Your Second Career – When Should You Start?

August 2, 2011 by 2 Comments
"Boomers on Wheels" at the CREHST ( ...

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So many boomers have recognized that they both want and are going to need to have a second career after they retire from their first. The question then becomes, “When should you start that second career?”

While, there are certainly some contributing factors that would make every situation different, I think that there is are a few guidelines concerning this question:

  1. Your investigations should start sooner rather than later. My recommendation is that you should begin considering your options at least two years in advance (more time is better).
  2. When you find some things that appeal to you, you need to “get your feet wet” to see if these options have the kind of personal satisfaction and income potential that you are going to be looking for in your second career.
  3. Once your research and dabbling has led you into a particular niche, you can begin on a very part-time basis to create, market, and build your second career. By the time you are ready to end your first career and launch your second, you will already be building something that reflects your essence and provides the kind of income that will secure the kind of retirement income you are looking for.

If you take the time to plan ahead, test the waters, and then build in your extra time, you will be able to walk away from your first career with anticipation and excitement for what lies ahead!

What has been your experience? Have you already begun that second career? What have you learned that could help the rest of us?

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What do you want in a second career?

July 28, 2011 by 11 Comments

I was talking with a new friend just yesterday about “what I do.” When I told him that I help boomers transition into a second career doing the things in life that make them happy, he looked at me with a strange look. I think the look is indicative of many who don’t equate work/career with something that you want to do.

Yet, so many boomers these days do want to do something in their retirement years that revolves around the establishing of some sort of business enterprise. The question for many is, “What do you want in a second career?”

Some folks want to explore something completely new and foreign to anything they have ever done before while others want to elevate a hobby into a career/business. Still others want to remain in their current industry/market but doing so as a free-lance consultant or trainer. There are lots of options and lots of questions that need to be asked and answered.

Time considerations, location, travel, family, and amount of income to be drawn from the new business all play a part in making the right decisions. In the end, you have to choose. You have to decide what you want in a second career. You have to think, talk, plan and prepare. If you do making the right choice for you will be much easier than you think!

What do you want? Any ideas about how to find the answers? How did you come to your decision about your second career?

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How to Start a Second Career

June 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This is the third article in a series of articles entitled: Business on Your Terms. I hope that you will take time to read all the posts in this series and will add your thoughts to the conversation.

I have always been the kind of person who has never seen a bad business deal. Well at least that was my perception …. until, of course, I was in the middle of things with tremendous  amounts of time and money invested and few dollars clearing my bottom line. The real problem wasn’t the “deal” it was the fact that I chose to jump in without the proper consideration/planning.

So, as I now counsel people about how to start a second career, I really want them to consider and plan in three very important ways: what, how, and why.

What? When boomers start to consider a second career, usually one of two things happen. Either they look at businesses that, in terms of time at least, are nothing more than buying or building a job. If that’s not the case, they want to make tens of thousands of dollars with no work, no effort, and on a couple hours per week! Neither of these ideas make a perfect second career. Being honest about what you want from a second career will set you on your way.

How? Once you have decided what you want, how to get there is the next part of the plan. Do you want to sell something produced by someone else or sell something that you produce yourself. How much can you charge and how can you market your new business to bring in new clients/customers.

Once you understand what and how, you need to consider why? Why do you want to do what you have chosen? What does your second career do to make your life better? When you get up in the morning does your second career fit into the perfect retirement life-style.

This whole idea about how to start a second career needs to be well thought out. Each of us will have different answers to the what, how, and why thus creating an myriad of great businesses that “turn the crank” of the owner while providing unmeasurable customer service.

What you are you thinking about as you consider your second career? How much planning do you think is necessary? When do you quit planning and “pull the trigger?”

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