David Squires

Try This Idea: The One-Year Retirement

Published

10 years ago

September 4, 2013

David Squires

MOST OF US have similar career arcs — we spend the first 25 years of our lives learning, the next 40 or so working, and then the final 25 in retirement.

Designer Stefan Sagmeister suggests eliminating five years from your retirement and scattering those years throughout your working career. So, every seven years, he closes his design business and does something different — travels, lives in a new place, experiments with new projects.

Could you do the same? Obviously, shutting down completely isn’t an option for most jewelers. But it may be possible for more jewelers than you imagine. Could you perhaps serve just your best customers by appointment for a year? Could you train and build the skills of a manager to the point where your business could run without your presence for a year?

Think about it. It could change your life.

(Anybody ever do anything like this? Share.)

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”