Lucinda Lawson, a one-time university professor, was 48 when she became the owner of the Clifton Wine Shop & Tasting Room in Clifton, Virginia, three years ago. She’s among the many baby boomers and gen Xers who are switching gears and turning to entrepreneurship in the second halves of their lives.
The percentage of entrepreneurs ages 55 to 64 grew from 14 percent in 1996 to 23 percent in 2013, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The savviest of these late-blooming entrepreneurs know better than to rely on hunches when evaluating whether to move forward with a prospective business.
