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Jan Moore of Fit for Retirement, Lifestyle Coaching is far from ready to retire or as she so eloquently puts it, “Make a career transition, it sounds better rather than retiring with both feet!” When asked to explain her statement she continued, “Retiring with both feet means you have no attachment to the work force. A lot of people either can’t afford to retire or don’t want to.”
Adding, “My career counselling workshops brought me increasing numbers of Boomers who had been forced into retirement with no time to prepare for it.” For the past 10 years Jan has been working with people in career transition and has met many people in mid-life who are exploring how to live and work in alternate ways.
When Jan and her husband, Tony began thinking about their own retirement one of their dreams was to move from Victoria, B.C. to one of the Gulf Islands. The one criterion they were certain of was their desire to remain on the coast. Jan says, “Thirty years ago I fell in love with the coast. When it was time to fly back to Toronto I cried all the way home.”
It was fifteen years before she chose to leave her job in Corporate Communication and move [from Toronto] to Victoria and the ocean she loves. It was another four years before she encountered her second love, her husband. Fondly saying, “At 44 I met my match!”
Together they concluded Gabriola Island was to be part of their retirement dream. The dream came to fruition sooner as opposed to later when Jan’s husband decided to take early retirement. The move forced her into early retirement, while Tony went back to work. Jan says, “When retirement came earlier than I expected, I wasn’t ready for it. I realized most people aren’t so I studied the process of retirement transition and qualified as a Retirement Coach and as a Certified Senior Advisor.”
While completing her Master’s Thesis nine years ago on ‘The Future of Work’ she discovered most people would rather be self-employed. Jan interviewed 21 individuals between 32 and 63 all of whom had worked at a full-time job for at least two years before switching to self-employment saying enthusiastically, “Out of those 21 people there was only one who wanted to return to the security of a job. Discovering that Boomers are increasingly interested in self-employment was pivotal. It was fascinating interviewing all of them!”
Since then Jan has re-written her thesis creating a workbook and workshop to add to her ever-growing list of workshops focusing on women’s health and wellness in body, mind and spirit as well as income. Of this Jan states, “I help professional women who want to work and live in a way that feeds both body and soul while remaining fit and healthy into retirement.”
Continuing, “I encourage women to generate at least part of their income from self employment for several reasons. Self-employment is the best opportunity for personal growth there is and it allows us to follow our passion. It offers flexible hours, tax breaks and no glass ceiling!”
In addition to workshops Jan offers a variety of retreats of which she says, “As self-employment is the most popular career transition choice I have asked Barbara Winter, author of ‘Making a Living Without a Job’, about partnership on a Retreat on entrepreneurship as your next career.
The retreats are a chance to ‘try-out’ retirement interests while planning for career transition. They take you away from the stress of daily life. Group energy is more invigorating, it adds excitement and bonding so it’s not all workshop!”
A favourite tool Jan is certified in is MBTI [Myers-Briggs Type Indicator]. Using a series of questions clients are able to determine which of 16 distinctive personality types is their best match. By incorporating specific skills and interests, as well as MBTI, in career exploration Jan helps people recognize their best ‘fit’ for career transition.
Jan’s voice is filled with passion when she talks about what she does and the many courses she has taken to get there saying emphatically, “I am big on life long learning!” Adding with a smile that can be felt over the wires, “Life provides us with so many opportunities we need to decide which paths to explore.”
Of her own path she calmly states, “I had not chosen to make yet another career change. It chose me. This new adventure is an incredibly rewarding journey.”
by Carmen Borthwick
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