Seniorpreneurship is a Growing Trend
Entrepreneurship is growing exponentially among today’s retirees.
Traditionally, entrepreneurship levels among 55+ adults have been lower in comparison to their younger 45-54 cohort. Recent surges in early and younger retirements suggest, however, this may result in people 55+ increasingly participating in entrepreneurial activities in the future. Of course, time will tell, but recent OECD data shows a propensity to higher levels of self-employment among older adults (50-64) in comparison to the overall adult population. Further, several key entrepreneurship reports, including the well-known annual Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship Report (U.S.), show that there been a clear surge in new entrepreneurship across all age groups compared to pre-Covid years, and that the 55+ age category has shown higher levels compared to some of the younger age group categories since 2021.
Additionally, a 2003 study by Singh and DeNoble suggests that “bridge employment” between early retirement and 65 “identified entrepreneurial activities to be common.” According to a recent study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER, Abraham et al., 2001), Contract Work at Older Ages, “the self-employment share is just under 20 percent for those age 18-29 and 30-49; it rises to 29.6 percent for those age 60-64, 45.5 percent for those age 65-69, 59.7 percent for those 70-74 and 67.5 percent for those age 75-79.
The Challenge
How can more people participate in this trend? What do they need to know?
Some famous examples of older adults who have started purposeful and impactful entrepreneurial careers at a later stage in life include the likes of Louise Hay, founder of Hay House, a major U.S. publishing and media company which she created with one book, Heal Your Body, which she published at the age of 50, translated into twenty-five languages and transitioned into a publishing empire worth over $100 million. Arianna Huffington launched The Huffington Post at fifty-five. Julia Childs began her television career with “The French Chef” at 51. Bernie Marcus started Home Depot at 50. And let’s not forget “Colonel” Harland Sanders, the retired military man, who created KFC at sixty-two! Indeed, research conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau also shows that the average age of founding entrepreneurs is 40+.
Image Source: Julia Child in her kitchen as photographed ©Lynn Gilbert, 1978, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, May 2, 2025 which states “The work is free and may be used by anyone for any purpose and this was confirmed by The Wikimedia Foundation.
These examples of “what can be” clearly point to the need for developing know-why and know-how for the growing number of retiree entrepreneurs participating in or wanting to participate in this trend.
From the “know-why” side, there is abundant research showing that participating in meaningful activities post one’s main work-life chapter can be a powerful health and youth booster, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Additionally, people have the time, experience and enhanced knowledge of themselves that younger people don’t necessarily have. Sometimes they even have a little cash reserve to help fulfil their dreams.
In terms of developing “know-how”, there are several tools at the seniorpreneur’s disposal which can potentially help boost successful engagement with entrepreneurial activities. One of the most important in the tool kit is the ability to come up with a powerful vision for where you see yourself in the future and being able to act on it.
Re-Visioning Retirement: A Solution
Envisioning how you will participate in an entrepreneurial capacity in the workforce requires just that: a new vision of what that will look like for yourself.
In order to set yourself up for successful visioning there are a few key things to consider:
What does the goal of my vision look like? What do I aspire to do in the future? What legacy do I want to leave? Answering these questions requires taking a look at the values you aspire to in order to come up with a value-full and satisfying vision for your entrepreneurial path.
What will the scope of my vision be? You need to consider whether your vision will just relate to you or whether and how it might impact others and at what size you want to operate.
How can I best clarify my vision? Clarification of your vision requires being specific and making your vision tangible. One of the best ways to do this is by creating a short and meaningful vision statement.
This blog, “Re-Visioning Retirement”, aims to help you to do just that. My name is Susan Reid (Ph.D.) and in this blog I will be examining how retirement is starting to look different than in the past, what vision is and why its important and looking at some of the tools for how people can come up with vision for this stage in their lives (entrepreneurial or personal).
Stay tuned!