(engine rumbling) Russ Gross has been working on the railroad, in this case, an amusement ride version called The Harmony Express.
- The old saying about find a job that you like and you'll never work a day in your life.
I haven't worked since we broke ground here.
It's been great.
- [Narrator] Gross's old fashioned roadside attraction, along with his local food and craft shop, is named for the small village of Harmony in Gloucester.
He says being a conductor is quite a kick, yet for 25 years prior, he worked for the Providence Fire Department.
In his early fifties, Gross decided to switch from fire engines to a locomotive engine because he says he had to answer another call.
What made you take the U-turn to this?
- I don't know if it was a U-turn so much as a side road.
I didn't really reverse direction because we're still performing public service of a kind.
You know, the smiles that you see when you pull the train back in and we can turn people's days around.
- [Narrator] Gross says it was now or never.
- If I don't do this now, I'll be sitting in the chair in the living room when I'm 65 or 70, I'm gonna, oh boy, I wish I'd have tried that, because you never know if you don't try.
This was an orchard because it was too rough to be hay.
- [Narrator] Gross also says he wanted to return to his roots.
His business is set on the 70 acre farm his great-grandfather bought after the Civil War.
- I didn't wanna sell the land, you know, I didn't wanna do solar panels.
I didn't wanna put a strip mall in the field.
There's no commute.
It's clean, it's beautiful.
No two days are ever the same.
I drive a train, I mean, and did I mention I drive a train?
- [Narrator] Gross is one of the growing number of middle-aged Americans who have an itch to change gears mid-career, a recent national survey found 40% of workers over 50 are considering such a move and many of those are starting new businesses.
Gross was willing to take the risk.
- I was confident but apprehensive, if that makes any sense, because I felt that I could do it.
I felt that it would be successful.
- At some point in life, you are going to go through something.
- [Narrator] Bryant Organizational Behavior and Management Professor, Dr. Eileen Kewsiga, says there's a reason for that fearless attitude.
Mature workers are taking a page out of Gen X and Gen Z's notebooks regarding lifestyle.
- I think they want a balance.
Yes, I do want to make money, but at what cost?
- Why aren't they afraid to take the risk?
- They are not because they have learned something.
Over time, the last, I wanna say, 15 to 20 years, we have seen corporations are not as loyal as they were before.
That generation, the forties and the 50-year-old.
They have learned that, hey, I have to take care of myself too, so I'm gonna go in there, learn as much as I can, but if I get an opportunity where I can jump ship and do my own thing, I don't have to feel guilty about it.
- [Narrator] Kewsiga says age 50 plus workers have more opportunity and advantages than ever before.
- When you work over a long time, there are things that change.
You become secure in your knowledge.
You build assets, right?
You have money.
- Skills.
- You build skills, you build capital, you build networks.
So now you are not just taking a blind risk.
It's a calculated risk.
- [Narrator] With deep experience and transferable skills, Kewsiga points out the internet has made second acts easier, especially when establishing small businesses.
- I could be doing business globally with other companies, or I could have customers in, if I'm artistic, I start my own designs.
I can post it on Instagram or whatever social media, and I'm able to get clients actually just sewing and crocheting in my bedroom.
I'm able to sell my products online.
- [Narrator] And Kewsiga says the pandemic had a profound impact on many employees.
- I think also that just brought us in touch with what is important, pursuing passions, pursuing what we care about.
- [Narrator] Kewsiga says she, herself, launched what she calls a second gig.
Her career started in IT, but years later, she swapped computers for the classroom.
- What was the reason?
Because it afforded you what?
- It afforded me time, freedom, and also flexibility.
- [Narrator] Kewsiga uses those new found hours to volunteer for nonprofits.
- I know that I benefit my student more when I'm out there in the community, either serving on boards or trying out this concept I'm trying to teach them.
- [Narrator] And she adds her students, in turn, are educating her.
- Maybe the content is the same, but how I am teaching it is very different.
I've moved from being the sage on the stage to more being a coach on the side.
- Finn!
Right here, baby - [Narrator] Michelle Ziemba was a school teacher who transferred from classroom to canines.
Her farm in Foster is home to The Country Mutt, a dog daycare and boarding facility.
- [Michelle] Come here, come here.
- [Narrator] Recess has taken on a whole new meaning for this former educator.
She's now teaching agility and obstacle training and some manners.
Ziemba has fond memories of her students from the years she taught, most of the time, middle school science.
- That was a very secure job.
It was a very good paying job with benefits, a lot of stability.
Really loved working with kids in that 12 to 13 age group.
- Why walk away from a career after so many years?
- I wasn't fulfilled.
I wasn't really happy.
It was a very stressful job.
There were endless, endless deadlines, endless demands.
I just felt like I could put the same amount of effort into something I was creating for myself without the frustration and constraints of systems around me.
- But wasn't it scary to make this decision?
- It was very scary to say to my husband, how about if I don't make any money for a while 'cause I wanna have a business?
It became a profitable business that I can now make a living out of.
But it was not easy.
- [Narrator] In addition to minding 30 to 40 dogs a day, Ziemba cares for her own animals; two horses, four goats and 15 chickens, plus several pets.
- It's a hobby farm, but we have animals with purpose.
Everybody has a purpose, they're not just decorations.
- [Narrator] Ziemba says she's noticed many of her contemporaries priorities and work culture changed because of COVID.
- I think from the pandemic may have shifted back to, well, what about my happiness?
Does that matter?
And what about being there for my children?
And what about being there for my aging parents?
And how can I make life work for me instead of just work for life?
I have no regrets.
But there were days that I did.
There were days when I would sit there and silently cry to myself and say, well, I could have the summer off right now.
I'll work seven days a week for months on end.
I work seven days a week for the last two years.
It's just sweat equity.
- [Narrator] Despite the blood, sweat, and tears Russ Gross has put into his farm, he's on track to expand.
- I guess it's heart.
That's what the old folks would call it.
Heart.
You gotta have heart.
- [Narrator] For Michelle Ziemba, like Gross, leaving a long time career for a long held dream seems the right path to take.
- We wanna be here on the farm.
So, you know, working here and living here, it's a blessing.