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This episode explores why people have a desire to become an entrepreneur later in life and what some of the steps might be to get started on exploring that path.
Rick's story is surprisingly similar to mine, in that he comes out of college (university), didn't really know what he wanted to do and ended up in Wealth Management, and then some 26-year latter owns a wealth management business, and a business advisory business. However, that latter being Epic Business Advisory is far more developed in his case.
What's interesting is the motivation to start this second business, which was as Rick calls it a "faceplant" moment, in which a lady approach him for help some 6 years ago, he was able to support her around the wealth management aspects but had no experience or network to help her with the late husband's business. The complexities of liquidity, supporting her income, management, family member involvement, how to exit it, etc, were all beyond his own capability or that of his network.
That painful experience was a call to action to pivot and learn about exit planning and value building for businesses. In my case, this "faceplant" moment happened with my parents and their once successful business that turned into a failure - despite the involvement of their bank and accountant.
Love Rick's advice about enjoying life's ride!
Rick can be contacted at https://www.epicsbiz.com/
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In this episode, Paul shares how he grew his Dingo Software company from a small consulting firm to substantial business using his entrepreneurial skills. However, along this path, he found that he was spending more and more of his time in managerial functions, which was not why he got into business in the first place. Through personal reflection and guiding direction from his business board, he decided that he was not the best person to be the CEO going forward. Paul discusses the personal identity crisis that can occur with such a decision and the importance of having a plan for the next stage of our personal journey. This podcast again highlights the importance of purpose, culture and âlived valuesâ, examples of which should be highlighted on a regular basis. Love Pauls parting words of wisdom, that the real juice of life occurs when we achieve things with other people. Paul can be contacted at [email protected]
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Having been diagnosed as a dyslexic at a young age, Tim found learning hard. However, he had the good fortune to do a carpenter apprenticeship with a 65-year-old mentor who encouraged him to think in pictures. This was a turning point in Tim's life. In fact, this skill of picturing has been proven to dramatically increase one's ability to learn and comprehend at levels unheard of in the past. Organisations such as Lindamood-Bell have taken this learning process globally. In order to form pictures, the brain simplifies the message down to the essence, thus allowing you to see relationships that could not be seen before. Tim used this newfound skill to complete a degree at university and now heads up a very successful specialist construction company. In this episode, Tim shares his wisdom about life, learning and growing as a team where curiosity, collaboration and human ingenuity comes to the forefront. His advice is to view dyslexia as a sign of genius. Tim then goes onto share his thoughts about how elders could be valued and do social good as mentors in the future. ReFired Elders!
Tim can be contacted at www.erilyan.com.au
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Alf first learned about ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) from a neighbor of his, who was part of the SOG (special operations group - police). They are the equivalent of military SAS/commando unit, but in the civilian jurisdiction. They are deployed into dangers environments often associated with Bicki gangs, terrorism and rouge snippers - think the Port Arthur massacre. As you can imagine, SOG members are often deployed into fearful situations, where how well they manage that fear greatly affects their ability to perform well. He spoke glowingly about its impact, which stimulated more research on Alf's behalf. ACT is now being applied with great validated success by the military, business, athletics, religion and medically. In this podcast Steven Hayes - the founder of ACT talk about its various applications and practical insights from his latest book "A Liberated Mind". Also discussed are ways out of the CEO/Executive/professional identity trap - "if you are, what you do, then when you donât do that anymore, who are you?" A great listen for those in transition.
Steven can be contacted at https://stevenchayes.com/
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In this episode Wes outlines his experience as an executive in a public company. Alf has known clients in similar positions who describe a culture of peer competition and combatants. Climbing the corporate ladder is more about not making mistakes, not taking risks, looking good, agreeing with leadership and taking credit for any progress that is made by your team. This common Australian corporate culture is often called "toxic" by business consultants. A natural consequence of this competitive environment is little innovation, lack of flexibility and suboptimal behaviour as evidence by the recent Royal commissions. Wes then goes on to talk about a far more cooperative and supportive culture which he first experienced in relationship to work in the USA. At first these experiences of support and help can be seen as having an altera motive, almost suspicious! However time has proven this to not have been the case. This environment is naturally more interesting, stimulating and innovative. You donât have to look good all the time, and itâs ok to take risks and learn from both successes and failures. In fact this is the culture that Wes now talks about in his new company "Tomorrow super". Both Wes and Alf then postulate that a mindset of cooperation, rather than competition, could be a significant advantage to the unforeseen opportunities and challenges of the future.
Wes can be contacted at www.tommorowsuper.com.au
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From being a RAAF navigator with a secure job for life, to completing a law degree, to being director of tax services at a major accounting firm, Shane has known change. In this courageous podcast, Shane shares his own emotional journey and issues with having a "Professional Identity Crisis". He tells us of the feelings of being a the top of your career, then plummeting into the depths of despair and irrelevance. For him it took a frank discussion with his trusted managing partner, then a sabbatical where he came to release he had to embrace his own mortality. This was a pivotal point and allowed him to create a new, more flexible identity, which enabled him to take on new roles in his transition to retirement. A move from "I" to "We", far more team-based rather than me based. He describes his new roles as far more fulfilling than he could have imagined. This is a podcast which most professional would benefit enormously from. Shane openly says that he doesnât have all the answers, but is very open to having a coffee with anyone who would like to chat about their own "Professional Identity Crisis".
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Rhys is a young man who had his heart set on making an impact in the world. He initially thought this might be through an organisation such as "Engineers without Boundaries", so he set out to study engineering at Monash University in Melbourne. What looked like a certain career path initially, turned into a âno goâ zone when he graduated at the start of the global financial crisis. Try as he might he could not get a start in his chosen path. Disappointment and sadness naturally set in. Embracing a growth mindset he eventually decided to experiment with other roles and ended up in a well-regarded law firm. Even though he was not a lawyer by training, he found that his double degree in engineering and arts could be repurposed to pursue this new career. He is now skilled in explaining complex insurance and superannuation documents to the public in plain English. He loves helping people make claims that they were not aware of and thereby often changing the direction of their lives. Rhys talks about being single-minded and stationary when he was continually rejected trying to get a graduate engineering position. However, when he opened up to other options and was prepared to try them out he found that new doors open that he could not have foreseen. "A body at rest tends to stay at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.â Clearly the skill of being able to change direction and repurpose one's training and experience is not just important for those in the 50, 60, 70, but also those in their 20, 30, 40's as technology makes routine work redundant. A great listen for all and very inspiring.
Rhys can be contacted at [email protected], or 03 96052757, or https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhys-w-chamberlain/
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Aynsley is a very well regarded and qualified certified financial transitionist, who began her career as an investment specialist. She tells the story of reaching a point in her life where she wanted to make more of a difference for her female clients than just investing money for them. Particularly she wanted to help those who are at the point of a "Life Transition", be that through death or divorce from their partner. As such she undertook additional study to become a certified financial transitionist. She tells stories of the fear, doubt and identity crisis that most of her clients experience from going through these life events. During these times she talks about the value of having a "Decision Free Zone" where one writes down all the concerns that the mind has made up, and then triaging these into 3 buckets of now, soon and latter lists. This process brings her clients much relief. She then supports her clients to get their affairs well organised and make important decisions about their life, and money. This is a must listen podcast for any lady who might be about to, or is going through the difficult experience of death or divorce.
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As an experienced graphic designer Grant knows what it's like to create some new, which has not been done before. From an eclectic background starting in the sciences he studied engineering, then gravitated to printing and finally ending up as a graphic designer. Through this time his skills changed and evolved from drawing on a drawing board to creating on a computer. He shares stories of "adventures in frustration" where he will often not know how to do a task to begin with - draw a horse, use a computer program, design a house - but will start with the attitude of I will succeed. Then 8 times out of 10 he will fail on the first attempt. At which point he can either give up, or get back on the horse and try it again. Grant talks about the skill of "Controlled Arrogance" that allows him to try, fail, look at what works and doesnât work, adjust and try again. Eventually he knows that there is a high probability (not guaranteed), that he will succeed. This is a useful skill for anyone of any age, and particularly relevant for "ReFirees". It's also cumulative and starts with baby steps and grows over time. www.gggraphics.com.au
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In this episode, we explore the options available by buying a franchise. Suzanne has a great deal of expertise in helping individuals to figure out if business ownership is a good fit for them, and especially whether buying or starting a franchise is an option and how that fits into their life. She takes an "inside out" approach of firstly helping her clients to discover what matters most to them in their life. What are their life goals, financial goals, and work-life balance goals? How do they want to be spending their days so that both their life and work are integrated and provide fulfilling experiences? Having done all of that, Suzanne councils to only then start to do research on what type of business would support that life best. For most clients, this is a revaluation and provides an exciting next chapter for their future. Her closing advice is to keep an open mind and donât prematurely dismiss options that present themselves. Give them some space to see where they might take you.
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Gail is an author of several "personal experience" driven books. One of her latest relates to her experience around the age care requirements of her parents. Gail shares her lack of awareness of the complexity of the age care facilities, Centrelink, hospitals, legal and financial requirements. On top of this are the difficult conversations resulting from a parent wanting to maintain their independence. This is a journey into a world that most of us will, unfortunately, experience at some point, and it's mostly a journey that we are unprepared for. To have someone like Gail available to talk to us humans about what needs to be done, who to involve, how to move forward in a compassionate or orderly way, is a blessing.
Gail can be contacted at [email protected].
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In this episode Ingrid talks about the 5 stages of design thinking for our next career. She expands on the role of fear in our lives and how this is revealed in our false assumptions about how we and the world are. These false assumptions show up in our story about what we can and can't do. Part of the solution to our story is cultivating and attitude of curiosity and being willing to experiment and try new experiences like talking to a stranger, or taking a new direction to go home, and just seeing what shows up. Ingrid points out that design thinking is based on how most products are created and that often they are not what was originally intended. An example being the 3 M corporation and post-it notes. This way of creating the next stage of life not only lowers the risk through experimentation, but also makes it more exciting and interesting.
Ingrid can be contacted at [email protected], and website https://www.mosaiccareers.com/
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In this episode, Jon explores what he believes is a misreading of Charles Darwin's original quote. The phrase âsurvival of the fittestâ, which was coined not by Darwin but by the philosopher Herbert Spencer, is widely misunderstood. For starters, there is a lot more to evolution by natural selection than just the survival of the fittest. There must also be a population of replicating entities and variations between them that affect fitness â variation that must be heritable. By itself, the survival of the fittest is a dead end. Business people are especially guilty of confusing survival of the fittest with evolution. Whatâs more, although the phrase conjures up an image of a violent struggle for survival, in reality, the word âfittestâ seldom means the strongest or the most aggressive. On the contrary, it can mean anything from the best camouflaged or the most fecund to the cleverest, or the most cooperative. Forget Rambo, think Einstein or Gandhi!
According to Darwinâs Origin of Species, "it is not the most intellectual or strongest of the species that survives; but the species that are best able to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itselfâ. Jon and Alf discuss the implications of this misunderstanding for business and work of the future. A future where the skills of collaboration, may be far more important to our success and survival, than the competition!
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In this episode we interview an inspiring young man. Chris is now 36years of age, married with two kids and a mortgage. Since May 2018 he has been following what he initially thought was going to be his dream career - as a data engineer with a V8 Supercar team. This career transition from his paraplanning business initially felt like the right move. However, as he experiences the reality of that new life, he realised that it was not all roses. There was an extreme demand on his time and long periods of time away from his family which he missed. This is something that he could not have predicated up front, it had to be experienced. He now realises that he can create most of what he wants be returning to his old career with a fresh perspective. Now, rather than achieving to be happy, he is seeing if he can happily achieve regardless of what he is doing. Chris is a great example of building his way forward - taking action - rather than trying to think it all out up front - which often can't be done!
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David spent 25 years as a senior executive and Director of Smorgon Consolidated Industries which was one of Australia's largest family companies. Since then he has held a number of positions, notable president of the Western Bulldogs Football club, and the inaugural chairman of Family Business Australia. Today he shares his wisdom as a well-regarded consultant to successful family business, where he asserts that most family businesses fail for family reasons not business reasons. During this podcast David talks about transitions in business and life. How these transitions are inevitable and bring with them both good news and bad news. Everyone loves the good news, but it's how we deal with the bad news, the failures, disappointments, that really matters. It's not what happens, but our attitude and how we deal with it that counts. He councils us to regard failure as a detour, not a defeat. Treat it as a learning experience that if we can accept the lesson can move us forward to new heights. Love the 3 fundamental questions he asks of any potential partner:
Who are you? (do I like you? - are you friendly, humble, do you smile, do you care beyond yourself) What do you stand for? (what are the beliefs, principles and values that drive your behaviour) Where are you going? (what do you want to achieve)David also believes that most businesses, families and individuals could experience even greater success if they have written answers to these questions ... "the faintest ink is better than a distant memory"
His final lesson for my youngest daughter - and all of us - is you can only do so much by yourself. You need the involvement of others to increase your chances of experiencing a fulfilling, meaningful and successful life.
David's website is http://pointmade.com.au/
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Dr Weilâs is an organizational consultant, executive coach, educator and psychologist. For the past 35 years, he has provided guidance and support to senior executives, family businesses, and for-profit and non-profit organizations in the areas of values-based leadership and organizational culture, innovation, team building, strategic planning, conflict resolution and executive wellness. Gunther is 82 years of age, and feels that he is just reaching the âTop of his gameâ. Many people in their 50âs or even 70's feel that their best years are behind themâŠâŠâŠ well, Dr Weilâs questions that belief. In this episode we discuss:
Finding meaning and purpose in one's work, regardless of age What values are How values can be empirically measured and why thatâs important for individuals, families and businesses. How values are translated into specific action, making those actions meaningful. What Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates might have in common - apart from their wealth. What the âaffliction of wealthâ is - requests for handouts - and how to deal with that. Holding our stories about ourselves and others, lightly, or better yet, don't believe them at all.You can reach Gunther at https://valuementors.com/
This is an episode is well worth listening to over and over again.
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In this third episode in the series, Kathy shares an interesting distinction between being a contractor vs a consultant. At its essence, a contractor fulfils a known gap in a business that has well defined, predetermined steps. Whereas a consultant looks to add value by helping their customers to transform challenges into opportunities for progress, often without existing predetermined steps. She points out the consultants are effectively selling transformation to their customers, helping them to move from their current state to a new transformed state. She then points out why someone would want to be a consultant and its appeal to those who want to make a difference, earn income and/or pivot into a new career. One of the biggest mental challenges that most consultants have is how to find enough clients. Kathy succinctly outlines how this can be done and talks about becoming a "Lighthouse vs boat" with the inbound enquirer, and becoming comfortable with using support software such as HubSpot. She believes that this is one area where age and greying hair is an advantage and a worthy consideration for someone who wants to "ReFire". Lasts she councils anyone who wants to consider consulting to look at extensive data gathering from potential future clients and providing transformational experiences in a structured, systematic way (and doing so for yourself, also!)
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Kevin is a 35-year marketing veteran from Kansas, City, Missouri, USA. He is the founder and managing partner of SkopĂłs, a brand refining and value building practice for small and medium sized private and family businesses. It has helped clients not only achieve tens of millions in annual growth, but also materially increase the sense of purpose and fulfillment of the leaders and team members of those business. If fact, thatâs where Skopos process starts! It begins with the businessâs purpose (why do we exist as a business, what good do we do in the world, why is our customer and community better off having us in business than it is not having us in business). This refinement -(defined as removing impurities, increasing performance and value)- of purpose (P) is often re-energising for both the older and younger generations. Kevin then outlines the other Pâs in his 4 Pâs system - being People, Process and Position. Kevin enlightens us on how traditional marketing- online and/or offline - is often more about âwindow dressingâ rather than helping the business leaders to create really valued experiences that has their customers want to rave about them and share a good thing with everyone they know. He then shares his thought on re-applying your purpose to bring new value into the world for causes that might be important to you regardless of your age. This episode is ideal for anyone wanting to bring purpose and value into an existing or new business venture.
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75% of business owners regret selling their business one year after they exit. This shocking statistic is why John Warrillow developed "PreScore" which measures a business owners current emotional state to exit their business. In this episode John shares the 4 key drivers that his research indicates leads to this regret, and what to do about it. He talks about being pushed vs being pulled. Creating a market for your business. How much your identity is tied up in your business and lastly how your staff will be treated when you leave. He also makes the point that existing your business doesnât have to mean selling it to a third party, it can mean transitioning it to a manager, or the next generation. This is a great episode for anyone that currently owns a business or may do so in the future.
John is the creator of Value Builder System - which is a process that helps business owners increase the value of their business so they can exit with more, or transition it to a manager or the next generation. He is also the author of the international bestseller "Built to sell- Creating a business that can thrive without you. And the author of his latest book - "The automatic customer: Creating a subscription business in any industry.
"Value builder" is about how prepared the business is for sale, whilst "PreScore" is about the owner personally.
https://valuebuildersystem.com/
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Kathy herself is a shining example of having multiple "Side Hustles" These are paid additional areas of work outside your main income earning career. She is a career coaching, runs a "gig" platform for career coaches across the east cost of the USA, provides small businesses with marketing and digital strategies and lastly is involved in executive coaching. She defines the purpose of side hustles falling into two main categories, income earning only or a "pivot strategy". Sometimes we need to bring in additional income to feed the family. Such work will normally use low level existing skills such as driving an uber car. Other times we want to develop new skills to perhaps move into a new line of work that calls us and feeds our soul. These new skills can be strategically developed with a pivot strategy. She likes to think of this as wanting to go from career A to career C, however C can be very expensive and take a lot of time. An alternative is to go from A to B using a pivot strategy as a smaller step to develop some skills and experience that might be useful ultimately in the work of C. Such a step also allows us to gain direct experience of what working in C might really mean for us in terms of fulfillment and daily joy. A growth/learning mindset who is experimenting there way forward can be helpful here. Many people might feel that they donât have enough time to develop a side hustle, in which case Kathy recommends a little book written in 1910 by Arnold Bennett called "how to live on 24 hrs" - a good summary of which is in Wikipedia. Kathy can be contacted on [email protected] or her website www.turningpointboston.com.
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