Hello, I’m Jackie and it’s so lovely to have you here
If we were chatting across a kitchen table with a cup of tea, I’d probably start with something simple and honest: I’m not a business guru with letters after my name, but I do have a “degree” in work life.
I’m a woman in her sixties who’s lived a full working life – 29 jobs over 30 years plus, to be exact. I’ve experienced caring, loss, starting again, trying things that didn’t work, and slowly, finally, shaping work that fits who I actually am.
That’s what Older Bolder Club is all about: practical, warm, no-nonsense support for people 50+ who want to create income in a way that feels right, whatever their reason for wanting it.
The Story Behind Older Bolder Club
My working life has been, well, let’s call it “varied.“
I joined the RAF young, out of school and it was my dream from childhood, and I loved it. It was the right fit. But I left after 10 years, (for a man, and as it turns out, it wasn’t my wisest decision), and I never quite found my stride again after that.
What followed were decades of office jobs that paid the bills but never quite fit. Jobs I tolerated rather than loved. The kind where Sunday evenings made me feel sick before Monday mornings.
Then I stopped working for five years to care for my mum. It was meaningful, exhausting, and often joyful work, the kind that uses every skill you have such as organisation, emotional intelligence, problem-solving, patience, communication, resilience, responsibility.
But when that chapter ended and I was ready to work again, the job market didn’t know what to do with me. Despite a lifetime of experience, I’d apparently been “out of the system too long.”
I didn’t fit into a recruiters box.
Never mind that caring for a human demands more skills than most jobs ever do. Real skills. The kind that actually matter.
I eventually took a part-time role in social care to pay the bills, that’s the reality of most people’s lives, right?
I am no different to you, and like I said I am no guru!.
But I knew after a short time that something had shifted in me. The structure of traditional employment, being somewhere between set hours, requesting permission for time off, no longer fit who I’d become.
It wasn’t about my job or my colleagues, who were lovely. It was about me. I’d changed.
Caring had changed me.
And I needed to think differently about what “work” could look like going forward.
And I knew I probably would be working beyond the retirement age so generously extended by the UK government, because stepping out the workplace had a major impact on my personal pension and long term finances.
So, in addition to a part time job, I had to do something, had to take my own advice and began using my spare time differently. I wanted to create something more “me” – something with purpose, something useful, something that could support me part time as I move toward my retirement years and beyond.
And here’s what I realised:
All those years of changing jobs, trying to find the right fit, feeling like I was in the wrong place? That wasn’t failure. That was research.
I now understand work and employment in a way that only comes from living it the frustration, the rejection, the “should I stay or should I go” moments, the courage it takes to start again.
And I know many people over 50 feel exactly the same.
Not ready to stop. But ready for something different.
Absolutely ready to create something that feels “on purpose.”
That’s who this is for. That’s why I’m here.
My aim is to help people in their 50s, 60s and beyond like you, to realise you have choices.
And that it’s absolutely possible to design a life, and a modest, steady income, that feels purposeful and fulfilling.
It is all possible.
You just have to want something different and be prepared to put the effort in.
I’m Walking This Path Too
And just so you know, because I want to be transparent, I’m building Older Bolder Club while working part-time to pay my bills.
There’s no hidden pot of cash and no Porsche on the driveway and definitely no “I built this in 30 days and so can you ” nonsense.
Just a woman in her sixties building something that feels exactly right for me, step by step, exactly the way many of you will be doing it too.
That lived reality shapes everything I share like:
- sensible plans
- steady progress
- small steps
- clear, practical action
I appreciate you might only have evenings.
I also appreciate you might be juggling caring, health issues, full or part-time work and so on.
I get it!
The key to it all is,
- reacquaint yourself with who you are and what you have going for you
- decide what you want to do and how you want to do it
- shape it into something and start to do something with it over time and see if it works.
I Help People With…
Finding the right idea
- Often the best idea is already sitting inside your own life experience.
Creating something manageable
- Small beginnings. Simple structures. No overwhelm.
Designing work around your life
- Your energy and wellbeing matter. Your boundaries matter too.
Building alongside full or part-time work
- Practical, doable steps, no pressure to jump ship if you can’t or don’t want to.
Handling the natural barriers
- Procrastination, doubt, overwhelm, all very normal feelings and all solvable.
Moving from thinking to doing
- Most people don’t lack ideas. They lack clarity, a place to start and a bit of confidence to begin.
The Older Bolder Approach
Everything I do is grounded in these principles:
- Warm, but not fluffy
- Practical, but not clinical
- Supportive, but honest
- Step-by-step, not all at once
- Rooted in personal experience
- Created for people who value common sense
No shiny promises, no complicated systems, no silly stuff.
Just clear, grounded guidance for people who want to build something steady and fitting.
A Final Thought
If you’ve been thinking about creating your own income, even something modest, this could be your moment to begin.
Not with pressure. Not with perfection. Just with a willingness to start.
Because the truth is simple:
“The results we want come from the effort we actually make not the effort we imagine making.”
And if you’re ready to begin, then welcome again.
Remember, as George Addair reminds us
Everything you ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear