A Leaders Post Career Question: Am I Too Old To Start A Business?

Melissa Miranda, a CPA and owner of an outsourced accounting firm in Fargo, North Dakota, discussed the feasibility of starting a business post-career. 
Melissa emphasized the importance of designing a business that fits one's lifestyle and values, citing a case study of a couple starting a nonprofit farm in their late 70s and early 80s. She highlighted the benefits of older entrepreneurs' larger networks, wisdom, and potential asset base. Melissa also advised starting small, leveraging technology, and seeking help when needed.

Have a listen for;

• Melissa's Entrepreneurial Spirit and Business Philosophy
• Family Support and Business Influences
• Melissa's Vision for Business and Community Impact
• Challenges and Opportunities for Aging Entrepreneurs
• Designing a Business for Lifestyle and Success
• Navigating Technology and Accounting in Business
• Building a Support Network and Community
• Final Thoughts and Encouragement

For questions about business coaching services; reach out to Dianne @ dianne@motionforward.co

To locate a wonderful accountant like Miranda near you - reach out to your local business associations or look for reviews online.
Be sure to interview for your accountant. 

Some valuable resources for business journey are:
Business coaches - Mentors - Advisors and your local city/town business groups
Find training that fulfills your skill needs as you grow your business; and these can also make for great networking arenas.

And if your stuck in your mindset of : should I or shouldn't I  - Let's talk!  You can book a 15minute quick chat with me here to get set up and moving towards your business vision.  https://calendly.com/coachdmf/15min

Thanks for listening. Feel free to follow the Leadership Longevity conversation on LinkedIn as well.
Just click here

Transcript

Dianne Flemington: 0:03

Melissa, hello, listeners and the Healthy Aging coach tribe. Today, I want to introduce to you Melissa Miranda. She owns her own accounting firm in Bargo, North Dakota, and we're talking today about the post career life, the biggest question I get from leaders is, am I going to be too old to start my own business? And I felt that Melissa was the best person to answer this question, even though she may not be able to do business with you globally, her attitude, the clientele and case studies that she offers are really worth to listen to so you can check in with yourself and decide if this is the right move for you. We will get started in one moment, and thank you for being here. You i Okay, try. Here's Melissa, and what else do I want you to know about her, because in the intro, I'm very formal about who she is, but I think what's really an invitation for you to get to know who Melissa and I are. In relationship is. I met Melissa, oh gosh, I'm going to say 20 years ago, somewhere around there. Well, you were in the Masters of success program at North Dakota State North Dakota State uni, right? And I was pulled in as a consultant or as a coach at the time to support your group going through and you had a group, and there was groups that were supporting us in return the reciprocity around building business plans, and that's how we originally met. And tribe, I have to tell you, I've been kind of secretly following, dare I say, what do they call it? Stalking Melissa most of her life, she lives the most incredible life, very, very adventurous and open and loving and all that comes through in her social media, and it's just not for you know bills is building. It's just who she is. So I really felt a lot of value in you meeting her tribe. So welcome, Melissa. Thanks so much for taking the time out of your family schedule and work schedule your own business to come be with us.

Unknown: 2:26

Thank you, Dianne. It's great to be here

Dianne Flemington: 2:29

so they know all about me. I want you to spend a little time talking about who you are, what you're up to, and then we'll, you know, dive into the big question.

Unknown: 2:41

Sure. Great. Well, I am a CPA, a certified public accountant here in the United States, I'm based out of North Dakota. Professionally, I've worked a had a lot of great experiences in both public and private accounting. And most recently, I started my business in the beginning of 2020, we do outsourced accounting for small businesses. Outside of that, as you mentioned, Dianne and I met through a program called masters of success, and that's also where I met my husband Andre. So probably one of the more unique things about me and us, our family. Andre is Brazilian, and so after I graduated college, I spent about three years living with him abroad in Brazil, and that was a wonderful experience. We had so much fun. We bonded. We went through difficult times together. We got to travel a lot, and I really that warmth, I think that I have now comes a lot from that experience that we had together in Brazil those three years. I think I'm a much warmer person because of it. And while we were we were we were there, we had some amazing, wonderful friends who we keep to this day, we still go back to Brazil about once a year for about a month, which is why my firm is fully virtual, because I wanted to create design a firm that would match my lifestyle outside of that side of Andre and I, we are married 10 years this this year. Congratulations. Thank you. We have two sons, a five year old and a one year old, and we have one on the way, arriving in August. So we have three boys.

Dianne Flemington: 4:31

Awesome. That's like my dream team.

Unknown: 4:34

I'll never have to move heavy furniture again. No, be so blessed, and

Dianne Flemington: 4:39

you'll be looked after for the rest of your life. The boys love their moms. That's great. So you're a step by step accounting firm that is all virtual. What got you into that? Like, what did you decide to be a business owner? Melissa, sure.

Unknown: 4:58

So I come from a long. Line of entrepreneurs. My grandma was a serial entrepreneur, and then my dad was a dairy farmer, and even myself, I started small businesses when I was very young. My grandma got me started doing chocolate dipped strawberries at local festivals, and that progressed into actually owning dairy cows and doing lots of other businesses, like a cleaning business, teaching English business, things like that. But I think what pulls me to a business ownership is so much of the what you get out of it is what you what you put into it, is what you get out of it. Like the sky's the limit. You can dream as big as you want, and my brain is just constantly it really doesn't turn off. Mushing and melding ideas about how my business could work better, what we could do, what we could offer, how we could work together, how we can design the business to be better, more self managing, and so my brain is just constantly thinking about that. But I think the reason why I got specifically into an accounting business. I started university as a business administration major, and I took an accounting class and realized I was good at it, and I liked it. So those are good to two good things, but I realized how much small business owners need help. It's it can be a lonely journey, and even I am a small business owner, so I understand that, and sometimes it's lonely at the top, and so being able to walk alongside someone as they go through that journey, and help protect them from potential perils as they go through it. It means a lot to me. It's also a piece of the mental health side of it. My father, like I mentioned, was a dairy farmer, and struggled a lot with the fact that he was awesome at what he was doing, but that financial side was really difficult for him, and he really struggled on the mental health side. So now in my firm, we try to be very much compassionate accountants and try to connect with our clients on a more personal level, to to tell them, you know, things are great, awesome, but if things aren't going well, that we're still here with you and we care about you as a person, not just you're not just a balance sheet. So that compassionate side really is something that draws me and pushes me in this business. Wow,

Dianne Flemington: 7:39

amazing. I think you and I so much aligned in that human centric like that client centric space, and the way you've integrated so many you know, traditions or concepts or behaviors or learnings from your family into your own is that's, I don't know. I get a profound sense from that, because you've learned from your family's experiences, and you've adopted, adapted accordingly through that. Are they still a resource? Like, do you tap into any of them at all and go, Hey, I got this challenge in my business. Or what would you bounce ideas around the family?

Unknown: 8:15

So my grandma no longer with us, but she taught me so much on the marketing presenting yourself professionally, working very hard, counting the money at the end, was always really, really fun. Was the excitement part of it. But then my dad and I talk probably weekly, and I'll tell him, you know, different challenges that I'm having on the team with clients, and my mom helps a lot on the probably like the marketing side as well, sending me referrals or attending a trade show with me, things like that, making little giveaways. So my family is my like family of origin is, is very helpful in supporting the business as well.

Dianne Flemington: 9:01

That's amazing. I feel like that's a real gift, like I'm super happy that you have that. And for the listeners who have been contemplating about starting a business after their career, thinking, Oh, I'm not going to have that kind of support. Can I still make it Melissa is going to address all that today. I just really wanted you to get connected with Melissa in a way, to really get an appreciation of just how much she has to offer you as a tribe. So anything else before I jump to the big question of why we're all here, you know, is it too late to start a business post career? Is there anything else you want us to know about you, Melissa?

Unknown: 9:42

I am just very passionate about growing the business and being a positive impact in our community. I care a lot about being impactful as a business in our area, and I think that a business like mine can impact not only the entrepreneur. Themselves, but their families, their spouses, their children, their employees, their employees, families, vendors and customers, and that just ripples out from there. So I am very grateful to be in the place I'm at because of that ripple impact across our region and country.

Dianne Flemington: 10:20

Yeah, plus, when I was talking to you about doing this, you mentioned how, I mean, what showed up for me was your due diligence and really deciding, you know your client, how you want the business to run, what, who you're serving, where you're serving, and all those are key requirements in order for people to gain clarity and be able to biz there, build their business successfully. So what I heard you say, No, my clients are just I really just decided to focus on the local clients, and man, can I hear the compassion and come through your voice when you talk about your care for your clients. So just a note to the tribe here, if you're these are things I want you to we're not just talking about the act of starting a business, but Melissa is also leaning into some key requirements or components that can help you really get clear on the kind of business you want to have and what you want it to look like. So listen also between the lines and also to the obvious. All right, I think it's time to answer the big question of why everybody's here, and the big question I get from leaders, you know, when I'm working with ones that are working through successions, so they're working through successions plans to identify leaders in the organization, to start fill their boots. But also, what does life look like after this career I'm done? And one of the questions I get a lot is, am I going to be too old to start a business? And usually those are from people who feel that they're looking to adopt or move into an aspect of their life where they feel there's more of an interest safe type of business, rather than something that they've been doing as a role in their corporate career. So it can feel like a complete 360 or 180 shift from where they are. So Melissa, what would be your, you know, high level answer to, is it too late for them to start a business?

Unknown: 12:08

I would say, Absolutely not. Great that it would be too late at any point to to start a business. Yeah,

Dianne Flemington: 12:17

wonderful. You have a beautiful case study about this. Can you share that? What are your clients? Yeah,

Unknown: 12:25

so we do have some clients that are that have started their businesses, or, in this case, it's a nonprofit and a business. There's two of them later in their lives, and we have one client we're working with now, who the husband is 80 and the wife is 71 and about four years ago, the story that that, you know, they we, they kind of shared with me when they started onboarding with us, was that she had gone through about of breast cancer and survived and really decided that, hey, now I've got this time these years, and I want to be impactful. So they started a farm, and there's a nonprofit side of it that is helping immigrant families coming into our area to learn about agriculture practices, so that they then can eventually become farmers themselves. A lot of times, people coming from other countries have a farming background, but because agriculture here is so different, they might not have the skills or the connections to get into that industry. So their nonprofit is is based on that and making agriculture more successful. So just being able to support them. It's amazing that they have started this so late in their year. And of course, they are very much focused on creating a sustainable organization and creating succession planning and what this organization will look like eventually, as fast as they can. Yeah.

Dianne Flemington: 14:01

So I hear speed is kind of what's fueling what's getting them fueled for Yeah, got it, yeah. And that's the reality of it, right? So we can't ignore some of the obvious facts. I don't want to paint any, you know, watered down pictures here, like, let's get simple. Let's, I mean, let's get real. In terms of, one of the questions I ask all my clients is, as to, what age do you want to live? And it's a question that they never get asked. And the second one that I ask is always into, what age do you want to live healthy to because we know, on average, 10 to 15 years of a person's life nowadays, right now can be, you know, dealing with chronic health issues. So our purpose here at the Healthy Aging coach and within the tribe is to reduce that like none of us want to have that those unhealthy years. So can you talk to us a bit about what some of the challenges this couple might be undergoing right now, in terms of starting a business at 71 and 80, and

Unknown: 14:56

some challenges that we. Would see the first one is probably on the technology side, because they may not have had exposure to the types of technology that we're able to use now. But the good point to this couple is that they recognize that there are, there is so much more technology that can be used in the business now, and is very open to saying, Hey, I'm not the expert on this, but I can surround myself with people who do know this younger technology. So the technology piece, you know, and as far as other challenges, I would say, just making sure that that, and this goes for all, not necessarily just this client, but making sure that you're creating a business that is designed to fit in your life in the way that you want it to. So just like I mentioned when I started my business, I wanted something that was virtual so I could travel. I wanted something that was work from home because of my children, I wanted to serve local clients. To me, because of that impact, I designed the type of business that I wanted around the type of life I wanted to lead. And when we're thinking about starting businesses at older ages, we want to basically design a business that can support us in what we want that to look like. Do we want to be able to travel? Do we want to be able to take care of our grandkids? You know, just just being very intentional about all those small decisions they add up to what the eventual end product of that business is going to be. Yeah.

Dianne Flemington: 16:41

Do you help people with that design phase? Melissa,

Unknown: 16:44

we have some conversations about that. Usually we will start working with a business after they have at least put a stake in the ground of what they want to be. And then we certainly do. I would say half of our firm is the actual accounting, but half of our firm is advisory, so we do have a lot of conversations with clients about, where do they want that business to be in 10 years, five years, three years, one year, bringing it back. And then, what is their mission and purpose? What are their values, and how is the financial side, in, you know, supporting and impacting those arching, overarching themes in their business. Yeah,

Dianne Flemington: 17:31

so there's a couple things that you've said that are pretty impactful for me over here. When you were talking about the couple, one of the things challenged with technology you're mentioning, what I appreciated that I heard they did was ask for help, right? So they really get that, rather than stay stuck or trying to figure out their own way through it, go to somebody who already has it done or knows how to get it done, right? Which I feel in some man, our human condition today, there's something about asking for help that people are struggling with, and I really want to encourage the tribe to hear that be okay, to ask for help. Don't stay stuck too long. The other thing you mentioned was, oh, the accounting bit so curiously, because I'll be honest, I was terrible about how long it took you to bring an accountant. What would you recommend, like, what are some phases that a business might go through someone who is launching after their career, when might they want to invite an accountant into the process?

Unknown: 18:29

So when you're launching a business, when you're very much at the very, very beginning, very micro, it might be okay for you to do your own accounting. When I say someone maybe should bring in an outsourced accounting firm is typically when things start getting too busy and they just can't keep up with it. When they start to have more complexity in their organization, maybe multiple locations or multiple departments, when they start hiring more people. You know, once they get one to five employees, that's usually a tipping point, or they feel like the cash flow side of things is really complex. You've got a lot of money coming and going, and you really need someone to help keep track of that. That's a good time to start. But there always a sort of a middle ground. So if you are not quite at that point yet, there are ways to learn how what you need to be doing, whether that is watching a lot of YouTube videos, awesome, awesome YouTube videos, just QuickBooks, accounting type tutorial videos, and then in our firm, which other firms might offer too, but in our firm, we do diagnostic reviews, which is a quarterly service that most of the people who do that with us use it quarterly. And so they do their own accounting, but we jump into the file and we. It, look at the file top to bottom, and then let them know if there's anything that doesn't look right. So there's a way to do your own accounting, but have bumper bumper rails on, maybe just finding an accountant that can support you, even on a part time once a quarter basis, just to look and make sure you're doing it right. A lot of times we don't know what we don't know

Dianne Flemington: 20:23

absolutely, absolutely. That's why I feel like when we have leaders who have done a fabulous career, they've given their life to an organization and now want to create their own, there's a whole different way. It's a different methodology. And I feel like accountants are so important in that journey from top to bottom, and from my own experience of not engaging one on the front end, I feel like I lost some time and energy from not getting that clarity and having to, you know, whoa, slow really down to resort it all out again and then launch again. So that's just my own personal experience. All right, when it comes to when it comes to healthy aging, and people are leaders that are starting their business afterwards. Are you seeing like, what are some ingredients that add to the success of that that you might be aware of, or could, could give a heads up to this audience?

Unknown: 21:19

So, some reasons that I think starting a business at an older age would be things like, you have such a large typically, you would have a larger social and professional network, all the people that you were maybe interacting with earlier in your career. You now know those people, and that is actually a motivating factor to me. I try to do a lot of networking and coffees and events and things like that. And I always leave thinking, hey, that's you know, I can't wait to see where me and her and I are going to be in 1020, years in our career, and just thinking about the size of the people that I will like, know and be connected with, is so exciting, and being able to grow alongside of them as they mature in their careers, and I do as well. So I think that the network that someone in their 50s or 60s or older is going to have is is going to be a huge factor in their success. Another piece that I think older business owners have, and I've seen this time and time again, is that wisdom piece they a lot of times realize the importance of things like accounting, because earlier in their career, they saw a horror story of something that didn't go well, or an audit, or, you know, financial fraud within an organization, or, you know, a legal issue with a client that accounting may or may not have been done correctly to help them get in or out of that situation. So I think wisdom is something I see our older business owners having the skills and experiences that they would have gained over their careers also helps a lot, too, and potentially, I mean, depending on the scenario, you may have a larger asset base to pull from than someone, let's say, just out of college, and you would also potentially have more free time, at least, compared to someone like me, who is in the thick of having babies, taking maternity Leave, raising babies. That that free time is is pretty much non existent or negative hours. So I think that being older in your life, those factors are going to really impact and make you more competitive against some people who wouldn't have those.

Dianne Flemington: 23:58

I love that list. I don't know why. I'm just really compelled, especially by the time factor you said when you related it to your own family. And even if you say you're a leader, listening and you have grandbabies that you love spending time with. I mean, Melissa makes a clear argument for Hey, you design your business the way you want around the things that you love in life. So here's the time to be able to marry everything quite in a very, I don't know, constructive struck way, yeah, um, and you spoke to the assets, which I thought is great too. Any tips around you know, you've built this asset base up for yourself as a leader. Eye makeup is going to be very customized. But where might someone get tripped up, like when they're looking at and starting a career, or sorry a business, and we're thinking about assets, what might be a tip that we could put in front of them to, you know, is there, like a rule of thumb, like an 8020, rule, or something like that, that we can. For them at this time, and maybe there isn't. I'm just curious around that they've worked so hard to this point, right? So don't want them to lose it all in a business. What might you but what might we guard against or recommend to them,

Unknown: 25:14

sure, so as far as how much they might want to invest into that

Dianne Flemington: 25:18

business? Yeah, is there any rule of thumb from an accounting starting a business point of view?

Unknown: 25:25

I don't know that there would be a rule of thumb, but I can say everyone's risk tolerance risk aversion is very different, and that's something that even on a personal level, I have felt my feelings change over the years that I've had the business as I've felt it become more successful and have more traction, right? I'm willing to invest more into the business now than maybe at the very beginning, and so hopefully you could start small and test the concept of what you're trying to do, and get some market feedback that shows to you that it can be successful. I would certainly not bet the whole farm on it, but, you know, start small, get your feet wet, see what kind of market demand there is for what you're doing, and then as that proves itself to you, being willing to put more in. I come from a very conservative background on the financial side and especially on the personal side. I'm quite conservative on spending money, and so starting to own a business has been a very different experience for me on the spending money part, because a lot of times you have to spend money to make money. We need to hire someone before we really need them, because we know that that demand is going to be coming, or we need to invest in a website or an IT company, because we need to protect cybersecurity side of things. So I think that in a business, we spend money a little differently than we do personally, and that feeling towards money and risk risk aversion, it changes over time, as you feel more confident in what you're doing

Dianne Flemington: 27:21

definitely, wow. That's a to me, that's a critical self knowledge piece. You know, what is your risk tolerance? And pay attention to what that is, and have that conversation with your accountant, right? Really getting clear on what that looks like. You've offered up a lot of ideas around tools in there. Not sure if you have them available. But I imagined all of a sudden over here, is there, like a company, startup, a business startup checklist that you know when you're what to start with, or a link or something, maybe even offer in a PDF, and you'll go, oh, okay, I need this and this, and they can start planning now, even though they might be still in a leadership position,

Unknown: 28:00

there are lots of resources like that. I don't have one that I myself have created, but to be very honest, like even Microsoft Word, if you go in and you look at their templates, literally has a business startup checklist. It's just already in your Microsoft products, so you don't even have to look far. It's probably already downloaded on your computer. So, you know, there's, like, even market marketing checklists, I think, and a template. So when I started planning this business, I probably started planning it about 18 months before I actually went full time with it, and I was doing it very part time, like one Saturday a month type, part time from the very beginning, but I use that time to design, like I said, all the things that I wanted, so that then when I went full time, or maybe when our listeners, you know, actually do step away from their career, you already have things in place. You have an idea. You might have a logo, you might have a name, you might have at least a beginner business plan, so you can put all those into place before you leave your main career. And there's, there's lots of checklists. I'd also recommend looking at your like local business development centers. Here in the United States, we have small business development centers where you can get free coaching. So they're called SBDCs in my area, we also can do have wonderful coaches through the score program, which are retired business advisors, and it's completely free to me, and they have a whole career of experience, and they are giving back by coaching me once a month, and that's free. There's women business, like centers for business. So if you're female, there might be some options for free or low cost. And business consulting there. So really look for those free opportunities in your area and get connected with those communities, because they are so supportive and great for starting businesses,

Dianne Flemington: 30:12

yeah, and creating your own community, right? So you and I, before we got this recording started, we were just talking about how we individually participate in our own communities, entrepreneurial communities, so we can work through challenges or business ideas together, and it just fast forwards and builds momentum and gets us out of our heads sometimes or super helpful. Yeah, that's amazing. That's really you've been really informative. Melissa, is there anything that, anything else you want to add to the list of, you know, possibility for people to start businesses at a later age? Or have we covered everything? Or, you know, in general, it's not everything, but have we had a good start here?

Unknown: 30:58

I think it's, it's a great opportunity to do something different after your main career. My dad, after leaving dairy farming, he now works in a school, and he recently, with my brother, bought a wood like a lumber mill, and so on the home farm where we had our dairy cows, they're actually starting to mill like live edge wood and do custom design furniture, things like that. And that is what he wants to do when he's done working at the school. And it gives him excitement and hope for that next phase of life, and it's going to give him something to do, to stay busy and keep his mind sharp, and something for him to dream about in the middle of the night. So I think there's a lot of emotional aspects of starting a business that doing it at a later age, I imagine would play a lot into aging healthily, because it gives you something to live for, that that makes you get up in the morning and it's exciting to do, yeah,

Dianne Flemington: 32:01

and the purpose based living is so important for healthy aging. And that's love. I love the growth mindset your family has. It's like, okay, we're kind of done with this. How can we recreate this and build something else? Love it. Love it. Thank you for that. That's a very inspiring story for me. I hope it's here inspiring for you as a listener and a viewer as well. And I know Melissa works out of North Dakota, and she works with specifically in that region, and so we're really not creating access to Melissa in that way. Anything that you want to leave the viewers with, having this opportunity to have heard you, Melissa, what would you like to leave them with?

Unknown: 32:43

Sure? Well, I would always love to connect with anyone if they have questions, taxes, accounting, those pieces are often different depending on what country you are in. But as far as high arching, business development, business growth, business design, you know, that's certainly those are certainly conversations I love to have. And so if any of this is interesting, I'd certainly let me know. But I wish you all the best in starting businesses, and I really hope that it is a positive addition to your life.

Dianne Flemington: 33:21

Oh yeah, that's a great send off. And of course, you're so with us in the tribe with your generosity of spirit to reach out to you with questions in terms of the business. Thank you very much for that. So I'll make sure that in the link below, any of you viewers or listeners have access to Melissa in a conversation sense, and I really hoping that she inspires her company to explore the coaching realm, because I feel like she has a lot of personable skills that can really support people in a beautiful way to get coached through their business. But that's my secret wish for Melissa. All right, so I would be amiss if I didn't do these fire questions with you before you left. So to, what age are you wanting to live life to,

Unknown: 34:09

oh, man, an age. I don't think I have an age, but maybe 90 or 100 I don't think I want to live crazy long, but I would love to see grandkids, and maybe great grandkids.

Dianne Flemington: 34:25

Yeah, so you kind of answered that sub question around know, what's going to allow you to be that age? 80 to 100 what will allow you to be that age? Let me just ask you that

Unknown: 34:35

that is okay. So I am an accountant, right? And so I do know that my husband is nine years older than me, and I do know that men tend to pass away maybe a decade before their wives, and so there's a good chance I will live two decades on my own at the end of my life. And so I told my husband I wanted at least three kids. Because I want lots of grandkids. Nice, yeah, I've already got that in mind. I do want lots of grandkids. I hope they're close to me. I really want to be an involved, involved grandma. I want to get to be very close to my grandkids, and I think that will be a big piece of my aging strategy, yes,

Dianne Flemington: 35:24

we need the boys to procreate, so let's get the seeds planted in their little brains, right kids. So what is something that scares you about growing older?

Unknown: 35:36

Sure, so I have, I was very fortunate to have two grandmas living later in my life, like the one who had the business, and she has since passed away, but the later parts of her life were pretty lonely. She lost both of her husbands suddenly and tragically, which, which? You know, she went into some depression around that, and that was really, really a hard thing for her. So I think that, you know, seeing her not be connected with other people, both her age and around her, just in her community, she kind of just recruit, recruited in herself, taught me the lesson that you know, one, I don't want to do that, but two, to make sure that I'm keeping those social connections, that I'm staying involved, that I'm, you know, getting to be impactful. My other grandma, Joyce, who is still alive now, we ask her to watch our kids, you know, help us when she can, maybe once a month, and, you know, really involve her in our life, and I think that there's a lot of value to being needed when you're older, and so, of course, we always very much appreciate the help, but I think that trying to stay needed will be a strategy that I use so that I don't go into that scarier situation.

Dianne Flemington: 37:00

Yeah, and you know, from what I've heard from you so far, you learned really well from your family tradition, so I think that will work for you. All right, the last one who's the coolest, older person, you know, and it could be alive or dead.

Unknown: 37:15

I mean, I would probably go back to my grandma, and then my my grandma, Joyce, and then my grandpa, who just passed away this this January, and my husband and I talk about it all the time like we want to be old people like they are. And the reason is that they are always doing something. They are traveling. They have a garden, they have an old antique car that they drive in parades and they park under the Downton Abbey movie premiere at our local theater. They just are always doing something and that those are the kind of old people that we want to be when we when we get to that that age. So having people who are our role models like that in our life, and they also had just a wonderful marriage and a wonderful family close to them, and a house that my grandpa built just a life of being hard workers and contributors and very special people. So I think, wow, those are the coolest old people that I know,

Dianne Flemington: 38:22

ah, I'd agree with that for sure, good for you, and I'm over here, left with that. You know, we don't for the listeners. We don't always have that privilege, and it's super important. You all know my message about finding mentors in your life that can be representative of the things that you want to achieve, and that is like closest with others, or how to be a great grandparent, or how to be a great leader or a business owner, they're out there. We just need to be okay to ask for help and make the connection. Make take the action to make the connection. So much of our human condition is about helping others. We just want to be asked. I mean, so many you and leaders I hear all the time, I say yes, too much when people might come to me in task orientation, but it's the same out in the world. You see all the philanthropic and the volunteerism and things like that, don't hesitate to ask for help. Melissa. You are so genuine and so generous. And God, I can feel you through this digital world, and it's always amazing being with you, and I can't wait to work with you in the future that's so gonna happen. And thank you so much for taking your evening and being with us. Yes,

Unknown: 39:37

thank you. Dianne Flemington, it was wonderful to reconnect after so many years. Yeah,

Dianne Flemington: 39:43

all right. Tribe, if you have any questions for Melissa, we'll make sure that we include her details. And if you're looking for any business coaching or support finding a business coach, you can always still reach out to me and I can set out some resources for you, or we can just start with a clarification question and see what. Next for you, but I want you all to be left with it is completely a good idea to start a business after you retire or leave your leadership career. Okay, we got that awesome. I'll see you all inside the tribe community, and Melissa, I will be talking to you soon. Tava, now Bye, everybody. You.