A retired professor turns organization skills into thriving business

Charlotte Bishop is _organized._ As a single working mother in the Bronx, N.Y., she sent two sons through college — and, to hear her tell it, outstanding organizational skills were the key.

“Organization is not a luxury; it’s a lifestyle,” she likes to say. In fact, that’s the motto for her business, Life Files Professionals. In September 2012, at the age of 67, Charlotte and

her son Evan officially launched the company, offering organizing systems that use environmentally friendly practices. After she retired from her position as a professor at the City

University of New York, she found that many of her friends and neighbors were asking her to help them organize their documents. “I had a reputation,” she says. And so Life Files

Professionals was born. But even though Charlotte had launched her business, she didn’t have a business plan and wasn’t sure she was on the right track. In early 2018, she brought her

concerns to AARP Foundation’s Work for Yourself@50+ program at the Harlem Business Alliance. Older adults have skills and talents they may not know how to apply in an entrepreneurial

setting. Work for Yourself@50+ helps participants find resources and avoid pitfalls, and offers practical guidance on how to use their skills to increase their income. Like many Work for

Yourself@50+ participants, Charlotte felt that the obstacles she experienced as an entrepreneur were unique to her as an older adult. “It is so comforting to know that these experiences are

not mine alone,” she explains. “I now realize they are what many new entrepreneurs experience.” “AARP Foundation gave me a roadmap to review the steps we had already taken. It also helped me

to understand my experience with fear,” she adds. “Work for Yourself@50+ has given me the confidence to trust my instincts” — instincts, she notes, that are often supported by solid

research. Charlotte has a particular interest in helping other seniors. She works with many older adults, helping them to digitize important documents and reclaim space in their homes while

reducing clutter. Because many of her clients are seniors themselves, Charlotte knows it can be difficult to identify the right marketing and communications channels to reach them. She put

marketing at the top of her priority list and uses an online business planning software to identify the next steps that will be the most beneficial to her business. With more than six years

of entrepreneurship under her belt, Charlotte has clients across the Tri-State area and is a model of success for current and future Work for Yourself@50+ participants. Aside from the

guidance and resources she gained from the program, she’s found it beneficial in one other, crucial respect. “I don’t feel as isolated as I have in the past,” she says. “I feel that I’m not

doing this alone.”  Learn more about WORK FOR YOURSELF@50+ and how to explore self-employment. _Read more stories about how our programs have helped people find hope, and about the

volunteers who give so much of themselves to help others. _