Preparing for Life After Work: The Emotional Side of Retirement with MORO Founder Jhanell Biggs

Guest: Jhanell Biggs

Episode Host: Clarita 

In this episode of Begin, Build, Blossom, we sit down with Jhanell Biggs, Founder and CEO of MORO.

Jhanell started MORO after recognizing an important gap in how we prepare for retirement. While financial planning is often a major focus, she realized that money is only part of the equation. Many people reach retirement financially prepared but emotionally unprepared for the lifestyle change that comes with leaving the workforce.

Through MORO, Jhanell provides non-financial retirement lifestyle coaching, helping individuals think through the personal, emotional, and identity shifts that can come with retirement. Her work focuses on helping people transition into this next chapter with clarity, purpose, and a vision for the quality of life they want to create.

During our conversation, Jhanell shares:

• What led her to start MORO and the gap she saw in traditional retirement planning
• Why the non-financial side of retirement is often overlooked
• The kinds of lifestyle questions people should consider before retiring
• What working with MORO can look like for individuals preparing for retirement
• Her vision to partner with corporations and organizations to help employees prepare for the emotional and lifestyle aspects of retirement, not just the financial ones

This conversation is a thoughtful look at what it means to transition into retirement and how preparing for life after work goes beyond just numbers.

Learn more about Jhanell’s work at:
 https://www.trymoro.com

#RetirementPlanning #LifeAfterWork #RetirementLifestyle

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Well, I think as an entrepreneur you learn you have to learn how to accept rejection or the silent rejection. So you meet people, you are networking, you're trying to pitch your company, and not everyone, while they may think it's a good idea, not everyone is is available and or open to it. And so you have to kind of understand that it may not be the right time for them. And so the rejections kind of sting a little bit, especially when you're starting out.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Welcome to Begin Build Blossom, your business journey, the podcast where we share valuable insights, resources, and motivation to fuel your entrepreneurial spirit. Let's build a supportive community together. Don't forget to subscribe or follow wherever you listen to podcasts and be part of this journey. Let's pause for a moment to hear from our sponsors. You've built a name for yourself through hard work and dedication. But does managing the business side feel like a distraction from your true passion? Are you dealing with unmanaged finances? CME Accounting LLC is here to help. We specialize in organizing your financial records, allowing you to focus on what you do best. With organized books, you'll have more time for what inspires you. Whether that's expanding your influence, building relationships, or simply enjoying life. Don't let unmanaged finances hold you back. Reach out to CME Accounting LLC today and let us help you thrive. Visit our website www.cmeaccountinglc.com or email us at admin at cmeaccountinglc.com. Alright, let's jump back into our conversation. Good day and welcome to another episode of our podcast, Begin Bill Blossom, your business journey. Today we have with us Janelle Biggs. She is the founder and CEO of Morrow. She started the company because she found that financial planning is critical, but it is only half of the equation when it comes to exiting the workforce. Morro fills this gap by providing non-financial retirement lifestyle coaching to help ease the transition to and through retirement. Welcome, Janelle. How are you? Good. Nice to be here. Thank you for having me. Yes, thanks so much for saying yes to being on here. So if I remember correctly, we met at a networking event.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Yes, we did a couple weeks ago.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yes. And the interesting thing about that is you were introduced to me by somebody I knew through a networking community. So it just tells me a lot about how important networking is, and we've had a chance to connect since and have enjoyed speaking with you, and I'm just so happy that you're here today. Likewise. All right. So we will be going through different segments, but before we do that, we just like to ask a few questions. In a segment we call rapid fire, and we hope to just get to know you a little better before we dive into the more of the business.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

All right. So we're looking for two words. One word that describes you now, and one word that would have described you as a child. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Now I would say curious. As a child, I would say, and actually asked my mom. I called my mom. I was like, how because I kind of had, I was like, you know, as a kid, I was quiet. But I think what I would say is playfully serious. I know that's not one word, but it's it's it's a phrase. Playfully serious.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

So I can expand on that if you need me to.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

I would love to know more.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Sure. I was quiet, but I like to have fun and I think I was silly and outgoing, but there was like a shy and serious side of me. Like I remember as a kid that my sister would, my sister's older, she's three years old, and she would have parties. But you know, as a kid, especially growing up in the Caribbean, if your sister got invited to something, you would have to go. And I just remember it was, you know, I would have fun with all her friends or whatever. And then at some point I was like, all right, enough fun. Let's go. And the serious part of me would be like, all right, I'm done. Once I'm done, this like no more games. It's time to go. Go home.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

That's funny. And actually that brings me to another question. Is there a favorite childhood memory? So you just told us one. I don't know if it's a favorite memory, but definitely a memory from your childhood. Is there a memory that you would probably like to share with us? Something that makes you smile, especially when you think about it.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

I grew up in Jamaica and a childhood memory is that my my grandparents lived in the country, St. Elizabeth, and we would go down every Christmas, and it would just be my mom and her siblings, all my cousins, something we all look forward to because as we would, you know, arrive, there would be fried fish, we'd go to the beach, it's festival, bammy, all the kind of things that you expect when you go to your grandparents' home. So that's a memorable uh experience that I have from childhood.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Oh, I love that. And mentioning Saint Elizabeth, I hope your family, you know, they're doing okay since the the hurricane.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

I know that no family is currently there, but the family house was destroyed. It's still there, but it's barely there. But yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

I'm sorry to hear.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

It's been a difficult yeah, thank you. It's been a difficult time for everyone there. I mean rebuilding but slowly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Okay. You know, I really hope that um things get better. I do too. Thank you. Right. And um what is a book or a movie you'd recommend?

SPEAKER_02 5:39

A movie that I really liked was Rabbit Proof Friends, a book. I'm trying to think of a book that I've read. Um, it's called Educated, and the Rabbit Proof Friends is based in Australia. Those are two movies that stand out. The books that I'm reading now aren't books I would necessarily recommend. Everything I'm reading now is about living longer. So, like Outlive by Peter Atia, those types of things of what I'm reading that are focused on longevity and aging. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Well, thanks for sharing that with us. It gives us something to go check out because some of those I've never heard of before. Really appreciate that. Since you've been in business, what's one of the highest highs you've had? One of the best moments?

SPEAKER_02 6:20

The b one of the best moments, I would probably say landing my first paying client. Because that means that okay, like you you can say you're legitimately open for business because you have income coming in. So that would probably be the highest highest that I've had so far.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

And the opposite of that is there are moments you remember as probably not the best.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Yeah, I think the moments, and they're they're multiple. I think as an entrepreneur, you learn you have to learn how to accept rejection or the silent rejection. So you meet people, you are networking, you're trying to pitch your company, and not everyone, while they may think it's a good idea, not everyone is is available and or open to it. And so you have to kind of understand that it may not be the right time for them. And so the rejections kind of sting a little bit, especially when you're starting out. When you work for a company for years, the rejections don't sting as much, but when you're a solo entrepreneur, they do t tend to sting a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Yes, I agree with that. And sometimes you have to deal with so many of that before you get the yes for sure. Okay, so let's talk about the beginnings of it all. Um, do you remember the first time you actually thought about starting a business?

SPEAKER_02 7:38

I tell people this all the time that I think I'm an accidental entrepreneur. And by that I mean I never I don't rem I don't think there was a time that I remember saying that I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I liked working, I my background is in advertising. I work for ad agencies, and I liked the stability of having a job, but I kind of got propelled or pushed into entrepreneurship because I wanted to solve a problem. And so that's kind of how I ended up here. It was I was led to do this. It wasn't a vision that I had 10 years ago. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

And that would be a good time to tell us a little bit more about um your business. And um, you said you were led to it. So maybe you can give us some background story there as well.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

The name of my company is Moro. We are a retirement focused uh non-financial retirement company. And what that means is that we're looking at while financial planners are looking at can I helping you figure out can you afford to retire? This lifestyle coaching is really figuring out how well I live in retirement. So, how do I ensure that I have a good quality of life post-work? And so I work with people in looking at different parts of their lives, spiritual, mental wellness, physical, creativity, different domains to help them figure out how they plan for the transition when they don't have the scheduled routine of working a nine to five job. So really it's it's just a bridge between that financial readiness to life readiness.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Yeah, and that really helps give a holistic view because yes, there's the money, but there's also I've been doing something different all my life, but now I'm supposed to do what?

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Yeah, I don't think we are we don't think about it as much. We're not trained to think. We're trained to work with advisors. Our jobs give us 401ks or pensions, and so we we, you know, hopefully we or you just have a regular savings account. But the other piece, the emotional and the behavioral piece is what's missing from the conversation. And I hope that my company can can be one of the companies off on the forefront talking about longevity in terms of how to make sure that you have a good quality of life post-work.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Yes. And I'm thinking, Here, there's also the cultural aspect to this because you mentioned you were from the Caribbean. I'm also from the Caribbean. I'm from St. Lucia, and you know, we retirement is not something we really talk about because people just keep working, even though they don't have to, they feel that they want to or they need to. So even the the mindset shift when it comes to retirement, that is definitely something that needs to be worked on. So it's really good that um you make that available.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Yeah, and then I think the part that's important for me to highlight in terms of retirement, it doesn't have to mean the end of work. It's just a reorientation. And what I mean by reorientation is that you can still find a lot of value in part-time work or something that we call encore careers. So maybe your 30 or 40 year career as a an educator, as a nurse, as a doctor, as a teacher, and you can still work part-time. It could be paid, it could be non-paid, you could be volunteering. So it's something that still is fulfilling and gives you your life value and meaning. It can also be a part of your transition after your full-time career has ended. So again, it's a reorientation. It's thinking about how do I find things that are fulfilling during this next phase.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Yes. And while you're saying that, I'm thinking also, you know, there are some things probably you always wanted to do when you were younger. And I feel like that's such a good time to maybe reevaluate that. And by speaking with somebody like you, that is something that can come up. You may have put it away during this all this time, and now you'll get a chance to revisit it.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

If you think about it, maybe even for yourself, do you plan on, you know, working until there are things that you dre you know you dreamt of doing when you were younger? I do. Like, I think one of the things that I'll do is a lot of fishing and a lot of it's not something I can do now. I don't have a boat, I don't have access to a boat. But maybe if you love music and you've always been musically inclined, but work never allowed you, DJing could become something that you do on the side. I mean, there's so many things. Maybe you love baking and you bake for all your kids' uh birthday parties and holidays and things like that. I think what I love about retirement is the freedom and the free will to kind of do things. I mean, there are a lot of parameters. Maybe you're not as mobile, but there are still other things that hopefully and like now you're maybe on more of a fixed income. But those things aside, I think creativity and thinking creatively about how you spend your time is what is really important here.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Yeah, and the continuity in terms of routine. So you could still have a routine but doing something different. Okay. I'm just curious, when it comes to your upbringing, is there anything within your upbringing you think has led you to this point where you are today, especially like developing this business?

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Yeah, my dad was an entrepreneur, and my mom is a midwife. And so they're two things, they're completely different. My my dad is an engineer slash, like I said, entrepreneur. So I grew up watching him start and try to start different businesses. So, like I can see all the hard work that went into it. And then my mom on the other side is this extremely passionate, caring profession made her want to be of service to others and helping others. She's a midwife, and so she was bringing life into the world, helping guide mothers and you know, young mothers, older, you know, older women as well. And so I think those two things helped me see have compassion for people all throughout my life, but also now that I'm looking at them in their state of retirement, it was important for me to to think about wow, like this is an important transition. There aren't a lot of tools and resources that people can tap into. So I wanted to be that tool and resource that people can use as they navigate what's next.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Yeah, that's great. And once you decided to start the business, would you like to share with us some of the steps that you took to take it from this idea to now you actually have the business?

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Yeah, so I think where it started was just a statistic and just some initial research. I wasn't, like I said, wasn't looking to start a business, but I was looking to transition out. I was in a kind of in a bit of a pivot phase. I was looking to transition out of advertising, but I didn't know what I wanted to do next. And it was extremely difficult because as you can imagine, I'm I'm leaving behind a career that I spent so many years I went to grad school for. I had won awards in advertising. I really, you know, I had a good, strong career. And so making this decision to to leave was difficult. But what started as a statistic around the need for more home health aids and by 2030, and just looking around at uh longevity and re-aging research, I was like, there's something here in this space that I think I can tap into. And as a strategist, it's like, well, what's the problem that you're solving for? And the problem that I was solving for is that when people retire and they don't have anything constructive to do with their time, the incidence of like anxiety, depression, social isolation can increase. As I continue to kind of build in this space, that's what my North Star is. That's what I'm really trying to solve for. And so working with people who are feeling like a little bit disillusioned about where they are post-work, I think that's really what got me thinking that this is an idea worth pursuing.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Great. So it sounds like you did a lot of research. Of course, uh, it sounds like at the time you were doing it, it was not necessarily to start a business.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

It was just a curiosity. Like I said, like when you asked me in the beginning of like how would I describe myself as a curiosity? It was just me, it was I was working at the time on a project, but on the side I have a deck or presentation that just had 120 pages of research in it, just random facts, stats, reports, studies, and I didn't know what to do with it. And then one day I was like, Oh, maybe I can help people figure out what's next, and maybe I can do that through coaching. And that's how I started.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Okay, so now you have all that information, you have that desire. Um, in terms of the business side, was it that you had to do, you had to find your people, you know, networking? What were the steps that you took to make this even more possible for you?

SPEAKER_02 16:41

Yeah, so once I decided that I was gonna pursue this, that was probably the biggest hurdle for me because I I I think I was a little bit risk averse because again, I like the stability of having a job. Now I'm going out into my own. You know, I don't know anything about aging. I don't know, like I'm not formally trained, is what I'm saying, right? My background is not in this space. So I had to educate myself and surround myself with people who do so. I took a certif I got a certification in gerontology. It's reading books, watching podcasts, um, reading studies, doing all that stuff. I joined the Retirement Coaches Association, started networking with other people in the space who have been doing this for 10 and 20 years. And even though non-finance, like retirement coaching is seems fairly new, there is an organization that exists that they've been doing it, but it's still a very niche because you know, people know what a health coach is, people know what a financial coach, business coach, you know, coaching as a like a sector exists. And so I really spent a lot of time just figuring it out. I got a coach, I got a business coach from SCORE. So SCORE mentors, so I had I worked with them to kind of figure out, you know, and as establish our LLC and do all those kind of ground foundational things, figure out the financial piece of it, writing a business plan. And then it was like built a website, and then the doors were open, and it was like crickets at first, right? Because who knows that you exist. So I had, you know, I had to push myself to be on social and try to network with people, being on podcasts. These are all the things that I had to learn as I went.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Okay, thanks so much for sharing that. Now we have crickets, and then there's this first being client that you referenced earlier. Tell us a little bit more about that, like how you found that particular client and what was that like for you?

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yeah, I would just say there was some nicety in, you know, when you you you open a business website, and like I knew this as a for someone who did marketing and advertising, that you really need to advertise and word like word of mouth. But the difficult part of like word of mouth for me, and I did do some pro bono clients initially just to kind of figure this whole thing out. And that was through my best friend. She introduced me to uh two of her old co-workers. But again, I my I don't live in a world where all of my friends are retiring, right? My friends are all my age and still hustling, working hard. And my mom's friends and like my initial network was very small of older adults that I could tap into. So I was doing I did a lot of like PR and I tried to get published in in different articles and do interviews with journalists, and I was in featured in a Kiplinger's article, and that's how I was able to get my first paying client. The daughter read the article and said and gifted it to her dad because he had just been let go. And so I would encourage people to do writing, podcasting, social media, but it's still a very difficult because again, word of mouth wasn't very easy for me, and it continues to be a struggle, but I think the the article is really what I was like, okay, this is a thing, so let me double down on that.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Nice. I like that.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

And once you got your first client, how what was that like for you? It was kind of like the first high because I remember like texting and you know, texting and calling my sister or my mom because I had been working for I mean, it's hard to say. I had been initial phases of all the research and stuff, so I wasn't active in looking, but it took a couple of months for me to land my first paying client. I did some free pro bono stuff at the library with a financial advisor. And so a lot of those, you know, you have to lay the groundwork, but it did take a couple of months to get the first paying client.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah, and I think um doing pro bono is something I feel like that's a good thing because you're basically putting yourself out there, people learning about you, and you're also learning how to serve the people that you want to, and you're learning what works, what doesn't work. So it I think it really helps to build. So I do see it as part of the building. I do volunteering myself, I work with some people like friends, just to get started, you know, to it helps with the confidence and the the awareness, everything.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

It does. And you know, one of the things that that first paying client taught me, because I think I put together my different personas of who I thought my ideal clients are, and and so they're pre-retirees, so people who are retirement bound, I would say my ideal person is like 12 to 18 months thinking of retirement because the goal is to really help them create a a roadmap to get them to retirement. And then the people who are currently retired who are feeling lost, a little bit in despair, and just kind of like trying to figure out what's next. Maybe their first year or so was fun. They did a lot of DIY projects around the home. They traveled, they helped with their grandkids, all those things, and now they're just like, I'm lost. So those two, but the third, like my tertiary target would be people like myself, people like you who have aging parents and are maybe not in the position because either they have younger kids or what have you. Our parents don't listen to us. And so having an Outside source come in. And that's what this client did. She found me. And also, I think, you know, some older people aren't necessarily as savvy. Retirement coaching is not something that they would traditionally know to seek. So that was an obstacle. And it couldn't it will continue to be an obstacle because if people know what a financial advisor is, therefore it's easy to just search for one, look for one, access one. But for for this specific thing, it really is so kind of uh new that people aren't aware.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Okay, well, I'm glad you're here telling us about it. Um the name of your business. Can you tell us the story behind that?

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Sure. So morrow is short for tomorrow. And the reason why I started it uh uh or the reason I landed on Morrow, it's um first of all, uh can we talk about how hard it is to name your company? Like it Yes, let's do that for sure. I remember having like a spreadsheet with just names and then I would Google and then it was like taken already, and then they couldn't it was just so hard to find a name that represented something. One of the distinctions that I made as a coach is that I didn't want to be it to be Janelle Biggs coaching. There are a lot of coaches that use their personal brand. I wanted to an entity outside of just me as the and I know that some people would argue that that was probably not the best decision, but there, you know, there's it's a strategic decision that I made not to like I am the face of the brand, but I'm not. So I think of it as like Alma or some other entity that provides a service. That's kind of how because I want to be able to hire other coaches and trainers in the future, so that's why I'm not it's not Janelle big. So that's the first thing. So naming it after myself was not an option. I used to volunteer or and I still do, but not as often as I did last year, but at a senior center in my neighborhood, an older adult club in my neighborhood, and the people there are honestly amazing. And it was just a good because I wanted to transition into the space, I felt like I needed to surround myself with older adults, right? And so they would have this weekly session that I would go to, similar to like a roundtable talk. And one of the members, or a lot of them, a lot of they're mainly predominantly black, Latino demographic. And so I don't I'm pretty sure you've heard some of the older adults in your life say, you know, I'll see you tomorrow, and it's always like God's willing, and it's always tomorrow, God's willing. And I was like, oh, there's something tomorrow, just felt like they're they're always looking forward to what's next, to the next day. And then somehow tomorrow stuck, and then I just didn't want to name the company tomorrow. So morrow is how I ended up here.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Well, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Yeah, so it's like tomorrow, God's willing.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Let's pause for a moment to hear from our sponsors. You've built a name for yourself through hard work and dedication. But does managing the business side feel like a distraction from your true passion? Are you dealing with unmanaged finances? CME Accounting LLC is here to help. We specialize in organizing your financial records, allowing you to focus on what you do best. With organized books, you'll have more time for what inspires you, whether that's expanding your influence, building relationships, or simply enjoying life. Don't let unmanaged finances hold you back. Reach out to CME Accounting LLC today and let us help you thrive. Visit our website www.cmeaccountinglc.com or email us at admin at cmeaccountinglc.com. All right, let's jump back into our conversation. When you found the name, what made you say, you know what, this is it? Because you had other options.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

I just felt drawn to it based on that experience with thinking about like the name alone I like, the M O R O I like the way it sounded, the way it's spelled, and someone who, you know, worked in advertising and naming, like, so there are some of those like branding things that I liked about it, but also just the sentiment that I it it there was a story about always thinking about what's next and what's ahead. Like I know you should live for today, and that I agree with that sentiment, but there's always when you're planning for the future, what's up and what's next, I think tomorrow just hit that sentiment where I wanted it to.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Great, I love that. And I love how you mentioned, you know, it it was a strategic decision as well. Because uh for me too, it was I want to have the business, but I plan on that business growing. So it needs to be beyond me. If it's something you think about at the beginning, if that's what you want, if not, you know, fine. Not everybody wants to grow a business.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

No, they want to be the brand, and then the brand is them, and that and that's it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Yeah, so I'm really, you know, I'm really glad that you mentioned that. Now let's talk about building. You now had that first client. How did you go about building on that and getting even more clients?

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Well, I'm still build actively building. I've I've been in business for about a year and a half, and so I've tried to double down on the PR, like pitching my company and myself. And so that have also landed some other clients, is making sure that I focus on the being a thought leader. This year, my kind of goals are to really focus on the PRPs, thought leadership, but also positioning myself to millennials with aging parents. I kind of said that before, but that's really how I think I can continue to grow the business because speaking directly to retired individuals is not necessarily the easiest way in. And then the other big piece that I want to build on, which I haven't really talked about, is that going after clients one-on-one will always be, and I think you can talk to other coaches and other small businesses about people who are trying to grow just getting one client here or there, is that I want to work with corporations. And I think companies do have and can have a bigger role in helping people navigate life after work. And I think people may argue, well, they're leaving, why should a company care? But I think in the same way that the company cares about helping you save for your 401k and matching and pensions, and that's the financial piece, I would argue that the emotional piece and the quality of life piece is just as or even more important. Because you could be really rich, you can save all your money, but if you don't have a set plan for how you're gonna spend your time, it could really upend your retirement.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Yes, for sure. And I'm really glad that you're having those discussions and you're changing maybe the way people see things. So you're pioneering in a sense.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

I'm trying to, because the way I see it, it's like 20 or 30 years ago, don't quote me on the timing, when companies were trying to be thought of as kind of innovative. It was because they were uh offering childcare at work at their workplaces or giving people vouchers or whatever it was, you know, helping parents, working parents, making the work-life balance a lot better for parents. And so it was offering that as a benefit. Now we're also seeing employers do things like mental health with offering therapy and counseling and offering apps like Calm. We're also seeing employers talk about menopause and and offering menopause coaches and menopause awareness at work. And so I think this is definitely a huge, huge piece of the workspace is retirement. At some point, we will all have to stop working or transition out of whatever careers we're in into something else.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Yes, and we are leaving longer for the most part. So it's really good to start thinking about those things and putting things in place. Like you mentioned, when women enter in the workplace, there is this need of childcare. Now people are living longer. There is a need to make sure that they're living a very good life beyond the workplace. So I really love that you're focusing on that and you're you you know you're sharing that with us because I can't say that I've heard of a business like yours before. So for me, you really bring in a lot of awareness, and I do have older parents. So it is something that you you basically stimulate in my brain here because I need to think about that. So I do thank you.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

It's giving the employer a runway. Just like, you know, I think of it too as it's called out placement. So sometimes when companies, it's usually done at bigger companies, they lay people off or um make people redundant. They offer them a bunch of resources, being like career coaches, etc. And so it's important, I think, just as important if you if these people are exiting, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, the workforce, and say, you know, you're 65 or 70, are you going to start looking for another job? I mean, we all know that ageism is real, and try looking for a job in this economy at 65 or 70. Looking for a job at 25 is not easy. So I think that's also why it's an important discussion to have. I know that caregiving has also been a big discussion point with employers as well and their companies that do offer companionship and caregiving services to busy employees who don't necessarily have the time to assist their parents in the way that they would like because they do have to be. I mean, think about the doctor's appointments and all the things. I I think for me, it's the other the other side of what I'm doing is like, okay, well, mom or dad, let's create a routine for you that's going to make you feel fulfilled. And it doesn't have to be a very rigid routine where you're you're scheduled from nine to five every single day, but there should be some form of an activity. Maybe you're going back to school and you're learning something, whatever it is, I think those are the things that are important and that I help people figure out.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Great. And and those people that you've worked with, um, can you just share maybe one of the results that you've seen just so people get a real idea of what it looks like um after having worked with you?

SPEAKER_02 32:48

So I had a client who works for the state, and um she had done so for 30 years. She left and she wanted to learn a new language. I mean, she wanted a whole kind of a more comprehensive, like she had multiple goals or so that she wanted to um to pursue. And it started off as a purpose-driven conversation, like and what's her identity and purpose outside of work. So we did a bunch of exercises, like really defining what her purpose is and what she wants her purpose to be outside of it. And it was something along the lines of being of service to others, and she was like very much wanting to use her skills, like her transferable skills from being an exec, you know, an executive at work, but also helping other people. And she really wanted to also help other women get to whatever career levels they did. So we we figured out her identity and we wrote in a I mean a purpose statement. And so everything that we did uh going forward was ladder up to what her purpose would be. So when she did that, there were some other things that she really wanted to do, which was like uh learn a new language. So I helped her identify some tools. So like I would present, like you can take classes at a community college, you can download Duolingo or Babel, and there are different tools that you can use to learn a different language. And her ultimate goal would be she wanted to learn French, and so she she'd never been to France, and so taking a trip to France was was kind of her next step. And so getting people to really think about okay, getting things that feel a little and intangible, like identity and purpose and belonging. And then one of the other things that I worked with her on was she was kind of a deep busy, like a type A personality, and so she really knew what she like she was good at structuring and think of checking things like off the list, and she was really good at doing stuff like that, but she felt like part of her day that after dinner hours are really kind of boring or low. And so we we worked together to figure out how to improve her the hours before bedtime. And so we looked at reading, we looked at journaling, we looked at writing. She's a really good writer. She used to to write before her her job at the state, and so that's what we worked on. She would she would write at night before bed. And I think what the beauty of it, what I like to do is when I work with people, I also like to interview their friends and family members if they're open to it, because I think sometimes people don't necessarily share or they're not as self-aware about who they are, their interest and what they like. And so an example could be maybe you were in finance for years, and so you think of yourself as a very numbers-driven person and you're not interesting or creative, and all you know is you know, like spreadsheets. It's like, no, um, did you bake all the cakes for your kids? You know, were you the person who sewed the Halloween costumes and had that had like think of those things? And I think sometimes that having other people share about you helps you think, oh, okay, yeah, actually that could be something I could do when I retire. It doesn't have to just be plain bingo and golfing.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

I really love that. And I can what you said about spreadships and bacon, because I actually uh enjoy kick decorating and it's something I did in my previous life. It's probably something I'll definitely pick up again once um time, once I have that time permit.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

Yeah. See, it's all those little things that you kind of like, oh I mean, it sounds like you were a pro, but sometimes it's like, and it doesn't have to be like anything spectacular, but maybe you make a really good carrot cake and that's your thing, and you know, maybe you turn it into a little small business. I think I think there is an a stat from AARP that people over 50 is a it's a growing sector of people who are starting businesses. I'm like, why not?

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Why not? Why not? So I can tell here that you really help people to dig really deep, you know, to find out that information and not just from themselves, but people who know them. So you really help them to get that clarity and help them with planning, you help them with making things a reality. Because sometimes, you know, we have these goals and it just like you mentioned, it just seems like ah, it's something I'm thinking about, but to actually make it that thing that you can achieve and to help guide them with those steps and to improve the quality of life. Because when you mentioned that, you know, she's able to use the hours before bed differently. I can tell like that alone already boosts probably the way she she saw things and yeah, for the next day. So that's great.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

Exactly. And I think some of the skepticism sometimes around coaching or or therapy or any of you know these kind of tangible and like, well, I could do it on my own, and it's true, you you certainly can, but are you doing it? And my role isn't to tell you what to do, my role is to really help one create the space for you to do it, help you find the resources and tools because you can put everything, you can put you can go to Chat GPT or and find things to do in their books that talk about 101 things to do when you retire. But and I think for some people that's fine, but there are there are people who really need you to kind of help them map things out, and it could be a six-month roadmap, it could be a three-year roadmap, and then it can change because you know what, life is constantly evolving. And what I try to help people think about are the different milestones that happen too as you age. So maybe you need to make decisions around, like I had a uh I worked with a couple and they were both working, but they were starting to think about retiring, and they had two completely different ideas about what retirement in when terms of one wanted to live somewhere warm, one didn't want to, they wanted to downside the home, the other one didn't. And so they had a lot of things that they needed to to work through together as a team because right at the moment they were in two different pages, and so you have to really dig deep and think about okay, what is it about wanting to either stay in the home or versus wanting to leave and how can we compromise? So for couples is also a big thing. And you know, when I talked earlier, it was saying early about the different milestones, you can create, you know, we all have we're told and taught to create like a two or three year life plan or two-year career plan, but a lot can change, you know, maybe you're especially when you're older, your health can change, maybe you lose a spouse. And so the planning piece helps maybe create a little more control and certainty when things sometimes feel so uncertain.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

Yeah, thanks so much for sharing that. And for someone who's been through coaching and therapy and all of that, I really can attest to having somebody work with you and to really help you cover that thing. They're not teaching you, they're not telling you, but they're just helping you to really bring that up and to take action. All right. So tell us as we end this episode, tell us what success means to you.

SPEAKER_02 40:07

Yeah, it's such a good question. Uh, something that I think about quite often and it it evolves as I learn myself and as I learn what it means to be an entrepreneur. But just to focus on business success for me would just be um being recognized as a leader in in the space or a thought leader in retirement coaching. I think success would be that companies also recognize the importance of helping their employees transition and navigate what's next. And so success would mean being able to kind of get people talking also about retirement coaching, not just the financial piece. And so I look forward to a day when I don't have to over-explain the non-financial part of it and people understand that there's an organization that is really pushing for people to have a better quality of life post-work.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Yes. So tell us how can we find out more about you and how can the audience?

SPEAKER_02 41:12

My website is is a good place to learn about our different programs and plans. It also explains what retirement coaching is and what it what it's like to work with a coach and what it's not like to work with a coach. So I think visiting the website, it's tryt-r-ym-o-r-o.com. And then you can also find me on social media, Morrow Coaching, on Instagram and Facebook. And then if you really, really need to speak to me, um, you know, we can email and that all that information can be found on my website.

SPEAKER_01 41:49

Awesome. Thank you so much. And thank you for taking the time to be with us and for teaching us. For me at least, I learned a lot that I didn't know before, and it gives me a whole new perspective, gives me a lot to think about and to take action on. So I really appreciate that. And I look forward to having a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 42:07

Thank you for having me. I really appreciate the time to explain what company is about, what we're trying to do, and how we're trying to improve life after work.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

Thank you. A quick note before we wrap up the insights and experiences shared by our guests are their own. We love creating space for real conversations about business and growth, and everyone's journey is unique. Therefore, this podcast is for informational and inspirational purposes only. It is not meant to replace legal, financial, or other professional advice. So we encourage you to take what's useful, do your own due diligence, and build what works best for you.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

Thanks for listening to Begin Build Blossom Your Business Journey. We hope today's conversation gave you the insights and inspiration you need to move forward on your own path. Don't forget to subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcast so you never miss an episode. Do you have feedback? We'd love to hear from you at podcast at cmeaccountinglc.com. Join us again next week for a new episode.