Lazy days and golf are not for everyone. In reality, some “retirees” get their kick from the challenge of becoming encore entrepreneurs. It can be engaging, enjoyable, and lucrative simultaneously.
Would you ever want to retire if your job provided you with the key essentials of life — a feeling of purpose, the freedom to live on your own terms, financial security, and good health? As people live longer, healthier lives on average, some argue that the notion of retirement is evolving. However, it may be more appropriate to say that more people are just rejecting the idea altogether.
Instead, work towards a retirement that’s all rest and no work. Many older individuals desire to use their abilities and pursue their passions to live their greatest lives. And many are doing so by launching their own companies. The prevalent conception of entrepreneurs as youths in their twenties or thirties leading tech startups is deeply flawed. In actuality, persons aged 55 and up own more than half of the small enterprises in the United States.
If the idea of slowing down with age does not entice you, then it is worth comprehending why these individuals find fulfillment in being encore entrepreneurs.
Corrie Inukai – Chasing Her Ideas
Connie is a Columbia University graduate with an M.A. in Linguistics. She completed her B.A. in French from The Ohio State University. Connie Inukai retired from teaching Technical Writing at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University for almost four decades. However, when she retired from teaching, she didn’t want to sit around and enjoy her retirement. Instead, she focused on what mattered most to her – spending time with her family, being creative, and helping others. Connie Inukai is a great example of a successful second-act entrepreneur. Today she is thriving, in her second act, as an inventor, a “grandmapreneur,” an author, a speaker, and a caregiver to two young grandchildren. She is living proof that the second-act entrepreneur can succeed if only they focus on what matters most to them – entrepreneurship is a mindset at any age.
Connie Inukai didn’t stumble into inventing – she leaped. The award-winning inventor quoted a saying, “I get an idea, and I go for it.” That’s certainly the case with her most famous invention, Tip & Split™.
Tip & Spilt – An Award-Wining Invention
Her capacity for creative thinking served her well throughout her life, and at the age of 68, she became an award-winning inventor. Her creation – a handheld magnifier and light with a built-in calculator to figure out the tip and split the bill in seconds, was inspired by a simple problem: Inukai struggled to read the small print on a restaurant menu. Realizing that she wasn’t the only one with this problem, she set out to create a solution. The result is Tip & Split™, a must-have gadget for anyone who loves to eat out but hates squinting at the menu or bill.
With Tip & Split™, people who have trouble reading menus or restaurant bills can easily magnify the text and calculate a tip in seconds. It’s a simple solution to a common problem, and it’s just one example of how Connie Inukai has used her creativity to make the world a better place. Thanks to Inukai’s invention, dining out is now more enjoyable – and affordable – than ever before.
Not only this, she is the author of “How I got My Product on QVC, The Today Show, The View, and More…In Retirement: It’s All About the Buzz”, where she provides tips to other inventors on how to generate free publicity for their products. Connie is also the creator of Write Your Selfie™ – a platform that encourages people to write their life stories in a fun and easy-to-read format so that future generations can enjoy learning about their ancestry and life lessons.
Connie is passionate about working with people suffering from dementia and their families to preserve the memoirs of this “invisible” population. As a result of her work in this area, Connie was featured in Entrepreneur magazine’s “6 Reasons to Pursue Entrepreneurship in Retirement.” In the article, Connie encourages Baby Boomers to have an active retirement through business or social entrepreneurship.
