When Vincent Pugliese was 32, he was working as a photojournalist at a small-town newspaper in Indiana. Despite earning prestigious national awards, like International Sports Photographer of the Year, his salary was stuck at $32,000.
His wife, Elizabeth, who was also a news photographer, earned slightly more. When they learned they were expecting their first child, Elizabeth wanted to stay home, but the numbers didn’t add up.
So Vincent asked his boss for a raise.
“I was winning awards and doing everything I was supposed to do. I asked for a 10 percent raise, just to get to $40,000,” Vincent recalled. “Instead, he gave me 3 percent. I was furious. I told him, ‘Three percent of nothing is still nothing.’”
That moment was a turning point that would eventually catapult Vincent from employee to entrepreneur, from feeling trapped to living free, and from settling into a job to coaching others toward having greater significance.
“I walked out of the office, stood in the doorway, and thought, ‘This is over. I can’t do this anymore,’” said Vincent.
A father’s wisdom changes everything
Vincent called his father that day, hoping for a small freelance job to make ends meet. What he got instead was a life-altering piece of advice.
“He said, ‘You have a skill, but you’re not using it correctly.’ That sentence changed everything,” Vincent explained. “He told me, ‘You can do anything with photography – sports, weddings, corporate or teaching. But you’re settling for $32,000 and benefits.’”
With that motivation, Vincent and Elizabeth launched their own wedding photography business. Within two years, they paid off every cent of debt – including their mortgage – and quit their newspaper jobs.
“We didn’t touch a dime of our wedding income for personal expenses,” he said. “We lived off our newspaper salaries and built the business to support our life on our terms.”
The experience instilled in Vincent a deep belief that people, especially those over 50, can design lives they love. More importantly, he believes they should.
Freedom is the new retirement
Now 53, Vincent rejects the traditional notion of retirement. To him, the idea of working 30 years at a job you don’t like just to stop working makes no sense.
“That’s an employee mindset,” he said. “It’s based on hating your job and counting down the days until you can escape. But, if you do work you enjoy and keep optimizing it, why would you ever want to stop?”
Vincent said that too often, people over 50 are nudged toward irrelevance.
“Society starts telling you to step aside, that your value is used up,” he explained. “That’s nonsense. I know people in their 60s and 70s who are on fire creating things, launching ideas and helping others. That kind of wisdom and experience should be multiplied, not shelved.”
Coaching others to find their purpose
After a decade building multiple photography businesses, Vincent felt a new calling. This time he wanted to help others experience the same freedom he had found.
“I started coaching and teaching,” he said. “It lit me up. Especially working with people who feel stuck and want to make a change, but don’t know where to start.”
Today, Vincent runs Membership Freedom. It is a platform that helps people create recurring income through memberships and building online communities. He said it’s ideal for people over 50 who have experience, wisdom and passions they can share.
“You don’t need thousands of followers,” Vincent said. “If you can gather 20 people willing to pay $20 a month to learn gardening, quilting, fishing – anything – you’ve got extra income and a community of people you enjoy serving.”
One of his favorite examples is a woman in his program who started a “murder mystery quilting” membership. She now has 3,200 members paying $100 a year.
“She just combined two quirky passions into one brilliant idea,” Vincent said. “That’s the power of creativity and connection.”
Content plus connection becomes community
Vincent believes real transformation happens not just from knowledge, but from connection.
“They come for the content, but they stay for the community,” he said. “The key is not just teaching people, but bringing them together. That’s where the magic is.”
He encourages people to shift their thinking from “networking” to “connection.”
“I hate the word networking,” Vincent explained. “It sounds like a noisy room full of people handing out business cards. Real connection is one-on-one, checking in on people, making introductions and being helpful. That’s how you build a community that lasts.”
It’s the same principle behind Forward From 50, which Vincent helped to inspire.
“When Greg and I first talked about this idea, I sensed he was in a tough spot,” Vincent recalled. “I could see something was off, so I encouraged him to take action. That’s what friends – and especially people over 50 – should regularly do: Take notice, take interest and take action.”
Mentoring the next wave of creators
Now, mentoring others has become a defining aspect of Vincent’s purpose. Whether through his books, coaching programs or one-on-one conversations, his goal is always the same: to help people see their value and use it to serve others.
“I want to mentor people not just to earn money, but to make an impact,” he explained. “The world is desperate for meaning. Seasoned citizens are in the best position to deliver that through storytelling, teaching and sharing their experiences.”
That’s why Vincent encourages people to revisit childhood dreams they set aside for “practical” careers.
“So many people were talked out of doing what they loved,” he explained. “Now, at 50 or 60, with the kids grown and more freedom of time, they can finally say yes to those passions.
“People over 50 are actually in better shape to create something new,” he added. “They have experience, a network, and usually more stability. Even if you’re still working full time, you can carve out space to build something meaningful.”
A message of hope and action
Vincent is the author of two books which distill his life’s philosophy. “Freelance to Freedom” outlines his family’s journey from scarcity to independence. “The Wealth of Connection” explores the power of relationships in building a purpose-driven life.
He offers the audio version of “The Wealth of Connection” for free on his website at MyMembershipFreedom.com, which also includes a quiz to help people explore whether starting a membership might be a good fit.
But above all, Vincent believes the first step to reclaiming purpose after 50 is simply to start.
“Dig into something you already love to do,” he advised. “Connect with others in that space. Be generous and be helpful. That’s how every success story starts.”
And if someone doesn’t know where to begin?
“Ask yourself, what would you do for free anyway? Start there,” he suggested. “There are people out there waiting for what you have to offer.”
Because, as Vincent reminds us, the most complex thing you can do is to keep it simple, and the simplest thing of all is to start.
For more information
People can connect with Vincent through these platforms:
- Website = www.mymembershipfreedom.com
- Facebook = www.facebook.com/vincent.pugliese.16
- LinkedIn = www.linkedin.com/in/vincent-pugliese
Vincent’s books, “Freelance to Freedom” and “The Wealth of Connection” are available on Amazon and in other bookstores.
If you order one of Vincent’s books from a link above, Forward From 50 may receive a small commission as no extra cost to you.
After closing his business and enduring several painful years of uncertainty regarding what to do with his life, Greg founded Forward From 50 to help men and women over 50 to live more purposeful lives by pursuing things they are passionate about. A Wisconsin native, Greg currently lives in Arizona.