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I think we can all agree: the later years of life鈥攖hose decades formerly known as 鈥渞etirement鈥濃�攁re changing rapidly鈥� and radically. The Baby Boom gifted 21st-century America with a graying population: there are 78 million Baby Boomers, the first of whom turned 65 in 2011. Today, we鈥檙e turning 65 at a rate of about聽, and 65+-year-olds make up about聽.

惭别补苍飞丑颈濒别,听. The recession and painfully slow recovery mean that retirement savings are in short supply, while many near-retirees have also lost home equity or a job. And because the population is growing older so quickly, programs for the elderly are expected to consume an ever-larger percentage of federal dollars (the projected statistics for 2015 put federal spending for the elderly at聽).

Pretty bleak, huh?

But then there鈥檚 the upside! Americans are living longer, healthier lives than ever before. My friend Bill Zinke of the聽聽calls it the 鈥渓ongevity bonus鈥�: 鈥淭he gift of the 20th century to the 21st,鈥� he says, 鈥渨as 30 extra years of life!鈥� Quality of life is important to us, and we鈥檙e learning more and more about how to get healthy, stay healthy, and make our later years better than ever.

So where does that leave us? A huge chunk of the population is approaching (or surpassing) 鈥渞etirement age,鈥� but retirement鈥攊n the traditional sense鈥攕eems out of reach 鈥� and the economic situation means that we really can鈥檛 afford to have people just sitting around. But even though all people want is JOBS, a staggering 78.5% of businesses聽never hire employees. These businesses are one-person ventures. Meanwhile, however, even if there聽were听箩辞产蝉,听getting聽one would be another thing entirely: rampant ageism in the workforce has left a disproportionately high percentage of聽, draining their savings and forced to rely on government services.

Oh, and don鈥檛 forget! We have three extra decades of health to enjoy our retirement 鈥� or lack thereof.

It seems like a frustrating bundle of insolvable puzzles and Catch 22s, doesn鈥檛 it?

The good new is that it doesn鈥檛 have to be. Introducing one of the most interesting trends in the business world: encore entrepreneurship.

Encore entrepreneur
noun

1. Someone who is 50+ and excited about their 鈥渘ext act鈥�

The U.S. Small Business Administration has a whole聽, and for good reason: among working Baby Boomers,聽.

Encore entrepreneurship solves a number of problems in one fell swoop: staying productive is a great way to stay healthy, and running a business (especially if it centers around something you love doing) is a great way to stay productive for those of us who can鈥檛 afford to spend our entire 鈥渘ext act鈥� volunteering or pursuing a hobby. Furthermore, encore entrepreneurs can keep working without having to get all worked up about the JOBS issue 鈥� and that 鈥渒eep working鈥� bit is just what our economy needs right now (not to mention our wallets!)

In short, the encore trend is paving the way for an increasingly vibrant economy full of healthy people (and saving the government money on social services and elder care costs!)

Welcome to the Age of the Solopreneur.

Solopreneurs are entrepreneurs who work alone. They might be writers, coaches, consultants, or artists. They might be massage therapists or CPAs. They are outsourcing the help they need, treating their time as the precious commodity it is, and using their passion and talents to make a living (and a good one鈥攕uccessful solo businesses can make $100,000 or more a year). Whether they call themselves 鈥渇reelancers,鈥� 鈥渉ome-based businesses,鈥� or 鈥渟elf-employed,鈥澛�.

And yet everyone鈥攆rom the highest-ranked politicians in the federal government to local Small Business Development Centers鈥攊s obsessed with the same old questions:聽Why aren鈥檛 there any jobs? How can we get more of them?

You see, I believe we鈥檙e measuring the wrong thing: we鈥檙e wasting our time talking about JOBS. What we need to be measuring is聽work. Given the huge percentage of solo ventures out there, we need to figure out how to teach solos to be successful, and stop agonizing about the lack of good old 9-5 JOB-jobs. My decades of working with small businesses have made me realize that traditional business wisdom, which focuses on the 鈥減yramid model鈥� of hiring employees, is simply not applicable to solo ventures. Solos need to BE the business and DO the work they love鈥攏ot hire other people to do it for them. I鈥檝e developed some聽, and I鈥檓 convinced it鈥檚 possible for everyone.

But what brings this all full circle is that I鈥檓 convinced that it鈥檚聽especially聽possible for Boomers and seniors. As we鈥檝e already discussed, we鈥檙e seeing more and more encore entrepreneurs, and solopreneurship is the聽easiest way for encores to be in business聽because of its flexibility. So if the idea of starting a business makes you want to run the other way, hang on a second! The internet and all of the e-tools we have available have made solo businesses scalable; geography no longer matters. You can sell your product or service anywhere, anytime.

In addition, many encores already have the basic requirement, the very first principle for successful solopreneurship: they have a lifetime of learning in one particular area, meaning that they have a focused passion for a deep and narrow niche. Bill Zinke of the聽聽calls it 鈥淒ouble ESP鈥�: Boomers and seniors have Experience, Expertise, Seasoned judgment, and Productivity. Doesn鈥檛 that sound like a recipe for a successful business?

Now, I don鈥檛 want to paint too rosy a picture: solopreneurship has it鈥檚 own unique set of challenges. But that, after all, is why I wrote my book,聽Better, Smarter, Richer: 7 Business Principles for Encore, Creative, and Solo Entrepreneurs聽鈥� and started my own solo-encore venture! I would love to hear your entrepreneurial stories and help make your next act better, smarter, and richer鈥�drop me a line听辞谤听!