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/

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 “lived values”, 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]

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

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 don’t do that anymore, who are you?" A great listen for those in transition.

Steven can be contacted at https://stevenchayes.com/

 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 don’t have to look good all the time, and it’s 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

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 doesn’t 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".

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 ‘no go’ 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.” 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/

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.

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 doesn’t 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

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 don’t prematurely dismiss options that present themselves. Give them some space to see where they might take you.