Lillian Lincoln Lambert

If you are working in your business and not working on it you have a job and not a business.  Building a business that runs without   the owner will 1) give the owner more time; 2) position the business to grow and make money and 3) Increase the worth of the business if the owner wants to sell.  Working on the following leverage points makes an owner think more like a CEO and less like a technician.

1. Concentrate on having an attitude of a CEO.

2. Use time more effectively

3. Develop an organizational structure of roles who work “in the business.”

4. Recruit talent who are accountable for meeting objectives in their role

.5. Develop routine processes with standards.

6. Develop repeatable systems to get consistent results.

7. Use technology wherever possible to automate routine functions.

8. Building a team that is aligned, involved and motivated.

9. Continue to evolve the owner’s role as leader who sets overall direction, motivates, attracts and retains talent, continuously raises the bar and builds the business the way a CEO should.

A business that has these things in place can look forward to lasting success.

Personal Development

When you were working, no doubt, you thought of many things that you would do if only you did not have to go to work every day. Let me ask you a few questions. Now that you are retired, how many of those things are you actually doing? Are you planning your personal time or are you allowing others to plan it for you? What is the one thing that you have always wanted to do? Do you feel that you’ve waited too long, you are too old, or friends and family say it’s a ridiculous idea? I’m sure we have all heard of people who have retired and have gone back to school to learn a trade or to study a field of interest or even to get a degree. In those cases, they felt so much better about themselves because they expanded their horizon. Is there a trade or a hobby you always wanted to develop – playing the piano, taking singing lessons, learning to sew, learning a new card game? Whatever it is, this is a great time to get started.

If you can’t think of something that you want do, I have a couple of suggestions of things that you should do. One is learn the basics of using the computer and the other is learn more about finance. I will discuss finance in Part III.

Unless you’ve been living on another planet, you know that the internet, in some way, has taken over most of our lives. Almost everything you do will have some connection with the internet, but you must have some basic computer skills in order to access the internet. There is, however, a positive side to this. You can go on a website and find almost any information that you want to know. Therefore, if you or someone very close to you does not understand the computer you will be left behind because our future is going to be heavily reliant upon it. That’s not a problem for younger generations so if there are young people in your lives they can certainly handle most computer issues. The question is will they take the time to do all the things that you want them to do or will they be around when you need someone to access the computer? Even if they are, you should assume responsibility for obtaining that knowledge for yourself. Remember, knowledge if power. Once you have it, no one can take it from you. So get moving – take a computer course to expand your horizon. You may find such courses at community colleges, adult education programs, park and recreation programs or maybe even the library.

Make your retirement payoff and improve yourself. Start with something challenging or start with something new, but start now.