Shortly before I decided to retire 10 years ago, I was always being hounded by mixed feelings. There were times that I seemed to be hypertensive in excitement waiting for the applied date of my retirement. But there were days also that I seemed to be wilting on the thought of soon leaving a world where I had put in no less than 25 years of continuous regular work. Although I was ready for the disengagement, I think it was a natural reaction to a major foreseeable change. Retirement would pull me out from my comfort zone and lead me into the threshold of a danger zone.
Retirement is an unavoidable close-and-open phenomenon. While it ends long years of regular employment, it opens a world of new possibilities as you transition into an uncertain new life situation with different opportunities, issues, and relationships. Retirement has broad, complex, and dynamic dimensions that can make or break a person for the rest of his life when these dimensions are improperly handled.
As the saying goes, "life has to move on." The reality of this statement brings the retiree to a second new career, a pivotal point that signals the start of a new demanding journey where the retiree may not have the luxury of time that he earlier had when he or she was in his prime.
What then does it take to ensure that your new second career after retirement suits a refreshing, exciting, and fulfilling life that rightfully should belong to you?
This was exactly the same question that had incessantly bombarded my mental, physical, and psychological dominion before, during, and even after my retirement. Yes, I have the professional endowments that could bridge me to the future. But the reality of the harsh competitive environment and the uncertainty of the new odds that I had to play with had always tried to rock my confidence, the stability of my composure, and the maturity of my disposition. It was at this point that I decided to spend time searching for quick and manageable solution to the enigma of my retirement. And based on my experience, to start your new second career after retirement, you need to go through a 4-step preparatory process that involves the following:
1. Self-appraisal to know your total capacity
When faced by a near prospect of retirement, whether mandated by law or initiated by your voluntary option, self-appraisal should be the starting point of your much needed preparation. You are the best judge as to what you have in stock to face the challenge of a totally new environment. As such, you have to undertake a thorough and realistic evaluation of your total capacity, an index that should illuminate your compelling desires, your resources, and your opportunities.
Compelling desires are the things you are most passionate about or interested in, the key concerns of your post-retirement life. Resources refer to your background, experience, skills, contacts, and other employable inputs including intellectual capital. Opportunities reflect your potentials that encompass the needs, wants, expectations, problems, and values you are willing to put at stake. From a simplified perspective, your total capacity is the sum total of your demonstrated competencies and potentials.
Doing my self-appraisal is one of the most delightful and fulfilling experiences that I had in life. It was a refreshing discovery tour that gave me indelible appreciation for what I had done on the side of delivering value to people and organizations, what I was really good at and enjoyed most in serving the interest of other people while promoting my own interest, what incremental value I had built in me over my employment, and what possibilities I could most probably handle in the context of the contacts and relationships that I had established.
Through my self-appraisal, I was able to develop a holistic matrix that presented a historical and analytical account of who I was in the conduct of my first career. I had divided the matrix according to the different roles that I used to perform - my functions as an employee, my projects as a part-time business consultant and writer, my socio-civic involvement, and my role as a family man.
At the end of my self-appraisal, I had found out that my total capacity would thrive in a post-retirement career in business development, a discipline merging sales and strategy, and a field where I could very well capitalize on my business writing skills.
2. Strategic intent to know your new career orientation
If the first step is the most gratifying preparatory process, formulating your strategic intent for your second career is, however, the most difficult exercise. It is likely that the central purpose of your second career will be shaped by the nature and level of your personal needs prevailing at the time of your retirement.
If after retirement, you are still in the race for the satisfaction of certain physiological or security needs, or the accumulation of fast and big money, or bent to build a business empire of your own, or sustain the fame and glory of your previous career, your second career may be as taxing and pressure-loaded as your first career. But, if you are content and fulfilled with your accomplishments in your first career, then your second career may not be as difficult as the first money-making post-retirement option. In the second choice, your predisposition is to "give back to society" a reasonable part of whatever fortune you had built for yourself, even by sharing your knowledge, wisdom, and resources so that other people may similarly succeed.
The development of a central strategic intent is indeed an intense acid test that bears on compelling needs, desires, and values that only you, as a new member of the post-retirement community, may have the capacity to conclusively decide. In my case, after consulting with my family, I took the second option of "giving back to society." I decided to establish my own business consulting company, a choice where I expected not as much pay as much as my previous career. I could have taken the option of being re-employed in another organization. But in the end, I decided not to put myself again in a situation where I would be dispossessed of the opportunity to have a more enjoyable life-work balance with my family.
3. Make a quick business plan
Once you are convinced that your total capacity fits your strategic intent, waste no time to develop a quick business plan to document what you want to become in your new career and how you can do it. Write the plan immediately if you can do it yourself because you have the experience. If for some reason you cannot develop a quick plan, seek professional help. In both cases, it is a sound business practice to consult people who have the competence to lead you in your start-up situation.
In the effort to build your business from the ground up, always take the side of discretion, humility, and simplicity. Never make any start-up planning provision that would unnecessarily jeopardize and dissipate your retirement money. You now have a shorter life to live and you cannot afford to be entwined in any potentially disastrous financial exposure. If the career of your choice is capital-intensive or cash-flow hungry in its formative years, you may have to retain the services of a financial expert, a professional who, apart from demonstrating a sense of belonging to your business interest, exudes the key capacity to dedicatedly assist you during the infancy of your new venture.
I would think that I was fortunate for having chosen a post-retirement career in business development that did not require massive initial capital infusion and tying up of much money in its operation.
4. Set up your business and expand your network
Once you have a viable business plan, register your business, and go for it by letting the whole world know about it, even before receiving your organizational charter.
Contact all your relatives, friends, neighbors, co-employees, superiors, schoolmates, and associates and tell them of your new career. Develop your own website, business cards, and a brochure that presents clear and convincing description of your business. Set up a bank account and make use of the assistance of your banker in identifying key prospects for your business. Install a quick payment system especially if your business has an on-line component. Join organizations that have something to do with your business. Develop a concise and responsive operating manual that can help you to be more efficient, effective, and customer focused.
And most important, in the tail-end of your preparation, never forget to have a master list of key prospects that you will have to reach or visit as you embark on the actual start of your new career.