The Truth About Starting a Business Later in Life

Starting a business later in life wasn't part of my original plan. A year ago, this studio didn't even exist.

Not the collaborations. Not the party inquiries. Not the version of my life where I spend Sunday afternoons clasping bracelets on strangers who leave as something closer to friends. None of it was real yet. What existed was a vision, a stack of spreadsheets, and a lot of ideas I hadn't said out loud to enough people.

Now people walk into Haven and the first thing out of their mouth is almost always the same. "This is so cute." Every time. I could build a drinking game around it if drinking games were appropriate studio activities, which they are not... usually.

Here's the part I wasn't prepared for. I made more money in my first month at Haven than I made in my entire year in the North Loop. Not a slow climb. A jump. The kind of number that makes you sit with your coffee a little longer than usual, doing the math again just to be sure.

And on top of that, multiple businesses have started to reach out to inquire about All That Glitters experiences at their corporate events. Still in negotiations with a few. But the fact that they're asking, that people are looking at this space and seeing something worth partnering with, is its own kind of confirmation I didn't know I was waiting for.

This is the part nobody warns you about. When something stays a dream, it's safe. It costs you nothing to imagine. But the moment it starts becoming real, you have to decide whether you actually believe it's possible, because now there's evidence, and evidence is much harder to argue with than a feeling.

Starting a Business Later in Life Isn't the Hardest Part

Imagining a studio is free. Building one costs money, time, and the particular exhaustion of doing it before and after a full time job that has nothing to do with jewelry or gloss or the way candlelight hits a case of Reserve chains. I know both sides. I spent a doctorate's worth of years being told what success was supposed to look like, and it looked responsible and predictable and nothing like a pink studio filled with charms and cute earrings.

The self-doubt that lies under the surface related to it being a possibility doesn't go away just because the studio has a lease and a sign. It just gets quieter. It shows up at 11pm when I'm restocking inventory instead of watching TV, asking if this is actually working or if I'm just very good at looking busy.

The spreadsheets say it's working.

Why Success Can Feel More Uncomfortable Than Failure

Nobody tells you that hitting a goal can feel disorienting instead of triumphant. I thought the first month outperforming my entire first year would feel like fireworks. It felt more like standing very still and trying to figure out where to put my hands.

I think that's normal. When the thing you built quietly for months starts working loudly, your brain needs a minute to catch up to your bank account (and your incredibly booked calendar).

So I Started Something New Instead of Slowing Down

Most people my age are thinking about slowing down, not doing something new. That's the sentence I keep coming back to, because it's true, and because I did the opposite of what I was supposed to do at this stage. I didn't scale back. I built a second thing from scratch while keeping the first thing intact.

I'm not saying that to be impressive. I'm saying it because I know I'm not the only woman standing in her kitchen at 5am, coffee in hand, wondering if she's allowed to start over even though her life already looks fine on paper. You are. Fine on paper and fulfilled are not the same thing, and it took me longer than I'd like to admit to understand the difference.

Fulfillment Doesn't Have an Expiration Date

It's never too late to be happy and fulfilled. I believe that more now than I did a year ago, not because someone convinced me, but because I'm living proof of it every time someone walks through the door and says this is so cute, or a business reaches out I never expected to hear from, or I close out a month that outpaced an entire previous year.

"This can all become real" isn't a motivational poster. It's just what happened.

What the First Month in My New Studio Has Taught Me

People want more than a product. People want to connect, form memories, and my experiences offer an opportunity to do that, and I'm so lucky that I get to watch that happen in real time, in a space I built while everyone told me to slow down.

If You're Thinking About Starting Something...

Maybe your dream isn't a jewelry studio. Maybe it's writing a book, opening a bakery, changing careers, or finally making space for the thing you've been talking yourself out of.

Whatever it is, don't assume you've missed your chance.

A year ago, this studio didn't exist.

Now it does.

And if you're local, I'd love to welcome you into it. Come visit me, bring a friend, sit down and dream for a bit.

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