Becoming an entrepreneur is something that can happen at any stage of your life.
For every ambitious graduate straight out of business school, there are many more people who are discovering an alternate path: that you can buy a business and reinvent your career, no matter what age you are.
In 2026, corporate careers are less stable than ever, and workers are increasingly turning to business ownership as a way of reclaiming their financial stability and job security.
In fact, in BusinessesForSale.com’s Ownership Economy Index 2026 – a large-scale survey of attitudes to entrepreneurship across the UK which will soon be released in full – 60% of UK adults said corporate careers were less secure than they used to be. Meanwhile, 58% of 45-55 year olds agreed that workers are increasingly turning to business ownership after leaving corporate roles.
However, that doesn’t mean that entering the world of entrepreneurship isn’t without its challenges. For this article, we spoke to a business owner who reinvented himself as a second-act entrepreneur, who spoke candidly about the difficulties involved.
If you’re thinking about going down the same path, hopefully it’ll give you a sense of where both the risks and the opportunities lie.
The Advantages of Buying, Not Building
Richard Hand spent more than 20 years in financial services and consulting, including roles with the Big Four accountancy firms, before finding himself increasingly frustrated by the demands of corporate life.
Constant travel, long hours and a punishing commute from Eastbourne to London left him feeling as though he had lost control of his work-life balance. In 2016 he decided to take a different path, leaving behind a successful corporate career to launch a trampoline park business called Urban Jump.
While the business opportunity looked promising on paper, getting Urban Jump off the ground required a significant financial commitment. Hand spent much of 2016 juggling his consulting career with raising capital, securing premises, building the brand and preparing the business for launch. The venture required substantial upfront investment and was heavily debt-funded from the outset, with loans secured against his personal assets.
Looking back, he describes the arrangement as "incredibly risky", admitting that he underestimated just how much risk he was taking on. The pressure was compounded by the fact that, over time, he realised he was “the only person with skin in the game”, and that he would take on all the financial exposure if the business failed.
Part of the challenge was the nature of the business itself. Unlike many service-based companies, Urban Jump was an asset-heavy operation that required substantial upfront investment before it could generate meaningful revenue. Premises had to be secured and fitted out, specialist equipment installed, staff recruited and systems put in place long before customers started coming through the door.
As a result, Hand spent years servicing debt and repaying capital while simultaneously trying to grow the business. Not every entrepreneurial venture carries this level of financial exposure, but his experience highlights the importance of understanding exactly what a business will require before you commit to it.
This might all sound a bit daunting, but there is some good news for entrepreneurs thinking of starting a second act. One of the main advantages of buying a business is that you get to skip some of the perils of the startup phase – as well as some of the costs.
When you buy instead of building a business, you begin with an established client base, a history of trading and systems already in place. As long as you’ve done your due diligence thoroughly, you should have a clear picture of exactly how much debt you’re taking on. While acquisitions can still involve borrowing, many entrepreneurs find they can reduce some of the upfront costs and financial exposure associated with building a business entirely from scratch.
Tip: For a more detailed breakdown of deal structures, lenders, and common financing mistakes, read our guide How to Finance Buying a Business: Everything You Need to Know.
The Decline of the Corporate Career
The important takeaway here is that if you’re reinventing yourself as an entrepreneur, you should know what you’re getting into.
Think of it as running towards, not running away from – without a detailed business plan and thorough due diligence, you could be walking into a different kind of insecurity. But done right, entrepreneurship through acquisition is a powerful path to professional and personal freedom.
The Ownership Economy Index 2026 contained more eye-opening stats about workers declining confidence in corporate careers. 57% of UK adults believe that workers over 50 face significant barriers to progressing in corporate careers, while 76% believe workers over 50 struggle to find new jobs.
In the current economic climate, it’s no surprise that people like Richard are opting to take their skills and experience and bring them into a new career on their own terms.
Another crucial difference between workers and business owners was the level of satisfaction they reported with their work. 82% of business owners said they feel fulfilled in their work, compared to 60% of employees. The difference is passion – you’re working towards a career that you’ve chosen, rather than an obligation.
Beginning a Third Act?
Keeping hold of that passion is crucial. After struggling to stay afloat during the COVID pandemic – and wrestling with a large insurance claim that collapsed – Richard realised he had fallen out of love with his business, and that it was time to sell. He listed Urban Jump on BusinessesForSale.com, and eventually sold it in April 2026.
When I ask him what he has been doing since the sale, he says he has been taking some time to recover and decompress after nearly a decade of running the business. Yet despite the many stresses and challenges he faced launching and growing Urban Jump, he is not ready to walk away from entrepreneurship altogether.
"One of the ideas was just to sit out for a while and retire, but I think that's not me," he says. Instead, he is already planning another reinvention – a third act. The difference is that this time, he has a clearer idea of what success looks like. As he puts it: "I don't want to feel like I'm fighting to survive. I want to feel energised by fighting to grow."