The era of “Happy Retirement” is over

“Happy Retirement” used to be an ideal course of life, living the last stage of your life enjoying leisure on your savings. But times have changed. There are more people who wish to work even after their retirement.

In reality, it is often hard for a retired person to find a job. Instead, an increasing number of older adults/the Boomer generation are starting a “nanocorp” to earn an income by doing what they really want to do.

A nanocorp is a small corporation usually with only one or two people who are owners. In most cases they don’t have sales people like larger, more traditional corporations.　

Nanocorp support services are emerging

So a new type of service has emerged to support the sales activities of nanocorps. “Le Tip” is a membership business club where the members act as sales persons for one another.

Almost all of the members are either individual “free agents” or owners of small businesses. In a weekly meeting, the members report their recent news, ask questions, exchange information and make commitments to provide other members with access to clients.

The club has strict rules to ensure that their activities are working effectively for their members’ businesses. A strong spirit of mutual aid is consistently cultivated among the members.

Another outstanding example of a valuable support service for nanocorps is “High Tech Connect,” a human resource agent that provides businesses that need outside help with access to a network of more than 1,500 independent consultants or nanocorps to meet their specific needs.

The key to successfully supporting the sales activities of nanocorps is to have extensive knowledge about the background of their owners

The trend of utilizing the manpower of the retired is getting bigger in Japan. There must be many people in Japan who wish to start a nanocorp. But they usually lack the ability to sell their services and need help in doing this.

The key to successfully supporting their sales activities is to have extensive knowledge about the background of the nanocorp owners so that agents can make connections between the people who need sales support and people who are looking for solutions.

I call this new type of function “Knowledge Networker”. Knowledge Networker must have the following qualifications:

1) Having deep background knowledge about the people who use the system

2) Having extensive ability to identify qualities, build trust, and provide coordination

3) Having well-structured operational rules and clear benefits to users

4) Having a sales network that each user can use profitably.

One possible source for Knowledge Networkers will be retired business executives. In Japan, a Japanese company called Direct Force serves as an agent for nanocorps. Direct Force is composed of retired executives from large corporations. Members of Direct Force work as consultants for a small business or as instructors at a university, etc.

These retired people do not have to work for a living, but they enjoy working in society, utilizing their ability and experiences.