MPR’s senior economics contributor Chris Farrell has long reported on the economics of second-act entrepreneurs. He interviewed Courtney Burton, who is running two businesses in her encore, and joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to talk about what he learned.

Among the more striking economic and social trends in the past several decades is the rise of the second-act entrepreneur. The catchphrase captures older adults who retire from their primary career later in life and start a new business in their next chapter.

People who are 55-64 years old account for about a quarter of new entrepreneurs in recent years. These entrepreneurs include everyone from the solopreneur to the ambitious founder launching an enterprise with several employees. Whatever the size, scale and scope of the small business, second-act entrepreneurs add to the dynamism of our communities.

Interview Transcript

Intro 0:00

The Programming is supported by the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation, working across the state with donors and their advisors to make a lasting impact on communities. We are where giving grows, more at SPMCF.org/WhereGivingGrows.

Cathy Wurzer 0:17

Among the more striking economic and social trends the past several decades is the rise of the second act entrepreneur. The catchphrase captures older adults who retire from their primary career later in life and start a new business and their next chapter. Folks who are 55 to 64 years old account for about a quarter of new entrepreneurs in recent years. These entrepreneurs include everyone from the solopreneur to the ambitious founder launching an enterprise with several employees. Whatever the size, scale and scope of the small business, second act entrepreneurs add to the dynamism of our communities. MPR's senior economics contributor Chris Farrell has long reported on the economics of second act entrepreneurs. You recently talked with Courtney Burton. Courtney is running two businesses in her encore. Oh my gosh, Chris is here to talk about now one by two businesses Courtney Burton is running, oh my goodness, introduce her to us.

Chris Farrell 1:14

Okay. So, you know, like many people who are doing this encore career you want to bring in income but also doing something that you're passionate about that gives you purpose. So, as you mentioned, two gigs. So one is career coach:

Courtney Burton 1:28

My coaching practice is for individuals that are looking for career development, or changing careers, or retirement.

Cathy Wurzer 1:39

Okay, that's fun, and the other?

Chris Farrell 1:41

Okay, I'm going to answer this slightly differently, Cathy. Let me answer that question with some music.

Cathy Wurzer 2:05

Wow, so is her other business being a singer?

Chris Farrell 2:09

That's right. So she's singing the 1940 hit "Imagination", and that's with the Big Beasley Band and she has a regular gig with the band it's a group of musicians that play classic Big Band jazz from the 40s, the 50s and the 60s, and the band was founded in 1991 by the late Chuck Beasley, and he recruited her to sing for them some two decades ago.

Courtney Burton 2:29

I never thought I'd land in the big band world, old-school jazz standards. That's my sweet spot. I have become an advocate for keeping this uniquely American. art form alive. I had mentors in that band, including Chuck, they were World War Two vets, they lived this music the first time around, or were taught by people who were there at the very beginning of big band. And so, part of it is to keep their legacy alive. But also, the more I listened to the music, learn the nuances of the music. It just doesn't get any better for me.

Chris Farrell 3:08

And Cathy, I just want to add she's also creative director and lead vocalist for her jazz ensemble, Court's in Session.

Cathy Wurzer 3:15

Oh my god, that's so cool. Okay, so what was her main career, way at the beginning?

Chris Farrell 3:20

Okay, so most of her career was in retail. I mean, she was a merchant for several big retailers, Target, CVS, Albertsons. The last 11 years of her career, she worked as a broker and she was representing small companies selling private label products to Target. And her side hustle was mostly singing jazz. In 2018 at age 60, she decided to make a big change to take a leap. She retired from retailing although, you know, Cathy, I don't think retirement is quite the right word for her next chapter.

Courtney Burton 3:51

And I decided I didn't want to be that 60 year old in the office. I'm up on things. I'm technically savvy, I do all that, but I know there comes a point in any group where you're "that" person, and it's like I'm gonna go out on my own accord. We were also dealing with some family issues. My mother was at the end stage of her dementia journey at that point. So, 2018 was my exit plan. The year 2019 was my first year on my own, and I thought, oh, I'm going to do my music full time finally. I still have my voice, I don't know how long this is going to last, I gotta do it now.

Chris Farrell 4:30

So, she figured well, why not? Let's turn my passion into a small business.

Cathy Wurzer 4:36

Okay, so I get the passion for music. Where does the coaching part come in?

Chris Farrell 4:39

Okay, so the idea was music would be her main business and coaching would be her side hustle. Now she'd always enjoyed mentoring people, help them figure out their career path, but it was the music that drove her encore. That is, until the pandemic of 2020. And like many entrepreneurs, Cathy, she had to quickly pivot. So she took advantage of the time to create an infrastructure for her music business. She relied on coaching to bring in an income.

Courtney Burton 5:06

I had people coming to me that were like, "I don't know what the heck just happened. I need support". So, I've never actually advertised my coaching practice, people have found me word of mouth.

Chris Farrell 5:22

Coaching and music they're about equal you know, half and half. So she's taking her passion for mentoring people, her passion for music and built two small businesses, which I think is really cool.

Cathy Wurzer 5:34

It is cool. The transition though, as you know, from side hustle to full time business kind of difficult, to say the least.

Chris Farrell 5:40

Oh yeah. And we talked about that. I mean, look, she had savings and her financial planner told her if she brought in an income to transition would work out monetarily. She also worked with a coach who told her she was emotionally ready, you know, to make the move. So she tapped into her skills that she had developed earlier in her career such as a willingness to sell, and her music business has evolved into a portfolio of offerings such as events.

Courtney Burton 6:05

I love creating nurturing, safe spaces for people to experience humanity, whether it be their own or someone else's. I do that in the coaching practice. And that's really the essence of my music business. So one of the things that I've done is started to work with a lot of event planners, move into the event space. And what we do is the perfect background music for events and so I can leverage then all my years in corporate America, my sales, because I go into an event planner, and I say, I have a service business and that service is music. Let me help you make this event something that's absolutely memorable.

Cathy Wurzer 6:50

Now that's unusual. I like that. Is she busy with the holidays? Is she's singing for the holidays? Where is she so we can listen to her?

Chris Farrell 6:56

Absolutely. She's very busy. So probably the quickest thing to do is go to her website, CourtneyBurtonMusic.com And then you get more information about where she's singing at Cathy. I thought we should end our conversation a little bit differently, but with Courtney singing. This is the 1952 song, "That's All," with her jazz band.