EXPERT ADVICE: George Knauf | Senior Franchise Business Advisor | FranChoice
Un-Retire Like Tom Brady
In January of 2022 Tom Brady, looked to by many as one of the best (if not THE best) NFL quarterback of all time, retired. He had over 20 seasons in the NFL, 7 Super Bowl rings, was a 5 time Super Bowl MVP along with many more stats and accolades that show he was a competitor and winner. Nobody would blame him for retiring and enjoying life, nobody. His competitors would probably even invite it. Here’s the twist, Tom has some unfinished business. 12 Franchising MAGAZINE USA
This week Tom Un-Retired to take care of that unfinished business. Winners, high achievers and business owners are, well, really bad at retiring. We have seen this for decades in the franchise arena. Tom was dead center in my 6 month “Retirement gets old fast” or “My Wife locks me out of the house” timeframe. The day you retire sounds like you will have the time to do all the things you really want to do. For people that hated the work they did this is the ticket to freedom. To those that liked being active and engaged in a business role this sounds good for a day, or a week then boredom sets in. You miss your team. You miss your customers. You miss challenges and
solving problems. You miss being the Quarterback of your team and you know you still have wins ahead. So what do you do? You want to compete, but maybe you don’t want an 80 hour work week and business travel. You want to compete and win but on your terms. You have unfinished business. On the other side, though, you promised your spouse that you would travel and see the world. You may have some personal bucket list items to check off. Where can you find that balance? Franchising First, you know all those silos that corporate America loves to keep people
