For many professionals, the idea of becoming an entrepreneur arrives much later than expected. After years spent building a corporate career, reaching senior positions and developing valuable experience, some begin to wonder whether the next stage of their working lives could look very different from the first.
Buying a business has become an increasingly popular way to make that transition. Rather than starting from scratch, entrepreneurs through acquisition step into an established company with customers, systems and trading history already in place. While every acquisition carries risk, it can offer a more predictable route into business ownership than launching a new venture from the ground up.
This article follows the story of Richard Hand, a UK entrepreneur who spent more than two decades in financial services before leaving corporate life to build an indoor leisure business. Although Richard's experience took place in Britain, many of the lessons he learned about risk, resilience and reinvention are just as relevant for prospective business buyers in the United States.
Alongside Richard's story, we'll also draw on findings from BusinessesForSale.com's UK Ownership Economy Index 2026. The survey reflects the views of UK adults rather than Americans, but it offers an interesting snapshot of how experienced professionals are thinking about career security, entrepreneurship and business ownership in today's economy.
Buying a Business Can Help You Skip the Hardest Part
Richard Hand spent more than 20 years in financial services and consulting, including senior roles with the UK's Big Four accounting firms, before finding himself increasingly frustrated by the demands of corporate life.
Constant travel, long hours and a punishing commute between Eastbourne and London left him feeling as though he'd lost control of his work-life balance. In 2016, he decided to take a different path, leaving behind a successful corporate career to launch an indoor trampoline park business called Urban Jump.
Although the opportunity looked promising on paper, getting the business off the ground required a substantial financial commitment. Richard spent much of that year juggling his consulting career with raising finance, securing premises, overseeing the fit-out and preparing the business for launch. Much of the project was debt-funded from the outset, with loans secured against his personal assets.
Looking back, he describes the arrangement as "incredibly risky", admitting that he underestimated just how much financial exposure he was taking on. The pressure only grew when he realized he was effectively "the only person with skin in the game", meaning he would shoulder almost all of the consequences if the business failed.
The Challenges & Costs of Founding
Part of the challenge was the nature of the business itself. Unlike many service businesses, Urban Jump required significant investment before it could generate meaningful revenue. Premises had to be secured and fitted out, specialist equipment installed, staff recruited and systems put in place long before customers started coming through the door. As a result, Richard spent years servicing debt while simultaneously trying to grow the business.
Not every entrepreneurial venture demands that level of capital investment, but his experience highlights the importance of understanding exactly what a business will require before you commit to it.
For prospective buyers, that's one of the biggest advantages of acquiring an established business rather than building one from scratch. When you purchase an existing company, you're buying proven operations as well as the opportunity itself. Customers, suppliers and processes are already in place, and careful due diligence should give you a much clearer picture of the company's financial position before you complete the deal.
Acquiring a business still involves risk, and many purchases require financing, but it can remove some of the uncertainty and upfront costs associated with launching an entirely new company. For experienced professionals looking to reinvent their careers, that often makes business ownership feel like a more realistic next step.
Tip: If you're considering buying a business, read our guide to financing a business acquisition for a detailed breakdown of deal structures, funding options and common mistakes first-time buyers make.
Why More Professionals Are Looking Beyond Corporate Careers
Richard's story also illustrates an important mindset shift. The goal shouldn't simply be to escape an unsatisfying job; it should be to move towards an opportunity that genuinely fits the life and career you want to build. Without careful planning and thorough due diligence, it's possible to trade one form of uncertainty for another. Done well, however, entrepreneurship through acquisition can offer greater control over your work, your finances and your future.
That changing attitude towards corporate careers is reflected in BusinessesForSale.com's UK Ownership Economy Index 2026. While the research represents UK respondents rather than the US population, many of its findings echo conversations taking place across developed economies.
According to the survey, 60% of UK adults believe corporate careers are less secure than they used to be, while 58% of people aged 45–55 agree that workers are increasingly turning to business ownership after leaving corporate roles. Although these figures shouldn't be read as representing attitudes in the United States, they reinforce the sense that many experienced professionals are reassessing what long-term career security really looks like. The survey also found that 57% of UK adults believe workers over 50 face significant barriers to progressing in corporate careers, while 76% think older workers struggle to find new jobs.
One of the survey's most striking findings concerned job satisfaction. Among UK respondents, 82% of business owners said they felt fulfilled in their work, compared with 60% of employees. That reflects something many entrepreneurs describe regardless of where they live: the opportunity to build something on your own terms can be every bit as rewarding as the financial benefits that come with business ownership.
A Third Act, Not the End of the Story
Despite successfully building Urban Jump, Richard eventually reached another crossroads. After battling to keep the business afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic – and dealing with a major insurance claim that ultimately collapsed – he realized he had fallen out of love with the company he'd spent years creating.
Rather than continuing for the sake of it, he decided it was time to move on. Urban Jump was listed on BusinessesForSale.com and sold in April 2026, bringing one chapter of his entrepreneurial journey to a close.
When I asked Richard what he'd been doing since the sale, he said he'd taken time to recover and decompress after nearly a decade of running the business. Retirement briefly crossed his mind, but it wasn't an idea that lasted for long.
"One of the ideas was just to sit out for a while and retire," he says. "But I think that's not me."
Instead, he's already thinking about what comes next. The difference this time is that experience has reshaped what success means to him. Building another business still appeals, but he wants his next venture to be driven by opportunity rather than necessity.
As he puts it: "I don't want to feel like I'm fighting to survive. I want to feel energised by fighting to grow."
It's a fitting reminder that entrepreneurship doesn't have to be a one-time decision. For many people, it's an evolving journey that changes alongside their ambitions, experience and priorities. Richard's story is unmistakably a UK one, but the lesson travels well: reinvention is possible at almost any stage of your career, provided you go into it with clear eyes, realistic expectations and a business that's worth betting on.