When are you too old to start a business
Do you think you are too old to start a business?
A recent report from O2 Business stated that ‘A wave of over-55s are looking to use their newfound access to their pension savings to start a business’ and one in four over-55 respondents to their survey aspire to start a business and ‘become their own boss’.
I have met a number of people in the over 50 age bracket who have felt that they are too old to be taking a risk in starting their own business. But when I ask for the reason they feel this way, I rarely get a clear cut answer. It just seems to be a common misconception that you have to be young to start a business.
However, as the article I read pointed out, 70 per cent of businesses started by over-55s last longer than three years, while only 28 per cent of those set up by young people last that long.
[Tweet “70 per cent of businesses started by over-55s last longer than three years”]So what are the benefits of starting a business in your later years?
Firstly, life experience! You will have been there, done it and got the tee shirt. You will have had to deal with life’s ups and downs and found ways to get through them – essential qualities when running your own business.
Over the years, you will undoubtedly have built up many transferrable skills that younger entrepreneurs have yet to master whether these be people skills, patience, determination, handling finances or one of the many other that you gain through life that are too many to list here.
And from a buyers point of view, they tend to trust more mature traders.
When people come to me and say that they are too old to start a business I relay the adage to them that ‘age only matters if you are a cheese’.
To name just a few older famous people who started business in later years ….
- Julia Child wrote her first cookbook at age 50.
- Colonel Sanders, was 62 when he franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken.
- Peter Roget invented the Thesaurus at Age 73
- John Pemberton invented Coca cola at age 55
- Maxine Clarke invented Build A Bear at age 48
And, far more importantly, the mother of a friend of mine has just written her first ever children’s book at the tender age of 91 years young!!!
So if you are over 55 and have an unfilled dream, please don’t think you are too old to start a business. Be brave, do your research and go for it.
If you would like a sounding board as to your idea or tips on how to get started, get in touch now.
