What do you want from your future work life?

Hello!

This is the last of four posts in our series, which aims to help you explore your motivations for selling your business and offer ideas for planning your future work life.

What we’ve covered and what’s coming up

In the first post, we examined the factors driving advice firm owners to consider selling, including the various regulatory demands.

We also suggested you take control of the exit process and develop a plan that attracts you to your future life rather than pushing you away from what you have today.

Start there if you’ve not read that.

In the second post, we explored some vital but little-known research that shows we are generally poor forecasters of what will make us happy in the future.

We also examined the‘ end-of-history illusion’ (our tendency to believe we’ll not change much in the future) and noted the thinking trap of focusing on our current needs when planning our futures.

And, of course, we offered proven ideas for avoiding these traps – which could help your financial planners in their work with clients today.

In the third post, we outlined twelve ideas for considering your future work life – and showed the value of:

• Focusing on the obstacles to your goals – an evidence-based idea that turns positive thinking upside down.
• Embracing your curiosity and reframing hard questions
• Considering your three intrinsic motivators.
• Remembering your personal needs are unique, which means there are no golden rules.
• Exploring several different work-life futures – and taking a try before you buy approach to those.

Now, in this post, we aim to help you find more clarity (if you need it) on what you want from your future work life.

It’s easy to fall in love with one aspect of an idea while ignoring its downsides. So, we’ll outline a simple table to help you fully assess your options.

Of course, if you already know what work you’ll do (or if you don’t plan to work again) after selling your business – you could skip this series of Insights.

That said, the approach we outline here may help you consider other ideas.

So, let’s get into this now.

Why would we highlight our happiness gaps?

Intuitively, we all know a good gap analysis can be motivating.

We take this approach in financial planning.

We ask potential clients what money they’d like in retirement or to leave to a dependent partner with young children – in the event of an untimely death, injury or illness.

We also create some modest discomfort by showing the client how much money they’re (currently) on track to have in retirement or to leave to their loved ones.

This approach tends to focus the client’s attention, and we suggest you take a similar approach when planning your future work life.

Of course, this is less about money and more about other factors – which we’ll explore in a moment.

First, to understand why this works, it helps to explore the drivers of happiness – and the value of moderate unhappiness in our motivation.

And thankfully, we have some GREAT resources on which to draw.

Action for Happiness’ created this GREAT DREAM mnemonic for remembering the ten keys to happier living.

Action for Happiness (founded by Professor Richard Layard with the Dalai Lama as Patron) is a ‘movement’ of more than 700,000 people from 200 countries who want to take action to create a happier and kinder world. And they offer practical, evidence-based skills for happier living.

Their ten keys to happier living are:

• Giving – doing kind things for others.
• Relating – connecting with people.
• Exercising – and generally taking care of our bodies.
• Attention – paying it and being aware of how we respond to various situations.
• Trying things out – to feed our desire for learning and adventure.
• Direction – having goals to look forward to.
• Resilience – finding ways to bounce back.
• Emotions – enjoying the positives and reframing/learning from more challenging emotions.
• Acceptance – being comfortable with ourselves and others.
• Meaning – having roles that align to what we value.

Of course, each of us finds happiness in a different combination of these drivers, and that mix varies over time and in different contexts.

We’d also add the experience of ‘Awe’ to this list.

Awe is a relatively new area of research for Psychologists, which is surprising given that we’ve known about ‘awe-inspiring’ experiences for thousands of years.

We’re in Awe when we connect to something wonderful and in some way greater than ourselves – be it a place, person or thing.

Awe – which can come from both grand and small sources – ignites our curiosity and can, therefore, be hugely inspiring.

Think how you’d feel standing at the top of a snow-capped alpine landscape or walking in the Scottish Highlands, Welsh Snowdonia, Yorkshire Dales or even the more modest hills of the Cotswolds.

We also experience Awe when we look closely at a bumble bee harvesting nectar from flowers.

Or when we watch a skilled craftsperson, musician, or professional speaker at work.

So, there are many sources of ‘Awe’ – but it’s only one source of our happiness.

And, at a high level, there’s a deceptively simple way to understand happiness – which comes from years of research by Manel Baucells and Rakesh Sarin – as outlined in their book, ‘Engineering Happiness.’

Happiness = reality minus expectations.

All else equal, we’re generally happier (about an experience) when there’s a positive gap between our (perceived) reality and our expectations.

The Engineering Happiness book offers many more nuanced insights, but we’ll focus on two relevant to our work-life planning exercise.

First, we’re unlikely to be happy if we constantly elevate our expectations above our reality.

So, one way to be happier is to lower our expectations. And, in part, this explains the happy smiling faces in many poor countries where (by our Western standards) we might think people have little to be happy about.

Second, we can achieve more when we see the value in (rather than avoiding) the discomfort of falling short of our expectations.

In the study, Motivating Personal Growth by Seeking Discomfort (2022), Psychologists showed that we boost our motivation when we see the discomfort of falling short as a signal of growth.

And that’s much more fun than getting upset (or catastrophising) about the awkward feelings that come with setbacks.

Where does the magic happen?

There is, of course, a line between productive discomfort and stress.

We do well to avoid setting goals too far above our current reality.

The ‘A’ in SMART goals stands for ‘attainable’. So, small steps are good – we can’t build Rome in a day!

Now, let’s build that simple tool for assessing your future work-life options.

The visual outputs from this exercise may nudge you to make more of the magic happen!

And you may find three uses for this tool. 

First, it should help you assess which of your possible future work lives might provide enough of what you really want.

Almost no work role scores 5 out of 5 on every count!

Second, it will help you assess what you’re getting from work now. And any gaps you find might spur you to automate and delegate tasks that drain your days of fun.

Third, you could invite some or all of your team members to build their version of this tool and discuss their discoveries with you – which may help you spot any ‘irritations’ before they become a crisis.

There are just two steps for building this tool:

1. List everything you might want from your future work life.
2. Score each of your ‘wants’ according to how much they matter to you.

Step 1:  List what you want from your future work life

Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, says we need to start with the end in mind.

However, in this case, there are many ends to consider – and, at this stage, you’re not committing to or even thinking about any particular role.

You’re just listing what you want from your future work life and setting limits on what that work can demand of you.

To be clear, you must draft your personal list of ‘wants’ from work – which may be longer or shorter than our 12-factor list below.

The weight you give to each factor will also be unique to you – and depend on your priorities, circumstances, skills, and attitudes, as well as the weights you give to other factors.

So, many of these factors are interdependent – making this a truly wicked problem to solve.

Now, here’s our starter list of 12 things you might want from your future work life. 

Just add, delete or change the definitions of these items as you wish. 

Factor #1: Purpose and Meaning

‘Purpose’ is one of our three intrinsic motivators – the other two are Autonomy and Mastery.

Purpose is about helping others, or, as Psychologist Scott Geller says, it’s about community.

Most of us want to contribute to the well-being of others, whether that’s our clients or the wider world.

If you’re exploring new types of purposeful work, the UN’s sustainable goals may prompt project ideas, but let’s remember:

• There’s a difference between the causes we’re passionate about and the types of work we might want to do.
• Various types of financial well-being work (coaching, education, planning, or advice) help people with their health, well-being, and confidence.
• Most financial businesses serve a useful purpose. We’re just not good at communicating this to the public!

‘Meaningful’ and ‘Purposeful’ are terms often used interchangeably, but you may wish to have a separate factor for each in your list.

What’s the difference?

Work that’s (personally) meaningful aligns with what you value and gives you personal satisfaction.

Purposeful work, by contrast, contributes positively to society and has specific goals – driven by a vision and mission.

You may want both in your work life and must, therefore, decide how much each factor matters to you.

#2: Autonomy

Autonomy (or freedom) is another intrinsic motivator – and key to our long-term well-being.

You may enjoy a high degree of freedom in how you approach your work now – and you might want to retain that level of freedom in any future work you do.

Of course, you may need to trade some of that freedom (initially) if you want to train in a new area of work.

Financial Advice is regulated, but so are many professions.

#3: Team Quality

A big factor for some in considering a new work life is a desire to work with a high-quality team – of experienced and qualified professionals who share our values.

Such teams are great for continued learning and growth.

So, whether your future work life is employed or you start a new business, you must decide on the value of working with a high-quality team. 

And it helps to be specific about what that means.

#4: Sociability

Swap for a Team Melo Picture?

Research shows that close human relationships are the biggest driver of our happiness.

And for the evidence on this, listen to Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger here.

He is the current Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the world’s longest-running study of human happiness, which started more than 80 years ago!

This is not to say we must rely on our work environments for supportive human connections, but many people value the sociability and camaraderie of shared office work.

And ‘in-person’ contact is generally more valuable than an occasional online meeting.

This is about being accepted as part of a team, having opportunities to listen to and support others, and receiving some support in return.

We don’t assume everyone puts equal value on the social support of their workplace.

Our need for it, if any, depends on our personality and other factors.

You just need to decide if this is important for your future work life.

#5: Mastery

We don’t know if Elephants genuinely never forget, but we know their work is less complex and regulated than ours!

We must stay abreast of constantly changing tax and investment landscapes, and our knowledge of these (sometimes dull) topics can fade if we don’t deal with them regularly.

Perhaps this won’t matter to you in the future.

However, more broadly, we know that mastery is another intrinsic motivator. So, whether in Financial Planning or other domains, we know many people like to gain (or maintain) their knowledge and skills.

The question is whether ‘Mastery’ is on your shopping list.

Do you want the chance to use and develop your existing skills or new skills for the rapidly changing world of work?

Either way, it may fascinate you to review your skill set – because it probably includes a good mix of:

• Motivated skills: those you love and look forward to using but, perhaps, don’t get the chance to use as often as you’d like.
• Power skills: relating to teamwork, communications, innovation and collaboration – which take a long time to build – and are not about to be replaced by AI.
• Wallpaper skills: which you use every day and take for granted.
• Uncelebrated skills: which you regularly use when outside of your work – but few people know about.
• Unexplored skills, like writing, which you may have always wanted more time to develop.
• Imagined skills: those you admire in others – and would like time to explore.

Revealing these skills is a great team-building exercise for your current team, too!

So, you might want to include ‘mastery’ (in some form) in your list of future work goals.

Just be sure to define it in your own words – and think about which of those (underused, undervalued and unexplored) skills you might want to master.

You never know what work-life ideas might occur to you when you do.

#6: Solitude

According to Professor Cal Newport, long spells of quiet time alone are essential for doing deep work.

To be clear, Solitude, in a work sense, is not about being lonely—it’s about enjoying proper, distraction-free time (social media absent) so we can focus on solving problems and creating innovative works.

Having time alone with our thoughts helps us to refine complex ideas.

And, as we all know, we often have our best ideas during these quiet times – which may be at our desk, on a walk or while dozing in bed.

The need is for undistracted time – where we’re not pretending to multitask!

Of course, desk-based deep work (where creative outputs are required!) can be exhausting if it’s not your cup of tea.

And it’s hard to mix with a full-time client-facing role if that’s your preference.

The question is whether YOU want lots of solo time (to do deep work) built into your new work life.

#7: Creative opportunities

There’s much to like about creative and problem-solving work… if you have enough quiet time!

This type of work helps us develop and maintain our cognitive flexibility – and gives us a sense of achievement.

It triggers our brain’s reward system to release dopamine (a feel-good chemical), which reminds us to repeat those actions.

So, creative work can lead to an upward spiral of positive feelings. And, ideally, you’ll have some opportunities for it in your future work life.

Perhaps you’ll get to:

• Create (or have input to) client communications – or educational content.
• Develop new products or service propositions.
• Design the detailed processes that enable those services and make everyone’s life easier.

Alternatively, you may prefer to direct these projects – and have others attend to the details.

Or perhaps you’ll get all the creative activity you want outside of work – with music, dance, art or cooking…

Or by writing a blog to share your valuable ideas – which might lead to you writing a book.

Either way, we urge you to think about whether creative opportunities at work are important to you.

#8: Writing that book! 

Don’t you love this advice – about the type of work to pursue – given to Indira Gandhi by her grandfather?

And yes, there are many unsung heroes in the world of work.

Those who give a lifetime of effort and brilliant Insights but receive little or no public (or business) recognition.

It might seem that many are OK with that – they know this is how it goes!

However, some want to share their ideas with the wider world – and if that’s you, it’s wise to factor this into your thinking about future roles or business ventures.

Establishing yourself as a personal brand for your business offers enormous potential benefits, but there are risks (to you and any future fellow shareholders) if you get this wrong.

You may find it frustrating, for example, if your future work situation restricts your ability to express all your ideas in a book.

Of course, there are risks to publishing our ideas – which we can’t cover in detail here, except to say:

• Writing and publishing a book requires a huge commitment in time and effort – unless you engage a ‘Ghostwriter.’
• Going public with (publishing) our work creates pressure for high standards – which is stressful.
• The market is crowded with books – so it’s hard to stand out and get traction.

Also, be aware that few non-fiction books sell in large numbers – although that’s no problem if your book is your ideas shop window (a calling card for your business) which it is for many.

On the upside, there are many benefits to building a personal brand.

Aside from the sense of personal achievement, a good book can:

• Establish you as an authority in your field
• Serve as the ultimate marketing tool for attracting new clients and professional connections.
• Provide you with all the valuable content you’ll ever need for your marketing.
• Help you to secure public speaking engagements – if those interest you. Books sold in bulk for those events offer a good source of income, too.

For now, just consider if publishing your ideas is an important dimension of your future work life.

And, if it is, start exploring author support services from those proven to help entrepreneurs and experts write and launch books.

If you’ve not done this before, you’ll need guidance and support on idea development, book structuring, writing, editing, print and digital publishing options, and marketing.

And it’s essential to plan all of that.

#9: Control or Influence

Will you want control or influence over the core aspects of how your future workplace is run?

Do you want to be the person responsible for (or be consulted on) the services you offer and your pricing and communications?

Some business owners like to retain control over these things in subsequent work roles, while others are keen to escape from those responsibilities and the stress that comes with them.

So, how important will it be to have control/influence over the core business in your future workplace?

#10: Commuting time

Will the location of your future place of work be an important factor for you?

When you’re not out seeing clients, for example, will you want to work from home – or be based at your new firm’s office?

Also, what commuting time would you be happy with? And, if that’s a problem, would you move home to be nearer your new workplace?

These may sound like trivial points, but we know that lengthy and regular commutes are an irritation (or ‘no-go’) issue for many professionals today.

So, it’s worth defining your ideal commuting time – between zero and an upper limit.

#11: Working time

The hours you’ll work each week (and the years of work you’re happy to commit) may also be a big factor in deciding which type of role or ventures you engage with – after selling your business.

Perhaps you’re happy to work long hours for many years to come.

But you know that excessive hours are unproductive and stressful – and they pose risks to our health and family relationships.

So, when considering your new work life, note your preference and limits for weekly working hours, including time for commuting and other travel. 

Also, think hard about how many years (health permitting) you’ll be happy to commit to a new role or business venture.

#12: Income and capital potential

Will it be important to earn income as soon as you start a new work life?

Either way, what income potential (between zero and lots) would be acceptable? 

The answers to these questions may depend on how much capital you realise from the sale of your business – and the answers to your other factors in this exercise.

Remember, you may need to trade a high immediate income for a lean period if you want a new work life (which requires training) or plan to start a new business.

Shares in the business?

If you’re not retaining a shareholding in the business you’re selling (or in your acquirer), you may want to start a new business or invest in one.

It’s a good way to leverage your knowledge and enjoy another (hopefully profitable) entrepreneurial journey, and it can be highly tax-efficient. 

Conversely, when you have a life-changing sum of money, you may prefer a more diversified (sleep easy) portfolio for more predictable returns.

You may also be less than enthusiastic about the significant time and effort required to start (or grow) another business.

As we’ve said, it’s difficult to know how we’ll feel about major life events long before they occur – so we’re happy to discuss our experiences of the serial entrepreneur’s journey.

In short, it’s ideal for some but not right for everyone. And ideas that don’t feel right when you’re selling may feel perfect when you’ve had time to reflect.

Just beware of waiting too long after your sale and losing any (worthwhile) tax benefits. And take sound tax advice on that.

Ready to complete step one?

We hope those 12 sections helped you consider what you might want from any future work life.

Just remember, your list may be quite different from our starter list here. So, please add, delete, or change those factors as you build a table with your personal definitions.

Like this one, we’ve prepared for Sam, an imaginary business owner. 

Step 2. Weight what *really* matters to you

The next step is to apply weights to your wants in the table above.

And to keep this simple, we suggest you use a 1 => 5 scale.

• Place a score of 5 next to those factors you consider as your ‘must haves’
• Score 3 on those items you’d ‘like to have’.
• Score 1 on those items which, on reflection, don’t matter that much to you.

Then, score 2 or 4 for factors that sit between those weightings.

For example, here’s what Sam’s factors look like as a bar chart.

As you can see, Sam considers that most of these factors will be important in their new work life.

However, Sam feels little need for the ‘Social side’ of office life and doesn’t expect to be concerned about generating an immediate high income or holding shares in a business after selling their own.

What interests Sam is having more freedom and time to spend on creative works – and gaining recognition for their ideas.

Sam is keen to write a book and establish him/herself as a thought leader.

Step 3: Assess your future work-life ideas

You can now use your work-wants table to assess any future work-life ideas that occur to you.

Just add a column to your factors table for each work-life idea.

Then, as best as you can, score that option against your priority factors.

This should give you a clear view of which work-life options offer an acceptable balance of benefits.

No single work life will be perfect – it’s all about the trade-offs between the benefits of each.

And we know it’s hard to assess options where you’re unfamiliar with the work. So, plan to talk (in depth) to others who are already successful in those roles.

What is your table telling you now?

Is your assumed future work-life the same as before doing this exercise?

Is a return to financial planning work one of your options?

It is for many advice business owners who sell up – and this exercise may have confirmed that choice.

After all, there is much to like about financial planning if you’re qualified and love helping clients achieve more with their money.

And remember, building trusting relationships is a happiness driver, too.

Financial planning work also keeps us on our technical toes around tax, pension and investment questions – and helps us maintain our communication and negotiation skills.

Of course, expectations from regulators and consumers only seem to rise.

Dealing with clients’ financial anxieties can also be an emotional strain – as can the intrusion on family time if we have too many clients wanting face-to-face meetings at distant locations.

Either way, if Financial Planning is your preferred future work option, consider what you’d change compared to what you do now – or did before.

Perhaps you’d like to work with fewer (or more) clients of different ages and wealth profiles.

Maybe you’d like to focus on basic advice… or specialise more.

Or perhaps you’d like to move away from regulated advice – to focus on the planning.

There are many choices now.

Are you open to other types of work?

Besides financial planning, there are many roles which could leverage your expertise in Financial Services – including:

• Coaching or training new financial adviser recruits.
• Recruiting – perhaps specialising in financial adviser roles, other specialists or executive positions.
• Consultancy services in Marketing and proposition development, Project Management, Business development (sales), Compliance, Organisational development, Investment and Advice Platforms – and more.

You could also offer financial well-being educational / coaching services directly to consumers, perhaps with the support of employers.

Or you could consider other roles or ventures completely outside personal finance.

Final thought – how are you faring today?

We don’t believe it’s ever too soon to start thinking about your future work life after selling your business.

However, there’s an immediate and valuable use for this table – to assess how you’re doing today – against what you really want from your work.

Most business owners we meet find they can automate or delegate various grisly (administrative) tasks that undermine their current enjoyment of work.

As we said earlier in this series, it’s essential to organise those tasks so others can do them without your involvement.

Your business isn’t sellable until you do.

And yes, we can help you identify and remove yourself from these tasks – so you can focus on what you enjoy doing most.

Ask us about our ‘Business Process Review’ service – to learn more about that.

What more help do you need?

In this series of Insights, we’ve focussed on your personal needs.

We’ve explored what may be pushing you to sell your business and outlined various ways of thinking about your future work life—if you want one.

You know there are many planning (and behavioural bias) traps on this journey – and we’ve reminded you of a few here.

The question is whether you need any more help in this area.

You know that at Melo, we’re on your side.

We walk with you (as Albert Camus suggests!) because we are employed by you, not by any buyer.

So, your interests are paramount to us.

You can talk with us about your personal hopes for this journey.

And whoever you work with – we urge you to find someone who:

• Genuinely wants to help you figure out what YOU want for the future.
• Acts as a sounding board for you to explore your ideas.
• Can listen – without hurry or judgment.
• Will encourage you to step (a little) out of your comfort zone.
• Offers clear, unbiased insights into your challenges.
• Has travelled this road for themselves.

Thanks for dropping in.

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