Michael Lushing is thankful he bought a home on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Since he was laid off last spring, he has worked from home, and the street, with its mainly commercial stretches, has been a helpful address for this former executive who has had to hang out his own shingle.

Lushing, who is 55, is among the millions of older workers who have been let go from their jobs in the past year, just as they were contemplating their retirements. Many, like Lushing, had built up reputations, skill levels, and a strong network of contacts that had led them to believe their jobs were secure and recession-proof, even if they worked in increasingly shaky industries like shopping-center development, as Lushing did.

“My job was always tenuous, but I had always known that with my skill level, I could sustain where others couldn’t,” he said. But as the market worsened, his employer, Westfield, let him go. With enough years to go before retirement and no nest egg in place, Lushing decided to go it on his own. “It’s not a great time in this business, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the response,” he says. The Wilshire Boulevard address is a small part of lending credibility to his business. And Lushing says that his new firm, Lushing Retail Advisors, is “now my business”—he’s in it for the long haul, with plans to build out as the economy improves.

Caught off guard by the economic downturn, older workers like Lushing have crafted their own recovery plans as the job market leaves them few options. Although workforce data show that older workers are faring better in many cases than their younger counterparts, those who do find themselves on the street are often shell-shocked. According to a study released September 29 by AARP, this group has growing concerns about their ability to pay the bills—and the ability to exit the workforce. More of them expect to keep working, when they had previously set their sights on retirement. An ongoing study by the University of Michigan, the 18-year Health and Retirement Study, reported an uptick in the number of older workers who expected they’d keep working past ages 62 and 65.

Steve Tayloe, 53, calls himself “old school.” After 29 years with the Knoxville, Tennessee, paper division at Andritz Group, he was laid off last October and had to look for a job for only the second time in his life.

“It was expected but unexpected,” says Tayloe. “Expected because of the economy and such, but since I had seniority, I didn’t expect to be one of the first to go.” Tayloe had also expected to stay at Andritz until he retired at the age of 65.

Tayloe hoofed it, knocking on doors and becoming more familiar with job-hunting sources on the Web. But when it got to the point where this former executive would have to take a $10-per-hour job—if one was even available—he began to consider other options. He sized up his “decent” severance and healthy 401(k) and when his daughter, who was visiting from Florida, suggested he ditch the job market and start his own thing, Tayloe looked into franchises and bought one.