Two years ago, Karen Blunderfield and husband Chris Van Nus decided they needed a mid-life change. Blunderfield had been running a family enterprise – Arlene’s furniture stores – with her brother up until she turned 50. Van Nus had experience in the restaurant industry as a server and sommelier at high-end restaurants, and had trained as a barbecue pit boss. At 51, he wanted to manage his own business.
“We weren’t going to eat bonbons and have our feet up at 50,” Blunderfield explains, “but we didn’t want a high-pressure, intense lifestyle.”
Blunderfield and Van Nus decided to start their own eatery. Now the pair live in Gibsons and run the Smoke on the Water BBQ Shack on Government Warf.
“It was scary at first, but the triumph is the sense of independence and empowerment it gives you,” says Blunderfield. “It’s a sense of personal pride and achievement.”
Their story is one of thousands playing out across Canada as those on the higher side of 50 begin to look toward retirement.
According to a Government of Canada key small-business survey, in 2014, 47.5 per cent of small businesses were owned by those in the 50-to-64 age group.
The need to start a small business after 50 also reflects a grim statistic: among those aged 55 to 64 with no accrued employer pension benefits, 32 per cent have less than $1,000 in retirement savings, according to a 2016 study by the Broadbent Institute.
After being laid off as an executive assistant in 2009, single parent Kate Nagel, now 56, was inspired to open a gift store within the arts community.
When she heard about a federal funding grant to build a business plan, she applied and was accepted into the Langara Self-Employment Program.
She opened Bird on a Wire gift shop in October 2010 with 42 artists and now works with more than 200. In 2016, her shop was voted the best gift store in Vancouver by the Georgia Straight.
Nagel says she was “vibrating in fear” sometimes, but committing to her dreams is what kept her focused.
“Don’t be limited by your age or what society says we can or can’t do at a certain age. Use all the resources at your disposal,” she says, pointing to Small Business BC as a resource centre for those wanting to make the leap. “Believe with fierce determination what your dream is.”
An experience meeting locals in China in 2006 triggered a business idea for educational software engineers Paul Melhus, 62, and colleague Dave Vincent, 56.
The two were on the Great Wall when a local woman started giving them an impromptu tour. It was an awkward situation at the time but gave Melhus and Vincent the idea of having local residents interact with travellers on a more professional basis.
The two left their “day jobs” in 2008 to start Tours by Locals. In 2016 they delivered 42,000 tours. They work with 1,889 guides in 153 countries.
Melhus says that age was actually a benefit in his case.
“Being older, you have the self-confidence about what works for you. Trust your gut and just go for it. Don’t let age stop you.”
In many cases the impetus to work for oneself comes from a personal need for growth. Miriam Linderman had become disillusioned working for 30 years in leadership training and organizational development in corporations.
“I tried twisting myself into a pretzel but since I didn’t bend that way, I began not to love who I was,” she says.
At 57, she took some courses through the Coaches Training Institute. Two years later, she left full-time work to start her own coaching business.
“I was terrified. I didn’t have a clue as to how I’m going to do it. And I was used to a paycheque,” she says.
She now helps clients who want to climb a little higher in their organizations, or those who are retiring and don’t know what they want to do.
Her learned lessons: “Be clear about the competencies you’re lacking so you know the skills you will need and get trained in that. Get a good business coach with a good track record.” •
