👋 Welcome - Your Weekly Spark

I'm finishing my Master's degree at the University of Florida this December at age 63. My final exam required demonstrating mastery of 13 entrepreneurial competencies—not just reciting definitions, but proving I understood them through real business application.

What surprised me wasn't learning these concepts for the first time. It was recognizing that I'd already lived every single one of them over 40 years of business experience. The academic framework just gave me language for lessons I'd learned through success, failure, and rebuilding.

This week, I'm sharing why your decades of experience aren't just relevant—they're exactly what makes you qualified.

🌟 Words to Inspire

• The caution that makes you test carefully? That's wisdom. 
• The skepticism that makes you question assumptions? That's pattern recognition.
• The failures that make you build differently this time? That's experience.

"Everything you thought made you too old to start something new is precisely what makes you qualified to do it right."

📖 Featured Story

🔶 Your caution, skepticism, and track record aren't liabilities—they're competitive advantages when starting something new after 60.

What if everything you thought made you "too old" to start something new—your caution, your skepticism, your track record of failures—is actually your secret weapon?

At 63, I'm finishing the most revealing experience of my career—not building a multi-million dollar company or surviving bankruptcy, but recognizing 13 fundamental truths about entrepreneurship that I'd already learned over 40 years, just without the academic vocabulary.

For the past 18 months, while earning my Master's in Entrepreneurship from the University of Florida, I've been building Retirepreneur from scratch. Not as a classroom exercise, but as a real business solving a real problem I'm personally experiencing.

My final exam required demonstrating mastery of 13 entrepreneurial competencies. Each one was presented in academic terms—frameworks, definitions, theoretical applications. But as I worked through them, something unexpected happened: I realized I wasn't learning these competencies. I was recognizing them.

Every single competency connected directly to experiences I'd lived, decisions I'd made, and lessons I'd learned—some through spectacular success, others through painful failure. The academic framework didn't teach me entrepreneurship. It gave me language for patterns I'd already internalized through decades of building businesses.

Here are the three patterns that surprised me most.

Your Frustration Is Market Research

When I retired at 61, I felt simultaneously relieved and restless. I'd earned the break, but sitting still felt wrong. Six months in, I realized I wasn't alone. Every single day, 11,200 Americans turn 65. Most of us aren't ready to spend 30 years playing golf.

But here's what nobody talks about—nearly all entrepreneurship advice targets people young enough to be our grandchildren. The content assumes you're 28 with nothing to lose, not 63 with everything to protect.

That disconnect I kept experiencing? That wasn't my problem to solve—it was my business opportunity to pursue.

The competency framework called this "opportunity recognition." But I'd learned this lesson decades ago—I just didn't have that term for it. When the builder I worked for filed bankruptcy in 1998, my partner Jim and I didn't invent custom homebuilding. We recognized something others missed: we already had relationships with interested buyers and qualified trades people from our previous company. The opportunity was sitting right there—we just had to see it differently.

With Retirepreneur, I'm literally my own target customer. I don't need focus groups to understand what 55+ professionals want—I'm living it. Every frustration I experience becomes a feature to build. Every question I struggle with becomes an article to write.

That's not a limitation. That's market intelligence money can't buy.

The best business opportunities often emerge from problems you're personally wrestling with. If you're experiencing it, thousands of others your age probably are too.

Testing Smart Beats Moving Fast

Silicon Valley loves to preach "fail fast." That's fine when you're 25 with a trust fund and unlimited time to recover. At our age? We need to test smart, not fast.

The academic term is "hypothesis testing" or "lean validation." But I'd been doing this for decades without calling it that.

I started validating Retirepreneur by entering university pitch competitions.  When I got selected as one of 16 semi-finalists from 60 teams in the Big Idea Competition, that told me something. Even though I didn't make the finals, one friend said it perfectly: "The experience and contacts developed will last forever."

That's smart validation. Build relationships while you're building your business. Test your minimum value proposition. Gather feedback before you're too invested to pivot.

Compare that to how we built Westmont Homes. We didn't chase every opportunity. We focused on invited-only communities with established builders and reputable brokerages. We assessed risk, vetted partners, understood markets before committing. That methodical approach helped us thrive for a decade.

I didn't know I was practicing "lean startup methodology." I was just being cautious—which my professors would now call "strategic risk management."

With Retirepreneur, I'm applying the same principle digitally. No office lease. No payroll. No massive capital investment. I started with a free newsletter to test interest. I'm building the Hub incrementally based on what members actually request. Every expansion happens after validation, not before.

It's slower than the "move fast and break things" approach. It's more deliberate. And it's exactly how you build something at 63 when you can't afford to lose everything and start over again.

As a CFO, I always evaluated opportunity costs. The question isn't just "what could I gain?" It's "what could I lose, and how long would recovery take?" At our age, time is the asset we can't replenish.

Honesty Builds More Trust Than Expertise

Here's something nobody tells you about starting over at our age: being bad at something feels awful when you've been competent for decades.

When I enrolled in the MSE program at 61, I was on academic probation because of a 40-year-old undergraduate GPA. During my first oral communications class, I recorded practice presentations for feedback. My brother watched one and laughed: "You look like a hostage, not the engaging guy I know."

That stung. But it was also clarifying. The only path forward was through the discomfort.

I'm finishing with a 3.94 GPA. I conquered enough fear to pitch Retirepreneur in front of judges and cameras. At the Big Idea awards ceremony, they gave me the "Entrepreneurial Spirit Award"—not for winning, but for showing up and competing at 62, and supporting all of the teams.

But here's what I'm still learning: Confidence doesn't mean having all the answers.

The competency they called "entrepreneurial self-efficacy" isn't about knowing everything. It's about trusting you can figure it out—which is exactly what decades of experience teaches you.

With Retirepreneur, I'm figuring things out in real-time. I'm learning AI tools alongside my audience. I'm testing newsletter formats to see what resonates. I'm adjusting the business model based on your feedback. I tell readers when I'm uncertain or working through something new.

I'm not the guru on the mountain with all the answers. I'm the guy a few steps ahead on the trail, turning back to say, "Hey, watch out for that root I just tripped over."

And that honesty is exactly why people trust me. Because at our age, we can smell BS a mile away. We've sat through enough corporate presentations with slick consultants half our age telling us what we already know.

Your willingness to learn publicly and admit what you don't know yet creates more connection than pretending expertise. Vulnerability isn't weakness—it's authenticity. And authenticity is what builds trust with people who've heard every pitch imaginable.

What This Really Means

These aren't abstract business school concepts. They're patterns you've already lived—you just might not have had names for them.

When you hit 60+, society tells you to slow down, scale back, play it safe. But what if you're not done? What if traditional retirement feels like giving up rather than finishing strong?

Recognizing opportunities in your own experience, testing ideas without betting everything, and building confidence through honest self-assessment—these aren't just entrepreneurship competencies. They're lessons you've been learning for 40 years.

Over the past 18 months, I've proved something to myself: entrepreneurship doesn't have an expiration date. If I can start a master's program on academic probation at 61 and finish with honors, if I can conquer stage fright enough to pitch in competitions, if I can learn AI and digital marketing alongside students young enough to be my grandchildren—then we can pursue our version of "not done yet."

But here's the deeper truth: The competencies that drive successful entrepreneurship aren't taught in classrooms. They're earned through decades of making mistakes, rebuilding, and recognizing patterns. Your 40-year "disadvantage" is actually your unfair advantage, if you know how to leverage it.

And while Retirepreneur focuses on building small, purpose-driven ventures, many of our readers also explore flexible remote work as part of their second act. That's why this week's resource spotlight matters.

🏠 Flex Work Focus: Why FlexJobs Stands Apart

If you're serious about finding legitimate remote work, FlexJobs is the platform that consistently delivers for our demographic. I've personally used it to track the best remote opportunities, and here's what makes it different:

Every job listing is hand-screened by real people—no scams, pyramid schemes, or fake opportunities. While giant job boards overwhelm you with thousands of irrelevant postings, FlexJobs curates quality over quantity.

The 2025 data tells the story: Over 70% of FlexJobs postings target experienced professionals. Popular roles include Accountant, Project Manager, Customer Service Rep, Virtual Assistant, and Executive Assistant. Top industries hiring include Accounting & Finance, Medical & Health, Customer Service, Marketing, and Sales.

Even better? Many roles now welcome part-time availability and flexible hours—perfect for a phased retirement or second-act lifestyle. Companies like Working Solutions (ranked #1 for remote work), UnitedHealth Group, and CVS Health actively recruit through the platform.

Yes, it's a paid service. But the small monthly fee pays off quickly when it saves you hours of wasted searching and protects you from costly scams. When you're ready to move from exploring to actually landing flexible work, FlexJobs is worth every penny.

🎁 Partner Spotlight: LivePlan

When you're building something new at our age, you need tools that help you think clearly without overwhelming you with complexity. That's exactly what LivePlan delivers.

I've used LivePlan for years and consistently recommend it to anyone building a lifestyle business. Most business planning software assumes you're seeking venture capital. LivePlan offers a "lean plan" option perfect for our purposes—you can create a solid one-page plan in an afternoon, then expand section by section as you validate assumptions.

What impresses me most: The financial forecasting tools let you input basic assumptions and generate professional projections you can actually use to make decisions. It's the CFO toolkit for people who aren't CFOs. Track your progress monthly. Adjust as you learn. No MBA required.

Full disclosure: That's an affiliate link, which means I earn a small commission if you try LivePlan. I only recommend tools I've personally evaluated and found valuable.

⚡ Your Quick Action Step

This week, identify one frustration you're personally experiencing that might signal a business opportunity.

Write down the problem in one sentence. Then answer these three questions:

1. Who else probably experiences this same frustration?
2. What would a solution look like?
3. What's the smallest possible test you could run to validate interest?

You're not committing to anything yet. You're just recognizing that your personal experience might be market intelligence. That annoying problem you keep wrestling with? That disconnect you keep noticing? That gap nobody seems to be addressing?

That's not complaining—that's opportunity recognition.

Spend 15 minutes this week documenting it. Because the best business ideas don't come from market research reports. They come from living the problem yourself and refusing to accept that it can't be solved.

🚀 Join the Retirepreneur Hub — Completely Free

That's exactly why I created the Retirepreneur Hub—to turn all these lessons into practical tools for your next chapter.

I'm building something special, and I need your help.

The Retirepreneur Hub is my free resource library for 55+ entrepreneurs—tools, templates, and guides I'm continuously adding based on what members actually need.

Here's the deal: You get immediate access to resources designed specifically for your second act. I get direct insight into your real challenges so I can build what actually helps.

It's a partnership. You get free support. I learn what you need. Everyone wins.

Join the Hub for Free — No Credit Card Required

Join us, use what helps, and let me know what you need. That's how we build something remarkable together.

🔄 Strategic Life Change

The strategic life change we're navigating isn't about learning entrepreneurship from scratch. It's about recognizing that four decades of experience already taught you the lessons—you just didn't have the academic vocabulary for them. Your caution is wisdom. Your skepticism is pattern recognition. Your failures are experience.

🎓 What Graduation Really Means

I graduate in December with my four children, their spouses, and nine grandchildren celebrating with Shari and me. But this isn't an ending—it's a confirmation: we're not too old for this. We're finally old enough to recognize patterns we've been living for decades.

Keep building what matters,
Curt

📮 P.S. Know Someone?

If someone in your circle could use practical guidance for their second act, forward this newsletter or send them to www.retirepreneur.com/subscribe. Building together beats building alone.