Brian Hennessey - Too Old to Hire, Too Young to Retire: A Comprehensive Guide for Body, Mind & Soul

Dedication

This book is dedicated to those brave souls who
are willing to look fear in the face so it ceases to trouble them,
to discover the hero within themselves that is in each and every one of us, and who dare to exercise their faith and courage muscles
to go after their hearts desire.

Contents

A New Mindset

1. Meditation:
   Its Not What You Think

2. Professional Skills

3. Work/Life Balance

cknowledgments

Preface

A t the end of 2011, I was looking for an executive real estate position as vice president of acquisitions/dispositions. After speaking with several executive search firm recruiters, I concluded that there werent any positions open at the time. I decided to switch my search instead to a role as vice president of leasing. I found several openings, but I was told that I was not the right age they were looking for. One recruiter finally told me that Id be better off looking at some other type of position such as property management. The recruiter said, Youre just too old to be considered an ideal candidate. I was taken aback. I never thought Id hear those words. So, I decided to go back into commercial brokerage in 2012.

I know that this experience is not unique to me. If youre between the ages of 45 and 70, you probably have at some point felt the sting of being discriminated against for your age. Many companies want to hire the younger, less experienced, cheaper contractor, vendor, or employee.

A common lament I hear from many friends and acquaintances is, Im not making the same money I used to. Mostly from those who lost their jobs during the pandemic, or even as long ago as the Great Recession of 2007-2009, and have been unable to land decent work or, sometimes, any job. The industries they were in have disappeared or morphed into another form and are doing more with fewer employees by outsourcing or using part-time employees.

Like many older and experienced job seekers out there, they are frustrated, stuck, and looking for a way to get unstuck. Even those who have kept up with changing technology and have the expertise listed in the job description have a difficult time landing the job. Despite clearly being qualified, they are told they are overqualified or earn too much, code words for too old.

The one certainty in life is change, and the world is changing faster all the time. But like anything else that brings change into our lives, we can retreat and commiserate with those who dont wish to adapt to the new way of things, or we can embrace this change and figure out how to make it work for us. How we choose to respond to all of this transformation will help to determine our future course.

The one idea I put into action that changed my life in amazing ways was this: after creating a reference manual for myself about conducting due diligence when purchasing commercial properties, I placed it on Amazon to sell to investors. Sound crazy? Not really.

The decision was not exactly made without trepidation. After all, there are plenty of books available on real estate on Amazon, even back in 2012 when I uploaded the first edition. There were over 8,000 books on the subject at that time. I kept listening to my mental chatter that warned me about too many existing books on the subject already and questioned: who would read it anyway?

I finally decided it didnt matter if anyone ever read it. I was simply using it for marketing purposes. I convinced myself that it wasnt worth worrying about.

Little did I know that uploading my book onto Amazon would result in a new and unexpected role for me as a teacher. The president and CEO of the company I worked at, Colliers International, asked me to lead a webinar for commercial agents across the country. I was taken aback because I had never led a webinar before, but I accepted. The presentation was well-received. Then, I was asked to lead seminars for other offices. It snowballed from there.

I didnt realize how much I enjoyed sharing my information. The more I shared, the more proficient I became at it and the more I enjoyed it.

This one decision, which I took action on, has opened more doors for me than I ever dreamed possible. All because I allowed myself to be vulnerable. To take a chance. To not care what others think of me or my information. Its none of my business what they think.

... The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of a mistake. Cynics and pessimists do not change the world. Meg Whitman, CEO, Hew lett-Packard

I went on to write two more books in the series, also putting them on Amazon. Ive been an avid reader my whole life and have always remained curious about many subjects and interests. I believe in being a lifelong learner and constantly growing and improving. I find it gratifying when I receive emails from readers telling me how much the information has helped them. That really was the big payoff for me. That is what continues to drive my desire to share and help others.

Here is how this book came about. In a self-development seminar I attended, the speaker made a comment that went something like: I know there are many of you here today that fall into the category, Too old to hire and too young to retire. That phrase hit me like a ton of bricks. I loved that phrase and said to myself, Im going to write a book someday with that title and I know what I want it to say to hel p others.

I put it in the back of my mind, but it kept coming back to haunt me. My subconscious seemed to be working on it constantly, and ideas for the book kept percolating up to my conscious mind. This went on for a few years. In the interim, I wrote my second book. Then in 2018, I started writing the third book in my commercial real estate series. I wanted to write this hire/retire book, which I had started on. However, I knew I had to finish the commercial real estate book first, so I put hire/retire on hold. When the pandemic hit, I had the time to focus on it.

Five years ago, I decided to build additional streams of income in order to be able to retire without the stress and worry of paying the bills and with allowance for vacations and unexpected expenses. I started making more of an effort to create income streams from my online courses, books, and audiobooks, and I ramped up my coaching and consulting businesses.

During the course of learning the essential skills needed to create these income streams, I attended a number of classes and seminars, read and listened to hundreds of books, and watched dozens of webinars, YouTube lessons, and video courses. Some were life altering and catalysts for how I began viewing business and the world at large. Im grateful that it has paid off, and Im happy to share my experience. My objective here is to offer you a paradigm shifta new way to look at the opportunities and possibilities that are available in todays world. This will require you to be open-minded while reading or listening to this book. If you allow yourself that option, you will be pleasantly surprised by how many possibilities are open to you. Not only will you be able to create a nice lifestyle for yourself now, but you can even retire with a much better lifestyle than you thought possible.