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Would You Set Up a New Business in Your 60s?

By Anne Crowther August 24, 2023 Managing Money

Our parents were usually ready for retirement as they reached their 60s. Our generation, however, seems intent on living life to the fullest – and even setting up new business ventures!

Those of us who have done exactly that have chosen those businesses carefully. If you have worked in a corporate environment – as I did for more than 40 years – it is the absolute last kind of business you’d want to be involved with!

Do you remember KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), annual appraisals, training and development plans, “blue sky thinking,” away days and all that jargon and often back-stabbing corporate stuff? It’s enough to make you want to run in the opposite direction!

I know several mature women who have turned their backs on that kind of life and are now running their own, very successful small businesses. They have based their ventures on hobbies or interests – and if it makes money, so much the better!

In the UK, the retirement age is gradually creeping up to 68. While women used to retire at 60 and men at 65, that has all changed due to longer, healthy living. Our children may not retire until well into their 70s or beyond, which does make me feel sorry for them. Despite leaps in medical science, the mind is often still willing while, unfortunately, the flesh is a little weak – or vice versa.

What Kind of Business?

I have several friends who have “retired” from their profession and gone on to create new start-ups and are loving it!

One close friend had always loved sewing. Many years ago, she took some fashion and design qualifications, before ultimately pursuing a successful career in Human Resources for a food company.

Post retirement she set up her workshop business where she teaches people to create their own beautiful garments. She has not looked back. She tells me that she no longer has that Sunday night dread about going to work after the weekend, and absolutely loves what she is doing.

Another friend used to work in marketing, but has invested in property, buying houses, and improving them to create beautiful new homes to sell. Yet another, a former teacher, is now creating logos and corporate clothing, while a different friend, who used to work in industry, is now a periodic supply teacher.

Creating a Success

Of course, the work is sometimes hard. Depending on how successful you want your business to become, it may involve business plans, bank loans, and learning new skills. Fortunately, most of us don’t mind hard work if we are the ones who will ultimately benefit from those labours – particularly if we love what we do.

Sometimes it isn’t even about creating a business. Most of us want a reason to get up in the mornings and feel as if we are a useful member of society, still contributing.

Another option is volunteering, particularly if you have a skill honed over many years at work, which can be invaluable to local charities.

And me? Having started the Sensational Baby Boomers blog with my close friend, doing things that we enjoy – which is travelling and styling our wardrobes, we haven’t yet managed to earn any money from it… but we do have a plan!

I am very fortunate in that the whole reason for setting up the blog was not necessarily for the cash, but rather to do something which I have always enjoyed doing – namely writing. Still, we would love to review hotels and holidays if anyone is interested in working with us…

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Would you like to start a business one day? Have you set up a business later in life? What kind of business is it? Was it a hobby or something you enjoy – or just an idea to make money? Is your new business successful? Do you have any tips for taking it from a good business to a great one? Let us know about your own lives and share some of the inspiration!

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Sandy

Hi Anne

Best wishes for great success. I am starting a business at 73 in the midst of starting a new life after 40 years with a significant other which is another story.

My new business, after 40 years in the business of yoga, is yogic strength training for silver divas with more mind than muscle. You actually can grow muscle with your mind. It is an updated edition of a program, originally for male bodybuilders, for women. It originates from a program created by my first yoga teacher’s teacher, circa 1900. The yoga teacher, Bikram Choudhury, was trained by a body builder, Bishnu Ghosh, brother of Paramhansa Yogananda, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. It is a synthesis of mind/muscle exercises by Yogananda and a series of barbell lifts by Dr. Sen Gupta, a Harvard educated doctor known as the father of modern psychology in India.

My plan is to work with a team of retired/semi-retired divas with experience in the various elements of this project: instructional and social network website and app – high qualiy exercise apparel and lifestyle products for silver divas (everything is for the young and athletic) – social media presence – marketing/PR. If you know someone who would be interested please have them contact me. I am in the business plan process working with a mentor from S.C.O.R.E. (Service Corps of Retired Executives) and waiting to hear from a publisher about the book/manual.

My current website (tattooedgeisha.art) is a store and gallery for my art on print-on-demand products. I took a digital design course on Udemy during the Covid lockdown for fun.

Cheers,
Sandy

Lauren

I have started many small businesses in my life, so it was easy to start my latest one recently, at age 66.
A small business can provide income, tax deductions (as I hope your business is, before the money starts Anne!) and fun to us later in life.
Ideally a new small business will provide a needed and unsupplied service or product to our age peer group. People in their 60s are ignored in the marketplace, and we can serve each other, because we know our needs and desires!

My reqirements when considering a new mini-business are: will I enjoy it, and can I start it with minimal money, time, and administrative work. The marketplace is changing minute to minute. Who ever thought shopping malls would become ghost towns?

My new business category barely existed 5 years ago! It is a Sip and Paint business! And people love it!

Lauren Teton
MsTwifty on Instagram
Leading the #TwiftiesLifeStyle, as a fun person over 60!

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Beate

Inspiring, thanks! I was in marketing/communications and fortunate enough to create my interior design consulting business in between and alongside company jobs. Always loved writing, but only started publishing in 2020. 4 books w. short stories so far and a “big” book yet to be published. Now on 60+me ….We grow as we walk. LOVE it.

Anne Crowther

That’s lovely to hear Beate – now I’m feeling very guilty that I haven’t yet written a book (don’t they say everyone has a bookin them?) maybe something for those dark winter months! Good luck with your ventures.

The Author

Anne Crowther is a former journalist and corporate PR professional. After leaving a major blue-chip company, she set up her own small business helping companies with their PR, marketing and social media presence. Now semi-retired, she blogs about travels and personal fashion styles through the Sensational Baby Boomer website http://sensationalbabyboomers.blogspot.com

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