Second Breaks

This episode is part of the special series on Un-Retirement.

Damion Lupo is a bestselling author in personal finance and money thinking, host of the Financial Underdogs podcast, owner of 30+ companies, and founder of his own martial art – Yokido®.

If there was one thing I remembered about our conversation, it was that Damion explained why he hated the word retirement. As I revisit this episode now, in the context of the Un-retirement series, I see how it’s even more relevant than ever and his points even more urgent for us midlifers to consider.

In this episode, Damion and I talked about the problem with the traditional retirement mindset, what wealth is and isn’t, and the idea of “booking it” or how not to postpone doing things until someday when we retire.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

This episode is part of the special series on Un-Retirement.

Autumn Witt Boyd is an award-winning intellectual property lawyer who works with online business owners to protect their brand, content, and business.

When it comes to intellectual property and business strategies, Autumn is known as a thought leader in the online business community. She speaks frequently at conferences, seminars, and workshops and appears as a guest on podcasts hosted by other experts and business owners.

In this episode from the vault, Autumn gives tip after fabulous tip about the basic things we need to implement and consider when we're starting a new business. Especially for folks retiring from their corporate careers, this episode is an essential primer for any post-retirement business they may want to begin.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

This episode is part of the special series on Un-Retirement.

Michael Zipursky is the CEO and co-founder of Consulting Success. He’s kinda like a consultant for consultants.

He helps business people run their businesses more efficiently and effectively. But more importantly, he specializes in helping people transition into a successful consultancy (or simply find more success as a consultant) by leveraging and marketing their expertise in an enormously crowded field.

He is the author of five books, including The Consulting Success System: How to Become a Successful Consultant and The Masters of Consulting Interviews. Michael also hosts the podcast The Consulting Success Podcast. Clearly, he is the person to talk about building a consulting practice!

In this episode from the vault, Michael and I talk about what differentiates a consultant from a coach or another service provider, and he shares the six principles for running a successful consultancy.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

This episode is part of the special series on Un-Retirement.

Mary Beth Simon retired from her long corporate career in December 2018. As planned, she started a consulting company in early 2019. Mary Beth is part of many Generation X and Boomers who aren’t interested in putting their feet up and playing golf all day post-retirement. She considers herself 100% retired from her corporate career, but that only means she now has all the time to devote to the next chapter in her professional life.

One of the things that struck me with Mary Beth’s experience was how she could make a smooth transition with little stress because she carefully planned for life after retirement long before she packed up her office.

In this episode from the vault, Mary Beth shared what sparked the idea for her unique consulting practice, how she fined tuned that idea so that it aligned with her vision for her next chapter, and where she focused her energy as she got it off the ground.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

IN THIS EPISODE:

• How Paula Adler discovered a path to a new career, following a rich and fulfilling corporate career
• The whole process - from the decision, to working through her fears, to facing the guilt and planning for her new life
• What it meant to leave a career she worked hard to build
• Her life and priorities after retiring from her corporate career

ABOUT MY GUEST:
Paula Adler is a certified life and leadership coach. She is a force for positive transformation, enabling clients to explore both their current realities and potential for future success. She leverages her achievements and personal growth to support others in navigating life’s trenches and transitions.

Paula retired from her long, fulfilling career at PwC to start a new career as an executive coach. But her post-retirement career is, one might say, accidental. Paula wasn't looking for a new career. She wasn't even thinking of leaving the one she had at the time. She was on a different quest — one of self-discovery. While she was on that quest, she discovered a new calling that ended up being her post-retirement career.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

ABOUT MY GUEST:

Lisette Smith is the Chief Operating Officer and a senior advisor at The Advisory Group of San Francisco, an independent financial advisory firm that manages $1BN in assets.

Lisette is a pioneer of the Midlife Gap Year concept as part of the financial planning process. She wrote the educational guide, The Midlife Gap Year: How to take a break and still feel financially secure to help others take a long-term view of their career and life fulfillment.

Today we talk about how we can use a midlife gap year to figure out our next act (if we want a new act!), how to effectively use our gap year so that we don’t end up simply wasting that valuable time, and what we can do if we’re cannot be away from work for a solid year.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• How midlifers can benefit from a midlife gap year
• The different things we can do during a gap year
• How to creatively plan for a gap year, even if cannot afford to take a full year gap
• People’s changing views around retirement

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

Is your curiosity pushing you toward something you’ve never done before, where you don’t have a lot of relevant previous experience?

Are you itching to start a project but you’re hesitating because it’s filled with uncertainty and there are so many questions you haven’t got answers for?

I’m quite familiar with that scenario.

Recently, I published the 100th edition of Midlife Cues.  This milestone is a big deal for me because Midlife Cues is one of the most personal projects I’ve ever undertaken. AND it’s one that I started without a clear blueprint in mind. It was a decision made at the heels of another major life decision and was 100% a result of a series of “what if” questions I was exploring at that time.

I celebrated this milestone by reflecting on what I’ve learned through the experience.

What I realized quickly was that my lessons aren’t unique to this experience. The lessons are applicable to any kind of project where I may be feeling a little vulnerable, and when I’m not entirely sure about what I’m doing or how I’m going to make it work.

In this episode, I share these lessons with you. I figure you may find something here that could apply to your situation as well.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

ABOUT MY GUESTS:
Today, Donna Bond is a Spiritual advisor, and a Business and Life coach. She is the author of Original Wisdom: Harness the Power of the Authentic You.

But before she found this new path, Donna was near the top of her chosen career ladder in marketing. She had worked long and hard to attain that success and so it was not a small matter to deliberately leave it for something else new and so totally different from her career path.

So in this episode, we talk about letting go — of job titles, of existing metrics of success, and of identities.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

• About what it takes to let go so we can make space for new experiences and new identities
• Donna shares what she did to bridge where she was to where she can be. This is a great approach, especially if you don’t know exactly where you want to be and you’re in the experimentation stage.
• Donna said, “every step we make changes the landscape”, and so instead of tight plans, she talks of a having compass instead. This idea that every time we take action, it changes the landscape really struck me and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. What we do and how we do it affects what happens next. We are co-creators of our world, as long as we are taking action and not simply being bystanders.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

A super short trailer that talks about what we cover here on the show - now that we've turned a new chapter!

For the full backlist and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com

ABOUT MY GUESTS:

James and Claire Davis are the husband and wife team behind the coaching and fitness company 38 Degrees North and the host of The Midlife Mentors podcast. Leveraging their backgrounds in psychology, coaching, and NLP, they have been helping midlifers make positive changes in their lives.

I began the conversation with Claire and James with their personal love story in mind.  James and Claire were both married — to other people I mean. They both got divorced in midlife then found each other, fell in love, built a business together, all the good stuff. 

But it became obvious very quickly that what we were talking about was the most important relationship in our life — our relationship with ourselves. And the quality of that relationship affects all the others.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

• The steps that James and Claire took separately and together to give their new relationship its best chance.
• James said the question to ask isn’t whether it’s too late or not but rather, “If I don’t start addressing this now, what would it look like for me in 10 years in 20 years?” This question can be applied to so many areas in our life where we may be thinking of making a change — our relationships, our health, our goals. Anytime we’re hesitating and wondering if we can take the next step, we can ask ourselves what the cost of that inaction may be.
• Claire pointed out that midlife can bring about stress in the relationship too. She said, “In midlife, we’re often growing, reevaluating, and reinventing. this can either bring you together or pull you apart.” The person in the relationship who may not be going through as much change may start feeling threatened. But this does not necessarily signal the end of the relationship and this is when communication is extremely crucial.

For all the links and show notes, head on over to http://secondbreaks.com