The Beginning of The End: A practical guide to retirement preparation for the small business owner

They say, ‘Once a teacher, always a teacher.’ In Dr Terri Bourne’s case this is both right and wrong. Although her working life began in the classroom, both in the UK and Spain, she made the switch to entrepreneurship when she relocated to the UK. Undeterred by a negative experience as a franchisee, she grabbed an opportunity to set up a childcare business at her two sons’ local school. Fast forward twenty years, she had, at one point, 16 different branches, along with sideways ventures into an online Childcare Voucher platform and development of a signing in/out system as a joint venture with a Manchester tech company. She has established several businesses in other spheres, all running concurrently.

So why ‘always a teacher’? Throughout her life Terri has advocated life-long learning, for herself as well as others. Whilst teaching she was a mentor to student teachers and as a business owner there is an expectation for colleagues to improve their practice through in-house and external Professional Development. As an example to them, she completed a Masters in Human Resources and a Doctorate in Business Administration (with a focus on women portfolio entrepreneurs) both self-funded and self-motivated.

Terri’s desire to write came from the same place as her yearning for self-improvement through study; both satisfied long-held ambitions. It also satisfies her inner teacher. The subject for her first book, The Beginning of the End, arose from the need to solve a particular problem – how to withdraw from running a small business without compromising income, in order to redirect energy or just to get some time back.

The book is, like Terri, very practical. Its value is in offering someone at the thinking stage of retirement planning a range of steps and strategies to plan and execute a successful withdrawal from the day to day, hands-on aspect of operating a small business. As well as discussing how to prepare a business to sell, it introduces the concept of ‘fretirement,’ whereby passive income is earned, without the need to sell or to be constantly at the helm.

Receiving the first box of books with her name on the cover will be one of Terri’s proudest moments; a physical manifestation of an ambition; a symbol of growth in self-confidence as a writer; a key to the other possibilities authorship leads to; affirmation that perseverance, self-belief and sheer bloody-mindedness are great qualities to nurture.

The Beginning of The End: A practical guide to retirement preparation for the small business owner (Published by Practical Inspiration Publishing) is available to buy on Amazon. 

Connect with Terri: LinkedIn – Twitter

Winners of The Business Book Awards 2021 will be revealed online on Tuesday 25th May 2021.