You’re Not Done Yet: Why Later in Life Might Be the Best Time to Start a Business

If you’re in your fifties or sixties and you’ve been quietly wondering whether it’s too late to do something different — this one is for you.

There is a really common and really damaging myth that starting a business is something you do when you’re young. That if you haven’t launched something by the time you’re forty, the window has closed. That the energy, the ideas, the appetite for risk — all of that belongs to a younger version of you that has already been and gone.

I want to challenge that. Loudly.

This week on the podcast I sat down with Susan McGregor — a celebrant who launched her business in her sixties, is now three years in, and describes her third year as her best yet. Susan’s story is the most compelling argument I’ve heard for why later in life might actually be the very best time to start something new.

Here’s what I learned from her.

1. You’re not starting from scratch — you’re starting from experience

This is the biggest mindset shift and the most important one.

When we think about starting a business later in life, we often frame it as starting over. As if everything that came before doesn’t count. As if we’re back at the beginning with nothing.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Susan spent decades in retail management, school administration, teaching and running her own Slimming World business. On paper those things look unconnected. But every single one of them gave her something she brings to her celebrant business today. The ability to hold a room. The empathy to support people through vulnerable moments. The business skills to market herself and manage her diary. The communication skills to write and deliver ceremonies that make people cry and laugh in equal measure.

Every job you’ve ever had. Every challenge you’ve navigated. Every difficult conversation, every responsibility, every role — has been building something in you. Skills, wisdom, resilience, perspective. Things that genuinely cannot be taught in a classroom and can only be earned through lived experience.

When you start a business later in life, you bring all of that with you. And that is not nothing. That is an extraordinary head start.

2. The network you’ve already built is your greatest asset

One of the most underrated advantages of starting a business later in life is the size and depth of the network you’ve already built — often without even realising it.

Susan ran Slimming World for five years. She met hundreds of people. When she launched her celebrant business and told those people what she was doing, many of them became clients or referred her to their families. Her very first wedding booking came through her daughter mentioning it to a friend who had been quietly looking for a celebrant they felt they knew.

Think about the people you have in your life after decades of working, raising a family, being part of communities. Former colleagues. School gate friends. Neighbours. People from every club, class, group and organisation you’ve ever been part of. That is your network. Those people trust you. They know your character. And when you launch a business and tell them what you’re doing, they are already primed to support you, refer you and champion you.

A twenty-two year old starting their first business has to build that trust from nothing. You already have it.

3. Networking accelerates everything — especially when you’re starting over

Whether you’re starting a brand new business or pivoting into a completely different industry later in life, intentional networking is one of the fastest ways to find your feet and build momentum.

When Susan launched her celebrant business, a celebrant from Norfolk reached out and invited her to join a group of local celebrants who meet regularly. She went along, not knowing what to expect. Those celebrants are now friends. They cover for each other when someone is sick or injured. They refer to each other when a booking isn’t the right fit. They are each other’s safety net.

She also started coming to WIN events, where she found people who could help her with the parts of running a business that didn’t come naturally — marketing, websites, social media — and people in complementary industries who could refer her and whom she could refer in return. Photographers. Florists. Venue owners. People whose clients are also her clients.

If you’re thinking about a career change or starting a business later in life, here is what networking gives you that nothing else can:

Visibility. People can’t hire you or refer you if they don’t know you exist. Networking puts you in front of people who need what you offer — or who know someone who does.

Confidence. Talking about your new business gets easier every time you do it. The more you say it out loud, the more real it becomes and the more naturally it comes.

Knowledge. Every event is a chance to learn something new. Susan learned about tools and resources for her business from conversations at WIN events. You never know what you’re going to pick up from a twenty-minute conversation with someone you’ve never met before.

Community. Starting a new business at any age can be lonely. Having a community of people around you who get it — who are also building something, also figuring it out, also having the good days and the hard days — makes all the difference.

Referrals. The person you sit next to at a networking event might not need what you offer. But their friend might. Their colleague might. Their sister-in-law who just got engaged absolutely might. Networking is planting seeds that grow into referrals months and years down the line.

4. You have the patience to play the long game

Susan is honest about the timeline of her business. Year one was about setting up and finding her feet. Year two went well. Year three has been fabulous.

That slow build is something a lot of younger entrepreneurs really struggle with. They expect fast results and get disheartened when the clients don’t come flooding in immediately. They give up before the seeds they planted have had time to grow.

But you’ve lived long enough to know that nothing good happens overnight. You’ve navigated things that were hard and slow and uncertain and came good eventually. You have the emotional maturity to keep showing up even when the results aren’t immediate. And that patience — that quiet, steady persistence — is one of the most valuable things you can bring to a new business.

5. It’s okay not to know what comes next — yet

Susan didn’t know she was going to be a celebrant. She left Slimming World feeling tired and uncertain, not sure if she was done with the workplace, not sure what she still had to offer. She worked with a career coach — not because anyone told her to, but because she needed space to think.

Through that process, by really examining her skills and her experiences and what had lit her up over the years, she landed on something that brought everything together. And she knew immediately it was right.

If you’re in that uncertain place right now — feeling like something needs to change but not sure what — that’s a completely normal place to be. Here are some things that can help:

Write down everything you’ve ever been good at. Not just job titles — the actual skills. Listening. Problem solving. Making people feel at ease. Organising chaos. Explaining complicated things simply. You’ll surprise yourself.

Think about what people always come to you for. What do friends and colleagues ask your advice on? What do you find easy that others find hard? That’s often a clue to what you should be doing.

Get out of the house and talk to people. Seriously. Some of the best business ideas come from conversations you weren’t expecting. Susan’s celebrant career was confirmed through a career coach, but the seed was planted by years of accumulated experience and the moment she allowed herself to ask: what if?

Consider getting support. A career coach, a mentor, or even just a community of other women who have done what you’re thinking about doing. You don’t have to figure this out alone.

You are not done

Susan said something at the end of our conversation that I keep coming back to.

“What do I have to offer? And what I have to offer is good enough. You’re never too old.”

She went to university at forty. Started teaching at forty-four. Launched a brand new business in her sixties. And she is absolutely thriving.

There is no age limit on building something meaningful. There is no point at which your experience stops being valuable or your ambitions stop being valid. There is no window that has closed.

If anything — you’ve never been more ready. 💛

About Susan

Susan McGregor is a celebrant based in Suffolk, running beautiful and deeply personal ceremonies for weddings, funerals, memorials, celebrations of life and naming days. If you’re looking for a ceremony that feels truly and completely yours — go and find her.

Find Susan here:

🌐 https://susanmcgregorcelebrant.co.uk
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanmcgregorcelebrant

Want to hear the full conversation?

Listen to my full chat with Susan on the Women Inspired Networking Conversations podcast, available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0DM7Ooc5nLezg4u91OklYo?si=83acff1303aa4471
📺 YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDVCZqf8LiBs92aTeEHZsWrtoNRJEVCXn&si=kfsbmnaQYm0lelUk

Come and find your people:

🌐 www.womeninspirednetwork.com/events
👤 Facebook: Women Inspired Network: Networking For Women In Business
📸 Instagram: @women_inspired_network