Out of the Club

Immediately after breakfast the first day of retirement, I went straight to check my work email. It's hard to quit cold turkey.

I also wanted to ensure there were no loose ends. Indeed, a client had sent me a PowerPoint to help finalize less than 48 hours before my last day, and we were still discussing it. The client is starting a second business, and I wasn't about to abandon him if he felt he needed my assistance. It's nice to be needed! Further, this client is diligent and focused, and his first business is one of the success stories we count at the Florida Small Business Development Center at FIU (Florida International University), from which I just retired.

Over the next couple of days we went back and forth on the PowerPoint, and I decided to add one final touch—a demographic detail that would enhance its content. I would retrieve the info from the demographics database I regularly used for my work, accessible via the FIU library.

I logged into FIU, and my password worked. "Great, they haven't locked me out yet," I thought. I accessed the FIU library online, selected the database, and at this point, was greeted with this message: You do not have access. Contact your organization to verify your subscription. By the next day, I no longer had access to my work email. The FIU Zoom denied me access as well.

None of this was surprising, of course. Thursday night before my final Friday, I had driven to my boss's house to hand in my work ID, a piece of plastic I seldom used, yet it held the key to the resources now inaccessible. However, it had been only two working days! I didn't expect the bureaucracy to act so quickly to revoke my access.

To be sure, my first week in retirement wasn't only about trying to access resources and finishing work for a good client. On Day Two I headed to Florida City for breakfast at Cracker Barrel, followed by shopping at Florida City Outlet Shops. The 25-minute drive without traffic was delightful, as February mornings in Miami are glorious. I might be the only person I know who enjoys Cracker Barrel, but that's fine with me. In my defense, this Cracker Barrel is the only one I like. Florida City is the northern gateway to the Florida Keys, where life automatically feels different, and some of that vibe influences my visit there. I ordered a mimosa with breakfast--now that's retirement.

On the way back from shopping, I brainstormed various blog names. A pleasant drive, a mimosa, and mindless bargain hunting can certainly spark creativity. The trip also gave me a visual update on the area's growth, with new projects dotting the landscape, along the last-remaining agricultural stretch of Miami-Dade County.

Back at home, I ventured into Wix.com to begin creating this blog. As I delved into this self-assigned project, I encountered the happiest moment of my first week of retirement: the clear realization that I no longer had to input session notes at the end of the day and never would again.

Sessions are how the SBDC delivers its consulting services. Consultants like myself meet one-on-one with clients to discuss their business situation - in my case their business plan - and then discuss how to advance from where they are. Subsequently, consultants enter notes in Salesforce to memorialize the session: when it happened, how long it lasted, what was discussed, what was accomplished, what are the client's next steps. Sessions last one to two hours, and the notes have to explain how the time was used. This record of each client session is how the organization keeps track of consulting hours delivered, the value provided, and the progress the client is or isn't achieving. The notes are also important when a different consultant steps in, so they can see who the client is and on what they have been working.

However, everyone hates entering these notes. They're time consuming and seem superfluous to the real substantive consulting work. Most consultants gladly go the extra mile for the client, as it is a very mission-driven organization. But none will go an extra half-inch for the session notes. Some even try to avoid them, which only gets them in trouble, especially if they are paid as an independent contractor.

I dare say that most, if not all, occupations require some task in the same genre as session notes, meaning a routine, repetitive, obligatory activity that consumes time without directly contributing value to the primary work or mission.

Consider: Many teachers love teaching but would happily skip mandatory lesson plans or grading assignments; most physicians are passionate about practicing medicine but dislike dealing with insurance and HIPAA forms; most police officers are eager to chase criminals but probably dislike completing incident reports; most lawyers enjoy practicing law but dislike tracking billable hours.

Certainly, we all come to terms with these tasks. They serve a valid purpose: efficiency, accountability, uniformity. They're like a pledge you have to accept, in order to remain in your organization or profession. The trick is to minimize the toll they take as much as possible. The more time these tasks occupy, the faster an insidious disenchantment sets it.

I'm not saying session notes is what led me to retirement, but not having to spend any time on them has felt like an extra serving of my time.

Alas, I received my final paycheck on Friday. This was it. No longer on payroll, email, or Zoom, and no longer an authorized library user. I am completely out of the "club" now.

I will miss the FIU library and everything it offered; all that information is really empowering! I enjoyed using Zoom with clients and one or two times used it for meetings with friends or family. I valued having the SBDC-branded email—it carried more weight than my personal email.

But it's alright. I plan to visit the public library to explore its databases and will check the cost of an individual Zoom subscription. My PowerPoint client

is interested in continuing our work, at his own expense rather than free through SBDC, so I will stay in touch with him through my personal email.

Heck, helping him and watching him succeed on his first business was highly rewarding, so I'm up for it. Plus I'm out of the club now, so I don't have to enter session notes.

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