Episodes

Episode Overview Career reinvention after 60 using your professional relationships as startup capital rather than cash, savings, or business loans. Laetitia Vitaud is a feminist and work-revolution thinker returning for her third Wisepreneurs appearance. She explains why the 150 trusted connections you've nurtured across your career are the most valuable business asset you own How seasonal work rhythms create sustainable practice rather than burnout, and Why older professionals have a genuin...

Laurie Smale left school at 13 to work in a junkyard and at 79 produces his own Magic Minutes YouTube series after learning digital tools from scratch with LinkedIn specialist Sue Ellson. Between the junkyard and YouTube, Laurie graduated from Melbourne University with honours, built a speaking career through the National Speakers Association, and wrote three books. He shares how he overcame a lifelong fear of technology and why baby steps and the right mentor make reinvention possible at any age. Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice.

Deep reading as cognitive investment for independent professionals building expertise when AI floods the world with shallow content. Tomáš Baránek runs Melvil Publishing in Czechia, selecting nonfiction titles with long-term value from authors like Yuval Noah Harari and David Grann, deliberately limiting annual titles to focus on quality over volume. He explains why over-relying on AI for writing, thinking, and decision-making erodes the cognitive depth that experienced professionals depen...

Retirement planning for professional women that addresses identity, purpose, and community rather than finances alone. Kim Watty spent three decades in Australian academia as an accounting professor before co-founding The Main Act with her daughter Prue. Their Retirement by Design program uses Stanford Business School methodology where women create three odyssey plans for different possible futures across an eight-week guided process. Kim explains why 62% of women wish they had planned better f...

Filip Drimalka helps independent professionals build AI-enhanced workflows that turn one-person operations into sustainable businesses without traditional employment structures. He wrote The Future of No Work and explains why AI fluency is becoming essential for career independence. Filip covers how experienced professionals can integrate AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and NotebookLM into daily work without losing the human judgement that makes their expertise valuable. He addresses the practi...

Preventive wellness strategies for independent professionals whose practice needs to last another 10 or 20 years beyond traditional retirement. Michal Novotný is a physiotherapist and fitness coach who has worked with elite athletes and public figures, authored bestselling health books, and developed practical approaches to sustainable physical wellbeing. He explains why prevention outperforms treatment How small consistent habits compound over decades, and What experienced professionals can...

Anna Burgess Yang shares her solopreneur workflow for building independent professional practice with lean thinking, automation, and AI. After leaving a FinTech executive career, Anna built a content writing business around Zapier, Airtable, and ChatGPT Pro. She explains why operations is the part of solopreneur practice nobody talks about and how authenticity beats generic AI content. Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice.

Movement breaks throughout the day matter more than a morning workout if you sit for hours as an independent professional over 50. Krisna Hanks is a metabolic health expert and Director of Employee Wellness Programs at Ovadia Heart Health. She introduces the concept of the active couch potato — people who exercise regularly yet still sit for long hours, undermining their own health habits. Krisna explains how small frequent metabolic sparks boost resilience and mental clarity Why core metabo...

Tonianne DeMaria co-wrote Personal Kanban to help professionals make work visible through simple workflow systems that replace conventional task management with better decision-making and sustained energy. Tonianne explains why standard productivity approaches fail independent professionals juggling multiple clients, projects, and competing priorities without organisational structure. Drawing from her journey from fashion to productivity practice, she covers the neuroscience behind overcommitm...

Emergent strategy as a design framework for independent professionals and consultants managing business uncertainty without organisational support. Peter Compo is author of The Emergent Approach to Strategy, drawing on 25 years of experience at DuPont. He explains how identifying key obstacles, eliminating bottlenecks, and creating strategic rules for decision-making help independent practitioners maintain progress when direction needs to shift. Peter's methodology connects concepts from musi...

Gail Greatorex turned 25 years of product safety expertise at the ACCC into a solopreneur consulting practice, helping businesses navigate consumer protection laws, compliance, and product recalls. She explains how self-employment lets her choose projects aligned with her values, including co-founding ClimateWise Associations. The conversation covers the rising challenges of e-commerce safety, the risks posed by button batteries and toppling furniture, and her role in shaping the regulatory standards that protect consumers. Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice.

In this episode, host Nigel Rawlins speaks with Eliška Šestáková, an academic and personal knowledge management specialist from the Czech Republic, about how structured note-taking systems support sustained independent professional work. Eliška's approach connects directly to the cognitive tools that experienced professionals need to manage complex, long-running projects without organisational infrastructure. Drawing from her background in computer science, Eliška explains how systems like Zet...

ALeanne Shelton helps experienced professionals integrate AI into independent practice without losing the human judgment that makes their work worth paying for. She spent ten years as a copywriter and content marketer before founding Human Edge AI Training in Sydney, helping businesses adopt AI while preserving human-centric values in their output. She explains the growing impact of AI on the creative industry, why prompt engineering matters for content professionals, and how to overcome the f...

Cedric Chin founded Commoncog to help professionals develop business expertise through rigorous testing of ideas against real-world evidence rather than relying on theory or conventional frameworks. Cedric explains how experienced professionals develop pattern recognition and strategic judgement through deliberate practice, drawing on his background in competitive judo and leading a startup in Vietnam. He introduces Leo DiBello's Triad Model and naturalistic decision making as practical framew...

Karen Wickre shows experienced professionals how career independence works well beyond conventional retirement age, drawing on senior roles at Google and Twitter and decades of authentic relationship-building across Silicon Valley. She explains why genuine, mutually beneficial connections matter more than transactional networking, and how continuous adaptability sustains an independent career into your 70s. Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice.

Danielle Joworski helps women entrepreneurs over 50 build visibility and overcome the compounding barriers of ageism, sexism, and self-doubt. A visibility strategist and fractional COO near Toronto, she explains why confidence is an outcome of courageous action rather than a prerequisite. She covers the rule of one, breaking goals into small steps, and the Rocket Fuel visionary-integrator model for knowing what to delegate. Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetise expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Jane Hudson built an independent L&D consultancy specialising in regulatory training after leaving corporate employment, and returns to Wisepreneurs 50 episodes after her first appearance. She covers pricing strategies, managing remote teams, finding a defined niche, and balancing client delivery with business development as a solo operator.

Peter Hatherley built Authored Intelligence to give independent professionals practical AI tools for SEO and content strategy, including Semantic Author and Conceptuality. Peter explains the difference between generative and interactive AI and why that distinction matters for professionals creating their own content. He walks through how semantic entities work in modern SEO, moving beyond keywords to the structured meaning that search engines now prioritise. Drawing from his journey from digi...

Dr Holly Whelan helps experienced professionals build sustainable health habits using behaviour change science drawn from neuroscience research, global brand management at Unilever, and her co-founded ventures Habit Partners and Younger Lives. Holly explains how sustainable habits differ from short-term health interventions and why neuroscience research matters for professionals trying to maintain physical and mental performance as they age. She walks through her transition from laboratory rese...

Debbie Jenkins wrote Stop the Credibility Crisis and Stop Writing Books Nobody Reads after moving from engineering into publishing, building a practice around short books as professional authority tools. Debbie explains why concise, focused books outperform longer volumes for establishing credibility and generating passive income. She walks through the practical strategy of writing books that people actually read, covering how independent professionals can use a single short book to open speak...

Natasha Ginnivan researches how aging stereotypes undermine experienced professionals before they even open their mouths, and what the evidence shows about countering them. She explains how stereotypes affect professional identity, why social connections and lifelong learning protect cognitive wellness, and what research from CEPAR at the University of Queensland and Stanford's Distinguished Career Institute supports about aging well in professional life. Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice.

Emma Williams moved from a career in physics and Magnetic Resonance Imaging research to building a coaching business that helps STEM professionals navigate the transition from academia to industry. Emma explains the specific challenges academics face when leaving research, including how to recognise transferable skills that feel invisible inside university culture. She discusses the role personal values play in career decisions, the weight of student debt on professional choices, and what high...

Michael Greenberg specialises in digital operations, helping businesses optimise workflows through AI tools, automation systems, and strategic outsourcing rather than adding more hours to the working week. Michael walks through practical approaches to integrating AI and automation into daily business operations, including specific note-taking tools and workflow applications that reduce manual effort. He explains how independent professionals can use outsourcing strategically to focus on high-v...

Annette Densham co-founded the Audacious Agency to help business owners use storytelling and business awards as practical visibility strategies, drawing on her background in journalism and PR. Annette explains how business award submissions work as a structured approach to professional visibility rather than just a trophy exercise. She covers how to identify the right awards, craft compelling narratives from real business experience, and use the process itself to clarify your professional stor...