Imagine creating a retirement business from the comfort of your home.
You could be the boss of your very own retirement lifestyle business. You’d be developing business ideas, expressing your creativity, creating your rules, building your own business. Your work could fit around other things that matter to you, without sacrificing your dedication to the business or your professionalism. You wouldn’t need to commute or waste time on unnecessary meetings. And you wouldn’t have to miss out on quality time with loved ones or friends. The image above is exactly how I spent some of yesterday…combining the joy of a small grandchild visiting with a little bit of work during sleep time!
Is it time to follow your dreams?
As we get older we want more time to pursue our interests. This could mean traveling, studying, or just having more time for friends and family. Superannuation isn’t necessarily enough to fund the life you want and inheritance might improve your finances a little, but not many people end up with a huge inheritance.
How do you generate an income for yourself and still have time to follow your dreams when you’re nearing the traditional retirement age?
Could a retirement business enhance your lifestyle?
The answer might be to start a retirement business, one that fits in with your lifestyle but enables you to bring in extra income while enjoying that sense of purpose that comes from having goals and achieving them.
Are you too old for such a venture?
You’re probably thinking that sounds very entrepreneurial – surely this sort of thing is reserved for trendy 20 and 30-year-olds. Actually, figures show that there are growing numbers of 50+ that are getting on board the enterprise train. Welcome to the age of the ‘olderpreneur’. Thanks to years of business knowledge and life experience, the boomer generation is perfectly prepared to start their own lifestyle online business.
What exactly is a retirement lifestyle business?
One thing it’s definitely not is a just a hobby. You don’t need to be a hipster living in a Fitzroy. A retirement lifestyle business can be anything from running a consultancy firm, providing business or life coaching, selling a niche product, or teaching a new skill.
A retirement lifestyle business is one where you have retired from the work you used to do and made the transition to your own business venture which you design to fit in with your chosen lifestyle.
If your interest is sparked, here are a few useful things to consider.
A lifestyle business is usually funded by the owner and isn’t designed to create lots of growth and revenue. If you want to make millions quickly and build a large corporation with multiple teams, this is not the business model for you.
A retirement lifestyle business complements your lifestyle.
The true appeal of the lifestyle business for boomers is that it’s straightforward, less physically taxing and simple to manage if you plan it correctly.
You may be thinking this sounds ideal but you’ve got no experience running a business. That’s ok. The prospect of setting up your own business can be really daunting.
Here are five tips to help you start creating your retirement business.
1. Identify your priorities at the beginning
Identify your business idea and believe in it. Don’t keep it to yourself. Share it with your family and get them onboard. Start working on your idea early around your current life. For example, if you are still working in a routine job, do it in the evenings or weekends.
2. Do your homework
Research other similar businesses ideas and go look at their websites. See how they are set up and run. Get inspired by reading about your subject and listen to podcasts to get more ideas.
3. Build an audience
Without an audience, you essentially don’t have a retirement lifestyle business. Spend time creating an audience profile. Get to know them and understand what they are interested in, what challenges and issues they face, what their aspirations are. Don’t forget to continually revisit and update the profile. Make it a part of your routine so you won’t forget
4. Design your business to help you live the way you want
You will need a clear and accessible website that outlines all the key information: who you are, what you do, and how you can help. Create a social media presence. Think about creating offers and charging for these. Don’t be shy to sell. After all, the point of the business is to make an income, but also to give you the retirement lifestyle you want.
5. Choose your help carefully!
One of the biggest stumbling blocks that boomer entrepreneurs experience is having the confidence to do it. Everyone tells you the best way to overcome this is to find a mentor or a coach.
But choose carefully!
You need someone who will help you refine your ideas and support you to develop your basic business model.
My personal warning: You DO NOT need someone who tries to fit you into THEIR mould.
You know the sort I mean:
“I have a coaching program therefore I will help you become the best coach using my methods.”
“We offer a blogging program therefore we will help you become a blogger who makes money travelling the world”.
“I’m part of an affiliate marketing program and they will help you become a successful affiliate marketer and you will make millions of dollars of passive income without doing much work.”
I’ve heard all of that … and more. You probably have too. It’s seductive, but specific help come later if it’s needed and when you know exactly what you need for the business model you have chosen. And when you have sussed out who to trust, who really delivers what they say they will deliver, and who gets results.
Right now you need someone who will help you make your major decisions about the type of business you want. You need to find out what types of business models are available to you. You need to consider what interests you enough to stick with it, what suits your skills and experience, and what the income potential is of those ideas.
It’s very like choosing a new career, which is exactly what you are doing! Choose the best business model for you and you will save many thousands of dollars and many years of frustration. I tell you this from my own hard-won experience. 🙁
Make the big decisions first…then you can consider what help you need.
Retirement options have changed
Retirement may have once meant working in the same job all your life, to be gifted at the end with a gold watch and a generous pension pot. But this picture no longer exists for the majority of us.
So, if there is something you want to do, start thinking about it before you retire from your current career. Work out what you want to do with the rest of your life, and start planning your retirement lifestyle business now.
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