Many older workers are becoming entrepreneurs

Nina Horowitz-Greberman, 56, is CEO of her own social media strategy group in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. She says, “Yes, 100 percent, I do that every day. I based this business on the skills I

used in my old jobs." Don Lafferty, 59, is CEO and cofounder of Comfort Media in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. His is a niche boutique that helps heating and air-conditioning manufacturers

improve their digital outreach strategies. He was once a sales executive, a good one. But he was good at something else, too: writing, “a skill,” as he says, “I always had." In 2005, he

wrote an article about using the then-popular platform MySpace for business. “Before I knew it, all these businesses were after me to help them design digital strategies on MySpace,” he

says. Not too much later, he was cofounding Comfort Media. Or you could make your fantasy your business, like Valerie Valente, 57, who opened the Journey Inn Bed and Breakfast in Hyde Park,

New York, when she was 51, after a long career as a publishing executive. “I've had this yen my entire life,” she says. “I'm an early riser, and cooking is my passion — along with

serving customers.” She liked publishing, but, as she says, “to be candid, I liked being the boss and hated being the employee. So when the publishing industry started to shrink, I saw the

handwriting on the wall. Something just said, ‘It's time.’ “ CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES To be sure, there are difficulties, the same ones entrepreneurs in all age groups report:

getting started, funding, the sudden lack of a support system. “When you work in corporate America,” Mock says, “you have an infrastructure and maybe a sales force behind you. When you

leave, suddenly you don't have that anymore.” "And ageism is a reality,” Weinstock says, “that can hurt people's confidence starting out.” Jill Scherer Murray, 56, knows how

that feels. She is founder of Let Go For It LLC in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She began the company after 25 years in the corporate world. Her future began with her 2016 TEDx talk titled “The

Unstoppable Power of Letting Go,” with more than 1.7 million views so far. That led to a website, a business and a book coming out in 2020. She advises companies and individuals on

identifying impediments to forward growth, “to let go of whatever-it-is,” in her words, “for a better life and better results."