As more “boomers” get close to retirement, a new coaching market emerges.

Posted by Frank Marafiote

May 13, 2008

A recent post by Matthew Scott at The Life’s Work Group confirms what most of us already know: many baby boomers, getting close to retirement, have spent a lifetime doing work they don’t like doing.

Among their dreams for retirement? Finally doing something they want to do, and that includes starting their “dream business” or working in a totally different industry. More revealing: some 67% of boomers say they plan to work in some capacity. That’s more the result of poor retirement planning than anything else.

Matthew notes another disturbing statistic. Fifty-three percent of adults 55 - 74 spend the greatest amount of their leisure time watching television. That’s not exactly the dream that most people had in mind when they thought about their retirement.

Matthew’s advice:

1. Find the work that matters and you will never work another day for the rest of your life.

2. Retirement is a myth for overworked people who feel they earned a break from work that seemed like work and begin to take up the passions and hobbies they wished they would have pursued during their working years.

Of course, there’s a silver lining in all this for coaches. Many boomers need help setting retirement goals, defining late-life career paths, putting their plans into action. Coaches looking for a new niche market or a way of expanding their current practices would do well to consider how they can serve this growing and “needy” market.

If there’s a barrier to the sale, it’s the “I can do it all myself” mentality of many boomers. We were raised to be self-reliant and usually are. However, as with many sales objections, the objection itself is the reason for the sale: coaching can help boomers achieve the self-reliance they are seeking.

We just need to show them how.