The Cost of Time

We’re living longer and living better. This is amazing, but not without problems. A longer life span comes with cost and cost comes with planning. This week's edition is all about time because the gift of time is not free.

Let’s dive right in

The average life expectancy in 1972 was 72 years old. This increased to 77 in 2020 and then COVID brought it back to 76, but that’s an anomaly due to the pandemic and will be adjusted soon enough.

Fine, an additional 5-years isn't necessarily enough to render retirement plans inadequate, but that’s not the whole story.

Better healthcare, improved mobility, and healthy lifestyles are far increasing the likelihood that those who reach their 70s in good health will now reach their 90s. This has been reported across media outlets and impacts populations across the globe.

Now we have a problem when you consider how we plan for the future and the future is likely to last longer than anticipated.

Don’t get me wrong. This is a problem we all welcome, but again requires planning.

Fortunately living better means we can also work longer to account for the additional cost. Unfortunately, the workplace doesn’t seem to have caught up to those of us who are hyper-focused on this gift of additional time.

We’re all aware of ageism in the workplace in its many forms. Outright separation of employment, diminished responsibility, and marginalization, among other overt and covert forms of bias.

In years past we would have looked for new forms of employment to suit our financial and professional needs. For some, this remains the obvious and most viable choice.

The problem with this approach is the difficulty many experienced workers are having in their traditional job searches.

I, for one, also want to work on my terms at this point in my life. 

It’s not all doom and gloom. We can find new and rewarding work that suits our lifestyle, matches our background, and aligns with our Personal Operating Principles.

What to do? Start a small and simple business.

The key here is a small and simple business. Not a business requiring investment and employees to make your vision a reality.

Start something that requires little investment and no more than yourself. At least initially. Scale up according to demand and desire, but that shouldn’t be the expectation.

People are often surprised at the options available today. Let’s have a look.

• Salespeople: Fractional sales leadership for a relevant segment and business.

• Marketers: Lead and demand generation services to business that struggles with new tools and techniques.

• Teachers: Tutor, provide college counseling, exam prep.

• Execs: Billable mentorship for younger versions of yourselves.

• Programmers/Engineers: Contracting work.

This is a small fraction of what is possible, but you get the idea.

I started a small consultancy leveraging my years of experience in Emerging Technology and started this newsletter. I love my work and doing so without all of the headaches and trappings that came before from larger companies.

• A small company has goals that are rightsized and more attainable.

• Sales are squarely on me, but I control my destiny.

• Layoffs aren’t a constant concern. Again, it is entirely up to me to perform. No looking over my shoulder.

Let’s map this out. Again the key here is small and simple.

Anyone can start a business for minimal cost.

1. Registration and Licensing: Varies by type and state, but expect this to be less than $1000 with federal and state filing fees, in addition to associated expenses. Services like Legal Zoom, and Rocket Lawyer offer discounts and monthly payment terms.

2. Insurance: Again varies, but expect to pay anywhere between $500 - $1000 annually for coverage and payable monthly or quarterly.

3. Marketing: This should be simple initially and focused primarily on web presence and email. Inexpensive providers like Squarespace and Carrd provide attractively priced options as low as $9 per year and go up from there. Business email through Google, Microsoft, and others is as low as $5 per month.

4. Payments: Stripe, and Gumroad, among others, abound and oftentimes do not require upfront cost whatsoever. All fees are oftentimes based on a percentage of goods/services sold.

5. Accounting: Quickbooks is the standard at this point, but others like Xero are viable alternatives. Expect to spend at least $15 per month, but this space is notorious for offering limited-time discounts. Xero is discounted now by 75% for the first 6 months as an example.

This is not a comprehensive list and some additional tools and services can be helpful. If you have a computer, then this is all you need to ensure all of that additional time coming your way is time well spent.

I’m on my third business at this point and have a few tricks and tips for securing low-cost and no-cost services. Share this newsletter with one friend and I’ll forward a list of all the tools I use, the associated cost, and a couple of tips on where to apply as a startup to receive these discounts.

Your Story

I talk to people every day and walk through this process. The product of these discussions becomes what I call Your Story.

Meet Ron Thomson

Ron is an experienced Economist and consultant with years in the trenches at big consulting and Property REITs. Roughly 5 years ago he was looking for a change, applied to countless companies large and small, and went through a pretty arduous interview process with several of them, but was never offered the position befitting his background. 

Interestingly and consistent with the experience of many others he said that a position was not senior enough for him and the company would love for him to apply for a better role in the future. Sounds great, but those positions never materialized. It doesn’t feel great for someone else to tell us what we are fit to do. 

Decision time

Ron is a highly experienced Economist and Consultant with years in the trenches at big consulting and Property REITs.

Roughly 5 years ago he was looking for a change, applied to countless companies large and small, and went through a pretty arduous interview process with several of them, but was never offered the position befitting his background.

Interestingly and consistent with the experience of many others he was told he was overqualified for a position and the company would love for him to apply for a more senior role in the future. Sounds great, but those positions never materialized.

It doesn’t feel great for someone else to tell us what we are fit to do. Feels even worse to hear nothing at all.

Ron grew frustrated with the process and decided to start his consulting practice.

He focused on Economic Consulting, Commercial Real Estate, and Diversity Program consulting. Notice he leveraged his background and kept his business both small and simple.

Surprising Pivot

Here is where it gets interesting. After five years of organic growth, Ron felt compelled to focus on his lifelong passion for baking.

Again, he started small and simple. He located a shared commercial kitchen and built a go-to-market strategy that includes farmers' markets, events, and popups.

This is growing to include e-commerce via social and website and now he has two viable income streams with reasonable earning potential that he can manage long into the future.

Details

Find Thompson Analytics and Consulting here.

Find BakeSkills here.

Find Ron on LinkedIn here.

I would love to hear your story. If interested, then please click here to book some time to chat.

Until next time,

Todd

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