Debbie Mann, with a friend's pooch in Waterloo, Ont., plans to go full-time with her pet/owner consulting business when she retires in two years.Alicia Wynter/The Globe and Mail
Back in April 2024, Michele Parkin’s life was turned upside down, although it was mostly her own doing. At 59, she’d chosen to be packaged out by her employer the University of Victoria and was ready to start a new life phase.
“I retired on a Friday, and on Sunday I was on a plane to Malaysia,” she says now from her hotel room in northern Spain after having just hiked a portion of the Camino de Santiago in early October. “It just seemed like the right time. I was ready to leave.”
Yet, despite her current jet-setting ways, Ms. Parkin is hardly a typical retired tourist. She’s also building an arbitration business, helping clients resolve disputes without jamming up the courts with civil litigation cases. This consulting work draws on her prior experience in dispute resolution for universities and colleges.
Within the past few months, between globetrotting and downsizing her home back in Victoria, Ms. Parkin has finalized her branding and website and will attend a slew of conferences later in the fall to network.
“I’m told it can take a couple of years to build a steady practice – and while that’s happening, I’m travelling,” she says.
Michelle Parkin, photographed in Spain after hiking the Camino de Santiago, is building an arbitration consulting business.Supplied
Boosting retirement income
Ms. Parkin is far from alone in eschewing retirement to launch a full- or part-time consulting career. For some women, the move is a retirement alternative – they enjoy working but yearn for more “me time.” For others, going it alone promises more control. No more glass ceiling, dismissive managers, systemic ageism or being passed over for a leadership position, again.
Yet, for every woman who chooses consulting for career or lifestyle reasons, there are many more who continue to work out of financial necessity. According to a 2024 report from Ontario’s Pay Equity Office, Canadian women retire with 17 per cent less retirement income than men. Known as the Gender Pension Gap (GPG), it means that women, on average, receive only $0.83 for every dollar a man gets in retirement funding. (That includes income from government pensions, workplace pensions and personal savings.)
Even launching a small business may be out of reach for many Canadian women, says Sarah Kaplan, founding director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) and professor of strategic management at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto.
“If we’re talking about the elite, women who are bankers at one of the big five banks, I’m not so worried about them financially,” she says. “I think there’s another story to be told about women who are cashiers though. What happens when they’re packaged out and they’re 55?”
Going all-in on a side hustle
At 68, Debbie Mann expects she’ll have to be creative to pull in more money in retirement. She’s the business development manager for Festivals & Events Ontario, a not-for-profit association in Kitchener, Ont., but she says that when she retires in two years, she won’t be kicking back. She can’t afford to. Besides, vivacious and friendly, Ms. Mann wants to stay connected to people – and dogs, as it turns out.
Earlier this year she followed her puppy-loving heart and started a consulting business, Creating Canine Connections, which helps dog owners understand their canine pets better and create a more harmonious household. For now, the venture is strictly part-time, but she plans to give it her full attention in 2026.
She’s nervous though. Although Ms. Mann has gained respect in her current industry, she worries how ageism may affect her career once she goes solo.
“You know, I have grey hair, but my brain isn’t fried,” she says. “There is so much that women in their 50s and 60s bring to the table.”
Anna Harvey, a certified retirement life coach and founder of Boost Potential in Victoria, B.C., wholeheartedly agrees. When it comes to retirement today, the landscape has changed as lifespans grow.
“The woman who’s retiring right now? Decades ago, she would have been considered old,” says Ms. Harvey. “Whereas a woman who’s 40 to 65 is considered being in middle adulthood now. There are many years ahead of her.”
Consulting tips to consider
If you’re thinking of launching a consulting business, Ms. Harvey says there are a few factors to consider:
- Know thyself. Ask yourself if you are comfortable with the financial and professional risk that’s inherent in entrepreneurship. You’ll have to navigate ebbs and flows in payment. Do you have the emotional resiliency and financial means to weather that?
- Check your time. Ms. Harvey has clients use a calendar to block off how many hours they can realistically give the consulting business alongside hobbies, travel, caring for grandchildren and health appointments. For some, it’s a wake-up call.
- Be realistic. You can call the shots about how many clients you take and the hours you work, but you may have to adjust when there’s a deadline bearing down. Just be sure to watch out for “scope creep” (when a project’s completion requirements go beyond what was initially agreed upon).
As for Ms. Parkin, she’s enjoying balancing time on the road with building her arbitration business. Most of her services can be offered online, so she’ll be able to work virtually anywhere.
And when it’s time to call it quits? She’ll know. But she doesn’t expect that anytime soon. Arbitration requires something she’s built over time: wisdom and experience. In fact, they’re selling features.
“So, it’s my hope I’ll get a decade or better out of this career,” she says.
