Encore Entrepreneurs: Aging Into Success

Colonel Harland Sanders, creator of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Amadeo Giannini, founder of Bank of America. Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post. Charles Flint, founder of IBM. Ferdinand Porsche, creator of Porsche. Ray Kroc, the man behind the McDonald's Corporation.

What do these famous entrepreneurs have in common? They all rose to success around their senior years, making them encore entrepreneurs.

With these encouraging success stories paving the way, self-employment among seniors is on the rise. According to a study by the U.S. Office of Advocacy, “The percentage of individuals age 62 and over who were self-employed increased from 4.2 percent in 1988 to 5.4 percent in 2015.”

If that doesn’t seem like a lot, a recent study by the Kaufmann foundation heightens those findings. It shows that while in 1996, people aged 55 to 64 made up less than 15 percent of new entrepreneurs, by 2016, the same age group had risen to make up 25 percent of new entrepreneurs.

Why are so many encore entrepreneurs cropping up? Perhaps the reasoning lies in having more free-time upon retirement and needing something to do. It could be that encore entrepreneurs are finally fulfilling that lifelong startup dream they’ve held onto for years. Or perhaps there are simply more resources out there to help entrepreneurs begin than there were before.

Whatever the reason is, here are some tips for the hopefuls out there looking to join the growing ranks of encore entrepreneurs.

Prepare. Whether you have business experience or not, you’ll need to prepare to take the plunge. SCORE, SBA’s Small Business Development Centers, the SBA’s Office of Women's Business Ownership, AARP, are all resources you can use to assess your qualifications and train.
Ask yourself, Why? Why are deciding to start a business? What passionate force is driving you? The answer will clear the way ahead, illuminating exactly what mission you’re after and the first steps of how to accomplish it.
Expertise. Become the expert in whatever product or service you’re marketing. Take advantage of all the experience you’ve gained throughout your life and use it to know, embellish, and sell your product.
Find a mentor. You’re never too old to learn and learning from someone else who already has experience doing what you want to do can be integral to success. If you don’t have someone in mind already, look to SCORE, which offers mentorship.
Go lean and go fast. Pollack of SCORE suggests that you should sketch your business idea out quickly, to test its viability. Use methods like the Business Model Canvas and Lean Canvas model to create a short, testing worksheet.
Use a coworking workspace. It might be hard for you to dive into the work mode from your comfy couch at home, so consider using a coworking space, where you can share an office with other motivated workers, learning from them and thriving off the friendly, productive atmosphere.
Don’t forget your health. While important at any time in life, health is an especially critical concern for older entrepreneurs. So make sure you’re creating a healthy work-life balance from the beginning.