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New deal – Changing careers and starting a business after age 50 can be a rewarding experience

When Eugene Deimer decided he needed a career change nearly 27 years ago it was his wife, LaVonne, who paid the bills with her job as a school teacher. Today the couple raises gladiolas on their two acres west of Missoula.

A civil engineer working with mostly highway departments, Eugene Diemer made a career change nearly 27 years ago at the age of 51. He had begun to feel like a "glorified bum," moving from city to city in his work. It was no longer what he wanted.

By JILL FITZSIMMONS For the Missoulian

But looking for work after age 50 wasn’t easy. Though Diemer couldn’t prove it, most employers he interviewed with didn’t want to hire a man nearing retirement age.

Eager to find a job – one that he would enjoy – Diemer began thinking about starting his own business. He and his wife, LaVonne, had long joked that one day after the four children were grown she would return to teaching full time and Diemer would be free to start a business. At breakfast one morning, they asked themselves, why not now?

At 51, Diemer couldn’t have been more ready. He turned to his interests – art, gardening and a passion for working with his hands. Following his heart, he put them all together to create a business. Though he knew nothing about the craft at the time, he became a pewtersmith, selling his wares throughout the country at art fairs.

He and his wife also turned their 2-acre home into a commercial flower business, raising gladiolas and selling them to businesses and at the Missoula Farmers Market. Eventually, the flower business became Diemer’s priority and he’s carved out a niche for himself in the community.

Many people are happy to settle into one career and ride it into retirement, said Diemer, who turns 79 this month. Others are like him – they will never retire.

"I can’t understand a person who retires and doesn’t do anything," said Diemer, who admitted he’d even have liked to have been a musician. "What are you going to do? Are you going to just die?"

Most people who start a new business in the United States are between the ages of 25 and 34, according to a study by the Kauffman Foundation. But opening a business after age 50 is not all that uncommon, especially in Missoula, said Kay Strayer, a business consultant at Job Services. Strayer, who teaches business classes at the Dickinson Lifelong Learning Center, sees many people around 60 years old in her classes.

Many people over 50 who are looking for work simply can’t find employment, Strayer said. Age discrimination is nearly impossible to prove, but it is out there, she said. And as our population continues to age in western Montana, this attitude must change, Strayer added.

Meanwhile, some of these people who can’t find work are starting their own businesses. "It’s almost the best way to go if you can figure out what you want to do," Strayer said.

Carolyn Jensen Addeo of Missoula agrees. Ten years ago, Carolyn, now 61, had grown tired of working for large corporations. After corporate downsizing caused her to lose her job in California, Carolyn and her husband, Pete Addeo, eventually used up their savings and lost their home, too. They moved to Missoula hoping for a new start in the middle of their lives. Their only career goals were to make a living while being their own bosses.

"You feel like (at 50) you’ve earned the right to enjoy what you’re doing," she said.

She and Pete looked at their assets to determine how they could best put them to use. Carolyn had a background in advertising sales management. Pete had worked as an insurance broker with his own agency and also for a Yellow Pages firm. Together, they opened Big Sky Publications and put out the Missoula Bitterroot Diner’s Club Menu books.

"The work we put in is ours and there is a real rich reward in that," she said.

But this was only the beginning. The print shop was the first of three home businesses. Pete, 56, later opened Doctor PC, a computer repair business. Two years ago he also started an Internet service at home called Online Montana. He now operates both in a downtown store while Carolyn works from home managing Big Sky Publications.

Today, Carolyn admits she doesn’t have the energy she had as a 25-year-old. However, older business owners find ways to get the same job done smarter, she said. Also, there is more self-control at 61 than at 25, she said. Older business owners have life experience to bring to a new business.

"I think part of being a good business owner is being able to control your expenses," she said. For some younger business owners, this can be a hard lesson, she said.

An older person opening a business also usually has more assets and more to risk, Strayer cautioned. One of the main concerns should be how they will start a business while also protecting those assets, she said. Many accounting firms teach classes on this topic, she added.

For Bobbi Frank Kuchenreuther, who in May opened an Avon store in Southgate Mall, she found that no financial institutions in Missoula would lend to a 59-year-old woman. "They don’t see the potential," she said.

After much frustration, she and her husband refinanced all their properties and put their own money into the business. Not letting nay-sayers have the last word, Kuchenreuther jumped into the fast-paced life of retail business. Hers is one of the first 10 Avon stores in the nation.

This is a time to continue to use your brain and muscles, not for sitting back, said Kuchenreuther, who had been sick for several years prior to opening her store. You can be old and afraid to try new things, or you can live life to its fullest, she said.

"I just felt I had a new lease on life," she said.

People over 50 and looking to make a career change should have a burning interest in their new business and be willing to make some sacrifices those first few years, Diemer advised. Those first five years of starting his business were pretty lean, he said.

"You’ve got to believe in what you’re doing and if you have a quality product, it’s even better yet," Diemer said.

The flower business has been physically hard on Diemer this past year. After suffering knee problems, he’s had six surgeries in a year. That could mean an end to the flower business one day. But Diemer has a backup plan if that day should come; he’ll just start a new business. After all, Diemer always enjoyed sculpting.

If her husband should start another business at age 80, LaVonne, for one, won’t be surprised.

"He isn’t capable of having a hobby," LaVonne said. "It becomes a business."

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