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Self Employment: The “direction of choice” for a career in later life?

Is self employment the “direction of choice” for a career in later life? By observation it strikes me that there is a greater degree of readiness for this choice as growing numbers of people over 50 make exits from full time organizational employment - now and in the years to come.

With what could be a “full moon rising” on self employment, comes some sense of curiosity for exploring this choice. There is no shortage of resources on the subject of entrepreneurship. From entrepreneurial coaches, assessments and learning programs to support groups, business books and web sites. No one has exclusive claim to this knowledge or advice. It’s all out here in the public domain.

So why does Change Rangers make exploring this choice a special case for those in their later life careers? Certainly the quest for independence through self employment is an ageless issue. As with all decision making, individuals of every age have personal influencing factors that may limit or hold back the opportunity to take the leap. For the person over 50 the influencing factors can be at play on a number of different levels, not the least of which is the attitude around aging.

Let’s take the case (based on a typical client profile) of Marco. At 57, he voluntarily takes an “early retirement” option and leaves a full time organizational employer relationship. Over 28 years in one company, Marco has had autonomy in his various roles but has always been driven by a need for structure and recognition as the centre of his specific knowledge in the organization and the industry.

The motivation for Marco opting for this liberation is freedom but maybe keep busy by working at something - in time. Time to get out now while health is generally good. Time to enjoy the family, travel, cottage and golf. The financial plan will support all this as long as his wife continues to work as planned for another five years.

Nine months after the company farewell party, Marco develops an itch that comes with work withdrawal and it won’t go away. He has a desire to work. He doesn’t understand his options and after talking with a few friends who are still working, he wonders who will give him a job at his age? He has seen one or two business contacts do some contract work and that might do. After all as a centre of specific knowledge perhaps there’s some advice he can give to his former employer or a competitor in the industry now in rough shape.

The issue of uncertainty and indecisiveness stays with Marco even longer due to ingrained attitudes on four levels – reduced confidence, employee minded thinking, preference for structure and to some degree, the age factor. Self employment is not on his radar screen. But all around him there are opportunities that are not wrapped up in a job package. In Marco’s case, what’s the risk of looking at the opportunities and going after them and creating a stream of self employed income?

In fact the first step is to assess those risks, real or perceived and challenge the ingrained attitudes. Then it’s time to examine the extent to which Marco needs to “sooth the itch” and open his eyes to the fact that answers won’t necessarily come from looking at the one-dimensional career silo – one man, one company, one industry. Personal assessment can lead to a reshaped confidence.

Before going on, let’s be real. At a simplistic level self employment is merely a distinct income tax status just as “employer employment” is distinct. The mind set and the mechanics of set up and control are different but both contribute to the worth of the economy. In either status Marco will need to know the market for the business and know how to continuously market himself in constant states of change.

In terms of mind set (and there will be a difference here), Marco needs to find a way to reframe his background and talents in relation to the rest of the world he chooses to work in and get an clearer understanding of the various options for designing work under a self employment status. One of the key issues for most like Marco, based on many years of working with clients like him, is the ability to get over a distorted view of his own importance and learn how to position himself as a business resource, not a job beggar.

In addition, the preference for structure will only be achieved by making it yourself, by forming strategic relationships with other professionals built around a common need and vision. As to the age factor, what you project is what you get? Not only that, look around – later life career builders are all around you and some of them are just like Marco. And some of them could be Marco’s potential customers.

Stay tuned for more as we look at self employment as self management in an integrated later life portfolio career. In the meantime read this.

Full Moon Rising: Self Employment & Later Life Careers

Career planning materials talk about options and “alternatives to traditional employment” OR sometimes it is written “alternatives to work”; and typically self employment is listed as that “also ran” in the field of choice.

But wait a minute! Self employment IS work.

It is simply an alternative arrangement to working relationships within organizations. While it may not initially be everyone’s preference, given our history of working through the industrial age and the ingrained “employee mentality” it is no small wonder that the percentage of working Canadians recorded by Statistics Canada in 2003 as “self employed” stands at about 14 %.

Given that statistic, how direct is the correlation between later life careers and self employment? As there are many over 50 (and extending well beyond it), who are opting for more choice in their desire to continue working - is there any clue that working for your self as the “organization of one” is a full moon rising?

A recent report from CIBC World Markets says that “Boomer Businesses are Booming”. The fastest growth area in the business start-up market is the 55 and over age group, which accounts for 15% of total start-ups, a gain from 11% in 1990. Is this by choice or a fall back position? Only 20% of those who started a business in the past 2 years said that they did so from pressure or as a fall back from finding an employee based relationship.

Not to be outdone, a similar report in 2004 from Scotia Economics supports the same growth except their numbers state that “individuals age 55 to 65 now represent almost 20% of self employed workers and their numbers have ratcheted up at 5 ½ % annual pace over the past 7 years.

The CIBC report goes on to say; “This trend represents not only an aging Canadian society, but also increased tendency toward early retirement. The affordability and availability of technology… enables older Canadians to provide consulting services from home.”

This last statement may well be true for some - but what is the range of possibilities in defining self employment? How truly are we recording the real stories and statistics of “self managed” or self employed working Canadians? To what degree will self employment in later life careers grow?

Over the next several months Change Rangers will discuss these questions and feature specialists in different aspects of self employment. In the meantime you may want to check out the September 2004 feature article “A Boom in Business Start Ups’ (a summary on the CIBC World Markets report) at www.camagazine.com