How my first product ended up being retirement cards.
A few years ago a coworker sitting across from me announced his retirement.
We had chatted previously but I hadn’t worked directly with him.
I teased him that I would create a countdown retirement chain for him. But it was all in good fun… or so I thought.
As the days got closer to retirement he asked me where his chain was! He was serious; he wanted a countdown paper chain!
Well he did get a bit more than he bargained for. 😁
The next day there was a retirement chain pinned to his desk.
However instead of just a chain, each loop had a question, a statement or an action item for him to do before he retired!
He and his co-workers loved it!
They couldn’t wait to see what each link said.
It became a standing topic in his daily meetings.
At the time even his boss told me it was something she would pay for.
I laughed it off, but I did make a mental note about it. But I had no idea how it would ever fit into my business model.
Fast forward to 2022.
The design has been updated and reconfigured to be 20 countdown cards to retirement.
All while keeping the favorite questions of the original chain.
All while keeping the favorite questions of the original chain.
There is a new card to open each day.
The retiree picks a daily topic, either a work question, personal question or an action item.
*Original Post appeared on my old TaraWiken site, updated April 2023
