
Serena Williams is one of the greatest athletes of all time. You can’t talk about the game of tennis without referring to Serena in one way or the other, so it’s not surprising that her Vogue interview announcing her retirement is trending.
The soon to be 41 year old announced that she will be making the hard decision to focus on her family and other parts of her life, while tennis takes the back seat. A lot of people have differing opinions about her retirement, some are excited for her while some claim she should simply be grateful and not compare herself to her male colleagues.
In all of these, what many people don’t know is that beyond the court, she’s also a business powerhouse. Williams has been busy investing in herself and building her empire and here are some key lessons you can learn from her retirement.
Have a backup plan
Serena Williams is retiring from tennis but has a venture capital firm, Serena Ventures and a clothing line, S by Serena to fall back on.
While many people believe that your salary is what you’re paid to give up on your dreams, Serena teaches us that that’s not always true. Your dream can be to have a very successful career, while also contributing to something outside of work – both can coexist if planned well.
While building her tennis career, she used her influence and personal brand to start a VC company. This company has invested in brands like Masterclass (a unicorn) and Tonal, which build smart home gym machines. This means that she’s able to use the money she’s accumulated from her successful tennis career to invest in businesses. With equity from these businesses, she’s simply making her money work for her.
Before making decisions that can potentially take away or reduce your income, always ensure you’ve spent some time creating a backup plan. This backup plan should be able to cater to your expenses for a period of time.
Learn from those ahead of you
“Experience is the best teacher” – not true when you can simply learn from other people’s experiences.
In the Vogue interview announcing her retirement, Serena talks about her early years as a tennis player and how she considered herself an amateur compared to her sister, Venus Williams.
“When I was little, I was not very good at tennis”, she said. It’s hard to think of Serena as someone who was not good at tennis, but she’s been able to grow to become who she is by watching her sister and other people she admired.
She talked about missing opportunities her sister got in the early days and how that helped her to work on her skills till she became a GOAT at the game. “I’d travel to tournaments with Venus as her hitting partner, and if there was an open slot, I’d play. I followed her around the world and watched her. When she lost, I understood why, and I made sure I wouldn’t lose the same way.”
The question is, who are you studying? Whose life is inspiring you to build long-term wealth? Thankfully, there’s so much financial education information on the Cowrywise blog that can help. You really can avoid ending up poor if you consistently implement the tips shared on the blog.
“I learned the lessons from Venus’s losses instead of the hard way, from my own.” Some people are hell-bent on learning lessons the hard way instead of learning from the many people that have gone ahead of them.
Be your own competition
In this Tiktok video, Simon Sinek talks about the importance of being less obsessed with your competition and more obsessed with why you do what you do and where you’re going.
It’s not that your competition is useless or that you should never study them, it’s that you should simply not let the thoughts of your competition take over your entire life. Simon says “if you wake up every single morning and compete against yourself, you’ll probably be ahead more often.”
This is definitely true about Serena and it can be true about you too. Having clear goals can help you compete against yourself more effectively. Instead of worrying about what others are doing or not doing when it comes to building wealth, you can set goals for yourself.
- I want to save my first $10,000
- I want to buy a home before 40
- I’ll buy myself a car gift after I’ve worked strategically for 4 years
These goals focus on you becoming better financially than you were in previous years.
The reason a lot of people fall for things like MMM and other Ponzi schemes is that they are too focused on what others are doing. Focus more on your progress.
Make your money work for you and for others
As previously mentioned, Serena Williams’ retirement is not so frightening because she has a venture capital firm. With this firm, she’s able to invest in companies in exchange for equity.
However, equity isn’t all that’s her driving force. While at a conference, Serena found out that just two per cent of all VC money went to women. Now, she wants to do something about it.
One powerful thing about money that people don’t talk about enough is the influence it gives you to change other people’s lives. After finding out that very few female-led companies got funding, Serena decided she was going to support more women. “I kind of understood then and there that someone who looks like me needs to start writing the big checks.”
You can’t write big checks if there are no checks at all. Work towards growing your wealth so you can make your money work for you and for others.

Serena Williams’ retirement teaches us that investing in yourself pays off
Do you want to be financially successful? Then start investing in yourself and hone skills that make you a valuable asset.
Millions of people love Serena because of her skill level. People pay for value, so the more valuable your skills are, the more money you can earn over time.
How are you investing in yourself and your skills right now to ensure it pays off in the long run?
Saving and investing consistently is also a way to invest in yourself. You’re not always going to be young and free so it’s important to invest money so you can begin enjoying compound returns.
Investing money and investing in yourself will always pay off.
Conclusion
It’s been a great run for Serena, and now that she wants to retire from the game of tennis, she can focus her attention on her family and personal life.
In the Vogue interview, Serena stated that retirement is a tough decision but one she’s willing to make to build her family and other aspects of her life. We’ll all be faced with hard decisions often, so it’s important to first weigh the things that matter most to us in other not to make life-altering decisions that we may regret.
When you make decisions, make sure you’re ready for the adventures that lie ahead.
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I really want to control my finances. I envisage that I have a great tendency of making money and mismanaging funds. Most times I run out of money before the month ends and I feel terrible about it.
Hi Sonia.
Thanks for your vulnerability.
We provide a lot of financial education guides on our blog that can help you better control your finances.
Take it step by step and you’ll do better in now time!
What about school fees, health , charity and insurance.
school fees, insurance, and health can be placed in that friend’s wedding column as talked about in the article, t its all about understanding the main idea, looking within yourself where does this item fall, it’s about been creative and manageable with your money, i.e how long money stays in our hand using it effectively.
thanks a lot,Ope.really helpful,sometimes we outline the fixed and forget the discretionary ,and wonder how alll the money disappeared .This is very insightful
I look forward to more articles from you guys, random articles on various life topics. I love the active voice you used in writing and that sacarsm part too?
Thank you! We look forward to having you back here too ?
This is really amazing and educating! Keep it up and thank you so much for THIS ARTICLE ?
Our pleasure ?
Hello Ope,
This piece is quite insightful and helpful. Thank you. I Read the part where you advised to not document budget on a book as one can lose the book. Can you recommend an app on playstore one can use?
Yes. I’m seconding this comment. I believe an accounting application can help. I actually document my expenses daily but combining them into a general heading is a big task.
Please help us, Ope.
Hi Glow, I can’t recommend any tool off the top of my head right now, but creating a simple Google sheet or excel file for your budgeting can work.
I have a challenge, am the one catering for the house so most times I run into debts because expenses are higher than income . please how do I work on this.
thanks
Okay, Ope, you got me on with this one! ?
I know I make a lot of money as a full-stack digital marketer, but after some time, I’m broke and I’m wondering how come? As you said, I’m wondering “where did all the money go to?”
Sha, this post is very helpful and I’ve just downloaded this app I want to make use of in listing out the entire process… but quick ??
Which app or tool would you recommend for proper budgeting and evaluation?
Regards,
Sam
Hey Sam, happy to hear you found this helpful! ?
For the tool to help with budgeting, I highly recommend that you get down to do the “dirty work” first by yourself. Create a sheet on Google Sheets or Excel to input and track your spending to give you a raw idea, and then you can use other tools for lighter budgeting work based on the idea you now have from your sheet.
Hi Glow
You can download money manager on playstore, that’s what I use. There are others there too
I spend close to 38,000 only
Hi Sam,
I found it fascinating when I had to keep track of my sister’s account, but tracking my own expenses or developing a personal budget appears to be an impossible feat.
I mean… I don’t have a stable source of income yet so it seems almost hard to do but then after going through your write up I wrote a few ways in which I get money and am hoping I’d be able to get an hang of it soon.
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
Ope rather not Sam, sorry.
Wow! This is great, learnt a lot
Thank you so much for sharing this, Ope.
I have a question though. How can I budget as a student?
Because it seems like I can’t apply the whole concept of budgeting in my life at the moment.
I mean, I am a student, I don’t have a fixed source of income; I receive allowance from my parent and sometimes from relatives. I also do not work and I have no investments.
Sometimes, I feel like financial plans and budgeting is just not for me, even though I’m quite interested in them.
Like when I even receive my allowance, the rate at which the money finishes fast, makes me ask myself, “How?” “Where did all the money go to?” and “What did I spend the money on?”
I want to know how to track my expenses, save effectively and if possible invest and then build a financial plan, even as a student but I don’t know how to go about it neither do I know what to do.
So, if there’s any advice you could give me, please do. I’m very ready to learn.
Also, thank you so much for your financial lessons. I am always happy when I see your blog updates in my email. Thank you!?
This is very insightful and educative. I will make a do with this tips immediately. Thanks immensely Ope.
This is helpful I learnt a lot as a young graduate budget helps in build Future occurrences coming in the future also helps to pridict a lot of plan that u ought to achieve
Thanks Ope for this rich enlightenment.
But I got to ask you a question.
What if you don’t get an income per say but, a kind of allowance that’s not stable that you’ll have to ask before its been given to you. How then do you plan a budget given such instance?
Thanks for this wonderful post of yours.It is more encouraging.
Dear Ope,
Thanks for this insightful write up. I am definitely practicing this starting now. This is just what I needed to hear at this time. Thanks again
Really amazing thanks alot for this
I need withdraw
Thank for this wonderful post of yours. It is more encourage
I need withdraw
This article came in on time. Am guilty of many of the bad money management stated in the article. Not withstanding, it is not too late to start. I will be better equipped for the remaining part of the year and next year as well. Thanks Ope
Alisabiu744@gmail.com
This article came in on time. Am guilty of many of the bad money management stated in the article. Not withstanding, it is not too late to start. I will be better equipped for the remaining part of the year and next year as well. Thanks Ope
Ope thanks for this powerful awareness, pls if the is an app I can use for something like this let me know. I should start taking records this month
Mohammed
How can I do this
Thanks very much Ope. I always enjoy your post they are enlightening.Talking about budgeting how can one who’s money doesn’t come in bulk monthly go about making and achieving his or her budget.
I can control my financial status on my own. Because I really feel to be financially independent, on the basis of personal interest, and growth. Thank you so much.
Hi Ope,
Thanks for the blog,
I am currently working and I don’t earn enough. Also, I have to settle bills at home and help the family.
I find it hard to save, any advice on this?
Thanks for this piece, I really needed it to start my next month.✨
Thank you so much Ope. We shall do this
Cowrywise has really helped me to everyone more and spend less
I wish it will not crash
Thanks so much. This is an eye opener. I always wondered why I’m left with nothing at the end of the week/month/year after making so much money. Please, do cowrywise have a budgeting app that could be helpful.? It’s important