 Retire or start up?The dairy farmer who wouldn't be put out to grass
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Why I won't be put out to grass
Janet Kiddle (54) also created a more attractive working environment for herself, albeit on home shores, when she started her own business later in life
Feeling "neglected" by the marketing industry because of her age, Janet took a leap when she turned 50 and resigned as Managing Director of one of the top ten market research firms.
Leaving behind a work environment she describes as "hugely political", she now works from her home in Oxshott running Steel Magnolia, a market research consultancy that specialises in understanding the 50+ market.
"You do miss those water cooler moments," Janet concedes of working alone, so instead she swaps advice on an e-group set up by the Independent Consultants Group. "You often feel there's a community you belong to, so you don’t feel on your own," she says.
Alan Ross (70), pictured above left, found his support from government network Business Link to get The Grey Workforce afloat three years ago - a handyman venture that started with a leaflet drop in just three streets in St Albans.
He is now hoping to franchise his business, which aims to bring a sense of reassurance to the hit-and-miss process of hiring a handyman by fielding a team of mature, insured workers that have been checked by the Criminal Records Bureau.
"When you pack up work you've got lots of spare time and the problem is you have more time to spend cash and you've got less money!" Alan says of retiring from a career in IT.
However he does confess he would probably still continue to work, cash-flow concerns aside. "You could decide to watch the television all day or potter around in the garden, but that's not my scene," Alan says. "I want to do more than that. Life is exciting, I think, and you've got to make the most of it."
This article was created: 17 November 2006.
This article was last edited: 23 April 2007.
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