“Preneur” is French in origin and means taker, someone who seizes opportunities, someone who takes action.
My guess was that the solopreneur, a person who sets up and runs a business entirely by themselves, acting as the sole owner, operator, and worker without any partners or full-time employees came first, but historians say I may be wrong. In early villages, towns, and cities, only one person worked as the doctor, lawyer, tailor, seamstress, blacksmith, barber. There may have been multiple tailors or blacksmith but each ran their own business.
Many people still work today as solopreneurs and it works well as a business form for those nearing or of retirement age. The key characteristics of the Solopreneur are:
Part-time work or active volunteering provides the essential structure, social engagement, and mental stimulation that seniors with ADHD need during retirement. Work replaces structure, preserves identity, and regulates dopamine. The ADHD brains need novelty, purpose, urgency, and feedback and the removal of work often removes time anchors, identity validation, dopamine loops.
Even if you find a job that is great fit, ADHD symptoms can pose day-to-day challenges. Here are some tips for managing ADHD in the workplace.
Use Structure and Routines: Develop daily routines to provide external structure. For example, create a morning ritual to organize your day, or set specific times to check email instead of constantly checking. Routines help automate things you might otherwise forget. Also, schedule brief “short breaks” between tasks—a short walk or stretch can reset your focus. Regular breaks help prevent burnout and keep ADHD individuals focused.
Take Advantage of Hyperfocus: When you find yourself in the zone on a productive task, ride that wave (as long as priorities allow)! Just be careful to come up for air as needed. You might communicate with your colleagues that when your door is closed or status set to “do not disturb,” you’re in deep focus mode.
There has been very little research on ADHD, prevalence or impact in the latter stages of life. It was not until 2013 that ADHD was recognized as a lifelong neurological difference and diagnosis of adults became more common. It is not a static condition, and it is not a new disorder. It has been noted by physicians for hundreds of years but under different names. Before the 1980s, the disorder was known in the United States and Western Europe as minimal brain dysfunction or hyperkinetic reaction, diagnoses physicians rarely gave. From the early 1980s until 2013, it was considered a disorder of childhood and outgrown by adulthood, although some clinicians and ADHD adults knew better.
Symptoms often improve in adulthood when individuals find jobs that suit their interests, temperament and personality. We now realize work provides a powerful external structure that compensates for ADHD’s executive function deficits, as some adults with ADHD survive, even thrive in structured work environments. ADHD often seems to disappear until retirement is seriously contemplated or begins.
The loss of structure that work provided is a problem for many people in early retirement, as retirement is a critical transition from a structured world of work to a more open and fluid way of living. This change, however, is a major issue for those with ADHD. Why? A structured work environment provides conditions that are difficult to create at home and on your own:
Many interests and hobbies can be turned into part-time jobs, profitable side hustles, or small businesses. If the full-time position that you are retiring from didn’t align with your interests, now might be the time to discover how identifying your interests can enhance your life.
When your work is aligned with your interests, you:
feel more fulfilled and experience job satisfaction.
are generally more motivated to excel in your work
engage in work that encourages continuous learning and skill enhancement
increase your emotional well-being, reducing stress and increasing happiness
Common interests that lead to successful retirement work often align with personal passions and strengths, such as artistic creativity, analytical thinking, or social engagement. Identifying these interests early can significantly enhance your work satisfaction and success. Some examples of these alignments include:
Creative and Digital Hobbies
Writing: Transform blogging or creative writing into freelance copywriting, technical writing, or self-published books.
Photography & Videography: Shoot portraits, weddings, or commercial promotional content using platforms like Upwork or Fiverr to find clients.
Graphic Design & Coding: Build digital assets, logos, or custom websites for small businesses.
Crafting and Making Goods
Woodworking & Pottery: Craft handmade decor, custom furniture, or ceramics to sell on online storefronts like Etsy.
Baking & Cooking: Specialize in custom cakes, artisan sourdough, or catering local events.
Soap & Candle Making: Produce small-batch consumable goods that encourage repeat customer purchases.
Wellness and Lifestyle
Fitness: Become a certified personal trainer, yoga instructor, or digital coach using platforms like Trainerize.
Pet Care: Offer dog walking or pet sitting through apps like Rover or Care.com.
Your interests might also be in science and healthcare, education and counseling, leadership and management. Exploring your hobbies and interests as well as your past work experience will help you choose the work you will find fulfilling in your life’s next chapter.
The books and the workshops are out there. Monetize your passion…. Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow …. Start Your Business Now ….. Making a Living Without a Job….. So how do you actually do this?
Step 1: Brainstorm. Take a moment, or hours, or even days to write all your ideas down. Do not think about what will work and what might not work.. This is your brain storming session and you are allowed to write down whatever comes to mind. Turn your censor off.
Step 2. Make a List. Take the list of ideas from your brain storming session and write each idea on a separate piece of paper or index card. Use as many cards as you need. Each idea should have its own card.
Step 3: Categorize. Look at each of your ideas, and sort them out, put them in categories. Are any of them similar? Do some of them go naturally together so they all might be done within one business? For example, you love to cook and you love to help people with dietary restraints find foods and recipes they can use. These two ideas would go in the same pile. The cards that state your love of doing stained glass and decorating your home for the holidays will go into separate piles.
After someone dies their family is left with the accumulated possessions of a lifetime. After selecting the items that have particular meaning or value to them, they must find a way to sell the items so the house can be sold or the apartment cleaned out and rented. Usually they will hire an auction service to run an estate sale. This means that everything gets sold but some things will be sold very cheaply.
So how can you make money? To get started, buy the cheap remains from the auction service directly or at a rummage sale they may have after the auction. Once you know the market and business well, you can approach families to buy the entire contents of the home of the deceased.
Finding new job can be difficult. Even jobs that once only required that you fill out an application may now require a resume. I have met hairdressers, nurse’s aids and welders who have needed a resume. By requiring a resume, the hiring manager has fewer but more committed applicant to screen. Of course, those seeking professional positions need resumes that showcase their achievements and key skills.
It is easy to get a professional looking template online or even from the applications that came with your computer’s word processing system. Looking good is easy but getting one’s experience on one or two pages that impress a prospective employee is not easy in a crowded, competitive market. After trying it for themselves, many people will call a Resume Writer and pay to have the resume written.
Resume
Resume writing is an easy field to enter. If you are curious about people, write reasonably well, able to do word processing, and proofreading, you can probably learn to write resumes. Start you training at the local library by borrowing some of their books. Pay attention to the copyright dates, as resume styles have changed dramatically in the last 20 years. Continue by looking at some of the books available at bookstores or on Amazon. There are plenty of example of resumes on line, but just because someone posts resumes online does not mean they are exemplary resumes. As a resume writer (it is one of my long-standing halfpreneurial ventures) I use the resumes on the web when I am writing a resume for a field with which I have little familiarity. Recently that included a child model and a veteran with 20 years of artillery experience seeking a position in construction or facilities maintenance.
Resume writers can work from home. The basics for starting the business are a computer, laser printer, and telephone. A website and business listing in the phone book will contribute to your professional image.
Very reasonably priced training is available from American Artists and Writers Inc. http://www.awaionline.com/resume/p/ for $99.00 and from http://resumebiz.com/# Teena Rose offers her book for $44.95. Both books will help you begin to write resumes and set up your business.
If you are serious about resume writing consider seeking certification from:
Read and stay current. The NRWA offers a monthly newsletter and there are blogs and articles to follow online.
In addition to resume preparation, you can offer cover letters, Reference sheets, Bios, and resumes formatted for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) http://tinyurl.com/lddw2oh. You can branch out and offer interview coaching, job search coaching, and career coaching.
No business is without pitfalls and for a resume writer income may not be reliable and your local market can have an effect on what you can charge. The advantages of resume writing include working from home, low start up costs, high income potential, and meeting interesting people.
So you love to cook. Can you turn it into a lucrative part time business?
Catering for small events would be one idea, but it probably would be a great deal of work: food purchase and preparation, cooking, delivery, clean-up.
But you can share your love of cooking and not have to do very much cooking.
Teach a Cooking Class
If you have a large kitchen or have use of a large kitchen you can offer cooking classes. If you plan ahead you can teach your cooking class in a night program for adults, here we call them “Night Life” and a variety of cooking classes are held at the vocational high school. Depending on the class, the cost of the class might range from $15.00 – $50.00.
If you have expertise in some area of cooking: nutrition, weight loss, cooking for diabetics, great meals for folks on low sodium diets, gluten-free deserts …. You get the idea. You could teach classes or you could offer coaching or a tele-seminar series.
Even if you have no specialty, just some really good recipes, you can become an author. Books can now be easily self-published. Sell your book at your classes. Teach a class based on your book. Offer a discount on the book to those who sign up for your next series of classes.
Publishing a Kindle book will also establish you as an author. Offering a free cookbook with 10 or 20 recipes can be a way to build a list for your future coaching or tele-seminar business. Or your business can just be selling Kindle cookbooks. When I last checked Amazon, most Kindle cookbooks were selling for $2.99. What kind of Kindle cookbooks were being sold?
Prepare your Paleo food in a slow cooker
Paleo Food cooked in Slow Cookers
Slowly cook the food your ancient ancestors loved while you put in your eight hours in some 21st century techno cave
Salad in a Mason Jar
Salads in Mason Jars
Veggie salad, bean salads, fruit salads salads……
Dump Cake
Dump Cakes
They seem to begin with cake mixes and then other “stuff” gets dumped in.
Dump Dinner
If these are not among your specialties with a little research, you could probably become an authority. Or become one of the first authors providing recipes for dump dinners. I think they used to be called soups and stews!
You can publish both Kindle and print editions and you can increase the sales on your books by starting your own affiliate program so other people can earn money for promoting your book on their blogs and websites or recommending it to their social media fans or email subscribers. With an affiliate program you do not have to pay out until after the sale is made. Two companies that can help you set up an affiliate program are www.topwebcart.com and www.clickbank.com. Whichever you choose, you affiliate software will automatically calculate the commissions you owe each affiliate.
Authors have credibility. And even though publishing a cookbook requires limited writing ability, you are an author! If you are comfortable with public speaking, you may want to seek out opportunities to be a guest speaker. Consider groups who have monthly meetings and Meetup groups. After you give a talk or give a recipe demonstration, attendees will want to buy your book. Some Meetup groups charge admission and give their speaker half of the admission fees.
Just spent some time scanning the ads in a free monthly “New Age” magazine. Besides the usual ads for massage, Reiki, and Yoga classes , creative entrepreneurs have created a variety of trainings and certifications. Is your next career Ayurveda, Bodywork, Holotrophic Breathwork, Therapeutic Sound Healing or Vibrational Light Healing? There are Herbal apprenticeships and certifications to do Angel Readings and Angel Therapy or become an Akashic Record Practitioner.
Looking for more creative, spiritual ideas. There are practitioners offering Hope and Healing Counseling, Aroma Therapy, Herbal Medicine, Thermography, Equine Massage, Spiritual Guidance, Psychic Intuitive Life Coaching, Past Life Regression, Angel Readings, Angel Therapy, Hypnotherapy, Soul Clearing, Chakra Clearing, Tarot Card reading, Soul Retrieval, Acupuncture, EFT, Pranic Healing, Shamanic Energy Healing, Plant Spirit Medicine, Astrological readings, Intuitive Spiritual Counseling, Pet Reiki, Animal Communicator, Relocation Astrology, Dowsing , Aura Photography, Ghost Removal, Financial Consulting, Money Coaching, and Psychic mediumship. Some of these practices do require specific training but others have “no entrance requirements;” only the confidence that you can do the work.
For the holistic or “spiritual” halfpreneur there are many paths to part-time or full-time income.
This New Age niche not only pays for services but apparently buys Nature and Fantasy paintings, Herbs, Medicinal mushrooms, gem stones, jewelry, incense, soy candles, and Rejuvenizers (I don’t know what they are made of but they protect you from EMFs, the damaging frequencies from your computer, cell phone, TV, and wireless internet, as well as from other people’s negative energy!)
Are you a Reluctant Halfpreneur? You’ve never wanted to start your own business. You like working for someone else. There are benefits, a stable paycheck, and people who you enjoy working with. Start your own business! No way!
Then …… Management changed and your position changed too, and not for the better. Perhaps you are a parent and you have lost the flexibility to come in early so you can leave early for your children’s sporting events. Or, the handwriting is on the wall – your job or your whole company is at risk and local opportunities for someone with your skill set are nil. Or you thought that your career was secure for the next 5, 10, 15 years, but now you are over 55 and out of work. The odds of finding another comparable position in your field are slim. Not impossible, but all the government and business statistics warn that it will take you much longer to find a job than it will for a 40 year old. Part-time at fast food service or retail sales is not what you have in mind when your unemployment compensation runs out.
If your experience does not immediately translate into something you can start your own business in and it is important to you that you work at something professional, with a potential for good pay, and offers the opportunity to interact with interesting people, where do you look for ideas. There are some career and life coaches that specialize in working with individuals in the position that you find yourself and be able to help you find your passion. Before going the coaching route, here are two more reasonably priced options.
Look over the catalogs for your local colleges, especially community colleges. Take a look at what is being offered in certificate programs and in their noncredit programs. These offerings will indicate what may be in demand in your community. You may want to earn a certificate or take a course or maybe you have the background to make the transition into this new field. Employment or self-employment in this new field may be possible.
Visit http://www.entrepreneurbookstore.com. They sell two types of books: kits to help you start your own business that generally cost $69 and start-up books that retail around $18 – $22. The kits have business forms and worksheets and walk you through the entire planning process. The start-up books have plenty of information about the business and how to start it, but not the forms. If you are exploring your possibilities, the books are helpful. I purchased one recently thinking that it represented an area I could expand my current business into. Well, I could go that route, but I discovered that there were many aspects of this new business venture that would not be a good fit with my current life style. I got some ideas I might use so it was $19.99 well spent.
Since Entrepreneur Press is the publisher (my only affiliation with Entrepreneur magazine is that I subscribe to it) many of the kits and start-up books are appropriate for those with a professional or administrative background. Title include: Public Relations, Event Planning, Consulting, Freight Brokerage, Tutoring and Test Preparation, Executive Recruiting, Staffing, Online education, Import- Export, Home Inspection, College Planning Consultant.
Event Planning
If more than one idea interests you, research it further – interview someone who does this type of work; research your local market; talk to the former executives who staff your local SCORE office or visit or agencies (at colleges, Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Bureau) that assist those starting new businesses. Can’t narrow down your choices – a career coach or Profiting from Your Passions coach can help. Need guidance in setting up a business – consider a new business coach.
