EPISODE SUMMARY

Rachel Cohen spent nearly three decades working across urban planning, social work, public health, and nonprofit housing before launching Aging Dynamics, her own age-friendly community consulting firm, in her 40s. In this episode, she explains how a career built on curiosity and cross-sector fluency became her competitive advantage — and how she overcame the guilt many women feel around charging for their expertise.

Cohen and host Janine Vanderburg dig into the real, unglamorous mechanics of starting a solo consulting practice: landing a first client through a single genuine conversation at a conference, surviving a "no new socks" first year, and learning to price based on value instead of hours worked. They also talk candidly about facing ageism from both directions — being dismissed as "too young" early in her career and "too old" once she started her own business — and what it took to build a firm that has now marked its 10th anniversary while staying true to its social-impact mission.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Cross-sector experience is an advantage, not a liability. Rachel Cohen's fluency across social work, urban planning, public health, and housing lets her translate between industries that normally stay siloed — a skill she describes as her "unfair advantage."
• New clients often come from relationship-building, not selling. Cohen landed her first Aging Dynamics contract after several honest conversations with an executive director she met at a one-day conference, not from a sales pitch.
• Undercharging early on creates resentment and erodes your value. Cohen learned to check in with herself — "Would I feel cheated at this rate?" — before pricing every project, and now prices based on the value she delivers rather than hours worked.
• Temporary or part-time gigs can convert into long-term contracts. Cohen turned a short-term public health role into a client relationship that has lasted more than ten years by proposing the shift directly to leadership.
• Ageism shows up on both ends of a career. Many women are dismissed as "too young" to be credible in their twenties and then labeled "too old" once they start a business in midlife, with little room in between.

About Rachel Cohen

Rachel Cohen is the founder of Aging Dynamics, a consultancy focused on age-friendly, age-inclusive community planning, now celebrating its 10th anniversary. Before starting her own firm, she built a career that spanned environmental and urban planning, social work, and gerontology, working with organizations including the National Wildlife Federation in Detroit, an affordable housing developer in Philadelphia, an area agency on aging, and a national consulting practice serving retirement communities, assisted living providers, and nursing homes. Through Aging Dynamics, Cohen leads strategic planning, community engagement, and facilitation work that helps cities, counties, and organizations build more age-friendly communities, including current age-friendly action planning in Englewood, Colorado, and implementation work in Eagle County, Colorado. She is also a vocal advocate against ageism and is launching a new podcast focused on the stories behind age-friendly community change.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do you start a consulting business in midlife?

Rachel Cohen's approach was to identify the specific, recognizable services within her broader expertise — in her case, strategic planning, community engagement, and facilitation — rather than trying to sell her entire cross-sector skill set at once. She built her first client relationships by showing up consistently in spaces where her ideal clients already were, having genuine conversations instead of sales pitches, and converting a part-time or temporary role into a long-term contract once trust was established.

How should I price my consulting services?

Cohen recommends anchoring pricing to the value delivered rather than the number of hours worked, and checking in honestly with yourself about whether a rate would leave you feeling valued or resentful. She also stresses researching what peers in your market charge, being willing to say no to underpriced work, and recognizing that consistently underpricing your expertise hurts not just you, but the broader community of women entrepreneurs by normalizing free or discounted labor.

What is Aging Dynamics?

Aging Dynamics is a consulting firm founded by Rachel Cohen that helps communities, housing providers, healthcare organizations, and local governments become more age-friendly and age-inclusive. The firm's work includes strategic planning, community engagement, facilitation, and cross-sector collaboration building, drawing on Cohen's background in urban planning, social work, and gerontology.

What is an "unfair advantage" in business?

Borrowed from the lean startup movement, an "unfair advantage" refers to a combination of experience, insight, and connections that is difficult for competitors to replicate or purchase. For Rachel Cohen, her unfair advantage is her ability to move fluently across sectors like housing, healthcare, public health, and aging services, translating between them so that cross-sector projects actually get implemented rather than stalling at the planning stage.

How do you get your first consulting client?

Cohen's first Aging Dynamics client came from attending a one-day conference, identifying an organization she wanted to work with in advance, and starting an honest conversation rather than a pitch. It took four or five follow-up conversations before a small first contract emerged. Additional early clients came through board service and word-of-mouth referrals from people who had seen her work firsthand.

RESOURCE STACK

• Aging Dynamics — Rachel Cohen's age-friendly community consulting firm
• National Wildlife Federation — where Cohen served as an early urban community organizer in Detroit
• American Society on Aging — national conference where Cohen has spoken on age-friendly work
• Rachel Cohen on LinkedIn — for updates on Aging Dynamics and age-friendly planning work

WHERE TO FIND RACHEL COHEN

1. Website: aging-dynamics.com
2. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rachel-cohen
3. Newsletter: Sign up via the Aging Dynamics website for ongoing updates on age-friendly community work

ABOUT BUILD YOUR OWN BOAT
Build Your Own Boat is a podcast series hosted by Janine Vanderburg — award-winning three-time entrepreneur and anti-ageism advocate — featuring women who have launched new entrepreneurial ventures in midlife and beyond. The series is part of a larger storytelling project that includes a Substack publication and a forthcoming book, all built around one goal: changing the narrative about who entrepreneurs are and making women in midlife and beyond visible as builders of wealth, freedom, and possibility.

Episode Summary

Jennifer Stapleton left a senior communications executive role at a national nonprofit at 46 to launch Fire and Bliss, a consulting firm that now helps foundations and well-funded nonprofits with crisis communications and fundraising strategy. This episode answers a question every experienced professional should ask before going out on their own: what is your "unfair advantage" — the accumulation of experience, insight, and connections that no one else can easily copy, replicate, or purchase on the open market? Stapleton explains how two decades of nonprofit and philanthropic relationships became the foundation of her business, why she launched without a website, why deliberation without action never produces clarity, and how she navigated the "messy middle" between early friend-referred clients and a sustainable, sellable business. She also shares candid numbers on pricing mistakes, losing money in year one, and why women should charge at least twice what they think they should charge.

Guest Bio

Jennifer Stapleton is the founder of Fire and Bliss, a communications and fundraising strategy consultancy serving foundations and well-funded nonprofits. Before starting her business, she spent nearly two decades in nonprofit and philanthropic communications, holding senior executive roles at organizations including Pew, Freedom House, and Bread for the World. After reaching the top of the traditional nonprofit communications ladder and finding it unfulfilling, she left her executive role in the wake of January 6th and the pandemic, relocated from Washington, D.C. to Colorado, and built Fire and Bliss from a mountain-cabin meditation session into a six-year-old firm specializing in crisis communications planning and fundraising consulting for the nonprofit sector.

Key Takeaways

• Your unfair advantage is the experience, insight, and connections no one else can easily copy, replicate, or buy. Stapleton didn't set out to build Fire and Bliss around her network — but roughly 90% of her business over six years has come from friends or friends of friends built during two decades in nonprofit and philanthropic communications.
• You don't need a website, brand, or logo to start a consulting business — you need a name, a clear offer, and a list of people to tell. Stapleton launched Fire and Bliss on word-of-mouth alone and didn't build a website until roughly 18 months in.
• Deliberation doesn't create clarity — action does. Borrowing a metaphor from business mentor Chuck Blakeman, Stapleton compares starting a business to sailing without a map: you move, hit obstacles, adjust course, and that's how clarity is built, not by planning from the shore.
• Price at least double what you're thinking, and expect trial and error. Stapleton lost money in year one, broke even in year two, and didn't feel financially solid until year three; she now recommends a project-based (not hourly) pricing model for clarity with clients.
• There is no "messy middle" shortcut — you have to learn business development. After the early wave of friend-referred clients dries up, sustainable growth requires deliberately investing in yourself through cohorts, mentors, and peer business communities rather than working in isolation.

FAQ

What is an "unfair advantage" in business?

An unfair advantage is the combination of experience, insight, and connections a person accumulates over their career that no one else can easily copy, replicate, or purchase on the open market. It's not a negative or anti-competitive concept — it's the unique foundation someone already has for starting a business, often without realizing it. Jennifer Stapleton's unfair advantage was two decades of relationships built across nonprofit and philanthropic communications, which became the primary source of clients for Fire and Bliss.

Do I need a website to start a consulting business?

No. Jennifer Stapleton launched Fire and Bliss using only email and word-of-mouth outreach to her existing professional network, and didn't build a website until about a year and a half after starting the business. A website, logo, and brand are refinements that can come later — what you need first is a clear offer and people to tell about it.

How much should I charge when starting a consulting business?

Stapleton recommends charging at least twice what you initially think you should charge. She underpriced her services in year one, lost money, and had to revise her pricing strategy multiple times before settling on project-based pricing, which gives both the consultant and client clarity on deliverables instead of debating hourly rates.

What is the "messy middle" in starting a consulting business?

The messy middle is the stage after the early rush of clients from friends and existing contacts dries up, but before a consultant has developed real business development skills. Many new consultants get through their first one to two years easily on referrals, then stall because they don't yet know how to generate new business systematically.

Is it risky to leave a stable job to start a business in midlife?

Stapleton argues that in-house jobs offer a false sense of security — salaries, benefits, and titles can disappear overnight through layoffs, grant cuts, or reorganizations. Starting a consulting business does require learning new skills, but it isn't inherently less secure than staying employed.

Resource Stack

• Fire and Bliss (Jennifer Stapleton's communications and fundraising consultancy): fireandbliss.com
• Chuck Blakeman — business mentor whose "boat without a map" philosophy (action drives clarity, not deliberation) is referenced in the episode
• Kami Gildner — business network/cohort connection referenced as a source of peer learning and community for entrepreneurs
• Fire and Bliss free advice newsletter — sign up via the "Free Advice" button at the bottom of fireandbliss.com
• Build Your Own Boat Substack — full written profile of Jennifer Stapleton's story, part of the broader Build Your Own Boat storytelling project

Where to Find Jennifer Stapleton

1. Website: fireandbliss.com
2. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferbcstapleton/
3. Free Advice newsletter: Sign up at the bottom of fireandbliss.com

About Build Your Own Boat
Build Your Own Boat is a podcast series hosted by Janine Vanderburg — award-winning three-time entrepreneur and anti-ageism advocate — featuring women who have launched new entrepreneurial ventures in midlife and beyond. The series is part of a larger storytelling project that includes a Substack publication and a forthcoming book, all built around one goal: changing the narrative about who entrepreneurs are and making women in midlife and beyond visible as builders of wealth, freedom, and possibility.

Episode Summary

Most women over 50 who want to start a business don't have angel investors lining up — and AnnMaria De Mars, founder of 7 Generation Games, didn't either. In this episode of Build Your Own Boat, De Mars explains exactly how she funded her math-and-culture-based educational game company without a single six-figure investor check: SBIR federal research grants, three Kickstarter campaigns, two seed rounds through startup accelerators, crowd equity raises, and dozens of friends who each invested $5,000 to $20,000. A world judo champion turned statistician, professor, and programmer, De Mars founded 7 Generation Games at 57 and shows why perseverance, deep community relationships, and a willingness to "do hard things" — lessons she learned competing internationally in judo — are the real predictors of entrepreneurial success in midlife, not access to venture capital.

Guest Bio

AnnMaria De Mars is a technology executive, statistician, author, and the first American to win a gold medal at the World Judo Championships (1984, -56kg). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside, and has built a career spanning industrial engineering, university statistics teaching, and software development. She has founded four companies, including Spirit Lake Consulting and The Julia Group, and is the co-founder and president of 7 Generation Games, an educational technology company she launched at age 57 that builds cross-curricular math games rooted in Latino, Indigenous, and U.S. history storylines. Her latest venture, 7 Gen Blocks, is a no-code educational game builder — "WordPress for educational games" — that lets anyone build a custom learning game without programming knowledge. De Mars has been named one of Forbes' 40 Women to Watch Over 40, is an AARP Purpose Prize Fellow, and was the first woman to serve as president of a national judo organization. She is also known as the mother of Olympic judo bronze medalist and former UFC champion Ronda Rousey, and of sports journalist María Burns Ortiz, who co-founded 7 Generation Games alongside her.

Key Takeaways

• Non-dilutive funding, like SBIR grants, is often the best money a startup can get. Unlike venture capital, small business innovation research grants don't require giving up equity, yet many founders overlook them because they don't carry the same prestige as a seed round.
• Perseverance built through years of high-stakes competition transfers directly to entrepreneurship. De Mars credits 14 years of international judo competition with teaching her that success takes years, not months, and that setbacks along the way are normal, not signs of failure.
• Starting a company as a side hustle while keeping a paying job reduces risk during the leanest years. De Mars recommends bootstrapping, working without pay when needed, and scaling back lifestyle costs rather than waiting for outside investment to arrive.
• Older founders have a funding advantage most people overlook: a wider network of financially stable friends. Instead of waiting for one investor to write a six-figure check, De Mars raised her first seed round from a large group of friends who each contributed $5,000–$20,000.
• Relationships built over decades — not just age itself — open doors in education and rural communities. In many Indigenous communities in particular, De Mars found that gray hair signals authority and trustworthiness rather than irrelevance, and long-standing local relationships made it possible to get schools to test her products.
• Owning your own code, rather than building on top of a third-party AI platform, protects a startup from unpredictable price hikes. 7 Generation Games uses AI tools like Gemini and Adobe Firefly to assist with content creation but keeps its core game-building technology proprietary so pricing and product control stay in-house.

Episode Notes

AnnMaria De Mars has lived what looks on paper like five separate careers — industrial engineer, world champion judoka, math professor, statistician, and software developer — but she describes them all as variations on the same skill set: math, probability, and programming. The exception, she says with a laugh, is judo, though even there she approached competition by studying probability and looking for underused strategies rather than "the prettiest" way to win.

She and Janine dig into what 14 years of elite judo competition — in a sport where, as De Mars puts it, "people can legally knock you down, choke you unconscious, and break your arm" — taught her about building a business later in life. The biggest lesson: perseverance. Success isn't a straight line, and the willingness to "do hard things" repeatedly, for a long time, is what actually separates successful founders from everyone else.

De Mars founded 7 Generation Games at 57, growing it out of Spirit Lake Consulting, a firm she co-founded on the Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota. The company makes math-teaching games woven into Latino, Indigenous, and U.S. history storylines, aimed at helping students — particularly those in grades three through eight — avoid falling behind in math before they even realize it's closing doors to careers like engineering, architecture, or medicine.

The conversation turns candid around funding. De Mars walks through every method she used to finance the company since traditional investors weren't interested in an idea "scratched on a napkin" from a founder who, in her words, doesn't "look like Mark Zuckerberg." That included multiple SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant phases, three Kickstarter campaigns, two accelerator-based seed rounds (through an ed-tech accelerator in Salt Lake City and Start-Up Chile), crowd equity raises, and — critically — a large group of friends who each invested smaller amounts. She makes the case that being older is actually a fundraising advantage: by your 50s, you likely know people in stable careers who can afford to invest a few thousand dollars, even if no one is writing six-figure checks.

De Mars also traces 7 Generation Games' customer pivots: from selling directly to parents, to school and district bulk sales, to its current model of custom game development for tribal nations, nonprofits, and federal agencies, and now to 7 Gen Blocks — a no-code platform anyone can use to build their own educational game, similar to building a blog on WordPress.

The episode closes on two important threads: how age and long-standing community relationships have functioned as an asset rather than a liability in her work with Indigenous communities and rural schools, and why — despite building an "AI-integrated" product — De Mars and her team ultimately chose to own their proprietary code rather than build their platform on top of a third-party AI service, after watching what happens to businesses that lose control when a platform they depend on changes its pricing or rules.

She closes with direct advice for the woman in her 50s who is done with the corporate job search and considering starting something of her own: build it on the side while you still have income, get comfortable operating on much less money than you think you need, and delay hiring until it's genuinely painful not to.

FAQ

How did AnnMaria De Mars fund 7 Generation Games without venture capital?

She combined multiple funding sources: several rounds of federal SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grants, three Kickstarter crowdfundi...

Episode Summary

Nancy Shenker left a 20-year corporate marketing career at Citibank and MasterCard at age 48 and, over the next two decades, built not one but a fleet of ventures — a marketing consultancy called The OnSwitch, fractional CMO work, a serialized Substack memoir, and an AI-focused newsletter. In this episode, she explains how women over 50 can price their expertise with confidence, land their first clients by mining relationships they already have, and use AI as a daily thinking partner without losing their own voice. She also tackles the harder conversations: ageism and sexism inside LinkedIn's algorithm, "mean girl" dynamics in women's professional spaces, and why "enough" money — not venture-scale growth — is often the smarter financial goal for entrepreneurs starting later in life.

Key Takeaways

• Your existing network is your first client pipeline. Nancy landed her first major retainer client not through cold outreach, but by reconnecting over lunch with someone from her corporate past and simply asking what they were working on — no pitch required.
• Price according to value, not insecurity. Nancy doubled her hourly rate at age 70 and recommends role-playing pricing conversations out loud until stating your rate feels natural, comparing it to what accountants or lawyers charge.
• Hire for your weaknesses, not your comfort. One of Nancy's biggest early regrets was not hiring for operations and finance sooner; she warns against hiring people you simply enjoy hanging out with over people who complement your actual skill gaps.
• "Enough" is a legitimate financial goal. Rather than chasing venture-scale growth, Nancy built a detailed budget separating "nice to have" from "need to have," and checks in quarterly with a financial advisor to fund a lifestyle — not a valuation.
• AI works best as a structured daily collaborator. Nancy uses an AI tool (which she nicknamed "Beulah") alongside analog systems — a paper notebook divided into self-care, passions, and money projects — to get her work done most mornings by noon.

About the Guest: Nancy Shenker

Nancy Shenker spent the first half of her career in corporate marketing at Citibank and MasterCard, where she worked on the rollout of the Priceless campaign, before moving into the events and exhibitions world at Reed Exhibitions (where Comic-Con emerged). At 48, she left corporate life to found her own marketing consultancy, The OnSwitch, which she has run for more than two decades under the tagline "bright and timeless."

Today Nancy operates a portfolio of ventures rather than a single business: she consults through The OnSwitch, takes on fractional CMO engagements, writes a serialized memoir and self-help graphic novel on Substack, publishes a newsletter called Bodies and Bots, builds no-code apps, and is launching a new business with a 39-year-old business partner. She rebranded her personal identity as "Nancy AF" (nancyaf.com) at 70. Nancy was an early AI adopter, publishing a book on artificial intelligence back in 2017, and she recently founded a women's community called The Break Room, built around the principle of “being real and kind."

FAQ

How do I find my first clients when starting a consulting business?

Start by reconnecting with people from your previous career — not to pitch them, but to catch up and genuinely ask what they're working on. Nancy Shenker landed her first significant retainer client this way: a former colleague she met for lunch ended up asking her to help write a strategic plan, with no sales pitch involved.

How should I price my services as a new entrepreneur, especially as a woman?

Set your rate based on the value you provide, not your comfort level saying it out loud. Practice stating your hourly rate in the mirror or with a friend until it feels natural, and be ready to respond calmly when a prospect says it's too much — offer to scale back scope rather than dropping your price.

When should I hire help in my business versus doing everything myself?

Be honest about which tasks you're genuinely bad at — for Nancy Shenker, that was operations and finance — and hire for those gaps early, even before you hire for roles that feel more comfortable or fun. Avoid hiring people simply because you like them personally; prioritize complementary skills over personal chemistry.

Do I need to aim for venture-scale growth to be a successful entrepreneur in midlife?

No. Many entrepreneurs, especially those starting later in life, are well served by defining "enough" — a number that covers their desired lifestyle and supplements retirement income — rather than chasing rapid scaling or a big exit. Building a detailed personal budget and separating "nice to have" from "need to have" expenses helps clarify that number.

How can older entrepreneurs use AI effectively in their business?

Treat AI as a daily thinking partner for structuring your workload — for example, asking it to help organize multiple projects into a clear framework — while still using analog tools like notebooks or index cards to track priorities and boundaries. Time-blocking and setting hard stops each day helps prevent AI-assisted work from expanding indefinitely.

Has ageism affected visibility for older entrepreneurs on platforms like LinkedIn?

Yes. Nancy Shenker has observed through her own analytics that posts referencing her age or more provocative imagery consistently outperform posts she considers more substantive, reflecting a broader cultural bias toward youth. She addresses this by leaning into humor and authenticity rather than avoiding the topic.

Resource Stack

• The OnSwitch — Nancy Shenker's marketing consultancy: https://www.theonswitch.com
• NancyAF — Nancy Shenker's personal brand site and home for her memoir updates: https://www.nancyaf.com
• Your Nerve — Nancy Shenker's serialized memoir/self-help graphic novel on Substack 
• The Break Room — Nancy Shenker's women's community, built around the principle of "be real and kind"
• Build Your Own Boat podcast, hosted by Janine Vanderburg

Where to Find Nancy Shenker

1. Website (The OnSwitch): https://www.theonswitch.com
2. Personal brand website (Nancy AF): https://www.nancyaf.com
3. Substack memoir, Your Nerve: available via nancyaf.com
4. Facebook: Nancy A. Shenker / Nancy AF page

About Build Your Own Boat

Build Your Own Boat is a podcast series hosted by Janine Vanderburg — award-winning three-time entrepreneur and anti-ageism advocate — featuring women who have launched new entrepreneurial ventures in midlife and beyond. The series is part of a larger storytelling project that includes a Substack publication and a forthcoming book, all built around one goal: changing the narrative about who entrepreneurs are and making women in midlife and beyond visible as builders of wealth, freedom, and possibility.

Episode Summary

Dr. Sam Graber spent decades as a practicing chiropractor before walking away from disease-focused medicine to build a health and life coaching business from scratch. In this episode of Build Your Own Boat, she explains how burnout, an undiagnosed perimenopause transition, and a growing frustration with insurance-driven "disease management" pushed her to close her practice and start over — without a business plan, a mentor, or a clear name for what she was building. Sam shares the real, unpolished mechanics of that first year: undercharging for her services, encountering predatory business coaches, and slowly discovering that self-knowledge — not a perfect strategy — is the real foundation of a sustainable second-act business. She also unpacks why she now treats the body itself as business infrastructure, explaining how sleep, nutrition, and hormone health directly determine an entrepreneur's capacity to build and sustain a new venture.

About the Guest: Dr. Sam Graber

Dr. Sam Graber spent decades practicing as a chiropractor before leaving the field to build a career in holistic health and life coaching. Frustrated by a conventional medical model built around diagnosis codes and disease management rather than prevention, she closed her brick-and-mortar practice and reinvented herself as a health strategist — helping clients bridge the gap between their doctors and their own bodies. Today, through her "Strong Over Skinny" philosophy, Dr. Sam works primarily with women navigating perimenopause and menopause, coaching them toward stronger bodies, sharper minds, and metabolically sound lifestyles instead of restriction-based diet culture. She offers one-on-one coaching and a membership community, writes regularly on Substack, and also serves as Board Chair of The Starr Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to youth development.

Key Takeaways

• Career transitions in midlife are identity transitions, not just business decisions. Leaving a licensed, credentialed profession like chiropractic care means rebuilding not only your income model but also how you introduce yourself to the world.
• Undercharging is one of the most common first-year mistakes for new coaches and consultants. Without a clear sense of the time, expertise, and transformation being delivered, many women entrepreneurs price their services far below their actual value.
• Not all business coaches are a good fit — vet them like you would a business partner. Red flags include coaches who ask for large financial commitments without first asking questions about your goals, background, or readiness.
• Self-knowledge is a prerequisite for sustainable entrepreneurship. Understanding what specifically energizes versus depletes you prevents you from unconsciously rebuilding the same "box" you just left, under a different name.
• Physical health is business infrastructure, not a personal indulgence. Sleep, nutrition, and hormone balance directly affect an entrepreneur's energy, decision-making, and capacity to sustain a new venture — especially during perimenopause and menopause.

FAQ

How do you know when it's time to leave a long-term career and start a business?

According to Dr. Sam Graber, the signal is often less about a single dramatic event and more about cumulative burnout — a growing sense that the structure of your current work (such as insurance billing requirements in healthcare) no longer aligns with why you entered the field in the first place. She describes reaching a point where the day-to-day demands were "sucking the life and the light" out of her, which became the real catalyst for change.

What should you look for when hiring a business coach during a career transition?

Look for a coach who asks detailed questions about your background, goals, and readiness before asking for a financial commitment — especially at four- or five-figure price points. Dr. Sam Graber warns that coaches who skip this discovery process, or who treat all clients the same regardless of experience level, are a red flag, particularly for licensed professionals moving from a regulated field into entrepreneurship.

Why do many new entrepreneurs undercharge for their services?

Many first-time entrepreneurs, especially women, undercharge because they underestimate the time, expertise, and value of what they're delivering, and because of broader cultural conditioning that discourages women from focusing on money. Dr. Sam Graber says she "didn't know what it would even cost" to deliver her services in year one, a common gap for people transitioning from an employed or credentialed role into independent coaching or consulting.

How does perimenopause and menopause affect entrepreneurship?

Hormonal transitions can affect energy, sleep, mood, and metabolic health — all of which directly impact an entrepreneur's capacity to build and sustain a new business. Dr. Sam Graber notes that many women misattribute these shifts purely to sex hormones, when lifestyle factors like sleep, movement, and nutrition are equally responsible for how the body copes with midlife transitions.

What does it mean to treat your body as "business infrastructure"?

It means treating sleep, nutrition, movement, and hormone health as non-negotiable business inputs rather than optional self-care. Dr. Sam Graber argues that hustle-culture advice to sacrifice health for the business is backwards — depletion eventually leads to a health or mental health crisis that undermines the very business someone is trying to build.

Resource Stack

• Dr. Sam Graber — Substack, "Strong Over Skinny": https://drsamroxo.substack.com
• Dr. Sam Graber — official website: https://drsamgraber.com
• Dr. Sam Graber — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsamgraber
• The Starr Institute (youth development nonprofit): https://www.thestarrinstitute.org
• Build Your Own Boat — Substack: https://buildyourownboat.substack.com

Where to Find Dr. Sam Graber

1. Substack ("Strong Over Skinny"): https://drsamroxo.substack.com
2. Website: https://drsamgraber.com
3. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsamgraber
4. The Starr Institute: https://www.thestarrinstitute.org

About Build Your Own Boat

Build Your Own Boat is a podcast series hosted by Janine Vanderburg — award-winning three-time entrepreneur and anti-ageism advocate and keynote speaker— featuring women who have launched new entrepreneurial ventures in midlife and beyond. The series is part of a larger storytelling project that includes a Substack publication and a forthcoming book, all built around one goal: changing the narrative about who entrepreneurs are and making women in midlife and beyond visible as builders of wealth, freedom, and possibility.

Episode Summary

What happens to your business when an aging parent moves in and needs your care? Wendy Green, founder of Hey Boomer and host of the Boomer Banter Podcast, faced exactly this — and instead of powering through, she made a deliberate choice to scale back her podcast and refocus her energy on the work that gives her the most fulfillment for the least burnout. In this episode of Build Your Own Boat, Wendy shares how she built a "fleet" of ventures — coaching, a podcast, a Substack newsletter, group coaching, travel experiences, and in-person classes at continuing care communities — and how she used a simple return-on-investment framework (time, energy, fulfillment, not just money) to decide what to keep, pause, or let go when caregiving for her 96-year-old mother became her new full-time responsibility. This conversation is a candid, practical roadmap for the millions of women who are simultaneously entrepreneurs and family caregivers — a reality the entrepreneurship world rarely discusses honestly.

Key Takeaways

• Caregiving is a business risk that deserves real planning, not silent sacrifice. According to AARP, the majority of family caregivers are women, many in the same 50+ age range building or running businesses — making caregiving a mainstream entrepreneurial challenge, not an edge case.
• You don't need every credential before you start. Wendy earned a coaching certification and change leadership credentials, but she stresses that certifications gave her confidence, not permission — waiting for "one more course" is often just delay disguised as preparation.
• Evaluate ventures using time and fulfillment, not just income. When caregiving demands increased, Wendy assessed each business activity by asking what it gave her versus what it cost her in time and energy, then cut the parts (like heavy podcast promotion) that drained her most for the least return.
• Solopreneurship is lonely — collaboration fixes it. Wendy co-founded the Age-Wise Collective, a peer-support network of 12+ women podcasters over 50 who cross-promote, share resources, and problem-solve together instead of competing.
• Reinvention isn't always about starting over — sometimes it's rediscovery. Wendy is shifting her focus from building new things to rediscovering past skills and interests, describing her next phase as "rediscover and redefine" rather than reinvent.
• Protecting your mindset matters as much as protecting your schedule. While caregiving for a mother who says "96 is enough," Wendy holds onto her own age-positive beliefs by journaling daily, noticing small wins, and staying connected to people and work that make her feel useful.

About This Episode

In this episode of Build Your Own Boat, host Janine Vanderburg talks with Wendy Green, a certified professional coach and founder of Hey Boomer, about the entrepreneurial journey most business podcasts skip: what happens when you have to recalibrate your growing venture because a parent needs your care. Wendy walks through her path from a computer science career and corporate training roles into coaching, podcasting, and teaching — and then candidly describes putting her podcast on hiatus to prioritize caregiving for her 96-year-old mother, while still finding ways to stay financially and personally engaged through in-person classes and writing. The conversation covers building multiple income streams ("a fleet of boats"), avoiding the trap of over-preparing before launching a venture, using a peer support network to combat entrepreneurial loneliness, and a practical, three-part framework for deciding what stays and what goes when life happens.

About the Guest: Wendy Green

Wendy Green is a certified professional coach, speaker, and founder of Hey Boomer, a platform dedicated to helping adults navigate the second half of life with purpose and confidence. She hosts the Boomer Banter Podcast, a long-running show (270+ episodes) that has become a go-to resource for people exploring aging, transition, and reinvention after 50. Wendy holds change leadership credentials from Georgetown University and a professional coaching certification, which she draws on in her one-on-one coaching practice, her monthly Banter Circle group coaching community, and in-person classes she now teaches at continuing care communities near her home in Greenville, South Carolina. She also writes Thriving Through Time, a Substack newsletter exploring caregiving, personal growth, and life balance, and co-founded the Age-Wise Collective, a peer network of women podcasters over 50. Wendy is currently caregiving for her 96-year-old mother while continuing to coach, teach, and write — a real-time example of the recalibration she now speaks openly about.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you balance running a business with caregiving for an aging parent?

Wendy Green recommends evaluating every business activity by what it gives you versus what it costs you in time and energy, then scaling back or pausing the highest-effort, lowest-fulfillment activities — such as heavy social media promotion — while keeping the work that sustains you financially and emotionally, like teaching or writing.

Why is caregiving considered a business risk for entrepreneurs?

Caregiving is rarely discussed as a business risk, but according to AARP data, most family caregivers are women, many of whom are also building or running businesses. Sudden caregiving responsibilities can interrupt income, client work, and growth plans, making it a real and common risk rather than a rare exception.

What is the Age-Wise Collective?

The Age-Wise Collective is a peer support network of women podcasters over 50, co-founded by Wendy Green, who cross-promote each other's shows, share resources like SEO help, and collaborate instead of competing.

Do you need certifications before starting a coaching or podcasting business?

No. Wendy Green says her coaching certification and Georgetown change leadership credentials gave her confidence, not permission, to start. She encourages people not to delay launching a venture while chasing "one more" credential.

Resource Stack

• Website: heyboomer.biz
• Boomer Banter Podcast: heyboomer.biz/podcast
• Boomer Banter on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/boomer-banter-real-talk-about-aging-well
• Boomer Banter on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/14Spxcu2u6Tw4fhw7j0Ybq
• Thriving Through Time (Wendy's Substack): wendy421.substack.com
• AARP research on family caregiving statistics: aarp.org

Where to Find Wendy Green

1. Website: heyboomer.biz
2. Email: [email protected]
3. Substack (Thriving Through Time): wendy421.substack.com
4. Boomer Banter Podcast: heyboomer.biz/podcast
5. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/wendy-green-heyboomerpodcast

About Bu...

Episode Summary

Jacqui Fishman spent decades as a creative marketing strategist before reviving a shelved apparel line into This Girl Can! Change the World, a mission-driven brand and media property that tells girls, out loud and on purpose, that they have the power to change the world. In this episode of Build Your Own Boat, Fishman explains how a Harvard graduate degree in children's media, a portfolio of designs that sat untouched for over twenty years, and the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic combined to push her to relaunch the brand — starting with "This Girl Can Vote" merchandise timed to the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. She shares how she beta-tested designs before investing heavily, how she prices products to stay accessible while still funding donations to organizations supporting girls' education and rights, why Facebook shut down her political-themed ad campaign, and how mission-driven partnerships — not paid ads — became her most effective growth strategy. The conversation offers a real-world roadmap for any woman considering reviving a dormant idea into a full-fledged, purpose-driven venture in midlife.

Key Takeaways

• Dormant ideas can be revived successfully. Fishman's apparel concept sat "on a shelf" for more than 20 years before she relaunched it — proof that an idea's timing, not its age, determines its viability.
• Beta testing before scaling reduces risk. Fishman printed short test runs and shared them within her own network before investing in full production, a low-cost way to validate demand.
• Pricing should balance accessibility and mission. Fishman intentionally prices products (avoiding, for example, $40 t-shirts) so they remain affordable to families while still generating a donation stream for girls' education and rights organizations worldwide.
• Paid social ads are not the only — or even the best — growth path. After Facebook flagged and shut down her "This Girl Can Vote" ad as political content, Fishman pivoted to organic content and strategic partnerships with mission-aligned organizations, which became her strongest channel for growth.
• Confidence erosion in girls begins around ages 10–12. Fishman calls this "the confidence cliff" — the point where girls who were previously loud, curious, and fearless begin to internalize doubt driven by media portrayals and social pressure, which is why early intervention through stories and role models matters.

About This Episode

Janine Vanderburg sits down with Jacqui Fishman, founder of This Girl Can! Change the World, to explore how a creative marketing career, a Harvard graduate degree in children's media, and a decades-old shelved product line converged into a mission-driven brand built to help girls find their voice and claim their power. Fishman traces the connection between children's media representation and how girls come to believe what kind of life they're "allowed" to have, discusses the impact of screens and AI-generated content ("AI slop") on young children, and describes how the character Jane — a sassy, messy-haired stick figure representing every girl — became the face of a growing portfolio of apparel, storybooks, and planned animated media. The conversation also digs into the practical entrepreneurial lessons Fishman learned relaunching a brand in a completely different retail and social media landscape than the one she originally built it in decades earlier.

Guest Bio

Jacqui Fishman is a creative marketing strategist and serial entrepreneur who has spent her career helping startups, nonprofits, and children's media brands find their voice and bring their ideas to life. She holds a graduate degree from Harvard focused on children's media, studying how the content children see and hear shapes who they believe they're allowed to become. Fishman previously built and successfully sold a sports-focused apparel line into national retail, and has produced children's television series and books. In 2020, she revived a decades-old apparel concept into This Girl Can! Change the World, a mission-driven brand and media property designed to help every girl believe in her own power — now expanding into a planned book series and animated media featuring the brand's central character, Jane. Fishman also serves on the advisory board of The Legacy Project, an organization focused on intergenerational work.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is This Girl Can! Change the World?

This Girl Can! Change the World is a mission-driven brand founded by Jacqui Fishman that uses apparel, storytelling, and planned animated media to tell girls, from the earliest age, that they have the power to change the world. The brand includes related lines like "This Girl Can Vote" and "This Girl Will Vote," and donates proceeds to organizations supporting girls' education, health, and rights worldwide.

Why did Jacqui Fishman revive a 20-year-old business idea?

Fishman had a portfolio of apparel designs that sat untouched for more than two decades. The 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, combined with the extra bandwidth created by the COVID-19 pandemic, gave her the timing and motivation to relaunch the concept, starting with commemorative "This Girl Can Vote" merchandise.

What is the "confidence cliff" Jacqui Fishman describes?

The confidence cliff refers to the point, typically around ages 10 to 12, when girls who were previously outspoken and fearless begin to lose confidence and develop self-doubt, often driven by media portrayals, social media influencer culture, and pressure around body image and perfectionism.

Why did Facebook shut down Jacqui Fishman's ad campaign?

Facebook flagged and shut down Fishman's paid ad campaign for "This Girl Can Vote" merchandise, categorizing a commemorative design honoring the 19th Amendment as political content. This forced her to abandon paid social ads and pivot toward organic content and mission-driven partnerships instead.

How can women test a business idea before investing heavily?

Fishman recommends printing or producing a small test run of a product and sharing it within your own network first to gauge reaction before committing significant money to full production — a low-risk way to validate whether an idea resonates before scaling.

Is it too late to revive an old business idea in midlife?

According to Fishman and podcast host Janine Vanderburg, it's never too late — dreams don't have an expiration date. Fishman's own experience relaunching a shelved apparel concept more than 20 years later, in a completely different retail and media landscape, demonstrates that timing and renewed purpose can make an old idea newly relevant.

Resource Stack

• This Girl Can! Change the World — official site
• The Legacy Project, Inc. — intergenerational advocacy organization where Jacqui Fishman serves on the advisory board
• Sesame Workshop / Sesame Street — referenced as a benchmark for using media to help children learn and build resilience
• 19th Amendment (National Archives) — the historical anniversary that inspired the "This Girl Can Vote" relaunch

Where to Find Jacqui Fishman

1. Websites:

Episode Summary

How do you build a strategic financial plan for entrepreneurship after 40 — one that includes retirement savings, catch-up contributions, and a paid-off house? This episode answers that question through the lived experience of Cindy Morris, founder of The Benson Agency and Women Who Changed the World. Cindy walks through the difference between building a business out of necessity versus building one on purpose, why she interviewed 60–70 women before designing a four-year financial and career plan for herself, and how she budgets, saves, and recovers from a slow revenue year without losing momentum. She also shares why she deliberately practices failure — through an art class and a personal trainer — to build resilience as an entrepreneur, and why publicly and vulnerably sharing her journey on Substack matters to other women considering the leap into midlife entrepreneurship.

Key Takeaways

• A "necessity boat" and a "purpose boat" require different planning. Cindy built The Benson Agency out of financial necessity after leaving a 24/7 travel-industry career to raise her children; she is building Women Who Changed the World on purpose, with a defined four-year timeline and financial targets.
• Catch-up contributions matter for women who stepped out of the workforce. Cindy exceeds the minimum 401(k) contribution because years spent prioritizing family reduced her retirement savings window — a strategy she recommends to any woman planning a midlife financial catch-up.
• A four-year plan reduces the fear of a big transition. Rather than waiting until a deadline to plan, Cindy started building her financial and career runway four years in advance, using a detailed spreadsheet to track exactly how much she needs to save each month.
• Practicing failure builds entrepreneurial resilience. Cindy intentionally enrolled in an art class and hired a personal trainer — activities she is bad at — specifically to get comfortable with discomfort and failure before applying that resilience to her business.
• Asking "bigger" people for help rarely gets a "no." Cindy interviewed dozens of women she admired to build her plan and says not one of them declined to help — a reminder that reaching out to mentors and leaders is more accessible than most people assume.

Guest Bio

Cindy Morris is a nonprofit strategist, capacity-building expert, entrepreneur, and mother of two. She is the founder of The Benson Agency, a national consulting firm that provides behind-the-scenes operational and strategic support to nonprofit organizations, and the founder of Women Who Change the World, an emerging venture that teaches women to build strategic plans for their own lives and careers. Cindy previously served as Chief Advancement Officer at the American Society on Aging, where she worked for three and a half years after the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily closed her consulting practice. Earlier in her career, she held roles with major hospitality brands including Hilton, InterContinental, Four Seasons, American Express Vacations, and Aeroméxico. Cindy writes candidly about money, planning, and vulnerability on her Substack, Women Who Changed the World.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you create a financial plan for starting a business in midlife?

Start by identifying a clear savings target and timeline — for example, a minimum retirement balance and a target date, such as having a home paid off or a set amount saved by a specific age. Build a month-by-month savings tracker, budget for a realistic average rate of return (Cindy uses 6%), and set aside extra income in the months it's available to cover leaner months ahead.

How do you make up for lost retirement savings after stepping out of the workforce?

Women who take time out of the workforce to raise children or care for family members often need to contribute above the minimum 401(k) or retirement contribution once they return to earning, since early-career years typically generate lower income and less time to compound savings. Setting a specific savings percentage above the standard minimum, and tracking it monthly, helps close that gap over time.

How do you find new consulting clients when relaunching a business?

Reach out directly to your existing professional network and say explicitly that you are available for work. Referrals from people who trust you — even those who have never worked with you directly — can lead to strong anchor clients. Securing even one solid anchor client can be enough to sustain a relaunch in its first year.

How do you build resilience as an entrepreneur?

Deliberately practicing activities you are not naturally good at — such as an art class or physical training — can build comfort with failure in a lower-stakes setting, which translates into greater resilience when facing setbacks in business, such as a slow revenue year.

What is the difference between starting a business out of necessity versus starting one on purpose?

A necessity-driven business is typically launched quickly in response to an immediate need, such as income loss or a life transition, with growth taking a back seat to other priorities. A purpose-driven business is built with a defined plan, timeline, and specific goals from the outset, allowing for more intentional growth and investment.

Resource Stack

• The Benson Agency — thebensonagency.com
• American Society on Aging — asaging.org
• Women Who Change the World Substack (Cindy Morris's writing on money, planning, and vulnerability)

Where to Find Cindy Morris

1. Website (The Benson Agency): thebensonagency.com
2. Substack: Women Who Change the World
3. LinkedIn: Cindy Morris — connect directly for questions or to talk through your own plans

About Build Your Own Boat

Build Your Own Boat is a podcast series hosted by Janine Vanderburg — award-winning three-time entrepreneur and anti-ageism advocate — featuring women who have launched new entrepreneurial ventures in midlife and beyond. The series is part of a larger storytelling project that includes a Substack publication and a forthcoming book, all built around one goal: changing the narrative about who entrepreneurs are and making women in midlife and beyond visible as builders of wealth, freedom, and possibility.

Episode Summary

After more than two decades leading global technology teams at Oracle and serving as VP of Services at an AI-driven consulting firm, Kristen Harris was laid off at 55 — a moment that felt devastating even though she already knew the role wasn't right for her. In this episode, Harris explains why perfectionism isn't a flaw to "recover from" but a trait that high achievers can sharpen into a strategic advantage, and how surviving breast cancer while working full-time reshaped her relationship to risk, corporate health benefits, and what she was willing to sacrifice for stability. She shares the exact framework she now teaches leaders — from millennial managers to midlife career-changers — for identifying their "unfair advantage," building an informal personal board of directors, and taking the leap into entrepreneurship without having to build the perfect business before selling it.

Key Takeaways

• Perfectionism is not a pathology to fix — it's a leadership trait to refine. Research cited in the episode shows that roughly 85% of high achievers identify with some form of perfectionism, and Harris argues that trying to "recover" from it ignores a trait that, when understood, becomes a competitive edge.
• A layoff can feel devastating even when you already wanted to leave, because the loss of control — not the job itself — is often what's hardest to process.
• Health insurance fear keeps many capable women in jobs they've outgrown. Harris encourages women to research their real options (health exchanges, brokers, expert conversations) before assuming corporate benefits are their only path to coverage.
• Solopreneurs need a personal "board of directors." Instead of one formal mentor, Harris recommends building a network of trusted advisors — family, former colleagues, coaches, and even strangers met through networking — to replace the built-in support of a corporate team.
• You don't have to build the perfect product before selling it. Harris applies an agile, iterative approach to entrepreneurship: test an idea, sell it, and refine it based on real client needs rather than waiting for it to be flawless.

About Kristen Harris

Kristen Harris spent more than 20 years leading global technology and consulting teams, including roles as a director at Oracle — where her team delivered web platforms across nine languages for the entire company — and VP of Service Delivery at a software engineering and consulting firm, where she managed project delivery, resourcing, profitability, and quality at the leadership table. At 55, following a corporate layoff, she launched Kristen Harris Coaching, where she works with leaders and teams on leadership development, resilience, and what she calls "the perfectionist edge" — helping high-achieving, perfectionist-minded professionals turn that trait into a strength rather than something to apologize for. Harris is also a breast cancer survivor who continued working through treatment, an experience that reshaped her views on risk, stability, and building professional presence. She now serves as a cancer mentor through Imerman Angels, a Chicago-based nonprofit that connects cancer patients and caregivers with survivor mentors for one-on-one peer support.

Episode Highlights

• What it actually looks like to operate as a "critical cog" inside large tech and consulting organizations
• The pivot moment — six months before her layoff — when Harris realized her new role wasn't the right fit
• How a breast cancer diagnosis changed her calculus around corporate stability, health insurance, and risk
• Identifying your "unfair advantage" as a midlife entrepreneur
• Why niching too narrowly can limit your audience — and what "anyone hungry to lead" really means
• The reality of feeling out of place at founder meetups full of 30-somethings, and what to do about it
• Building a personal board of directors instead of a formal mentor or corporate team
• The difference between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism, and the "Parisian perfectionist" archetype
• An agile, iterative approach to building and selling a coaching business
• Practical advice for the woman who is afraid to make the leap: check your dream, check your resilience, then go

Frequently Asked Questions

Is perfectionism a bad trait for leaders?

Not according to Kristen Harris. She argues perfectionism only becomes a problem when it's unexamined. Roughly 85% of high achievers identify with some form of perfectionism, and rather than treating it as something to "recover from," Harris teaches leaders to identify their specific perfectionist type and channel it into strengths like precision, resilience, and high standards.

Why do women stay in corporate jobs they've outgrown?

Health insurance and financial stability are among the biggest reasons women delay leaving corporate roles to start a business. Harris recommends treating this as a knowledge gap rather than a fixed barrier — talking to insurance brokers, researching healthcare exchanges, and understanding real options before assuming a corporate job is the only path to coverage.

How do solo entrepreneurs replace the support of a corporate team?

Harris recommends building an informal "personal board of directors" made up of trusted advisors, former colleagues, coaches, family members, and even new connections made through networking. The goal is to avoid isolation and get honest, varied perspectives rather than relying only on close friends who tend to agree with everything you say.

What is a "Parisian perfectionist"?

It's one of several perfectionist types described by psychologist Katherine Morgan Schafler in her book The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control. A Parisian perfectionist appears polished and put-together on the outside while struggling internally — for Harris, this showed up as difficulty delegating and giving others growth opportunities because everything felt like it had to be done a certain way.

How do you know if you're ready to leave a corporate career and start a business?

Harris suggests starting with the dream itself — can you clearly picture what you want and yourself doing it? From there, assess your financial and relational stability, and your resilience to handle early rejection. If your foundation is solid and you can bounce back from setbacks, that's a strong signal you're ready to take the leap.

Resource Stack

• Kristen Harris Coaching — Kristen Harris's coaching website
• The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control by Katherine Morgan Schafler — referenced framework for perfectionist types
• Imerman Angels — Chicago-based nonprofit connecting cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers with one-on-one mentors
• CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) — referenced assessment tool for identifying individual strengths, including "individualization"
• Lean Business Model Canvas — referenced framework for the "unfair advantage" concept discussed in the episode

Where to Find Kristen Harris

1. Website: kristenharriscoaching.com
2. LinkedIn: Kristen J. Harris(search "Kristen J Harris" on LinkedIn)
3. Instagram: Kristen Harris Coaching

Episode Summary

When the school and disability-services systems couldn't give her son Chris — now 42 and living with autism — the life he deserved, Anne Patton built the infrastructure herself. In 2013 she founded A Better Life, a state-approved Program Approved Service Agency (PASA) that lets her bill Medicaid directly for Chris's residential, community, and employment supports, cutting out the 30–50% overhead that traditional agencies charge. Years later, realizing she wasn't the only aging mother running one of these agencies solo, she co-founded Our Back Office Colorado, a shared-infrastructure organization giving families of adults with disabilities peer support, succession planning, and collective bargaining power. This episode is a practical roadmap for any caregiver who has quietly been running a "business" — budgets, staff, compliance, hiring and firing — without ever calling it entrepreneurship.

Key Takeaways

1. A Program Approved Service Agency (PASA) lets family caregivers become direct Medicaid providers — after background checks and state approval through Colorado's Department of Public Health and Environment, families can bill Medicaid directly for a disabled family member's care, avoiding the 30–50% cut that large agencies take.
2. Caregivers of adults with disabilities are, in practice, running small businesses — payroll, hiring and firing staff, compliance, billing, and navigating shifting regulations (including COVID-era changes) — even when no one, including themselves, ever labels it "entrepreneurship."
3. Shared infrastructure solves the aging-caregiver crisis — Our Back Office Colorado gives families of adults with disabilities pooled resources (succession planning, peer coaching, potential shared payroll/billing services) so aging parents aren't solely responsible for what happens to their adult children when they're no longer able to provide care.
4. Succession planning is the missing piece for most caregiving families — most families never document a plan for their child's care because they're too consumed by day-to-day caregiving; existing resources tell families what to plan but rarely coach them through making it actionable.
5. Lived experience is an "unfair advantage," not a liability — the most successful founders in this space, including Anne, solved a problem they personally experienced rather than one they observed from the outside, echoing broader research on what drives entrepreneurial success.

About This Episode

Anne Patton didn't set out to start a business — she set out to build a good life for her son. In this episode of Build Your Own Boat, Anne shares how advocating for Chris through Denver Public Schools, working in disability advocacy at Family Voices Colorado, and a frightening safety incident with a hired caregiver led her to found A Better Life, a Medicaid-funded service agency giving her — and Chris — direct control over his care team. She and host Janine Vanderburg trace the evolution from that first agency to Our Back Office Colorado, the shared-support organization Anne co-founded with other aging caregivers who were facing the same operational and succession-planning burnout. The conversation is a candid look at what it really takes to build a "business" out of necessity, love, and years of navigating bureaucracy — and why that makes Anne, and every caregiver like her, an entrepreneur in every sense of the word.

About Anne Patton

Anne Patton is the founder of A Better Life, a Colorado Program Approved Service Agency (PASA) providing residential, community, and employment services for her son Chris, who is 42 and lives with autism. A former banker turned disability advocate, Anne previously worked in finance and care coordination for Family Voices Colorado and the Chanda Plan Foundation, and has been active with the Arc of Denver and Advocacy Denver. Drawing on more than 40 years of lived experience navigating special education, Medicaid waivers, and home- and community-based services, Anne co-founded Our Back Office Colorado to give aging family caregivers of adults with disabilities shared infrastructure, peer support, succession planning, and a collective voice for policy change.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Program Approved Service Agency (PASA) in Colorado?

A PASA is a Medicaid-approved provider designation that allows an individual or organization — including a family member — to bill Medicaid directly for a disabled person's residential, community, or employment support services, after passing background checks and compliance approval from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

How can a family caregiver get Medicaid funding to support an adult child with a disability?

Families can access Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waivers once their family member turns 18, based on qualifying disability and support needs. Becoming an approved provider, such as through a PASA, allows the family to control hiring, scheduling, and care decisions directly rather than working through a third-party agency.

What is Our Back Office Colorado?

Our Back Office Colorado is an organization co-founded by Anne Patton and other family caregivers that provides shared infrastructure, peer support, and resources — including monthly coffee talks and future plans for shared payroll and billing support — for aging families supporting adult children with disabilities.

How do I start a service agency to support a family member with a disability?

Start by learning your state's Medicaid rules and provider requirements, connect with existing advocacy and parent networks (such as Family Voices or JFK Partners in Colorado), and be prepared for background checks, compliance training, and ongoing regulatory changes. Anne Patton recommends staying curious, talking to as many people as possible, and recognizing your lived experience as an advantage most professionals don't have.

Why do aging caregivers need succession planning for their adult children with disabilities?

Many aging caregivers have no formal plan in place for what happens to their child's care and housing when they're no longer able to provide it themselves, largely because day-to-day caregiving leaves little time for planning. Organizations like Our Back Office Colorado aim to coach families through building an actionable succession plan, not just outlining what one should contain.

Resource Stack

• Our Back Office Colorado — shared infrastructure and peer support for aging family caregivers
• Family Voices Colorado — health navigation and advocacy for kids with special health care needs
• Chanda Center for Health — integrative therapies for people with physical and other disabilities
• JFK Partners (University of Colorado) — early intervention and developmental disability training/services
• Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment — state agency overseeing Medicaid provider approval and compliance
• Colorado Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waivers — federal/s...