I was talking to my mom the other day about changes happening at her company. 🫖 She’s in her 60s, getting closer to retirement, and she said something that stuck with me: “I feel deeply for those who don’t have a backup plan after this. I know a lot of us may wonder who’s going to hire someone in their 60s or older. It’s scary to think about.”And the more I sat with what she said, the more I realized there was probably a little bit of fear for herself underneath that too. My mom has always WERKED. She served her country, raised her kids, built a career, got elected, volunteered—the list goes on. So I asked her, “Mommy…what do YOU actually want to do when you retire?” Not what job could you get next or what would be safest. Your kids are grown. You’ve already spent decades working. What would you choose if you finally got to decide what this next chapter looks like? And I think a lot of folks need to hear this, especially if you’re 60+: you have a much bigger advantage than you realize. You have decades of knowledge, experience, mistakes, relationships and pattern recognition sitting inside of you. Things that feel completely normal because you’ve been doing them for years could be incredibly valuable to a founder, a growing company or someone trying to learn in months what took you decades to understand. That expertise could become consulting, training, advising, mentorship, content, digital products, services or an entirely new business. And AI makes this even more interesting because your experience is the expertise. AI can help you package, organize and amplify it. Experience can mean recognizing problems faster, asking better questions and needing far less time to get up to speed. Experience saves time, and time has value. So if you’re watching the workplace change around you, please don’t automatically translate that into “my opportunities are disappearing.” You may not need to start over. You may need to start looking at everything you already know differently. The training wheels are off. You don’t have to wait for another company to decide you’re valuable.

I would love to make extra money