After you sell the business you’ll probably crack open an expensive bottle of bubbly and go on that well deserved vacation. Then what?

For most business owners I deal with, the business defines them – emotionally, physically, and mentally. I speak to owners where I sold their business ten years ago, and the transition message is often mixed. They all enjoyed their first vacation after selling but the novelty soon wore off and they got bored, restless, even cranky. Some experienced an identity loss and a lack of purpose, while others started playing CEO at home which didn’t go over too well with wives and other family members who were not used to them being around so often.

The key is finding the answer to a very simple question, which is “What do you want?”. You’ll have some money to play with but what is your next purpose going to be? You might turn a hobby into a passion, do some community work, mentor other business owners, or sit on the board of a charity you identify with.

One business owner I know found what he wanted to do after he sold his business – and here’s what he did. He owned a very successful landscape supplies business, and told his legal adviser that all the packets of seeds (eg vegetables and herbs) will not form part of the sale – this was a very significant amount of stock totalling nearly $1m. The lawyer remained puzzled, but the sale when through as the seller instructed excluding the thousands of packets of seeds. The Seller and his wife then went on that well deserved overseas holiday and returned home after nearly four months away. He then started on his next purpose in life by shipping packets of seeds to Africa where he taught people in poor, isolated communities how to sow the seeds and grow their own food. The Seller’s family (including children and even grandchildren) have now travelled to Africa on four occasions to help more communities and to visit the ones they established the year earlier.

There was a new life and purpose after business – and this guy found it.