On 14.02.20, my husband went into hospital for an MRI scan. He is still there.

About a week later he was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. This post isn’t about the cancer, the hospital or the traumas we continue to experience. It is about how my Silver Startups project is helping me to cope with this shocking situation.

I am self-isolating to reduce my chances of picking up Covid-19 and passing it to my husband. This means no visits to/from friends or family and no fee-earning contracts requiring in-person meetings. I drive to the hospital, park my car, then climb 13 flights of stairs several times a day to avoid proximity to others in overcrowded lifts.

On the ward, my husband is very poorly. I spend most of my time there but much of it is waiting in a general area or the cafeteria. We’ve said so much to each other during the past few weeks that we now mostly just sit quietly together.

I feel a constant, aching sadness mixed with outrage.  The only way for me to get relief is to carve out some space to do what I love, despite the circumstances.

I get a lot of pleasure from mentoring my three young entrepreneurs and I am now coaching seven ‘silver’ ones, each with their own situation, their own aspirations. It is a huge privilege to work with them – they’ve shared aspects of their lives with me and in return I try to offer guidance and support as best I can.  All contact is made online (ie Skype, Zoom, etc). I don’t know what I would do without my laptop.

If you’ve read some of my previous posts you’ll know that I’m supposed to be presenting case studies about my coachees at a symposium I’ve organised on senior entrepreneurship at the British Society of Gerontology’s annual conference in July (Work and Retirement special interest group), although with the coronavirus situation, it may well be delayed.

No matter, I will continue with the coaching project because it helps me better understand the needs of my target market – people over 50 who are unemployed, retired or almost retired, or economically inactive who would like to become self-employed or start a business. I will have case studies to write about, a greater understanding of what works, and the type of blog posts people in this situation will find useful.

I can’t put pressure on my coachees, as they need to be self-motivated to succeed, but I can help them explore their strengths and passions, and guide them in transforming their ideas into business strategies, plans, and actions.  In return, I will gain valuable information about what is needed to improve their chances of success.

So, I’m still coaching, and although my blog posts are shorter and less frequent, I will still write them as long as people are interested in reading what I write.

Best wishes

Viv