Wisepreneurs | Women Entrepreneurs Over 50 Monetizing Expertise – Details, episodes & analysis

Margareta Křížová shares six questions that replace the traditional business plan for independent professionals going freelance after 50. She co-founded a boutique M&A advisory firm in Prague in 1993 and sold her equity stake at 53 to rebuild as an independent freelancer.

She now combines selective M&A advisory work with entrepreneurship mentoring, runs the NEWTON University Business Accelerator, now in its fifth year, and has published two books including Third Career on building a professional life after 50. Margareta explains why she refuses to read business plans longer than two pages and describes the financial blind spot she calls invisible work, where freelancers fail to count their own hours.

The conversation covers how she uses ChatGPT with Keith Cunningham's The Road Less Stupid as a virtual thinking partner, why side hustles work as a low-risk transition from corporate employment, and what the NEWTON accelerator's intergenerational mix teaches about starting businesses.

Mentions: The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham. ChatGPT, NotebookLM. NEWTON University Business Accelerator.

Connect with Margareta: website: margaretakrizova.com | LinkedIn Margareta Křížová

Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice.

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Connect with Nigel Rawlins

website https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wisepreneurs

Downloads

• Embodied Intelligence Self-Assessment
• Professional Reputation Audit

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/free-assessments/

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Janine Garner helps women entrepreneurs over 50 turn accumulated expertise into independent consulting practices that charge what professional judgment is worth. After 20 years in corporate marketing, finishing as group marketing director for the Oroton Group overseeing Oroton and Ralph Lauren brands across Australia and Asia, Janine built a seven-figure mentoring business focused on expertise monetisation for experienced women leaving corporate careers.

In this conversation, Janine explains why experienced women consistently underprice themselves when starting independent practices, often earning less per hour than a fast-food worker despite decades of professional knowledge. She shares her days-down-dollars-up business strategy for restructuring consulting offers around value rather than time.

Janine breaks down the four-role network model from her book It's Who You Know: promoters who champion you, teachers who stretch your thinking, pit crew who keep you on track, and butt kickers who drive action. She explains why true collaboration requires curiosity rather than transaction, and how to codify implicit professional knowledge into saleable intellectual property.

The conversation also draws on Professor Ron Heifetz's work at Harvard Kennedy School on the professional, familial, and ancestral voices that shape career decisions. Janine describes building a business for a client in her sixties who wanted to work exclusively with CEOs from her caravan.

Mentions and references: It's Who You Know, Be Brilliant, and From Me to We by Janine Garner. Professor Ron Heifetz, Harvard Kennedy School. Melissa Liberman, executive coach.

Connect with Janine: janinegarner.com.au| LinkedIn: Janine Garner

Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice. Subscribe for new episodes.

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins

website https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wisepreneurs

Downloads

• Embodied Intelligence Self-Assessment
• Professional Reputation Audit

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/free-assessments/

Please support the podcast
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Thirty years of full-time independent practice, booked 18 months ahead, with no formal business training. Artist Mark Trinham offers one of the most practical case studies on the Wisepreneurs Podcast for how accumulated expertise becomes sustainable revenue when you learn to position it as premium capability.

Mark moved from illustration and graphic design into public art and large-scale sculpture, developing a business model through trial and decades of learning when to say yes and when to say no. 

His collaboration company amplifies rather than dilutes his creative voice, and his positioning around environmental connection and place-based storytelling commands premium rates from clients who seek him out rather than the other way around.

The conversation covers pricing without business training, how collaboration creates revenue stability for independent practitioners, and why Mark is now creating space for fine art practice after 30 years of commissioned work.

This is not a motivational interview about following your passion. It is practical insight into what it takes to build recognised expertise, navigate pricing on your own terms, and sustain independent creative work across several decades.

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Projects & Artworks:

• Torquay Mosaic Sundial (1995) - Mark's first public art project
• Diamantina Shire Land Art, near Betoota
• Wildlife Collector Cards Project (2009-2014) 

Publications:

• Bush Tails, The Quest by Ali Cork, illustrated by Mark Trinham

Music:

• Moonah (band) 5th CD "Ghost Country"
• Lucy and The Night Sky - Mark & his Moonah bandmates as supporting musicians.
• Nightjar Independent Arts Festival

Contact & Portfolio:

• Instagram: @marktrinham - Mark's primary platform for current work updates and posts
• Facebook: 
• Website: marktrinham.com.au (currently under development/updating

Mark also mentioned owning property in Northern New South Wales rainforest where he's

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins

website https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wisepreneurs

Downloads

• Embodied Intelligence Self-Assessment
• Professional Reputation Audit

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/free-assessments/

Please support the podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

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• Don't miss out on these invaluable resources
• Subscribe now and gain the edge you need to survive and thrive as a wisepreneur

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Positioning accumulated professional judgment when younger consultants cost less and AI handles routine knowledge work. Jon Younger has spent five decades understanding how talent evolves — from HR executive to independent advisor on the future of work and AI. 

At 73, he addresses the challenge experienced professionals rarely voice: how do you justify premium rates in an era of automation? 

• Jon explains why diagnostic capabilities built over decades remain valuable despite AI
• How the traditional four-stage career model breaks down, and 
• What business architecture independent practitioners actually need

You'll hear specific frameworks for using AI as cognitive amplification rather than content generator, and how to maintain intellectual engagement while managing finite energy. Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice.

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Resources Mentioned

• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• RBL Group (Robert Baker Lawrence Group) 
• Matt Mottola of Human Cloud on freelancing and future of work research
• Outlier AI (owned by Scale AI) 
• Turing, 
• Brain Trust 
• Surge AI 
• Kaklachra 
• Mercor
• ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro
• Gleicher's Formula for Change
• Career Stages Model
• The Hamming Question

Contact Jon Younger
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-younger-phd-57a41455/

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins

website https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wisepreneurs

Downloads

• Embodied Intelligence Self-Assessment
• Professional Reputation Audit

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/free-assessments/

Please support the podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Stay one step ahead with The Wisepreneurs Insider newsletter
As a subscriber, you'll get:

• Sneak peeks at upcoming must-listen podcast episodes and guests
• Bonus wisdom straight from recent guest experts
• Marketing tips to attract your ideal clients
• Productivity hacks to streamline your independent business
• And more exclusive insights are delivered right to your inbox!
• Don't miss out on these invaluable resources
• Subscribe now and gain the edge you need to survive and thrive as a wisepreneur

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Forest therapy as cognitive restoration for over-connected professionals who keep optimising when they need to stop. Mayumi Kataoka is a certified forest therapy guide in Sydney who takes professionals on three-hour walks covering barely 1.2 kilometres.

Participants consistently report losing track of time and finding clarity they did not know they were missing.

Mayumi's path from IT professional and martial arts instructor to nature photographer to forest therapy guide built the observational capacity she now brings to her practice.

She explains the science behind shinrin-yoku, why our genes expect natural environments, and how systematic sensory engagement creates measurable cognitive benefits.

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Connect with Mayumi Kataoka

Website (Individual Practice): forestminds.com

Website (Collective): foresttherapycollectivensw.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/forestminds

Books discussed: Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul, The Distracted Mind by Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen

Key concepts: shinrin-yoku (Japanese forest bathing backed by 40 years of research), biophilia hypothesis (E.O. Wilson), 4E cognition (embodied, embedded, enacted, extended)

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins

website https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wisepreneurs

Downloads

• Embodied Intelligence Self-Assessment
• Professional Reputation Audit

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/free-assessments/

Please support the podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Stay one step ahead with The Wisepreneurs Insider newsletter
As a subscriber, you'll get:

• Sneak peeks at upcoming must-listen podcast episodes and guests
• Bonus wisdom straight from recent guest experts
• Marketing tips to attract your ideal clients
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• And more exclusive insights are delivered right to your inbox!
• Don't miss out on these invaluable resources
• Subscribe now and gain the edge you need to survive and thrive as a wisepreneur

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Anna Burgess Yang helps experienced solopreneurs build automation systems that keep an independent practice running when the founder cannot work. Her FinTech writing business ran for two months while she recovered from brain tumour surgery, proving her operational frameworks worked under the hardest possible test.

Anna walks through the specific tools and workflows that made this possible, from Zapier automations generating social media content to the financial buffers that eliminated money stress during recovery.

She explains how three years of systematic business building, including strategic financial planning, emergency preparation, and operational architecture, transformed her independent practice from vulnerable to resilient. 

Her approach treats automation not as a productivity hack but as the structural foundation that prevents a solo business from collapsing when the founder cannot work.

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Tools discussed: Zapier, Airtable, Trello, Buffer, ChatGPT Pro, Canva, Loom, Reflect, Obsidian

Connect with Anna:

• Website: start.annabyang.com (landing page with free resources and links to all platforms)
• LinkedIn: Anna Burgess Yang https://www.linkedin.com/in/annabyang/
• Newsletter: Available through her website

Previous Episode:  https://www.wisepreneurs.au/mastering-tools-processes-anna-burgess-yang/

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins

website https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wisepreneurs

Downloads

• Embodied Intelligence Self-Assessment
• Professional Reputation Audit

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/free-assessments/

Please support the podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Stay one step ahead with The Wisepreneurs Insider newsletter
As a subscriber, you'll get:

• Sneak peeks at upcoming must-listen podcast episodes and guests
• Bonus wisdom straight from recent guest experts
• Marketing tips to attract your ideal clients
• Productivity hacks to streamline your independent business
• And more exclusive insights are delivered right to your inbox!
• Don't miss out on these invaluable resources
• Subscribe now and gain the edge you need to survive and thrive as a wisepreneur

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Career reinvention at 80, mastering AI tools, Obsidian, and Zotero to write a scientific book he never planned. 

Dr Michael Best practised medicine for 50 years before a routine phone call during COVID introduced him to the endocannabinoid system — a biological network in every human body that he'd never learned about in medical school. 

Now he's deep into original research, proving that intellectual challenge sustains cognitive vitality rather than diminishing it. 

• Michael reveals why mainstream medicine ignores what patients experience 
• How accumulated expertise transforms technology from threat to strategic advantage, and 
• Why serendipity combined with professional curiosity creates meaningful work beyond traditional retirement

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Resources Mentioned

• Dr. Michael Best's upcoming book: The Science Beneath Medicinal Cannabis
• Obsidian note-taking app: https://obsidian.md
• Zotero reference manager: https://www.zotero.org
• Claude AI: https://claude.ai (AI research assistant Michael uses)
• ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com (Initial AI tool Michael explored)
• Dr. Michael Best on LinkedIn: [would add link if provided]

Names Mentioned on This Podcast

Hazel Edwards (author, publisher, and Michael's mentor—Michael describes himself as one of her "Hazelnuts") was my guest on episode 43 ,
Luc P. Beaudoin (Canadian cognitive scientist on LinkedIn who discusses "cognitively potent tools")

Connect With Dr Michael Best on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-best-2b588133b/

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins

website https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wisepreneurs

Downloads

• Embodied Intelligence Self-Assessment
• Professional Reputation Audit

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/free-assessments/

Please support the podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Stay one step ahead with The Wisepreneurs Insider newsletter
As a subscriber, you'll get:

• Sneak peeks at upcoming must-listen podcast episodes and guests
• Bonus wisdom straight from recent guest experts
• Marketing tips to attract your ideal clients
• Productivity hacks to streamline your independent business
• And more exclusive insights are delivered right to your inbox!
• Don't miss out on these invaluable resources
• Subscribe now and gain the edge you need to survive and thrive as a wisepreneur

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Professional reputation built through decades of relationships beats personal branding built through content marketing. 

Robert Vlach leads Europe's largest freelance community, supporting over 250,000 professionals. 

In this three-hour conversation, our longest episode, he explains why experienced independent professionals should stop competing with younger workers on their terms. 

• Robert covers why pattern recognition from 20+ years of practice creates unbeatable market advantages, 
• How career capital converts to client relationships
• Why experience commands premium rates, and 
• How critical thinking separates seasoned professionals from AI-assisted competitors

He wrote The Freelance Way and has spent two decades working with freelance communities across Europe, building the frameworks that inform this conversation.

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Connect with Robert:

• Book: The Freelance Way (available via Harper Collins worldwide) https://freelanceway.eu/ or available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/9354893228/
• Community: Freelancing.eu - Europe's most comprehensive freelance resource directory
• Website: https://freelancing.eu/robertvlach/

We also have a YouTube version of this podcast found here: https://youtu.be/rvJfsV3nMBU?si=vA0uM2mG_7hHkLtb

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins

website https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wisepreneurs

Downloads

• Embodied Intelligence Self-Assessment
• Professional Reputation Audit

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/free-assessments/

Please support the podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Stay one step ahead with The Wisepreneurs Insider newsletter
As a subscriber, you'll get:

• Sneak peeks at upcoming must-listen podcast episodes and guests
• Bonus wisdom straight from recent guest experts
• Marketing tips to attract your ideal clients
• Productivity hacks to streamline your independent business
• And more exclusive insights are delivered right to your inbox!
• Don't miss out on these invaluable resources
• Subscribe now and gain the edge you need to survive and thrive as a wisepreneur

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Menopause and cognitive performance for professional women: when brain fog, fatigue, and memory loss threaten your career edge, the problem is medical science, not you. 

Amy Alkon is an award-winning investigative science writer and author of Going Menopostal. She exposes the gap between what medical research knows about menopausal care and what most doctors actually provide, leaving accomplished women to mistake a solvable physiological issue for burnout or professional decline. 

Amy explains why self-advocacy matters when the medical system fails to connect menopause with cognitive symptoms, and what the science actually supports for protecting your mind during this transition. 

For experienced professional women whose accumulated expertise depends on cognitive sharpness, this episode reframes menopause from career threat to manageable physiological event. 

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Resources Mentioned

• Amy Alkon's Book: Going Menopostal: What You and Your Doctor Need to Know About the Real Science of Menopause and Perimenopause
• Amy's website: https://www.amyalkon.net/
• Amy Alkon's subscriber list: Get updates from Amy at subscribers@amyalkon.net
• Amy Alkon on LinkedIin: https://www.linedin.com/in/amy-alkon-286691/
  
  Names Mentioned on this podcast
  Scott Alexander, Zoe Harcombe, Mike Eades, Mary Dan Eades, Albert Ellis, Catherine Eban, Richard Dawkins, Maryanne Demasi, Amy Dresner, Epictetus, Freud, Dr. Helen (Helen Smith), Stephen King, Jack London, Carrington McDuffy, Jerilynn Prior, David Buss, Gary Taubs, Nina Teicholz, Rudy Voldman 

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins

website https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wisepreneurs

Downloads

• Embodied Intelligence Self-Assessment
• Professional Reputation Audit

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/free-assessments/

Please support the podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Stay one step ahead with The Wisepreneurs Insider newsletter
As a subscriber, you'll get:

• Sneak peeks at upcoming must-listen podcast episodes and guests
• Bonus wisdom straight from recent guest experts
• Marketing tips to attract your ideal clients
• Productivity hacks to streamline your independent business
• And more exclusive insights are delivered right to your inbox!
• Don't miss out on these invaluable resources
• Subscribe now and gain the edge you need to survive and thrive as a wisepreneur

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Sönke Ahrens helps experienced professionals turn accumulated expertise into structured knowledge systems that support writing, consulting, and thought leadership. 

He wrote How to Take Smart Notes and uses tools like Obsidian, Readwise, and Zotero to make decades of professional learning retrievable and useful rather than forgotten.

Sönke explains how externalising expertise into structured notes supports cognitive vitality and sustained professional output over a long independent career. He goes beyond tool recommendations into how knowledge management practices clarify thinking, develop a distinctive professional voice, and build the foundation for authority-based practices.

For experienced professionals who have spent years underlining passages and bookmarking ideas only to lose track of them, Sönke's approach offers a practical system for making accumulated insight count. 

The conversation covers how digital note-taking with Obsidian connects ideas across projects, why Readwise captures highlights from Kindle and the web automatically, and how Zotero supports citation for researchers and writers.

Mentions and references: How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens. Obsidian, Readwise, Zotero. How to Take Smart Notes with Obsidian course (smartnotes.teachable.com).

Connect with Sönke: soenkeahrens.de | LinkedIn: Sönke Ahrens

Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice.

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins

website https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wisepreneurs

Downloads

• Embodied Intelligence Self-Assessment
• Professional Reputation Audit

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/free-assessments/

Please support the podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Stay one step ahead with The Wisepreneurs Insider newsletter
As a subscriber, you'll get:

• Sneak peeks at upcoming must-listen podcast episodes and guests
• Bonus wisdom straight from recent guest experts
• Marketing tips to attract your ideal clients
• Productivity hacks to streamline your independent business
• And more exclusive insights are delivered right to your inbox!
• Don't miss out on these invaluable resources
• Subscribe now and gain the edge you need to survive and thrive as a wisepreneur

https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter