing the planning before you put your shingle out.
Step #3: Understand Front Stage – Back Stage
I have come across too many novice business owners who thought they would achieve freedom from responsibility only to wind up being the chief cook and bottle washer. Instead of focusing on their unique abilities, they attempt to do it all!
A successful business begins with a team of talented individuals who all bring specific skills to the table. For example, when I created Smart Women Empowerment, I knew that handling details such databases and monitoring social media were not areas I excelled at.
This is why you need to build a team with people who are Front Stage and Back Stage.
Neither is better than the other — they both play very different and important roles. You can be an engineer, CPA, consultant, graphic designer, yoga teacher, and be in either one of these roles.
An example of Front Stage is someone who might work for a CPA firm, but would not be happy behind a computer dealing with numbers all day. In fact, a Front Stage person would be terrible at it.
Front Stage people flourish by growing the firm, developing relationships with new clients and strategic partners, and problem solving, but they would want to hand-off the details to their team of Back Stage folks. I’m a Front Stage person.
An example of Back Stage is the same person who works for a CPA firm behind a computer dealing with numbers all day … and this person LOVES it!
A young lady who worked for me a few years ago had an engineering degree from the University of Michigan, with a specialization in accounting. She immediately got a job as a financial planner after graduating. She passed all her exams and loved doing financial analyses. She thought she had found a career she loved until she was told that it was now time to get on the phone and find clients. She ended up leaving the field feeling like a failure. This is sad, yet it happens so often.
I immediately saw she was a Back Stage person and helped her get a job doing administrative work for a local CPA firm. She is now thriving and managing the details for the lead CPAs in the firm.
Step #4: Create Your Team.
To truly enjoy your retirement lifestyle while working in your new retirement business, you will want to get crystal clear about what you should be focusing on, what you want to delegate and outsource, and who you’ll need on your team.
Tip: Just because you are the owner doesn’t mean you need to be Front Stage. You could be the owner and do the technical or managerial tasks, while partnering, delegating, or outsourcing your marketing and front stage work.
Your team can be virtual:
My Virtual Assistant lives across the country.
My graphic designer lives in Ohio.
My editor lives in North Carolina.
We all have specific skills and work well together even though none of us live in the same city. Without my team, I would be overwhelmed. Thankfully though, my team keeps everything running smoothly. Almost every aspect of my work such as the radio show, ezine and Smart Women’s Academy — runs totally without me. This way, I can travel, create, connect, and lead – which is what I love and do best.
Online Assessment and Consultation:
Would you like to know what you should be focusing on and what you do best?
I suggest you start with an assessment. One of my favorite assessments for identifying your key strengths or roles you should focus on in business as well as who you will need on your team is called Wealth Dynamics. The assessment is not free — it runs $97, but I believe it’s worth every penny.
You can visit the Wealth Dynamics website to learn more. They even have a nine-minute video that describes the process. When you take the assessment, you receive a very detailed 32-page assessment. Again, here is the link to check out the Wealth Dynamics assessment.
If you take the Wealth Dynamics assessment and want to review it with me, I am offering a limited time 30-minute complimentary Breakthrough Coaching Session which is a $200 value. During this call, we will talk about your business idea, what role you should play, and who you need on your team to thrive. Just visit www.TalkWithKatana.com to be taken to my online calendar where you can pick a time to chat!
Originally posted on katanaabbott.com
Katana Abbott, CFP® practitioner, is a Life and Legacy Coach™, host of the Smart Women Talk Radio™, founder of the Smart Women Companies with over 1 million subscribers globally, inspirational speaker and author of several books.
She began her financial planning career in 1987 and became a Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner. In 2003, Katana created Smart Women’s Coaching® to offer financial coaching and educational workshops for women in transition who are dealing with caregiving, death of a loved one, divorce, retirement or looking to create or grow a business. She founded Smart Women’s Empowerment in 2008 to bring free financial empowerment resources and programs to women around the world through her team of Contributing Experts. www.katanaabbott.com