Today's guest is Diane Blumenthal, who has been incredibly generous in sharing her own retirement story.

She took the leap into becoming a self-employed consultant after a long and very illustrious career in pharma and biotechnology.

Diane has helped build and transition companies from the startup and research and development phase into a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company with approved commercial, manufacturing, operations, and products.

She also has extensive experience in the transfer and scale-up of processes from the laboratory bench to commercial-scale manufacturing.

Listen in as Diane shares her journey as a female leader in a male dominated industry, how she planned for retirement and to continue working as a self-employed consultant afterwards, and why she firmly believes that success comes down to being comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Key Topics:

• Being a female leader in chemical engineering in the 1980s (6:57)
• Being comfortable with being uncomfortable (13:42)
• How Diane planned for her retirement (18:22)
• About stock options (22:41)
• What factors Diane considered when it came to retirement (26:25)
• Diane's first day in retirement (28:29)
• Why Diane decided to continue doing consulting work in retirement (31:04)
• The biggest challenge and the best part of being self-employed (35:40)
• Diane's three criteria for choosing work today (36:54)
• Knowing how to price your services (39:43)
• Diane's advice to woman considering retirement and how to spend their time afterwards (43:35)
• "You don't have to live like a king, but you don't have to live like a pauper, either." (46:37)
• Stephanie and Kevin's takeaways (51:51)

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You can find the transcript and more information about this episode at www.takebackretirement.com.

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