From mom to entrepreneur, and back again - my story!

In the beginning, I never thought about retirement

Not once.

I was so overwhelmed and busy finishing my hours for licensure, getting supervision, opening my sole practice, growing my business, figuring it all out.

Several years later, it was better, but still overwhelming and busy – now I was licensed and established but I was working to become an AAMFT supervisor and open a group practice and – as always – the business needs were paramount.

Retirement was the last thing on my mind.

The mom part and (some) preparation for entrepreneurship

Even before this – when I was a young wife working as a copyeditor, when I was a young mom dealing with a neurodiverse child, when I was a grad student – twice – and worked for a university or a retail store or a day care. Some days, the sheer weight of two sons, both of whom had some challenges, was more than I could handle. One more thing on my plate did not feel helpful.

Never thought about retirement.

But entrepreneurship was in my blood. My mother was ahead of her time – a tremendous entrepreneur, who not only general contracted her own rental properties, but ran a flourishing antiques business in a resort area for almost 50 years. I learned a lot from her, though she never had a paid employee (as her daughter, I was an UNpaid one), had a social media account, or even a cell phone. Marketing was... well, business cards and word of mouth.

Because of her, I suppose I always wanted to work for myself, and being a therapist makes that easy. But that doesn’t mean the job or the business is easy. It’s not.

Because I spent so much time simply trying to figure it all out, I just never paid attention to some things I should have.

It sure would have helped me to give SOME thought to an end game as I opened my group practice. The things I did wrong were legion. Many of those things had nothing to do with retirement, but nevertheless came back to bite me when I did try to sell the practice.

But that paled in comparison to the things I should have done to prepare myself mentally, physically and emotionally for retirement. And those could have started a long time before. Maybe even back in those mom days.

How I eventually got it together

It wasn’t easy, and it sure wasn’t cheap, but eventually, I paid a coach to help me figure many things out. The problem was, by the time I actually did start to think about retirement, I was smack-dab up at the barrier of it. I didn’t give it the time of day until my days started to number and I realized I had to figure it all out.

And then, it was fits and starts. I’m going to do this kind of therapy and only this kind. No, now I’ll go back to just seeing a few clients. Well, so many called and asked for me, I shouldn’t leave the money on the table, I’ll see more clients. I’ll start a podcast/Instagram account/YouTube channel ... I’ll be an influencer! I can rope my husband into it! I can rope my best friend into it!

Such confusion.

Eventually I realized that what I really wanted to do was help others not have this craziness in their lives. That I could tell women – from experience – that a little bit of dreaming, planning and vision could make all the difference between chaos and stagnation and meaning and excitement.

What I can do for you

I see you – running here and there, managing your busy business, career and life and, like me, seldom even considering what’s ahead. I WAS you! I know that a lack of thinking ahead often doesn’t end well.

You and I together will explore what will make you joyous in retirement – what will bring a permanent smile to your face and help you to feel your life is well-lived. We will dream big, cast some amazing visions, talk about whatever will have the most meaning for you, and how to pull it all together so it’s not just another plan wasting away in a file somewhere.

This is YOUR retirement. YOUR plan is about YOU.

We’ll help define what your “30 bonus years” can be and how you can thrive and be fulfilled without your previous (busy) career. It’s your life so let me help you enjoy it!

Contact me to find out how.

Ellen

Contact me to get started!