After55:

“You don’t have to put an age limit on your dreams.”
–Dara Torres, 2008 Olympic champion

Oh, how right she is! Torres again competed at the 2008 Olympics at age 41 and won! I am always reminded of the woman who wanted to go to med school when she was 40 and was afraid she was too old to start at that age. A friend told her that in seven years she could either be a 47-year-old or she could be a 47-year-old doctor. Fortunately she chose Door No. 2.

Just think! You could be a 55- or 61- or 70-year-old successful entrepreneur–with many years left to enjoy your business. Age has little to do with running a business–get started . . . NOW!

My policy is to learn from the past, focus on the present and dream about the future. I’m a firm believer in learning from adversity. Often the worst of times can turn to your advantage. My life is a study of that.
– Donald Trump

I am not the greatest fan of the Donald, but these are true, wise words.  Many times the future is what we dream it to be, no matter our circumstances now.  Rather than say, “Woe is me!”  try asking, “What is the benefit here?  What is the opportunity?”  You’ll be amazed at the extraordinary results that come from asking the right question.

OK, I am assuming you have done your homework from the last post–oh, my! It was 10 days ago!  Time really flies when you are running a business, doesn’t it?

My point exactly. . . just because you’re in the midst of starting or running a business doesn’t mean you don’t take time to think about your business and what the value proposition is.  This week’s assignment is to take those three unique qualities of your business that you last identified and write every wonderful thing about them from your customer’s point of view!

No matter how in love with your idea you are, if your customer doesn’t understand why she should love it, too, you will be soon putting up your “closed” sign.  That’s right. Write a paragraph for each of the three qualities as if they were testimonials for your business.  Do they really ring true to you or, deep down, do you think your reaction indicates you need to do more work on the concepts? Better to go back to the drawing board now, when you don’t have a ton invested and are not carrying a lot of inventory.  Listen to your gut–are you on target or missing the mark?

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
–Steve Jobs

As we start the journey of exploring ways to replenish our retirement (and day- to-day) accounts through entrepreneurship, let’s look at this quote.  What business should you start? Here’s one idea. How many times have you struggled with getting something done and thought there has to be a better way to do this? If you’re like me, it’s not a rare occurence. Probably one of those “burrs in your saddle” bothers you more than others.  Your assignment is to identify one item or process you think can be done better and give some serious thought to exactly how to make it better.  You’re on your way to innovation!  As always, keep in touch.

According to Careerbuilder, “60 percent of workers over age 60 believe they’ll need to delay retirement because of money they’ve lost during the economic downturn, with 73 percent of those saying they’ll need to work an additional six years to recoup what they’ve lost.”

These are really big numbers!  Because we are all here on Entrepreneur.com, we know that one of the ways this 60 percent of workers are meeting this challenge is by starting their own businesses and reinventing their future.  That is exactly what this blog, my sister column After55 on WomenEntrepreneur and my website, Silver Vixens, will be focusing on in the coming weeks.  Stay in touch and keep in touch.

You know I love quotes.  I get two or three daily to keep my spirits in top form. This one came through As a Man Thinketh.

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.  Thomas Huxley

One of the rewards of being After 55 is we know the value of discipline–though I confess I struggle with it all the time.  Go back to your goals and your plan, and approach and accomplish them with discipline.  Believe me, the muscle gets stronger the more you use it.

I was conducting an interview earlier this week with a woman who started her business in 1983. She mentioned that she had done all the preliminary groundwork two years earlier, but had held off because of the recession. She also spoke of the challenges her company, by then a national firm, faced during the S&L crisis. As I listened to her, I was amazed. I knew of both of those significant downturns, but they didn’t affect me financially. I was a commissioned sales rep at that time–really, I was self-employed and entrepreneurial.  I had no limits on industries I could sell to, no minimum or maximum sales. I had a product line and a territory–no expense account, no benefits.  Sound familiar?  Oh yes, I had two children to support with no help from anyone.

In early 1983, as the country was just coming out of a significant recession,  I bought a very large condo from cash flow. In the late 1980s, I had a daughter heading to college and a non-performing territory I had just taken over. I paid for college from cash flow.

So . . . what’s my point? If you are an entrepreneur, you can direct the future of your business.  During the above-mentioned conversation, I realized that I had changed my client base during those two economic upheavels. Originally, I had sold mostly to the financial sector; by the time the dust had cleared from the second downturn, the majority of my customers were in the health-care industry.

How can you turn these challenging times to your advantage? Can you turn your attention to new areas? Can you use this opportunity to reshape your business?  Yes, you can.

I was just listening to Rachel Maddow’s show.  Did you know she has a Ph.D. in political science?  Anyway, her opening was something worth commenting on in this challenging economy.  She recounted several potential similarities between Lincoln’s time and ours.  After connecting each similarity she said, “But Lincoln had it much worse.”  As we hear day after day of news that challenges our will to keep on keeping on, as we see CEO after CEO sitting before congressional committees not quite “getting” how things are out here in the real world, it is vital that we remember that we have been here before.  We have withstood challenges, perservered and even prospered.  We have done this individually and as a nation.  As entrepreneurs, we are the backbone of our economy.  We know that.  For that privilege we pay with taking the enormous personal and financial risks.  When you are sitting at your computer wondering what to do next–remember just how important you are and go back yet another time to solve your current dilemma.

Just because I am the only silver-haired columnist doesn’t mean I knew Abe personally, but I DO know that he would be proud of you.

The Purpose Prize awards up to $100,000 each to people over 60 who are helping to meet society’s biggest challenges.  The 2008 winner invented the Universal Nut Sheller that improved the lives of the women of Mali who previously hand-shelled peanuts.  It is now used by farmers in 17 countries.

Do you have a business, idea or invention that could help society or the world?  Do you meet the age requirement?  Check out encore.org.  Good luck!

I’ve been thinking a lot about goal setting in the past few days. What has me intrigued is whether it’s somewhat different for those of us who are “After 55.” We are at a very different place in our lives–our timeline for achieving success is shorter.  I am talking about the taboo of aging.

Starting a business now will require more time and resources than it would have three years ago. The critical questions we must ask ourselves are: Do I have–or want to expend–the energy it will take to give this idea wings? How much of my personal resources am I willing to risk to give this idea a chance to flourish? Every entrepreneur has to answer these questions whenever she starts her business. The difference for us is that if the business doesn’t meet our expectations, our potential recovery period is shorter and the downside could have much more severe ramifications.

On the other hand, research indicates that only 37 percent of retirees want to simply sit back and relax. Being a business owner is the most direct way for an After 55 to soften the blows of the current economic whipsaw. One of the biggest requirements of running a business is dealing with reality. Does your business idea meet your financial requirement–present and future?  Until you can answer this question affirmatively and honestly, keep researching, planning and building up your reserves.

Sorry for the delay in this post.  As you have been seeing in my sidebar, I spoke last Thursday at the 5th Annual Sacramento Conference of Professional BusinessWomen of California.  I am eager to share what I learned and the feeling I had coming away.

First, the conference was a huge success by the numbers: More than 3,000 women attended, and there were four outstanding keynote speakers–Naomi Tutu, Jackie Speier, Lucy Liu and Lynne Twist.  Each speaker spoke to us at our highest level as businesswomen and women.  I met women ranging from senior executives in huge multinational corporations to women involved in not-for-profits both large and small, a dairy farmer and a woman who has cleaned houses for 20 years and loves her business.

Second, watching the connections being made among women from all over the country, across areas of expertise, finding commonality through family and values was heartwarming.  One of my passionate delights is connecting–both people and ideas.  As I wrote to my daughter, it was Candyland for me.

Third, the prevailing attitude about the economy was realistic, but also tired of all the unremitting gloom and doom in the media.  Yes, things are challenging, but there was conversation about looking for the good news and tapping into our huge creativity to develop alternative programs and ways of meeting the challenges.

Fourth, the 250 women who attended my session, “We Don’t Retire, We Reinvent,” were a really thoughtful group.  They delighted in looking both forward and back and planning for a future that will bring them delight and fulfillment. It was a pleasure to help so many proactive women look at the next phase of their lives.

I was also delighted to see the wide age range–there were a lot of After 55s, and they were leading the pack in sharing, teaching, connecting and learning.  I was a proud respresentative.

Anyone who has been reading my blog for some length of time knows I am a reader. This week I would like to issue a challenge: Turn off your television (except, of course, to watch the election results on Tuesday–you are voting, right?) and stop reading the newspapers for two weeks. Use the time you would have spent in these activities to read. I am suggesting books about business–my current favorite, Thinkertoys, by Michael Michalko, Good to Great by Jim Collins, Execution by Larry Bossidy or–personal development–anything by Brian Tracy, Jeffrey Gitomer, Basic Black by Cathy Black or Martha Rules by Martha Stewart.

If you don’t like to read (horrors!), many are available at the library on CD or tape or can be downloaded so you can learn while driving or taking your daily walk to stay centered.  Fill your head with new ideas, possible solutions, fresh approaches.  Let me know how it goes–I really am interested.

VOTE!