Small Business

Before I retired from my corporate career, I thought that starting a business meant finding a big idea, developing a product, hiring staff and setting out to “make the world a better place.” Like most people, I saw the stories of companies like Facebook and Google and believed that starting a company required a hard-to-find combination of business and technical skills. Read More

The gig economy? What is that? It is simply a technical word for the economy that absorbs a number of part-time and flexi-time workers into employment on a contractual basis, via the Internet. Read More

The convention wisdom is that starting your own business as an older adult is next to impossible. If you ask the average person why it is hard to start a business after 50, they will give you a litany of reasons, most of which will be based on tired aging stereotypes. Here are a few examples: Read More

It’s no secret that baby boomers are one of the most powerful consumer groups in the world. As a result, marketers are constantly looking for ways to sell to us. Right about now, I can probably hear you saying, “Who cares?” As Seth Godin’s book says, “All Marketers Are Liars.” Why should we care if they know how to market to us? Read More

Why on Earth would you want to tell advertising agencies how to talk to you? Isn’t marketing to baby boomers something that only companies who want to sell something should care about? Absolutely not! Read More

Ok, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Marketing for seniors is tough. For starters, the term “seniors” covers a huge age range. You could argue that 20 years ago most people over 60 had similar lives. No more! Read More

If you have gone through steps 1-4 in my “How to Build a Business After 50” series, you already have a good idea of your strengths and skills. You have probably settled on your profitable business idea. You may have even set up your website. Now what? How can you get the information you need to decide exactly what to build? Equally important, how can you market it to your prospective customers? One way to do both is with content marketing. Read More

In previous articles, we have discussed many aspects of selling your handmade items online. First, we started with an explanation of how to improve your crafting skills. Then we discussed how to decide which items to create. In the last article we covered where to sell your items online. And, now, in this final article in our craftpreneur series, I would like to cover how to find customers. Read More

Talking with the other members of our community, I am amazed by how many good ideas people have for businesses. Even more surprising is how few of these ideas ever become reality.

It’s not that older adults are lacking energy or drive. Read More

Let’s start with some good news. If you have taken the time to identify your strengths and brainstorm business ideas, you’re already ahead of 90% of people who dream about starting a business. While others fantasize about financial security, you have taken action. By now, you should have a rough idea of the kinds of business opportunities that you are interested in. Now it’s time to refine your ideas so that they can form the basis of your profitable business. Read More