4 Tips For Boomer Preneurs Before Starting A Business

Boomer Preneurs are the fastest growing segment in the entrepreneurship sector.

Boomer Preneurs are Baby Boomers (born 1946 – 1964) who owns a small business or starting a business, and as discussed in my previous blog post, (Retired But Not Tired: The Truth Behind It), we are not the group of people as we used to be some decades ago. Senior entrepreneurs, or Boomer Preneurs, are more active than ever.

Boomer Preneurs can be divided into many different groups, but they all have in common people looking for life on their own terms after years in the corporate world.

Baby Boomers starting a business adventure, have a lot in common with younger entrepreneurs except for one point:

We want to enjoy our retirement.

The beauty with Boomer Preneurs is that at 55+ years of age they have much more in their personal “asset” than their younger counterparts. For example, they could be challenged with pursuing their entrepreneurial dream without risking funds earmarked for retirement.

You don’t need to figure out if you are at the age of retirement or not. You will notice it immediately, when your surroundings start to whisper about preparing for old age, such as letters about long-term care insurance, invitations to lectures about liposuction, letters about boosting your savings to retire well, little blue pills, wheelchairs, well, it goes on and on. I even got quotations for my own funeral.

The problem though is that you are not ready to retire in that sense. Not so long time ago, work was correlated to some kind of physical effort, and therefore, the old type of retirement thinking was valid back then.

Today it’s different, and the combination of healthier seniors and work efforts requiring less physical effort, the growing group of baby boomers refuses to be laid off in the sense that no more openings on the market will be available.

In this environment, the so-called Boomer Preneurs appeared; people who are “locked out” from the normal labor market, and decided to start their own business and being their own boss.

Boomer Preneurs: What To Think About Before Starting Your Business

Baby boomers normally have a lot of ideas of what kind of business to run. The life experience has given so many tips along the road. The tricky part of the process starts by identifying a business that fits the market needs.

For whatever reason you decide to start your own business, there are always certain points to carefully check up.

Step 1. What to consider as a Boomer Preneur before starting a business? – In this first part everything from the investment cost to the products, services and marketplace have to be analyzed in detail.

Step 2. Identify the opportunity that is right for the marketplace and you. – With the life experience, we have as seniors, a lot of ideas have passed through your mind over the years. You just didn’t have time, funds or both at that point to initiate the business. A passion driven business based on a product or service you love yourself will always be a safe card towards your success. Before going ahead, you must figure out that there is a market for your product.

Step 3. Refine your business idea and do research. – With your passion on top and eager to get started, it’s very easy to forget this step of the process, or at least not doing the necessary job properly. In today’s Internet world there are no excuses to avoid the research part. If something is wrong in your business model, it will cause you problems later on if not corrected. When scaling up the business, it will all leverage, not only the good things but also the wrong stuff. So, do not take this step as “not-so-important-but-must–do” issue.

Step 4. Determine the viability of the business and push the start button. – At this point, you should have a detailed business plan as well as a financial plan linked to a schedule. Go it through again, invite other people to analyze it. Correcting minor errors at this pre-launch point will save you money, time and problems later on. Start the business and enjoy your life as a Boomer Preneur.

How Do I Know All This About Boomer Preneurs?

There are two main reasons:

You are not the only one – This is a worldwide growing trend. In many countries around the world, the self-employment group among 55+ people is increasing faster than the corresponding employment group. With the exceptionally rapid growth of the digital industry, there are fewer jobs globally each year. And this trend does not seem to change, in spite of all promises made by politicians around the world. This trend will, of course, affect all groups in the society, but as seniors reaching retirement age traditionally have been faded out, this group is accustom to the behavior and at the end, strong and successful Boomer Preneurs will be a major group managing the businesses.
I’ve been there – After a long and successful corporate career, at the age of 62, I decided to leave behind my frustration, lack of satisfaction, stress and starting my own business. It has been a tough journey, and probably with more frustration and pressure and working hours than ever before. But it was worth it! The freedom to be your own boss, building your own business and rely 100% on what you are doing for yourself is priceless.

Thanks to the Internet and the business opportunities offered in the market, it was possible to materialize this dream I have had since many years ago. As a Senior, I was not willing to invest the money from the funds to be used when I will get retired (if I ever will retire). With a couple of hundred dollars, you can literally have your online business up and running. Hard work, yes, frustrations, yes, failures, a lot, but it was all worth it.

The laptop lifestyle is something that everyone should have the opportunity to live. It is the ultimate freedom you can’t understand until you start to live it. And the best part of it: