Berny Dohrmann, Chairman and Founder of CEO Space writes:
Younger entrepreneurs may hog the spotlight, but baby boomers are becoming business owners faster than anyone. From 2007 to 2008 — the latest data available — new businesses launched by 55- to 64-year-olds grew 16 percent, faster than any other group, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit group that studies U.S. business startups. All told, boomers in that age group started approximately 10,000 new businesses a month.
The trend is so strong that the Kauffman Foundation predicts a sustained entrepreneurship boom, not in spite of the country's aging workforce, but because of it. Starting a business Other researchers agree.
"The older you are, the more likely you are to be self-employed or a small-business owner. I don't think it's new, but I do think it's growing," says Edward Rogoff, the Lawrence N. Field Professor of Entrepreneurship at Baruch College in New York. "Older people need to make more money than they did before and their chances of finding traditional employment are restricted, so more of them get pushed into entrepreneurship. Or they just find it attractive."
As entrepreneurs, people in their 40s, 50s and older have a lot going for them, including a career's worth of accumulated knowledge about an industry and a network of people to tap as financiers, suppliers or customers. Recession or not, they're also more likely to have retirement or other savings to fund a new venture.
Nobody says it's easy. Older entrepreneurs face obstacles their younger counterparts needn't worry about — especially time. "If you're starting a business as a way to supplement your income, you can't wait the typical five years or more that younger entrepreneurs are told to expect before turning a profit," says Rogoff, co-author of a new book on the subject, The Second Chance Revolution: Becoming Your Own Boss After 50. "And if you're older, you can't afford to bet the ranch on a new venture and lose because you don't have the time to earn that money back again before retiring," he says.
"Mature entrepreneurs are more likely to have family needs to consider when weighing the sacrifices necessary to make a new business work," says Melinda Emerson, a small-business coach and author of the book Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months. "You'll need to get your whole family's buy-in" Emerson says, "because scaling back everyone's lifestyle is a tough order, but it's what it takes." Hard work and hustle
Nevertheless, later-life entrepreneurs who prepare for the rigors of startup life can enjoy rewarding outcomes. When Norma Davis retired from a 27-year career at Verizon, she knew she wanted to run her own business and took time to investigate the possibilities. One day while babysitting grandson Prestin, she took him to a birthday party at an indoor gym. "I held him in my arms and walked around and said to myself 'This is it.'"
CEO Space offers multiple opportunities for those in transition or facing retirement. For more information, please contact Rebecca Olkowski at 818-515-7880 or EMAIL.
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