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INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | MAY 13, 2002 SMART ANSWERS By Karen E. Klein How to Walk Away From Success Before retiring, ask yourself if that's what you really want. If not, make a long-term exit plan and gradually move toward other interests
A: Not to be flip, but -- what's the problem? Since you're successful and identify strongly with the value you've created in your consultancy, it's easy to understand why you are not yet ready to give it up. Do you really have to? One of the advantages of being a small-business owner is the freedom to set your own exit strategy. How about losing the idea (and the emotional baggage) of "semiretirement," and instead scheduling several extra weeks of vacation each year, or making the three-day weekend a regular feature of your month? If there's a family member or significant other who's pushing you toward retirement before you are ready, experts advise you to think long and hard before acquiescing. If you're not psychologically ready, you may find yourself in a difficult transition: It sounds wonderful, but the truth is that there's only so much lying on the beach, cruising, and hammock-snoozing most people can do before they begin to feel unproductive, superfluous, and unhappy. LETTING GO, GRADUALLY. Make a long-term plan for retirement that you can move toward gradually over the next several years. Meanwhile, prepare your company for the day when you phase out of everyday operations entirely. "Ask yourself if you really want to let go of the business, and if so, why? Could you figure out a way to let go of the tedious, less-enjoyable tasks, and hang on to the work that is most meaningful and enjoyable for you?" says Leslie Godwin, a career- and life-transition coach in Calabasas, Calif. As a business consultant, you likely have enormous experience, insight, and wisdom that would be invaluable to would-be entrepreneurs struggling to realize their dreams of business ownership. Would semiretirement be more appealing if you devoted time to writing a guidebook to success? Teaching a class on entrepreneurship? Or doing one-on-one business counseling -- perhaps as a volunteer with your local business-development center, community college, or SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) office? Not only would you stay productive and contribute to your local business community, but you would continue to identify with the best parts of what has made you successful during your own career. GET EXISTENTIAL. If you can't cut the psychological ties with your company, it could mean that -- like many entrepreneurs -- you've been so single-minded you haven't developed an identity outside of work, Godwin says. "This could be the time to think about some of those existential issues of who you are, what you're all about, what you love to do," she says. "You are not your business. "You are the inspiration and creativity and ideas and hard work that created the business and made it so successful," Godwin says. "The cachet that comes along with that success is ego-based and seductive, but it's not the real you. Stay in touch with what is best about you, and find other ways to use that in retirement." Good luck. Have a question about running your business? Ask our small-business experts. Send us an e-mail at smartanswers@businessweek.com, or write to Smart Answers, BW Online, 46th Floor, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Please include your real name and phone number in case we need more information; only your initials and city will be printed. Because of the volume of mail, we won't be able to respond to all questions personally.  Have a question about running your business? Ask our small-business experts. Send us an e-mail at smartanswers@businessweek.com, or write to Smart Answers, BW Online, 46th Floor, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Please include your real name and phone number in case we need more information; only your initials and city will be printed. Because of the volume of mail, we won't be able to respond to all questions personally. Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | MAY |
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