Too Young, Then Too Old: Why Women Are Done Waiting and Starting Businesses Instead.

Have you ever seen the show Younger? It's about a 40-year-old woman who lies about her age to get back into the workforce - pretends she's 26 just to get a foot in the door. And as much as it's played for comedy and drama, I think about it sometimes because the premise isn't that far off from reality. The show exists because we all recognize something true in it - that there's a point where being a woman with experience starts to work against you instead of for you.

I see this play out again and again with the women I work with. When they were younger, they were told they were too inexperienced. Not ready yet. Pay your dues. So they did. Then life happened - kids, aging parents, health stuff - and when they came back, they were starting over. Now they're in their 40s or 50s with more skill and wisdom than ever, and suddenly they're "overqualified." Too expensive, not the right fit.

Tapping Out

Of course, the women I work with aren't lying about their age like the character in Younger, but many of them have felt that same exhaustion. The sense that they're playing a game that was never designed for them to win. At some point, they stop trying to convince someone else to see their value, and they start building something on their own instead.

When you build your own business, you're not competing against younger candidates for shrinking roles. You're not waiting for permission or trying to explain away your career gaps. You get to decide what success looks like, who you work with, and how you spend your time. All that experience you've gathered finally becomes an asset instead of something you have to downplay.

I wrote about my own version of tapping out in F#ck It - I'm Out.

Make No Mistake - This Isn't Settling

There's a narrative that women who start businesses later in life are giving up - that entrepreneurship is the backup plan. Let's be real. For anyone who's ever built a business, you know that this is the furthest thing from "giving up."

What I see is women making a strategic choice. Keep pushing for a place in a system that keeps moving the goalposts, or take everything they've learned and build something that actually fits their life. They're choosing the path that makes sense.

Starting a business in your 40s or 50s isn't starting from scratch. You already know how to work with people, manage competing priorities, and figure out what matters. You've built enough resilience to handle what comes next. All of that is working in your favour.

What These Businesses Look Like

The businesses women build in midlife often don't look like tech startups. They're not trying to scale fast or disrupt an industry (although some are and they're killing it!). They're often building something sustainable - something that fits their life, their purpose, and goals, and doesn't require them to burn out.

They're coaches, consultants, bookkeepers, therapists, designers, writers, and strategists. They're taking skills they developed over decades and are offering them directly to people who need them. And they're doing it in their own way - flexibility over hustle, boundaries from the start, and offers that work with their energy and their life.

Not everyone jumps in all at once - some start on the side while keeping the stability of their day job. I wrote more about this in Not All Side Hustles Are About Hustling.

It's not always easy, but for many of them it's the first time they've felt fully in control.

If you're curious what it looks like to work with me as you figure this out, here's how I work with clients.

If This Is Where You Are

If you're recognising yourself in this - if you've been doing everything right and still watching doors close - you're not imagining it. And you didn't do anything wrong.

If you've been thinking about building something on your own, you're not retreating. You might be making the smartest move of your career.

Maybe it's time to stop waiting for the window to open and build your own door instead.

If any of this hits home for you, I'd love to hear from you. Whether you just want to talk it through or you're looking for a thinking partner as you figure out what's next, I'm happy to come alongside.

LET'S CONNECT