Recent conversation with my older sister about her plan for the next 5 years to position for retirement. This conversation is common for people in our age bracket, as is, thinking about getting off the hamster wheel of life for good. She works as a high-level executive in the Tech sector and as we all know it is going through some volatility and change.
What I found interesting was the stark differences between life as a business owner and a tech executive in how we saw this path toward choice. I hate the word retirement, largely because I don’t see myself retiring in the traditional sense of the word. Moving to a gated community and playing golf every day is great for some but not for me, I believe most of us want to work ourselves into a position where we can choose to work or not work, we can choose to do the things we want to do every day, week and for years. This is why I think in terms of working toward choice rather than retirement.
Here are 3 things I am working on as a business owner today to position for Choice tomorrow:
Business
A long time ago my dad shared with my how real wealth is created in this country, he called it the 3-legged stool: Paper Assets, Real Estate Assets, and Business Assets.
He taught me that the wealthy create income from one to invest in the others, etc. We have just come out of a 12-year, historic bull market and it has been great but every run has its end and we are now facing volatility on multiple fronts. Now is the time for re-allocation of assets in all classes. Today I am evaluating what I am invested in and how I can make it grow for the next 10 years, what segments are going to grow differently, etc. What changes need to be made based on what I know now.
Relationships
All the wealth in the world is meaningless without solid relationships but people change and we need to change with them and/or address that change. Last year my wife and I empty nested our home…kind of all at once. I am working on my new relationship with my wife, one without soccer practice and Tennis matches to get to etc. My kids are on their own, heck one lives in Japan – so I am thinking about what kind of father I want to be for grown kids; what success looks like in that new role? My parents are aging but still want to be independent and active, how do I support them and spend time with them? I have business partners; how do we create a solid business while living in 3 states and also build a great relationship and collaborative win as a team.
Power of Belief
I have come to believe that the power of belief is critically important for success in life, and also find this is the hardest for me to achieve each week and so I work on this the most. Having a positive attitude, a sense of gratitude is so important to success and happiness and yet I find it so incredibly difficult to achieve. We all know the media wins when we worry and are filled with fear and yet we also know that we are happiest when we are content in the present. It is one thing to have enough capital and/or cash flow to scrape through our older years and it is another to glide through them with grace and confidence in all things.
I hope that sharing my thoughts here can help you find your own path toward making choice. If you’d like to discuss this further, I would welcome this opportunity. Schedule a call on my calendar.
David Weaver is the Founder of Franchise Your Freedom and a senior consultant with FranChoice, the premier national network of franchise consultants. David helps people all over the country find the right franchise fit by sharing his personal experience and philosophy on how to select the right brand. He shares proven strategies and over a decade of experience growing franchise companies for himself with those that are doing it for the first time. You can learn more about David at FranchiseYourFreedom.
