How Vision can Empower Seniorpreneurship

Entrepreneurship is an important and growing trend among today’s retirees and older adults.

Traditionally, entrepreneurship levels among 55+ adults have been lower in comparison to younger cohorts. Recent surges in early and younger retirements suggest, however, this may result in people 55+ increasingly participating in entrepreneurial activities in the future. Topa et al in 2018 [1] have noted that “early or voluntary retirement (ER) can be defined as the full exit from an organizational job or career path of long duration, decided by individuals of a certain age at the mid or late career before mandatory retirement age.”

Several key entrepreneurship reports, including the wellknown annual Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship Report (U.S.) [2], show that there has 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 [3] suggests that “bridge employment” between early retirement and 65 “identified entrepreneurial activities to be common.” Recent OECD data [4] also shows a propensity to higher levels of self-employment among older adults (50-64) in comparison to the overall adult population. “Self-employed is defined by the OECD (2001, online) as ‘persons who are the sole owners, or joint owners, of unincorporated enterprises.’” [5, 6]. According to a recent study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research [7], Contract Work at Older Ages, “the self-employment share (in the U.S.) 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.”

As such, a broad framework for entrepreneurship, one which incorporates bridge- and self-employment, and embraces the idea that “the entrepreneur’s unique skill is the ability to utilize their vision to combine existing skills, ideas, and resources in a new way” [5], allows a more encompassing understanding of what entrepreneurship is and how older adults are participating in the entrepreneurial workforce.

These findings are further backed up by a recent Pew Research Center [8] study from the U.S., which states, “As of the third quarter of 2021, 50.3 percent of U.S. adults 55 and older said they were out of the labor force due to retirement.” According to the same article, “between 2008 and 2019, the retired population ages 55 and older grew by about 1 million retirees per year. In the past two years, the ranks of retirees 55 and older have grown by 3.5 million.” Additional research conducted by Goldman Sachs [9] found that 25 percent of Gen Z survey participants were planning on retiring before age fifty-five.

Interestingly, at the same time, according to Tanzi in a 2022 [10] Bloomberg Business article, based on statistics from Nick Bunker of Indeed Hiring Lab, “unretirement” is back on the rise with 3.2 percent of workers who retired a year earlier being back to work by 2022. Reasons listed included inflation and job availability.

Many retirees also re-enter the work force for financial reasons. It is possible that they may be moving into new jobs, new industries and also possibly doing so for lower pay and fewer benefits. As such, entrepreneurship, including self-employment and bridge employment, offers an important opportunity for older adults who have left their main work chapter.

Despite the interest and rise in self-empolyment in older age groups, as noted by Lisa Bannon [11], “no clear road map exists for how to do it.’’

As for the reasons why people actually do retire early, according to a 2013 Dutch study by Reeuwijk et al. [12], on the subject of early retirement: “for most employees, a combination of factors played a role in the transition from work to early retirement, and the specific factors involved differed between individuals. Participants reported various factors that pushed toward early retirement (‘push factors’), including organizational changes at work, conflicts at work, high work pressure, high physical job demands, and insufficient use of their skills and knowledge by others in the organization. Employees who reported such push factors toward early retirement often felt unable to find another job. Factors attracting toward early retirement (‘pull factors’) included the wish to do other things outside of work, enjoy life, have more flexibility, spend more time with a spouse or grandchildren, and care for others.” As a result, both push and pull factors can lead to many people wanting to continue working, but on their own schedule, often part-time, and in a more meaningful way. It also bears mentioning that interest in the potential offered by entrepreneurship, in general, is on the rise. For example, a large-scale international survey conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in over forty countries showed that while only 4 percent of respondents were self-identified entrepreneurs with paid personnel, over 50 percent stated that they wanted to be their own boss [6].

With some 1.4 billion people living in developed and developing countries at “retirement age” (65+) globally in 2021, and with this number predicted to double by 2050 (OECD Stats, 2021) [4], compacted with coming generations predicted to live well into their 100s [13], the need for a roadmap and guidance for such a large proportion of society is apparent. This, particularly because so many people retiring from their full-time employment after dedicating the majority of their work life to it, will consider cycling through other full-time careers, working part-time, paid or unpaid, working seasonally or on contract, and/or volunteering and/or mentoring others. In other cases, people are starting brand-new careers later on, with many transitioning through multiple careers over a lifetime. As such, in an era when jobs, in general, are starting to look less conventional, the traditional definition for retirement is at the same time starting to look a little dated.

Indeed, what has traditionally been called retirement has a range of hues. Some people don’t retire completely based on their own decision. Witness the number of layoffs and early retirements that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. As noted in an op-ed piece in CNBC’s “Your Money Mindset” column by Lisa Brown [14], chief strategy officer for corporate professionals and executives at Bigworth, “nearly all of my executive clients at the Coca-Cola Co. applied for its ‘voluntary separation program,’ which includes some major incentives, including at least a year’s pay plus a 20 percent bump. (The Coca-Cola Co. offered this package to about 4,000 employees working for corporate or Coca-Cola North America in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico.)”

So, there appears to be an interesting spectrum of retirement patterns evolving in which people are taking their first retirement increasingly early, whether of their own free will or because they are asked to retire by the organization they work for, but at the same time cycling through more careers and without the desire to be completely retired until a much later stage of life. As a result, many people will seek some form of entrepreneurship to accomplish that goal.

How can more people participate in Seniorpreneurship trend? What do they need to know?

Examples of famous seniorpreneurs and “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. 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 publishing and media company based out of the U.S. which she created and started with one book, Heal Your Body at 50. Julie Wainwright founded The RealReal online consignment store at 53 and in her 60s, founded personalized nutrition startup, Ahara. Arianna Huffington launched The Huffington Post at fiftyfive. 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!

These statistics and examples of “what can be” clearly point to the need for enabling strong visioning capabilities among the growing number of retirees with an interest in pursuing entrepreneurship, on some level. From the “know-why” side, behind pursuing purposeful entrepreneurial activities, 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. One recent article in Preventative Medicine, for example, by Kim and colleagues from 2020 [15], found that “accumulating evidence shows that a higher sense of purpose in life is associated with lower risk of chronic conditions and premature mortality.” These results correlate with the findings of many other researchers. Three main health benefits were found by these researchers to be characteristic of individuals with a significantly strong sense of purpose: higher levels of physical activity, lower levels of sleep issues, and lower levels of unhealthy BMI. Another study, by Sutin and colleagues from 2021 [16], looking at health benefits found that “individuals with a greater sense of purpose maintain better cognitive function and have lower dementia risk.” So, in addition to the general positives that are related to finding your purpose/passion through using visioning to achieve your goals (such as better relationships and performance [5]), there are convincing health benefits specific to an older population.

Additional research regarding the positive outcomes specifically associated with having a vision to drive this stage of life, demonstrate that active visioning is a way of gaining some control in a future of infinite possibilities. For retirees who continue to work, some doing so entrepreneurially, the type of internal locus of control exercised with visioning activities can be extremely motivating and empowering. There are other reasons to exercise active visioning too; for example, it can help to serve as a counter to some of the discrimination that exists toward older adults in society. Remarkably, despite record surges in job opportunities (partly because of all the “retiring” going on), opportunities for people older than fifty continue to drop. Those that exist often pay less - despite the expertise and experience of the applicants - or involve mentoring or volunteering without pay. In many cases, the 50+ are passed over for younger alternatives.

It’s enough of a concern that, as noted in a New York Times article by Paula Span [17], the World Health Organization, as of 2016, was putting approximately half a million dollars into its research on “pervasive employment discrimination” and other non-work-related ageism issues. She also notes that “There’s scant data, too, on how to shift older people’s own internalized ageism.” I believe that having a strong vision offers a useful tool for helping to do this, since shifting one’s own focus on aging demands a belief that the outcomes of one’s actions in life are actually contingent to a certain extent on one’s own decisions. Active visioning on the part of those wishing to continue working on some level, some through seniorpreneurship, may provide an important stop-gap and counterforce to some of the brain drain and leadership loss in our society.

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.

My academic research [5] shows 3 possible benefits to having a vision in the business world: ability to attract capital; ability to secure a competitive advantage; and ability to attain various benchmarks of success. How then might seniorpreneurs create a vision to tap into such potential?

Getting a better sense of one’s underlying motivations and how one wants to prioritize them is a great place to start when visioning. Related to this, deep diving into the reasons why one retired or is considering it, and why one is looking for a new direction, are also important steppingstones to developing better insight into one’s values and purpose, and ultimately one’s longer-term vision. Envisioning how one will participate in an entrepreneurial capacity in the workforce requires just that: a new vision of what that will look like for one’s self.

In order to set one’s self up for successful visioning there are a few key questions aspiring seniorpreneurs might consider asking of themselves:
1. 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 involves 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

“Re-Visioning Retirement” [18], aims to help people do just that by examining how the nature of retirement is evolving, what vision is, why it’s important and explores some of the tools for how people can come up with vision for this stage in their lives (entrepreneurial and personal).