After55:

On Wednesday I went to a delightful business luncheon. One of my tablemates said she could almost join SilverVixens because she is 53, though not really happy about it. Fortunately, I stifled the old saw, Think of the alternative. We “After 55″ women entrepreneurs MUST get the word out that being older than 55 is great fun, is energizing, and we are not on the slide to a boring life! If we look at the women I have written about over the months, every single one of them has started a thriving business after the age of 55, and many of them have started several. We have a “bad rep”–let’s start a conversation about how to change our image to reflect the truth: We are vital, vibrant and accomplished. What are good ways to get this started?

Happy Valentine’s Day. One of the many wonderful aspects of being “After 55″ is being able to follow our passions. At this time of life we are also able to express our passions in terms of our work–starting and building a business that expresses our creativity and commitment to running a business the way we think it should be done.

As I talk to “women of a certain age” entrepreneurs around the country, I hear excitement in their voices. We are captivated by bringing our product to the attention of the marketplace. We delight in the connections we are making with others. We hum with the electricity of problem solving. Okay, sometimes we are also tired and frustrated, but that is part of the process that brings out the best in us. We enjoy the stories of our trials, tribulations and triumphs.

So, today let’s do a “passion check”–Do you love what you are doing? Is it worthy of your affection? If your answer to either of these questions is not a resounding “yes,” give thought to what needs to be done to get it there.

Here’s to passion!

This week I went back to reading Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. He was struck that almost all the executives he interviewed used the same phrase, observing that “Just in the last couple of years” they had been able to do things they had never dreamed possible before or that they were being forced to do things they had never dreamed necessary before. Of course, this got me to thinking about our lives, too. We all remember the birthday decorations for “50″ as being over the hill or graveyard stuff. Maybe some of us even bought into it that the best part of our lives was over when we got that mailer from AARP. Now that we are “after 55,” we know the truth. Life has never been better nor offered us more opportunity.

Let’s talk about it. What have you done or been forced to do over the past couple of years for your business (Let’s not get into personal life stuff because we could probably all write volumes.) that would meet Tom Friedman’s criteria? What did you learn? I can’t wait to read your responses.

By now everyone knows I am a reading junkie. One business magazine I particularly like and read cover to cover is PINK magazine. In this month’s e-mail newsletter, the following item appeared: “It is really frustrating that after years of hard work and vigilance, we cannot let up. Though we think we have gotten legislation passed to help level the playing field, we then find out it has been ignored. Now we read that they are planning to make it harder for us to compete again. Please read on and click through to lodge your protest. Now the younger women will know what we have fought for so long.

“PINK Slip Update–and a Call to Action

“The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), former recipient of our notorious PINK Slip, has yet to comply with a 7-year-old law that would reserve 5 percent of government contracts for women-owned businesses. Although women-owned firms account for 41 percent of all privately held firms in the U.S., they currently receive only 3.3 percent of these contracts. ‘The difference in federal spending between 5 percent and 3.3 percent was $7.5 billion based on 2006 numbers,’ points out Linda Denny, president and CEO of Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, the nation’s largest third-party certifier of women-owned businesses.

“The SBA has now proposed a rule to Congress that would only allow federal agencies to implement the program for women-owned businesses in four out of more than 2,300 business categories. ‘This rule would make it virtually impossible for any woman business owner to take advantage of the 5 percent set-aside, completely invalidating the intent of Congress,’ says Barbara Kasoff, president and CEO of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP).”

“To get involved:

1. Click here to contact the SBA and ask it to rescind the proposed rule. Deadline: February 25. (WIPP asks that you forward a copy of your response to Anna at alubiner@wipp.org.)

2. Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher has written a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter asking members of the House to join her in asking the SBA to work with Congress to redraft the proposed rule. Let your representative know how you feel and cc WIPP.”

Within the last week I have learned about Make Mine a Million $ Business from two sources, and am I glad I did. M3 (to those of us in the know) is a program of countmein.org, founded by Nell Merlino. She is also the founder of Take Your Daughter to Work Day. This woman moves mountains.

M3 is for women whose businesses are established, but who are ready to commit to taking them to the million-dollar level. As you explore the website, look at all the ways you can learn and benefit. I was particularly pleased that several awardees are “of a certain age,” and that means you can benefit! The next event is in Phoenix on March 4, and it will be co-hosted by Valerie Morris, the financial columnist for SilverVixens.com.

I, too, thought this sounded nearly too good to be true, but the program is backed by such rock-solid companies as American Express, Dell, FedEx, Cisco and Marriott. I will be at the Phoenix event: Be sure to say hello.

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing–that’s why we recommend it daily.”
–Zig Ziglar

That quote popped up in my inbox the other day and made me chuckle, but it also got me thinking. I think one of the toughest things about being an After 55 entrepreneur is staying the course. Many of us have naysayers around us who wonder what we are doing starting a business “at your age,” and there are many days we question our sanity without anyone else chiming in. That’s when we need the help that motivators can give us.

If we are lucky, we have a solid group of personal cheerleaders; but who helps us keep on when the going gets tough and we are tired? That’s when we turn to coaches, mentors and motivators we know only through networking events, audiotapes and books. When I was a road rep I always had a least one set of motivational tapes in the car. Sometimes, they would be background noise as I drove long hours, but more often than not I got a lot out of each set on sales, marketing, customer service and life. I could listen to the late Earl Nightingale forever–sonorous voice and wise insights.

Now that Silver Vixens is up and running, I need a new type of motivation–how to keep on track and focused on the myriad tasks to take it where I want it to go. To my amazement, I have gone back to motivational tapes. I thought I knew it all, but they still have a lot to teach me. Now when I hit the treadmill in the morning, it’s Brian Tracy in my ear, not Frankie Valli, the Supremes or the Rolling Stones.

Who helps you keep on keeping on?

“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves… And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility. ” Eleanor Roosevelt

This quote arrived in my inbox on New Year’s Day and gave me pause. It seems that lately I have been seeing a lot about personal philosophy. The article in Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Caffeine said that Gitomer lives his philosophy rather than organizing his life around lists and goals. If he takes care of the big issues, the small ones will follow–although he does have a staff to take care of details. Another article I read recently touted a personal philosophy rather than goal setting. Then along came Eleanor Roosevelt over the span of nearly 60 years to bring crystal clarity to the topic.

Everything is about our choices, like it or not, and we are responsible for our choices. As entrepreneurs, the choices are ours. Many times the choice is not easy or always clear, but it is ours. As we head into 2008, it’s very good time to think about choices we have made and boundaries we need to set, and to determine, if necessary, our non-negotiables. As we After 55s often have a heavy burden of responsibilities to others, this is a great time to spend time thinking about how we want to meet the future.

My best wishes that it’s a very good one for all of us!

One last chance to learn from 2007. In this quiet time, as we plan and gear up for 2008 and its opportunities, let’s each take a minute to reflect on the year that is closing. What are we most proud of learning or accomplishing? How long can you make your list? Like everyone else, I’ve had several challenges this year. But, looking back, I am really proud of how I met them, learned to listen to what I felt to be true, and responded both from my needs and integrity. Wow! This might be the first year I can truly say that! That comes from wisdom–and you don’t have that when you are 25. Here are three accomplishments I am proud of this year:

1. I have been a columnist and blogger for eight months–and I had never done either on a regular basis before.
2. My website is up and I am bringing a dream to life.
3. I got married!

If you like, please share your Points of Pride and we’ll all celebrate them together.

Happy New Year!

It seems like so many businesses have essentially shut down for the rest of the year. When I find myself in this situation, where I can’t get much of anything to happen, I step back. Everyone and his or her aunt is writing about goal setting for the new year, and it is vitally important to know where you’re heading. I like to use these two weeks to take a break and “fill myself up” with good reading on a wide variety of business topics. This gives me the mental sharpness and positive outlook to really start the new year out right.

This week I am reading books about organization, time management, fulfilling a life dream and entrepreneurship. Yes, that is four books plus the latest Sue Grafton. I’m also starting a brainless knitting project to keep my fingers busy, which gives me time to sit and think. I also got a new grid notebook to write down what comes to mind and a fresh bottle of brown ink for my beloved fountain pen. I can hardly wait to see what great ideas and insights flow from that pen. I wish you the same. Let me know what your ideas and insights are.

I’ve talked about loving my business because it is totally mobile and have shared that I have written my blog and column while traveling to the East and to the West. This week I am appreciating the flexibility of my business life because it has allowed me to keep moving forward though my husband was unexpectedly hospitalized for six days. The hospital has wi-fi throughout (and free). During the inevitably long periods when nothing was scheduled, I just whipped open my MacBook Pro and went to work. How wonderful to have a business that I could work on at any hour. Yet another reason that I am so happy to be an entrepreneur. What are your reasons to look at your business life and say “Wow! I am so happy I have this work situation I have developed”?

My new website is up! www.silvervixens.com. The columnists are terrific, the rewards will be great, the neat women will be so cool, and on and on and on. I can see wonderful things happening if we can connect neat women, shine our lights, share our knowledge and have fun.

The process had ups and downs, took longer than expected–OK, so I was out of the country 31 days in the fall–and turned out to be quite complicated. But it is incredible to actually see what I have had in my head.

Please take a look at it. I hope you find it and its potential as exciting as I do. I would more than appreciate if you would tell anyone you know who fits the Woman of a Certain Age description. I hope you will join and consider giving the membership as a gift to a family member or girlfriend. The more of us, the merrier we can make it.

Dreams do come true–not to those who wait, but to those who work hard and persevere.

It seems all of the media are highly focused on helping us spend like crazy. We are portrayed as having 1 million social events, being hostesses with the mostest, fantastic home decorators with our to-do lists totally under control–of course, all of this is on top of running our businesses! True confession time. This is not what my December looks like. My holiday celebrations are small and simple. On the business side, December is focused on taking a good, strong look at my business plans. I am not just talking about goals but rather revisiting the plans, metrics, marketing, publicity and connections I want to make happen. I am also taking time to organize, read and think. I am feeling energized rather than exhausted. What are you doing this holiday season?