the retirement question...

i got interviewed for my local newspaper last week

they wrote a few pages about me back when i started my business, so they wanted to catch up

towards the end of the interview, the reporter asked me: "so, when are you retiring?"

i said: "hopefully never"

there was a few seconds of silence in the other end of the phone

"wha, what do you mean? isn't the whole point of a business to be able to retire early?"

i smiled

i've come to accept that this is the standard assumption

to sacrifice 15 years of your life and retire early

then write a book about how you regret sacrificing everything because money didn't fulfill you

the classic

i don't blame people for thinking like this, i built my first business with the same mentality

but here's the thing:

the goal is only to retire if you're doing something you don't like

most people don't enjoy their profession or business, so naturally, their goal is to escape it through retirement

but when i look at my schedule, i dont see anything i'd like to escape from

i like to write, create and to be useful to others

that's exactly what my schedule consists of

i also know, that over the years, the way i'm useful to people will probably change

maybe im writing a book instead of an SOP

the format will shift, the clients will change and my offers will hopefully develop together with my own learning curve

exactly how i want it

im also already experiencing a snowball effect with my personal brand only 3 years into creating content

i can't imagine what my leverage will look like in 10 years from now

but what i can imagine, is the tasks and principles i live by

they will stay the same

hopefully, 20 years from now, you're still receiving and reading my writings

i didn't end up with a business i'd never want to retire from from one day to another

it took many small changes, commitments and rules

try it out

best, fred

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