The number of 50-plus entrepreneurs, new small business owners, solopreneurs, and self-employed people is increasing at a historically high rate.
Some of this is motivated by layoffs and creatively-disguised early retirement packages. And fears of an upcoming recession have plenty of others taking proactive action to protect their income.
But it’s not all driven by raw economic survival. Others are drawn by the desire to pursue a longtime dream to start a business that’s now become both possible and practical.
Over at NextAvenue, 64-year-old Serial entrepreneur AnnMaria De Mars talks about what to do, and not do, when starting a company in midlife.
As we’ve discussed, you have a comparative advantage over your younger peers thanks to experience. This allows you to tap into your creativity and wisdom to solve problems for customers and clients.
De Mars agrees, and adds an additional benefit:
One just relates to experience. I made a lot of stupid mistakes early on, so I didn’t make them later.
The other advantage for me, and I think this one is very much underrated: My kids were grown. I had four children and when they were little, I had to take care of them and worry about supporting them.
She goes on to advocate for the side hustle. Not as a means to make extra cash, but as a way to get up and running without the burden of losing your current income:
You’re going to be less stressed. And you’ve got a paycheck coming in.
If you want to do a consulting thing on the side, see if you could do it after hours, come into work earlier, whatever. Do it on your lunch hour.
Start with a side hustle and see if this is really what you want to do.
De Mars repeatedly points out the general difficulty of raising money, which only becomes more challenging once you’re at midlife. Of course, there are plenty of businesses you can start without raising venture capital.
Freelancing or consulting is a popular choice for those going out on their own at 50-plus. What you may not know, though, is that this type of expertise-based business can be much more than a “job replacement” venture.
It’s also the type of businesses I’ve been running for the last 17 years. I call it the mentor method, and it’s basically an expertise-based, location-independent business that helps guide others to solutions to specific problems they want to solve.
I’ll be doing not one, but three presentations on the mentor method exclusively for Well + Wealthy members in the coming months. You can find out more about the mentor method here, or simply join us in Well + Wealthy now.
Keep going-
P.S. Don’t forget, the membership fee for Well + Wealthy will double at the end of the month. Join us for our upcoming fitness challenge and start planning your perfect business at the same time!
New to Further? Join us here.
The Med Gala
Rather than a diet, it should be called a way of life. That said, the Mediterranean “diet” has become the bedrock of heart-healthy eating, with well-studied health benefits including lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and a reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes.
The Mediterranean Diet Really Is That Good for You. Here’s Why
Chill Heart
Until I got an Apple Watch in 2017, I never thought about my resting heart rate. Studies have consistently shown that a lower resting heart rate is associated with a longer life span … except when it isn’t. Find out the difference between a highly healthy heart and bradycardia.
Low Resting Heart Rate: How Low Should Yours Get?
Bored of Directors
Most American workers are either disengaged at work or find their jobs miserable. Boredom at work isn’t an inescapable mental state; it’s an emotional warning that you need to change your current predicament.
Bored at Work? Your Brain is Trying to Warn You
Moving On Out
This list isn’t just for retirees. It’s for anyone who is looking for a better life, a more affordable life, or just a way to escape from it all — the frenetic pace, the politics, the divisiveness.
Move Abroad: 10 Cheapest Places To Live
How to Engineer a Longer, Healthier Life
By Trudi Roth
For my family, 2023 started with a serious wake-up call: my husband’s 53-year-old brother had a heart attack.
Yes, heart disease runs in their family. But so does longevity — their grandpa lived to 100, and other family members made it well into their 90s.
Genetic factors can go either way. Lucky for us, exponential advances in medical technology already predispose our generation to be the first to live much longer. However, as we often discuss, it’s not about lifespan — it’s all about healthspan.
To optimize your biology, you’ve got a choice: lifestyle. It’s the magic switch you can flip to change your medical destiny.
The Gene Genie
When you see a doctor, you’re asked about two things: family history and current behaviors. That’s because, as Michael Roizen, M.D., author of The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow, points out, genetics and lifestyle choices go hand-in-hand. Having one in your favor doesn’t necessarily neutralize the other.
Instead, you need both to self-engineer better health over time.
Each healthy act switches on youth-promoting genes and switches off genes that cause you to age… Good choices (and the proteins that are developed because of them) beget more good proteins, and the activation of bad genes begets more bad and destructive genes being turned on.
If you need stats to hammer that point home, the CDC says nearly half of premature deaths in the US are preventable by lifestyle choices, and about 75% of health outcomes from age 60+ are determined by how well you take care of yourself.
With the anti-aging revolution gathering steam (hello, senescent cell elimination), you’ve got to be ready to take advantage of new opportunities in healthy aging.
Rock Your Reboots
According to Dr. Roizen, there are six key indicators for longevity:
- Blood pressure less than 120/80
- BMI of 27 or less or waist-to-height ratio of 0.40 – 0.55
- LDL cholesterol less than 70 mg/dL
- Fasting blood sugar less than 106 mg/dL
- Cotinine-free urine (indicates no tobacco use)
- Stress management program completion
Those who will be well enough to take advantage of the upcoming medical “reboots” make commitments to maintaining those “normal” measurements. These include:
- Using technology (tracking)
- Investing in staying healthy
- Doing the little things proactively to take care of your body
- Joining an “ecosystem” for accountability and support (or, as we call it at Well + Wealthy, a community for midlife reinvention)
The good news is my brother-in-law got the full benefit of the current miraculous technology (four stents), with no lasting heart damage. But if he (and you) want to maximize your reboot capacity in the future, better defrag your system today by not smoking and improving your fitness, nutrition, sleep, and stress management.
Want to live longer? Influence your genes. (National Geographic)
further: flashback
Men At Work – Who Can It Be Now?
Business as Usual, 1981
Men At Work’s Colin Hay was inspired to write Who Can It Be Now due to living next door to a drug dealer, whose customers would constantly knock on his door at all hours by mistake. Fortunately, he was able to move after the song hit #1 in the US. (YouTube)
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