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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
Start a successful business mid-life When you think of someone launching a start-up, the image of a twenty-something techie probably springs to mind. However, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers are just as likely to start businesses and reinvent themselves later in life. Never Too Old to Get Rich is an exciting roadmap for anyone age 50+ looking to be their own boss and launch their dream business. This book provides up-to-date resources and guidance for launching a business when you're 50+. There are snappy profiles of more than a dozen successful older entrepreneurs, describing their inspirational journeys launching businesses and nonprofits, followed by Q&A conversations, and pull-out boxes containing action steps. The author walks you through her three-part fitness program: guidelines for becoming financially fit, physically fit, and spiritually fit, before delving more deeply into how would-be entrepreneurs over 50 can succeed. * Describes how you can find capital to start your own business * Offers encouraging stories of real people who have become their own bosses and succeeded as entrepreneurs * Written by PBS Next Avenue's entrepreneur expert, Kerry Hannon * Teaches you how to start your own business Never Too Old to Get Rich is the ideal book for older readers looking to pursue new business ventures later in life.
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Never Too Old to Get Rich
The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting a Business Mid-Life
KERRY HANNON
Cover design: Wiley
Cover image: © spxChrome / iStock.com
Copyright © 2019 by Kerry Hannon. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
Next Avenue is a registered trademark. Portions of the material originally appeared in NextAvenue.org. Reprinted with permission.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hannon, Kerry, author.
Title: Never too old to get rich : the entrepreneur's guide to starting a
business mid-life / Kerry Hannon.
Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2019] | Includes
index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2019015620 (print) | LCCN 2019017755 (ebook) | ISBN
9781119547945 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119547914 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119547907
(hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: New business enterprises. | Career changes.
Classification: LCC HD62.5 (ebook) | LCC HD62.5 .H367 2019 (print) | DDC
658.1/1--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019015620
For Jack
CONTENTS
Cover
Foreword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
Also by Kerry Hannon
Part I Turning a Passion into a Business
Chapter 1 Lights, Camera, Action
Making It Work
Shape Your Network
Chapter Recap
Chapter 2 Money Maven
Bringing Empathy to the Client’s Table
Making It Work
Black Women Entrepreneurs: The Good and Not-So-Good News
Black Women Entrepreneurs: The Revenue Lag
Why So Many of the Businesses Are Micro
Starting a Side Business
A Lack of Resources and Mentors
The Optimistic Outlook
Where to Get Advice
Chapter Recap
Chapter 3 Military to Merlot
Launching in a Male-Dominated Field
Making It Work
Kerry’s Blueprint for Entrepreneurs
Chapter Recap
Chapter 4 Cockpit to the Coffee Shop
Making It Work
Fear of Success, Not Failure
Chapter Recap
Chapter 5 Bejeweled
Making It Work
How to Hire Employees Wisely
Chapter Recap
Chapter 6 Scooting Ahead
Making It Work
Financing Your Start-Up
Chapter Recap
Chapter 7 Write Stuff
Making It Work
Chapter Recap
Chapter 8 Horsing Around
Making It Work
Getting Started
Chapter Recap
Part II Building a Winning Senior–Junior Partnership
Chapter 9 Ginning Things Up
Making It Work
How to Run a Family Business Successfully
Chapter Recap
Chapter 10 The Whole Million-Dollar Package
Making It Work
LendingTree’s Latest List of Places for Entrepreneurs
No. 1: San Jose
Chapter Recap
Chapter 11 Cookie Contessas
Making It Work
Chapter Recap
Part III The Path to Social Entrepreneurship
Chapter 12 Girl Power
Making It Work
Chapter Recap
Chapter 13 Food, Glorious Food
Making It Work
Chapter Recap
Chapter 14 Hope in Harlem
Making It Work
Chapter Recap
Chapter 15 The Magic of Music
Making It Work
Chapter Recap
Part IV Winning Strategies of Female Entrepreneurs
Chapter 16 Health and Happiness
Making It Work
Chapter Recap
Chapter 17 Chilling Out
When One Door Closes
Family Ties
Making It Work
Chapter Recap
Chapter 18 Design from Within
Making It Work
Chapter Recap
Chapter 19 Nutty for Opera
Making It Work
Chapter Recap
Chapter 20 The Holistic Path
Making It Work
Women Entrepreneurs: Get Certified as a Woman-Owned Business
The Payoff for Getting Certified
Who Qualifies for Certification
4 Major Types of Women-Owned Business Certification
Federal versus State Certification
Why Women Entrepreneurs over 50 Hold the Aces
Starting a Beverage Company in Her 50s
No Special Obstacles as Women Entrepreneurs
More Capital of Their Own
Launching in a Male-Dominated Field
Paying It Forward
Fran Hauser, Start-Up Investor and Media Executive
Chapter Recap
Afterword
Index
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Foreword
Pages
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Foreword
Elizabeth Isele
Founder and CEO,The Global Institute forExperienced Entrepreneurship
No! “Senior Entrepreneurship” is not an oxymoron. The 21st century is the “Age of Experience” and that experience is driving social and economic change worldwide. Today’s longevity is historically unique. There is no blueprint for what to do with an additional 20 to 30 years, but entrepreneuring seniors around the globe are designing their way into new lives, optimizing their life and work experience in nontraditional career paths and creating businesses of their own – from micro- to multimillion-dollar ventures – in unprecedented numbers.
For the past six years, I have been crisscrossing the globe, convening dynamic summits of world leaders in government, universities, and the private sector to raise awareness of the power of experience, and to convey the urgent need to build an ecosystem of innovative collaborations and new pathways, through technology and inclusion, to equip older individuals with the skills and resources they need to support and sustain an “Experienced Economy” (www.amp.com.au/amp/videos/releasingthepotentialoftheexperiencedeconomy).
At the summits, I share insights and best practices from country to country, such as:
Finland is the first country to declare experience is its number one natural resource!
A recent study in Spain revealed that for every €1 the government invests to mitigate the “retirement syndrome,” it will receive a stunning €129 in return.
In the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, and Australia, 50+-year-olds are launching more start-ups than any other cohort.
The European Union has determined senior enterprise is key to achieving its 2020 economic strategic growth goals.
In Japan, where I met with more than 500 business, government, and university leaders at the behest of the U.S. State Department, Prime Minister Abe has created a new initiative, “Agenomics,” to harness the knowledge and resources of the largest and fastest-growing aging population in the world. More than a public policy, this initiative is being advanced through a number of university innovation centers, (public/private) business incubators, coworking spaces for start-ups, and finance agencies designed to support older entrepreneurs in this traditional business economy where the mandatory retirement age is still 60.
Today’s older and bolder entrepreneurs, with their wealth of life and work experience, are particularly suited to succeed in our digital, big data, hyper-complex, Internet of Things world. Five key assets include:
Curiosity
: They thrive on ongoing learning and discovering new ways to make unlikely connections work.
Resilience
: They have failed in countless ways over a lifetime and have overcome many obstacles, so they have a high tolerance for risk.
Proactive, Positive, Practical Optimism
: They are eager to solve problems, and their life experience of knowing what works and what doesn’t is a huge advantage over those who’ve spent little time testing new ideas.
Multidisciplinary
: Experienced individuals understand the benefit of reaching out to others from multiple disciplines, ages, and backgrounds for their insights. I recently heard this brilliant nugget, “Instead of multi-tasking, we should be Multi-Asking,” in a short movie called
The Adaptable Mind
.
Empathy
: Be it selling an idea, product, or service, empathy is key. Remember what Maya Angelou said about her stories: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” The ability to sense others’ motives and feelings grows stronger throughout life and enhances the ability to communicate effectively face to face and via any form of social media.
I am so thrilled Kerry has created this book! When I first coined the term “Senior Entrepreneurship” and launched SeniorEntrepreneurshipWorks.com back in 2012 at the ripe age of 70, Kerry was one of the first people to get it. The aging population is the world’s largest, fastest-growing, and most sustainable (we’re all living longer) natural resource, and it is virtually untapped. It is redefining the future of work and traditional retirement across all generations, cultures, and geographic boundaries. Experience is a currency, and understanding how to activate and catalyze it across sectors and generations is a new competitive advantage. Until now, most research has been focused on what makes individuals age successfully. Few have asked: How do societies age successfully?
Never Too Old to Get Richis both a practical hands-on guide to help 50+ individuals translate their entrepreneurial ideas into real businesses and a testament to the ways in which older innovators boost not just their own economic well-being but also their communities’, in urban, rural, developed, and developing countries, as well. Creating grassroots entrepreneurial ecosystems is key, but will only happen when different sectors realize the economic impact (what’s in it for them) to support this new cohort of entrepreneurs. More financial institutions worldwide, for example, are seeing the numbers of older adults who wish to start businesses as good business for them, too; data is documenting their success rates as proof that this new lending market opportunity exists.
The movement needs books like Kerry’s because, as a respected business and financial guru, her advice is authentic and trustworthy. Even more than data and statistics, as a gifted storyteller, she has captured the courage, grit, and resilience of these mid-life entrepreneursbucking social norms and outdated traditions in real time. And just to be sure they’re not seeing opportunity through rose-colored glasses, Kerry ends each tale with a rigorous Q&A to hold their entrepreneurial toes to the fire.
The Experienced Economy is just beginning to gain traction, and we need more out-of-the-box creative, inclusive books like this to strategically support and advance this unprecedented demographic opportunity.
Acknowledgments
Inspired to begin again, to discover a richness to life, to make each day count. That’s how I felt as I was interviewing and writing the stories of this remarkable squad of mid-life entrepreneurs.
So I start with a huge thanks to these individuals with all my heart for their time and for sharing their stories with me and with you: Mike Kravinsky, Lazetta Rainey Braxton, Destiny Burns, Mike Foster, Laura Tanner Swinand, Tim Juntgen, Evvy Diamond, Amy Bass, Joan Sadler, Michael Lowe, John Uselton, Paul Tasner, Elena Olivari, Bergen Giordani, Morgen Giordani Reamer, Marvin Gay, Carol Nash, Molly MacDonald, Doug Rauch, Jamal Joseph, Belle Mickelson, Ginny Corbett, Donna Tortorice, Linda LaMagna, Rachel Roth, Joyce Harman, and Michele Meloy Burchfield.
I’ve been honored to have an illustrious band of colleagues and experts to help me blend these entrepreneurs’ stories with practical take-away advice and insight. These experts (many of whom are dear friends as well) whose wisdom I treasure include Elizabeth Isele, Dr. Linda Fried, Paul Irving, Marc Freedman, Cal Halvorsen, Beverly Jones, Gerri Detweiler, Del Gines, BC Clark, David Deeds, Patricia DiVecchio, Rebecca Barnes-Hogg, Ed Rogoff, Maggie Mistal, Rob Lachenauer, Kali McFadden, Bonnie Riggs, Marci Alboher, Kim Eddleston, Linda Abraham, Donna De Carolis, Moira Allen, Sara Sutton, Mary Foley, Pamela Prince-Eason, Nathalie Molina Niño, Sanyin Siang, and Fran Hauser.
My deep appreciation to my agent, Linda Konner, of the Linda Konner Literary Agency, whose savoir faire, publishing insight, and confidence in my work have propelled my mission of empowering individuals to enrich their working lives as well as their personal wealth.
My thanks to John Wiley & Sons editor Michael Henton for embracing Never Too Old to Get Rich and giving it the green light, as well as chiming in with his vision for a great cover. Gratitude to Purvi Patel, my project editor, and Susan Cerra, Wiley senior production editor, who was the steady sherpa for the assembly of this book. A salute to the Wiley design team, who produced a striking book jacket that exudes the oomph of what readers will find inside including Michael Freeland and Todd Klemme. A special nod to my fine copy editor, James M. Fraleigh, for the care taken with each and every page of this book to make it shine.
Special recognition to Richard Eisenberg, the managing editor of PBS’s NextAvenue.org. I always embarrass Rich with my effusive appreciation, but here I go again. Rich, you are one of the sharpest editors I have ever worked with, and, lucky for me, you always make my work shine with your smooth polishing. This time out of the gate, I owe it to you exclusively for precisely shaping this book through your editing and shepherding of the manuscript.
I’m grateful to Twin Cities PBS former president and CEO Jim Pagliarini for his belief in this book and agreeing to co-brand Never Too Old to Get Rich via Next Avenue, which is produced by Twin Cities PBS for a national audience.
I also would like to send a hearty appreciation to the former director of editorial and content for Next Avenue, Shayla Thiel Stern, who was quick to jump on board with enthusiastic support and help garner the backing of Twin Cities PBS.
In addition, Forbes editors Janet Novack and Matt Schifrin have regularly contributed their expertise to my work and my understanding of smart ways to share stories of mid-life entrepreneurs and their passions. Janet and Matt, you both know how much I cherish our years of friendship as well.
My thanks to former Money magazine editor-in-chief Diane Harris, who has always encouraged and supported me both professionally and personally, and invited me to share stories of passionate entrepreneurs along the way via Money.
I would be remiss not to let two of my trusted colleagues on this work and age beat – Christopher Farrell and Mark Miller – know just how much their friendship and help mean to me. Thanks, guys, for being there, and for always making me smile from New York to San Francisco and stops in between.
To my fellow writer and boomer specialist, Sally Abrahms: your irrepressible hopeful and humorous attitude always reminds of why we do the work we do.
I also want to thank A. J. Campbell of CoSynergy.com, my web designer and social media consultant.
On a personal note, my own rich life is made possible by the support and boost of the following board members of Kerry Hannon, Inc.:
I dedicate this book to my brother, Jack, who passed away at the age of 55, as I was beginning to report and write this book. I miss his love and will always respect his entrepreneurial journey, a life course instilled in us by our father, John W. Hannon.
To the Bonney family – Paul, Pat, Christine, Mike, Caitlin, Shannon, and Piper, too – for always welcoming me with open hearts and (in one case) a wagging tail. Garrett Goon, Eileen Roach, and Lindsay Corner, your presence in my life has made my world brighter.
To the Hannon family – Mike, Judy, Brendan, Sean, Conor, and Brian – for your love.
To the Hersch crew, Ginny, David, Corey, and Amy; and the Hackels, Stu, Sue, Cassie, and Eric: thanks for having my back and respecting my early-morning coffee and writing sessions.
To Jonelle Mullen, my friends at TuDane Farm, and Caparino Z for never failing to help me realize that living life’s moments from aboard a horse is the best stress-buster in the world.
To my precious childhood friend, Marcy Holquist, for answering my calls and never failing to say, “Keeks, you’ve got this.”
A deep embrace to my mother, Marguerite Hannon, now 89, for listening, loving, and sharing her kindness with me for a lifetime.
Finally, to my husband, Cliff, for showing me every day what love really means and how to be open to life and its unexpected invitations.
Of course, as always, I must end this list of shout-outs with a big one to my intrepid, courageous, delightful Zena, our Labrador retriever, and my road manager.
About the Author
Kerry Hannon is a nationally recognized expert and strategist on career transitions, personal finance, and retirement. She is a frequent TV and radio commentator and is a sought-after keynote speaker at conferences across the country. Kerry focuses on empowering yourself to do more with your career and personal finances – now and for the future.
She has spent more than two decades covering all aspects of careers, business, and personal finance as a columnist, editor, and writer for the nation’s leading media companies, including The New York Times, Forbes, Money, U.S. News & World Report, and USA Today. She has appeared as a career and personal finance expert on The Dr. Phil Show, ABC News, CBS, CNBC, NBC Nightly News, NPR, and PBS.
Kerry is currently a columnist and regular contributor to The New York Times, AARP’s Jobs Expert and Great Jobs columnist, a contributing editor and Second Verse columnist at Forbes, and the PBS website NextAvenue.org’s expert and columnist on personal finance, wealth management, and careers for boomer women.
Kerry is the award-winning author of more than a dozen books, including Great Jobs for Everyone 50+; Getting the Job You Want After 50 For Dummies; Love Your Job: The New Rules for Career Happiness; and What’s Next? Finding Your Passion and Your Dream Job in Your Forties, Fifties and Beyond.
Kerry lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, documentary producer and editor Cliff Hackel, and her Labrador retriever, Zena.
Follow Kerry on Twitter @KerryHannon, visit her website at KerryHannon.com, and check out her LinkedIn profile at www.linkedin.com/in/kerryhannon.
Introduction
When you think of someone launching a start-up, let’s be honest, the image of a twenty-something techie, clad in a hoodie, jeans and fuzzy Allbirds, those sneakerlike shoes made from wool and castor bean oil, springs to mind.
Think again.
Gen Xers and baby boomers are the trendy entrepreneurs, the new risk takers, and though their successful not-so-techie businesses may be under the cool radar, they’re on the rise. In Never Too Old to Get Rich: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting a Business Mid-Life, I’ll introduce you to the “kids” on the start-up field and show you how it’s done.
Filled with inspiring stories from people who have started their own businesses mid-life, Never Too Old to Get Rich is an exciting road map for anyone looking to be their own boss and make their next act building their dream business.
The variety of businesses people are starting in mid-life is amazingly diverse. From a gin distiller to a movie maker to a jewelry designer and a manufacturer of packaging, these in-depth testimonials offer encouragement and advice and prove that it’s possible to pursue your passion and build your own successful business at any age. I have interviewed hundreds of older entrepreneurs around the world who are seeking a more fulfilling path. To me, the bottom-line case for why this is such a good idea for older adults is twofold: financial security and, importantly, a personal return.
In this book, you will find:
Up-to-date resources for launching a business at mid-lifeSnappy profiles of 20 successful older entrepreneurs, describing their inspirational journeys to launching a business or a nonprofit; Q&A conversations; and pull-out boxes containing action stepsQuestions older entrepreneurs must ask before they take the leap to a new ventureMy three-part fitness program: guidelines for becoming financially fit, physically fit, and spiritually fitIn-depth material on how would-be mid-life entrepreneurs can find capital to start their own businessEach chapter ends with a recap and your to-do list of action stepsThere’s a way of playing safe, there’s a way of using tricks and there’s the way I like to play which is dangerously – where you’re going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven’t created before.
– Dave Brubeck, the late American jazz pianist and composer, who was still performing at concert halls around the world at the age of 81, speaking in the PBS documentary Rediscovering Dave Brubeck.
I carry this quote tucked in my wallet to remind me of why I started my own company as a writer, speaker, and consultant when I was in my 40s, and maybe you should, too. It’s about fearlessly creating something new … regardless of your age. It’s scary. It’s risky. It’s hard work, and most entrepreneurs I have ever interviewed have told me that their only regret is that they didn’t do it sooner.
More older adults have become entrepreneurs in the last decade than younger people. No kidding. Counterintuitive, right? But it’s true. 50+ entrepreneurship is on the rise, and I’ll explain why shortly. Being your own boss is no longer a young person’s game.
Here’s refreshing news for boomers and Gen Xers: when it comes to launching a successful business, youth is not the magic elixir.
“Successful entrepreneurs are middle-aged, not young,” according to Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship, a paper by Pierre Azoulay and J. Daniel Kim of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management; Benjamin Jones of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management; and Javier Miranda of the Census Bureau’s Center for Administrative Records Research.
Most Successful Entrepreneurs: Middle Age and Beyond
“We find that age indeed predicts success, and sharply, but in the opposite way that many observers and investors propose,” they wrote. “The highest success rates in entrepreneurship come from founders in middle age and beyond.”
The provocative paper may stun some people, but not me. It confirms what I’ve found studying and interviewing mid-life entrepreneurs for more than a decade; I profiled successful launchers in my book What’s Next?
Refuting the Conventional Wisdom
Azoulay and coauthors also wrote, “Many observers, and many investors, believe that young people are especially likely to produce the most successful new firms. We use administrative data at the U.S. Census Bureau to study the ages of founders of growth-oriented start-ups in the past decade and find no evidence to suggest that founders in their 20s are especially likely to succeed. Rather, all evidence points to founders being especially successful when starting businesses in middle age or beyond, while young founders appear disadvantaged.”
While the authors parsed their research by age, geography, and industry, I was disappointed they didn’t tease out data on gender; more on that shortly.
Azoulay and coauthors calculated a mean age of 45 among the 1,700 founders of the fastest-growing new ventures in the past decade. And they found the “batting average” for creating successful firms rises dramatically with age. “A 50-year-old founder is 1.8 times more likely to achieve upper-tail growth than a 30-year-old founder,” they wrote.
Older Entrepreneurs versus Younger Ones
As my colleague Richard Eisenberg noted in one of his Next Avenue columns, research from the Kauffman Foundation, a nonpartisan group supporting entrepreneurship, backs the researchers’ analysis. In its 2018 State of Entrepreneurship survey of 2,165 business, Kauffman described how older entrepreneurs reported having less difficulty starting their businesses than younger ones, in a variety of ways.
The authors of Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship theorize that there are a few reasons an older entrepreneur may reap the benefits of start-up success over a younger one: greater management, marketing, and finance experience, and richer, deeper industry knowledge. Also – and this is important – they may have larger financial resources to tap and more social networks to mine for support in leveraging their idea.
The Importance of Work Experience for Successful Ventures
That said, explained Azoulay and coauthors in a Harvard Business Review post about the study, “we found that work experience plays a critical role. Relative to founders with no relevant experience, those with at least three years of prior work experience in the same narrow industry as their startup were 85% more likely to launch a highly successful startup.”
And there’s another study worth noting here. Boomers and Gen Xers – your working world is in for major disturbances between now and 2030, according to a report from the management consulting firm Bain & Company. The depth and breadth of changes in the 2020s will distinguish this transformation from many previous ones, according to the report Labor 2030: The Collision of Demographics, Automation and Inequality.
But here’s the bigger shock: some of those gyrations will make it easier for people in their 50s and 60s to start businesses, the Bain forecasters say. Automation may lower the cost barriers to entrepreneurship. The report notes that “entrepreneurs can use social media postings, targeted search engine ads and email newsletters to launch businesses at a fraction of the marketing budget previously required.”
Sorry for the statistic overload, but I have to set the table. Consider this:
Over the past decade, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity belongs to the 55-to-64 age group, according to the Kauffman Foundation.
Researchers at the Kauffman Foundation’s 2018 State of Entrepreneurship survey of 2,165 business owners found that most older entrepreneurs had support from family and friends to start their businesses, and they were slightly more likely than younger ones to get the encouragement: 82% of those 45+ had support compared with 80% of those under 45.
Also, older entrepreneurs reported having less difficulty starting their businesses than younger ones, in a variety of ways. For example, while 32% of start-up owners under 45 said obtaining the necessary licenses to operate their business was difficult, only 23% of older ones did. Also, 23% of owners under 45 said registering their business for a state tax ID was difficult, but just 14% of those 45+ felt that way. And 21% of those under 45 said applying for loans was difficult, but a mere 14% of those 45+ did.
More than half of all U.S. small-business owners are age 50 years and over, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Older entrepreneurs are more successful: 70% of their start-ups last more than three years, compared with 28% for younger entrepreneurs.
Approximately 29 million people – two in five Americans ages 50 to 70 – are interested in starting businesses or nonprofit ventures in the next 5 to 10 years, according to research by Encore.org, a nonprofit that promotes second careers focused on improving communities and the world.
An AARP/Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey of 50+ employed workers shows that 1 in 20 plans to start his or her own business. Nearly one in five older unemployed workers would like to do the same.
We’re mostly talking one-person shops that might employ a handful of helpers. And it doesn’t always take money, honey. Many small and microbusinesses, particularly freelance, home-based, and online e-commerce businesses, can be launched with under $1,000 in capital.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the self-employment rate among workers 65 and older (who don’t incorporate) is the highest of any age group in America: 15.5%. In sharp contrast, it’s 4.1% for ages 25 to 34.
Importantly, this is not just an American sensation – it’s a global movement. Older adults lead about a third of all new firms in Australia and are the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs, according to research by Swinburne University of Technology and Queensland University of Technology. Data for older and senior entrepreneurs from 27 European countries found that entrepreneurial activity has taken off in the past five years.
The older generations are the new entrepreneurs, creating employment and driving national productivity, according to research by the London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research. Entrepreneurs over 50 employed more people than start-ups run by younger individuals for the first time in 2016, according to its research. And those over 50 are expected to hold the largest share of the self-employed workforce in the U.K. by 2024.
Older entrepreneurs are brashly stepping into the start-up ethos. Some, admittedly, have been elbowed into opening a business after a corporate downsizing or an early retirement package. Others have been drawn into it by burnout, or the desire to pursue a dream or return to a childhood passion.
With approximately 16% of the world’s population 55 years or older and growing, entrepreneurial activity by older adults has economic clout. Across the world, the economic impact of the businesses started and run by older and senior entrepreneurs is massive. These entrepreneurs are creating jobs for themselves and for others; moreover, they contribute billions in tax revenues to government coffers.
The Movement Is Just Getting Underway
Here’s why:
The global 60+ population will encompass more than one in five human beings by mid-century, rising from 900 million in 2015 to 2.1 billion in 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
In the U.S., people 60 and older will account for 25% of the population by 2030.
Ten thousand Americans turn 65 each day.
“We’ve increased our life expectancy by 50% in the last 100 years,” says Dr. Linda Fried, dean of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Increased longevity is opening the door for older adults to become an entrepreneurial force. “Society can’t afford to lose the assets of older workers: the experience, expertise, commitment, and reliability – and the accumulated knowledge of a lifespan,” says Fried.
The Time Has Come
“Population aging represents the world’s most compelling business opportunity,” says Paul Irving, chairman of the Milken Institute’s Center for the Future of Aging. “We are just beginning to see the economic power of older adults – and the wisdom and experience that they bring to the workforce as entrepreneurs.”
Today’s 60-year-old might reasonably plan to work at least part time for another 15 years, figures Marc Freedman, founder and CEO of Encore.org, and author of How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations. “That changes the entire equation about what you want to do, what’s possible to do,” he says.
Longer lives and fear of outliving their money are motivating many people to keep on keeping on in the working world. The frustrating reality of ageism bias by employers is alive and well, which is why being your own boss has become the default for droves of older workers who are shut out of the workforce by employers who see their expiration date and view them as lacking stamina, up-to-date skills, or perhaps simply being too expensive in terms of salary demands.
What I’m discovering is that people approaching retirement, or already in it, truly want to tap into their skills, knowledge, and experience to create something entrepreneurial, something that is meaningful to them, and an enterprise that makes an impact on the world around us.
And while not everyone is hardwired to work for themselves, those who do choose this path bring decades of experience and networks of contacts they’ve established over the years. They frequently have other important skills in their wheelhouse, too: a firm work ethic, management know-how, and often, better access to capital.
While each new business owner takes a unique path, I have found there’s a common spine that those who succeed share. Many entrepreneurs at this stage of life are spurred into action after experiencing a life catastrophe, perhaps a health issue of their own, or someone close to them dying young. For a more in-depth look at this phenomenon, I encourage you to read my colleague and friend Mark Miller’s excellent book, Jolt: Stories of Trauma and Transformation. A world event may have rocked them in a way that made them pause and think, is this what it is all about? Is this the work I was put in this world to do? “One of the most striking things I learned writing the book is that people who have experienced jolts regard their trauma as a very profound, valuable gift,” Miller told me. “The essential ‘gift’ is that trauma shakes everything up – our expectations for the future, our values, and how we want to spend our time. That opens the door to change.”
Those who succeed typically set a flexible time horizon for their venture. They don’t make any rash moves. If necessary, they add the vital skills and degrees before they make the leap. They often apprentice or volunteer beforehand. But at the heart of all of their efforts lies a yearning to make a difference in the world, or to pursue a dream, or hone a hobby, to live.
They reach out to their networks of social and professional contacts to ask for help and guidance. They downsize and plan their financial lives so they can afford a cut in pay or the cost of a start-up. Several are fortunate to have a spouse’s steady income or some outside investments, retirement savings, or pensions in place to ease the transition to their new line of work.
Different flavors of ice cream, as my sister, Pat, likes to say. Some start-ups have big grand schemes and will require long hours, hard work, and serious capital infusions. Others can be more organic, such as a consulting business or a one-woman craft shop on Etsy, that embrace a part-time, flexible work schedule.
In Never Too Old to Get Rich, you will discover examples of both pathways.
In my reporting and consulting with hundreds of individuals about entrepreneurship over the past few years, I’ve been inspired by the innovation, grit, and possibilities that today’s older entrepreneurs represent.
Entrepreneurship among those in mid-life has two other noteworthy impacts. First, studies show that older people who remain engaged in work are physically and mentally healthier. Second, data from Finland shows a positive relationship between later-life start-ups and positive self-perception of one’s aging.
Bottom line: being the boss feels good.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s not for the faint of heart, and it takes time to lay a stable foundation to make it, well, work.
“Entrepreneurship is a precarious line of work,” Cal J. Halvorsen, a noted retirement researcher and assistant professor at the Boston College School of Social Work, told me when I ran into him at the Gerontological Society of America conference in Boston and shared with him the title of this book. “Those who have higher levels of assets, spouses who have steady jobs, or families with a modicum of wealth are in a better place to start a business. If their ventures fail, they have something to fall back on. Know that entrepreneurship can be a high-risk, high-reward game. Do your homework.”
Halvorsen doesn’t want people to think he’s all gloom and doom about second-act entrepreneurship, though. “It can be so exciting,” he noted.
Older entrepreneurs, Halvorsen said, “gain a whole lot of flexibility in their work, and that’s a major motivating driver for a lot of people. That does become more important the older you are. And they gain autonomy; they get to become their own boss.”
The people who are best prepared to become entrepreneurs, Halvorsen said, are those who have “higher levels of human capital, social capital, and financial capital.”
I asked him to explain. “Human capital might be, for example, education and work experience. Social capital would be their social network. Financial capital would be their financial assets and wealth. If you have higher levels of these, it has been shown that you can be more successful in entrepreneurship.”
Fortunately, these forms of capital tend to increase with age, because you have had more time to cultivate them. As a result, older people in general would likely be more successful at entrepreneurship than younger ones, Halvorsen said.
I get it, and Halvorsen’s advice is worth noting.
That said, many mid-life entrepreneurs – and, I suspect, you, if you’re reading this book – do have the right experience, resilience, and resources to be successful, and have fun too.
Never Too Old to Get Rich is divided into four parts: Turning a Passion into a Business, Building a Winning Senior-Junior Partnership, The Path to Social Entrepreneurship, and Winning Strategies of Female Entrepreneurs.
How to Use This Book
I have designed Never Too Old to Get Rich to show you how to make the best moves right now to start your own business. In these pages, you’ll discover the ultimate guide to making your venture a successful one. I’ll give you the action steps to take to launch. I’ll deliver the professional advice and strategies I’ve been doling out as a career transition, retirement, and personal finance expert and journalist for more than three decades. Each chapter will conclude with a short recap and action steps to keep you working toward your goals.
Here are a few suggestions to consider before we start:
Take a breath. This is not a leap into the abyss of the unknown. Entrepreneurship is a process.
Soul-search. You will want to begin with a solid MRI of your own passion and personality, talents and inner drive to start a business. The big questions: Why start this business? Why you? And why now?
Prepare to get your hands dirty to discover just what it will take to make your dream a reality. That means picking up the phone to ask for help, researching, and getting under the hood of what it will take to really do this in terms of time and money.
Get fit: It’s essential to be physically fit, financially fit, and spiritually fit to face the stress and demands that will lie ahead.
I wrote this book to help you be your own boss – in fact, to help you be your own best boss. It’s time to find joy in your work life and follow those dreams you harbor. It’s a decision I’ve never regretted, and I want to help you feel the same way, too. And in full disclosure, the title of this book, Never Too Old to Get Rich, is a tease in a way. It does bring to mind the financial rewards that are without question a huge motivation for starting a business. And that is my hope for you. But while I am a dreamer, the title has another meaning for me, and, hopefully, for you too.
Getting rich can, and should, be also about the inner richness that comes from creating a new product or service that changes lives and our world and gives back. It’s the richness of doing work we love, alongside people we respect. It’s the powerful rich reward of taking a risk, trying something that scares you, learning new things, meeting different people, achieving personal goals.
All of which may have nothing at all to do with the size of your bank account. But you’re rich in ways that are intangible and that matter deeply in this journey of life. It just depends on your definition of wealth.
Let’s buckle up and enjoy the ride!
ALSO BY KERRY HANNON
Great Jobs for Everyone 50+, Updated Edition: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy … and Pays the Bills
Getting the Job You Want After 50 for Dummies
Love Your Job: The New Rules for Career Happiness
Great Jobs for Everyone 50+: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy … and Pays the Bills
Suddenly Single: Money Skills for Divorcees and Widows
Part ITurning a Passion into a Business
Transforming a passion into paying work can do a number on your desire for it, so you need to plan ahead and test the waters with care.
Before you step out on this path, be clear about the role that this passion, or hobby, plays in your life right now. For many of us, the things that stir up the most passion – and we always wish we could just have more time to do them – are not anchored in the world of commerce. In fact, the time spent devoted to them is quite frankly our respite from our hectic working lives and family demands. It’s where we go to clear our minds and quiet anxiety.
Tapping into that well of renewal to produce an income can turn it upside down. I’m wildly passionate about horses, for example. I fantasize about what it would be like to truly devote all my time and energy to this world. When someone asks, “What would you do if you didn’t need the money?” I would say, spend my time riding and surround myself with horses and dogs.
But I know in my heart that a career training and working with horses would never be a good fit for me. It’s my special place to escape and breathe, far away from world of deadlines and travel, and yes, people. If the barn became my office, I would lose that enchanted world that has bewitched me since the age of six.
Another example is a friend of mine who is a talented gardener. She decided to open a landscape design business when she took an early retirement package from her law firm. But she soon realized when her garden time was every day and the long hours were mostly spent alone, she had made a big mistake. She was lonely and miserable. You see, her garden was her respite from her hectic life. When it was her life, she missed the people connection – the energy she got from interacting with her social work – and it lost its magic.
So, beware of ruining your hobby. To take this route, you must be absolutely certain you do have the talent and the willingness to shift your mindset to make it succeed.
In the following eight chapters, you will meet entrepreneurs who have taken that calculated risk and blend earning a paycheck with their passion – and they’ll share their lessons learned along the way.
CHAPTER 1Lights, Camera, Action
Mike Kravinsky, Nextnik Films, LLC
Courtesy of Sali Dimond.
When Mike Kravinsky went to work as a video editor at ABC News in 1981, he figured he would spend a year there and then head out to Los Angeles to become a filmmaker.
Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. Over the course of 29 years, he worked as an editor and technical director for news broadcasts like World News Tonight and Good Morning America, and news magazine shows like 20/20 and Primetime Live.
“ABC turned out to be a great place to work,” Kravinsky says. “They gave me great opportunities and experiences and one thing led to another.” But then the day came when the jig was up. He accepted a buyout. “I was ready,” he says. “It had become routine.”
After retiring in 2010, the 65-year-old is now following his dream to be a filmmaker once again, although he’s not in Hollywood, but Arlington, Virginia. His independent film company: Nextnik Films, LLC.
From the start of his transition, Kravinsky had his wife, Liza, a composer, urging him to “do what makes you happy.” And the couple, who have no children, has a knack for living frugally. “We’re not living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but we do drive a 12-year old car, and we don’t buy expensive clothes and furniture. It’s just our lifestyle,” he says.
Nonetheless, one of his first moves was to tap an adviser at a no-load mutual fund company for some guidance. He wanted to be sure he was making good choices with the funds he had accumulated in his former employer’s retirement plan, and, of course, to sort out how to manage his buyout monies.
And since he was not exactly certain of his new direction initially, Kravinsky spent time working on his website, which was focused on articles about change and transition, that he had launched before he took the buyout. “I had wanted an outlet to do some writing and videos, and talk to people who had taken professional leaps of faith,” he recalls.
Once on his own, and with the website up and running, he started a blog. Kravinsky soon realized, however, that he was doing the same thing he had always done. His magazine-style video and online stories about career changers were all newsy.
“I should get out of my comfort zone here,” he told himself. “Why don’t I create a character, based on what I am experiencing, as well as what those people who I had done stories about had gone through. So that’s where the first film was born,” he says.
