When Joseph Loria was laid off from his job in January 2023, he looked for a job where he wouldn’t be subject to the whims of his employer.
“It’s about me leaning on my age and experience as an asset versus being ‘too old’ for the startup world,” Loria, 61, said.
Nearly one in four new businesses started in 2023 were in the professional services sector, according to data from Gusto, a small business payroll company. Also, among businesses started by people 55 and older in 2023, about 35% were in the professional services sector. To gather its data, Gusto surveyed 1,345 new business owners of all ages between late January and early March using its payroll platform.
“It may just be that older entrepreneurs have spent their careers in professional services and are looking to do something they know,” said Nich Tremper, senior economist at Gusto, on why older entrepreneurs are launching startups in the professional services industry. .
Loria said RetentionCX is a continuation of the user experience work he’s done throughout his career. Now he is his own boss and independent entrepreneur who can decide everything. Loria declined to be specific revenue or sales data with Business Insider.
Using career experience to build a business
Loria graduated from Tulane with a degree in chemical engineering. He worked as a project manager for a medical device company for 13 years before moving into executive roles in customer experience and technical management at software companies.
In recent years, however, Loria has become disillusioned: After he was laid off, he received two job offers, but neither materialized, he said.
He never thought of himself as an entrepreneur, but he wanted to do something more creative that felt more purposeful than his previous jobs.
“I wanted to build something,” Loria said. “I wanted to enjoy work in a way that I felt was sustainable and not subject to the whims of other people.”
One month after launch, he had three customers. Today, he handles three to five clients at a time and runs the business part-time.
“It’s something I can own and I can build my own value,” he said.
Relying on your age as a business value
Loria knew starting a business was risky, so he reached out to his network of trusted colleagues for advice and reassurance before venturing out on his own. He said his age and years of experience are more of an asset than a hindrance.
“A lot of younger founders end up hitting the wall because of their lack of experience; they don’t know what they don’t know,” Loria said. “I can tell you how it’s going to go, and I want to help you avoid pitfalls A, B, and C.”
At RetentionCX, Loria said most of his clients are young founders in their 20s and 30s building tech companies. He said there was a “natural fit” between the younger and older founders: he appreciated the courage and drive of the younger founders and felt he could provide the wisdom he had developed over the years.
He also said that being an entrepreneur can be daunting, and he feels fulfilled by helping young founders.
Loria said taking the company to market over the past year has been a whirlwind, but he’s enjoying the adrenaline rush of building his own creative brand.
Are you an older American looking to start a business? This reporter wants to hear your story. Please contact jtowfighi@businessinsider.com.