Older workers starting businesses for peers

Encore careers, borne from lifelong skills, create opportunities

Mary Anne Hardy was at a crossroads in her nursing career. A health program she had been working for ended, and, not ready to retire, she was trying to figure out her next move.

At a conference, she heard about patient advocates, who help people, particularly the elderly and their adult children, navigate the increasingly complex American health care system.

“It was a light bulb,” said Hardy, 65, who became certified as an advocate and began taking clients in 2013. “I thought about my parents’ experience, and it was a motivator.”

In choosing her new vocation, Hardy, who lives in Derwood,

Md., thought she could help others avoid the “nightmare” she had faced years earlier, she said. Her mother had a stroke and then bowel surgery, followed by a cascade of infections and other preventable ailments. She was transferred from facility to facility, with little communication among medical professionals or with her.

“People feel lost in the medical system,” Hardy said. With her by their side, they feel they “are taken seriously and listened to.”

Like many older entrepreneurs, Hardy is looking to her own peers for business opportunities. They are turning their lifelong skills into encore careers selling services and products in the booming senior consumer market. In some cases, like Hardy’s, their own experiences become catalysts for career moves at a time when others are retiring.

Tapping into a market in the trillions

Hardy is at the intersection of two long-evolving trends — the rising number of later-in-life entrepreneurs and the growth in the so-called longevity market.

In 2019, roughly 25 percent of new entrepreneurs were between 55 and 64, up from 15 percent 20 years earlier, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes entrepreneurship.

And in 2015, people 50 and older spent $5.6 trillion on goods and services, outpacing spending by consumers younger than 50, according to a study prepared for AARP by Oxford Economics, a forecasting firm. Besides their higher spending on health care, older people spent more on financial services, durable goods, nondurable goods and motor vehicles. The spending is projected to rise as the 50-plus group expands by 45 percent by 2050, compared with 13 percent for the younger group, the report said.

For older would-be entrepreneurs who want to capture a piece of the aging-related market, “you have to think of how you take your skills and passions and shift them to a new area,” said Mary Furlong, a consultant on longevity marketing.

Midlife owners, particularly those in the health fields, may find themselves with a leg up when dealing with older clients. Several studies show that elderly people are more likely to take advice from peers on nutrition, fall prevention, and the management of diabetes and other chronic illnesses.

“I think my age does work to my advantage,” Hardy said. “It really makes a difference to have someone helping them through the process.” As a patient advocate, she helps clients prepare questions for providers, attends medical appointments with them and reviews their care options.

The key to building Sharon Emek’s business was her prominence as a top insurance executive in New York. In 2010, when she was 64, Emek founded Work at Home Vintage Experts, or WAHVE, which matches insurance companies with professionals over 50 who work remotely as independent contractors.

Two big changes in the industry convinced Emek that such a venture had potential. Young workers were snubbing insurance for jobs on Wall

Street. And many experienced workers who weren’t ready to retire wanted flexible work arrangements, perhaps moving closer to the grandchildren, she said.

Female professionals were particularly worried that they would outlive their savings.

“I thought about this because I was living it myself. There was no way I wanted to retire — I need to be productive,” Emek said. “I felt I could help other people to continue to work. And companies could have access to amazing talent at a lower price.”