By Aura Alex

From Boomer

To Entrepreneur

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Contents

Introduction – The “Silver” Entrepreneurs .......................................................................................... 2

Living Your Passion .................................................................................................................................... 2

Skills Assessment – Time For A Checkup! ............................................................................................. 3

Delegation ....................................................................................................................................... 4

Accounting ...................................................................................................................................... 4

A tech “Guru” .................................................................................................................................. 5

➢ Engineering/Coding Expertise ...................................................................................................6

Funding Your Venture ...............................................................................................................................6

Your Bank ........................................................................................................................................ 7

Crowd-Sourced Lending............................................................................................................... 7

Crowd-Funding .............................................................................................................................. 7

Business Credit Cards/Business Lines of Credit ....................................................................8

The Government ............................................................................................................................8

Other Private Sources .................................................................................................................. 9

Obstacles Ahead! ....................................................................................................................................... 9

A Weak Business Plan .................................................................................................................. 9

Money Trouble ............................................................................................................................. 10

Health Issues ................................................................................................................................. 11

Technical Glitches ........................................................................................................................ 11

Actually Starting A Business ...................................................................................................................12

Do It Yourself.................................................................................................................................12

Hire Professionals ........................................................................................................................ 13

Offshore .......................................................................................................................................... 13

Support Structure – You’re Going to Need It! ..................................................................................... 13

What Success Looks And Feels Like ......................................................................................................15

From the Author ........................................................................................................................................17

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Introduction – The “Silver” Entrepreneurs

There’s a striking new trend shaping the entrepreneurial landscape of America.

Members of the “Baby Boomer” generation are beginning to retire at a rate of about 10,000

per day. That trend will continue over the next fifteen years or so. The question, though,

is what to do with those Silver Years? Do you sit back on the front porch with a cold glass

of iced tea and enjoy the fruits of your long career, or do you have another adventure lurking

inside you? Perhaps you’ve always wanted to be at the helm of your own company, doing

something you’re truly passionate about. If you are interested in having another grand

adventure, or even if you think you may be, then this book is for you! In the pages that

follow, we’ll guide you through the steps of what it will take to get your new entrepreneurial

venture off the ground.

Now, you might be thinking that you’re “too old” for all of that. If you’re reading

these words, then you’re probably a Boomer, either already retired, or about to retire,

somewhere around fifty-five to sixty-five years old and, at first blush, the prospect looks

daunting indeed. After all, start-ups are a playground for the young. Or so conventional

wisdom dictates. One thing we’ve learned about the Boomer generation, however, is that

they often defy convention and conventional thinking. The reality is that you’re well-

positioned to find success with a start-up, and you have a number of key advantages over

the eager-but-inexperienced twentysomethings you’ll find yourself competing against in the

marketplace.

We’ll step through the process with you, highlighting the major areas you need to

focus on when launching your own enterprise, and guiding you around the most common

pitfalls. You’ll be several miles ahead of the rest of the pack. Let’s get started.

Living Your Passion

“There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it’s the aspiration of an

athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessperson.” - Anthony Robbins

Passion lies at the heart of every budding start-up. And why not? Leaping into the

world of entrepreneurship takes courage, and it doesn’t make much sense to do it if you’re

not truly passionate about the company you’re creating, the idea behind it, and the products

and services you offer. Really, what this is about then, is using your start-up as an artist’s

canvas to give you the space to exercise and express your passions.

Each person is different. Everyone has different loves, interests and passions. Before

you can even think of forming your own company, the first thing to do is sit down (with

that glass of cold iced tea, or whatever your drink of choice happens to be), and ask yourself

this question:

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“Before real life grabbed you by the throat and forced you to do all the stuff

necessary for your survival…before you got mired in a career that maybe wasn’t your

first choice, but was expedient, what is it that you genuinely LOVED doing?”

Oh sure, many of us have grown to love our careers, even if they weren’t necessarily

our first choice. But, the reality is that if you had all the free time in the world on your

hands, a good base of resources to work from, and the freedom to do ANYTHING you

wanted, you probably wouldn’t have picked whatever career you wound up in, right?

That’s true for most people. If it happens not to be true for you, then pat yourself

on the back. Count yourself fortunate indeed! In any case, the above describes where most

Boomers are, right now, at this stage in their lives.

Their careers are winding down. They’ve suddenly got a lot of time on their hands.

Their decades of hard work and smart investing have left them with a comfortable nest egg

for their retirement, but they’re not dead! They’re not ready to check into a retirement

home, and if you’re reading these words, then you’re most likely among that number. So,

the bottom line is: you’re now in the PERFECT position to stop doing all the things you had

to do and start doing the things you love to do. What’s not to like about that?

So what are those things? What are you passionate about? Do you love the idea of

caring for stray animals? Building innovative homes for low-income families? Creating

high-tech toys in your garage? Fusing the virtual world and the physical world together in

new and exciting ways? Whatever it is that ignites your passion, that’s what you want to

build your start-up around. You want your company to become a kind of playground, where

you can explore and express your passions. And get paid to do it! The best part? Now, as

you move into retirement, is the perfect time to get started. You’ve still got years of active,

energetic life ahead of you, and unlike the twenty-somethings, you’ve got the resources to

do it right. That’s a powerful combination indeed.

Skills Assessment – Time For A Checkup!

Because you’ve had a long career, you know that passion and enthusiasm will get

you only so far. To truly find success, you’re going to need to have, or be willing to acquire,

the “right” set of skills to make this venture happen. To transform the idea in your head to

a living, breathing, functioning company. Your next step must be to have a more in-depth

conversation with yourself. Assess your basic skills. Do you have what it takes to launch

your new venture successfully?

If not, do you have a plan to acquire those skills that you’re missing by learning to

do new things, or by recruiting people to your cause who have the skills that you currently

lack?

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You wouldn’t be reading this book if you weren’t interested in taking that step. Sit

down with pen and paper, or your favorite hand-held device, and make some careful notes.

The specific skills you’ll need will vary somewhat, depending on what you have in mind, but

there are a number of commonalities that you’ll need. Regardless of what kind of venture

you plan on creating. Among them are:

DELEGATION

This is the first skill you need to get good at. No man (or woman!) is an island.

You won’t succeed at your new venture if you try to do everything yourself. You’ll

NEED help, so don’t be bashful about securing it. If you’re known by your

colleagues as a micro-manager, then the sooner you break out of that mold and

mindset, the sooner you’ll find success.

The first step in delegation, of course, is to have someone to delegate TO, and that

means getting other people excited about your ideas. Think outside the box. Your

first impulse will probably be to get together with some of the other seasoned

professionals you know via the contacts you’ve made over the course of your

career. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, but bear in mind that many of

your colleagues are in the same place you’re in. They’re looking at retirement, if

they haven’t retired already, and may have interests and agendas of their own that

they’re interested in pursuing. If you can get them excited about YOUR idea,

that’s great, but you may face a bit of an uphill battle on that front.

An excellent alternative then, is to seek out help from the Millennial generation.

Yes, you’ve probably heard that they’re lazy slackers and totally self-absorbed, but

this stereotype is actually quite far from the truth. Remember, there was a day

when the elder generation said the same thing about you! It wasn’t true then, and

it isn’t true now. The Millennial generation can be a great resource for you to

consider, and finding them is as simple as heading to your favorite coffee shop,

and striking up conversations with the younger folks who frequent the place.

More often than not, you’ll find a willing, receptive audience. These young adults,

just entering the workforce, are long on passion and short on experience. If your

idea is a compelling one, you’ll soon find yourself with no shortage of eager help!

ACCOUNTING

You’ll either need to get comfortable with QuickBooks or some other accounting

program, or farm that out to someone who’s passionate about it. Remember the

Millennials we mentioned above? They’re actually GREAT choices for this kind of

work. Much better than most Boomers, in fact. This isn’t because Boomers have a

phobia of numbers, but rather, it stems from the very different economic climate

in which the Millennials came of age.

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When you were growing up, times were good. Sure, there was that rough patch of

stagflation, but for most of your life, you’ve lived in a boom time, and it influenced

your perception of money. The Millennials, on the other hand, grew up during a

recessionary period. They began graduating college and entering the workplace

during the Great Recession. When there were just no jobs to be found. That is why

you still, to this day, see so many young people with impressive degrees running

the Espresso machine at your favorite coffee shop, rather than working in Project

Management, or some other, more lucrative position.

In short, Millennials tend to be much more fiscally conservative than you. That

makes them an excellent choice when it comes to finding the “right” person to

watch over the finances of your new venture.

A TECH “GURU”

No matter what sort of venture you’re planning, you can bet that there’s a way to

use technology to make it better, more efficient, and more innovative. In order to

do that, however, you’ve got to either BE a tech guru yourself, or know someone

who has forgotten more about technology than you’ll ever be able to learn. If you

already are something of a tech guru, fantastic! Cross that one off the list. If

you’re not, but you’re interested, there are plenty of people who are more than

willing to share what they know. In short order, you can be at least up to speed

enough to get started.

On the other hand, if your idea of “high tech” is the single-cup coffee maker and

the toaster oven sitting in your kitchen, then you might want to consider

“outsourcing” this to someone who’s a little more tech-savvy. Fortunately, those

sorts are easy to find, and here, the field is wide open. The reality is that the

Boomer generation built the technology that the Millennials are now using. This

means, of course, that you may find a suitable tech expert from among either

generation.

People get excited about technology, and if you can throw out some broad ideas

about how you plan to make use of technology in your new venture, then the tech

guru you’re talking to will take that ball and run with it, coming up with ideas that

you never would have even considered. If you opt for a Millennial to fill this role,

you’re bound to get more “blue sky thinking” that might be hard to actually

implement. On the other hand though, what better way to REALLY get outside

the box!

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➢ ENGINEERING/CODING EXPERTISE

Here, we’ve combined these two in order to cover a majority of the bases.

Whatever the shape of your new venture, it’s either going to involve a product or a

service (or both). If it’s a product, then you’ll need someone who can design and

build it. If it’s a service, then it probably involves either a mobile app or a PC

application, in which case you’ll need code. So one way or another, if you don’t

have this expertise, you’ll have to get some form of it.

In this case, again, the field is wide open. If you lack the skill yourself, you can try

to recruit a seasoned Boomer to plug the knowledge gap, or you can find an eager-

but-inexperienced Millennial to recruit to your cause. In the case of the former,

you’re getting someone with a proven track record, but that’s going to cost you. In

the case of the latter, you won’t really know what you’re getting, quality-wise, until

you’re fairly far down the road of launching your venture. But you can get the use

of their skills much more inexpensively.

If you can personally acquire the skills above, or outsource them to someone

talented who’s just as excited about your idea as you are, you’ll be miles ahead in terms of

laying the foundations for your eventual success.

There are, of course, plenty of other skills you’ll need, depending on exactly what

the nature of your start-up is. Some of the essential skills not listed above are those you

probably have already acquired during the many years of your profession. You will no doubt

carry those essential and valuable skills with you. It is worth mentioning that these basic

skills, such as organization and planning, network and selling, public speaking, problem-

solving and perseverance, willingness to adapt to change and take risks, to name a few, are

required for entrepreneurs to succeed.

Funding Your Venture

And that brings us to the most important aspect of all – money. Starting a new

venture isn’t hard, but it also isn’t free. As excited as the people you recruit might be, they’ve

still got to eat, which means you’re going to have to pay them something, even in the early

days, when your company doesn’t quite have anything to sell yet.

The good news here, as we mentioned in the introduction, is odds are that you’ve

been able to build up a fairly comfortable nest egg, and a portion of this could easily be used

to finance the new venture. However, it’s likely that your nest egg alone won’t be sufficient,

and you’ll want to plan well ahead in this regard. There are few more frustrating things

than watching progress on your dream stalled because you’re desperately seeking the

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funding needed to take the next step. Whomever you recruit to help mind your finances

needs to be thinking at least three steps ahead of where your company currently is, and

preferably far more than that. That way, when the money is needed, it’s simply there.

Aside from cracking open your nest egg for funds, what are some other options?

Fortunately, in this regard, there are several. We’ll outline a good cross-section of them

below, just to get your mind turning on the subject. Note here, that by the time you reach

the point of actually going into someone’s office, sitting down and talking about funding,

you need to have a detailed business plan in place.

This isn’t strictly necessary when you’re recruiting people to your cause and

getting them excited about your idea, but if you don’t have one by the time you start

recruiting, then you’ll need your business plan soon after. No one is going to lend you

money to get your venture off the ground without it. Fortunately, there are a number of

free, online resources that can prove quite helpful when it comes to developing a business

plan (ref: https://www.sba.gov/tools/business-plan/1 ). You’ll need to create an account to

use the system, but you’ll want to anyway, because SBA.gov is filled with great information

and links to other resources you’ll need. It is an invaluable resource.

YOUR BANK

It’s fairly obvious, and should go without saying, but for the sake of completeness,

we’ll give it a brief mention here. You’ve probably banked with the same company

for a number of years. They know you. You’ve got a good reputation with them.

Your bank should be your go-to source for funding. Even if you opt not to take out

a loan from them, it’s well worth at least having the conversation.

CROWD-SOURCED LENDING

There are a number of good crowd-sourced lending options if you’re looking for

something a little less traditional. Among the best known are Lending Club

(https://www.lendingclub.com/ ) and Prosper (https://www.prosper.com/ ). Both

offer attractive terms and rates depending on your credit history, and can be a fun

way to make new contacts in addition to getting the funding to launch your new

venture. As a fun bit of background, these kinds of sites actually saw their start

when a few people got together and decided it’d be a fun experiment to offer

“micro-loans” to people in developing nations. These loans generally were for $500

or less, and were used to buy things like basic farming equipment and livestock.

The project was so wildly successful that it quickly exploded into the mainstream.

CROWD-FUNDING

In a similar vein, if you’re looking for “free” money for your project, then you’ll

want to steer more in the direction of crowd funding sites. Here, the idea is to get

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people excited enough in your vision that they’ll simply donate to you to help you

get it off the ground. You’ve got to set up a fund raising campaign, but it’s all

template driven, and even someone with little or no technical expertise can have

an attractive campaign up and running in just a few hours. You’ll also find online

marketers who specialize in “boosting” these kinds of fund raising projects, which

is simply a means of getting more sets of eyeballs glued to your offer – the more

people you get looking at it, the more money you’re likely to bring in.

The two biggest and best are Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/ ) and

Indiegogo (https://www.indiegogo.com/ ). As with the crowd-based lending

options above, in addition to being a great source of funds, this is another fantastic

way to help spread your idea around, get it into the mainstream consciousness,

and to get new fans, supporters, and contacts along the way.

BUSINESS CREDIT CARDS/BUSINESS LINES OF CREDIT

This is a catch-all category that covers quite a lot of ground. Depending on your

personal credit profile and financial situation, you may be able to tap into

extensive lines of credit, via business credit cards. There are a number of good

programs that allow you to apply for a business line of credit using your personal

credit history, since your business won’t yet have any sort of track record.

THE GOVERNMENT

In terms of financing, don’t overlook the government! There have always been a

number of great government programs for getting low interest loans to start a new

business. These have only increased in number (and available funding) since the

Great Recession. If you qualify for one of the government loans, you can count on

getting access to money at even lower interest rates than from a bank. It’s simply

too good an opportunity not to investigate!

Also, consider grants. Now, it’s true, you can’t get a grant to start a business. But

if the pursuit of your particular passion leads you down the path of forming a non-

profit group, then suddenly, a whole world of grant possibilities opens up. In that

case, you’ll want to take a crash course in grant writing. Get used to the idea of

spending a lot of time doing this.

Another thing to consider is volunteering at other non-profit organizations in your

community. The non-profit world tends to be a small, rather insular one, and

you’ll very quickly start seeing lots of the same faces as you spend time with

different groups. That’s good in some ways, because it makes it easier to network

and make those connections that will be vital to your project’s success, but it can

be somewhat frustrating too, because it essentially means that all the non-profits

in your area are competing for the same, somewhat limited pool of interested

people.

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OTHER PRIVATE SOURCES

There are a number of private funding sources that are available for start-ups. They

include funds from private money lenders, angel investors, joint ventures, and hedge

funds, to name a few. There are also a number of private companies that represent

these private funding sources. These companies handle and arrange the financing

for you, depending on the type of venture you’re launching. For example, if you’ll

be needing “seed money” to buy your first fix-and-flip property or, looking to open

a new franchise, you could apply for a business line of credit of up to $250,000 and

use the funds for your first real estate investment and/or seed money to start a new

business. If you want to expand your real estate portfolio, you should grab this

handy, free resource: https://ebookforlandlords.leadpages.net/blanket-loan

All that to say there are TONS of great financing options available to you, depending

on what your specific needs are. Some of them might take you a bit outside your “comfort

zone,” but that’s part of the process of launching a new venture. As you get farther down

this path, you’ll find your comfort zone being tested on a fairly regular basis – that’s part of

the fun and excitement!

Obstacles Ahead!

Of course, nothing’s ever easy. Nothing ever seems to work out quite the way we

plan, despite our best efforts to see to it that things run smoothly. You encountered that

repeatedly over the course of your “regular” career, and you’ll find those same patterns

repeating with your new venture, so expect the unexpected. And, expect to be continually

surprised, because odds are good that you will be!

Broadly speaking, though, the problems you can expect to encounter fall into a few

broad categories. We’ll cover each of them below and include some tips on how to best

navigate around them.

A WEAK BUSINESS PLAN

A weak business plan can doom a promising new start-up. And lead to many

problems. If your business plan is weak or incomprehensible, you’ll find it very

difficult to get funding. No matter how big your retirement nest egg is, odds are

that sooner or later, you’ll need some kind of outside financing. To secure it, your

business plan must be rock solid.

Another consequence of a weak business plan is the absence of a coherent vision.

You have a clear vision of what you want to build in your head. You’ve assembled a

team and gotten them excited about your idea. But, if you’re short of specifics and

particulars, the vision YOU have, and the vision each member of your team carries

may be wildly different.

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In the early days, you may not even notice, but once you get fairly far along in the

process, if you start seeing results from your team that look nothing like what you

had originally envisioned, you probably got there because of a weak business plan.

A strong business plan is useful for far more than merely securing financing. It

explains exactly what your ultimate vision is and how you will achieve it. Thus, you

have a written record to remind yourself of where you’re going when you’re having

doubts. And everyone can be on the same page. The only way you’re going to truly

succeed is if you’re absolutely certain that everyone is pursuing the exact same

vision.

MONEY TROUBLE

In some ways, this can also stem from a weak business plan, but there are lots of

other things that can cause money troubles. At the root though, it usually comes

down to poor planning. If you estimate the cost of building your prototype at a

thousand bucks, and it winds up costing you ten times that, you planned poorly.

There will be some cost overruns. Expect that. But as the captain of the ship, it’s

your responsibility to do careful research (or delegate that responsibility to someone

you trust), to make certain that your cost estimates are in line with reality. That

way, even if they do run over a bit, you won’t be facing expenses that are ridiculously

higher than originally anticipated.

The other thing you can do to prevent money troubles from biting you at an

inopportune moment is to put a REALLY strong, financially conservative person in

charge of the company check-book (preferably a Millennial, as we mentioned

earlier). This person should not only be stingy and tight-fisted when it comes to

spending company dollars, but he or she should not be timid. There may be times

when your accountant overrules you, even though it’s your company.

You’ve selected an accountant to safeguard the company’s finances, and you should

definitely respect his/her opinion on the matter. Not to say that you can’t get your

way some of the time, but understand that part of the accountant’s job is to stand

up even to you, if it means safeguarding the company’s finances. That’s a good thing,

so put someone fearless in that role.

The other thing you absolutely want from your accountant is regular, on-demand

reports. You need to be able to pull up a dashboard-style view that will show you,

at a moment’s glance, exactly where the company “is,” moneywise, so that if there

are money problems ahead, you know about them well in advance. If your current

accountant isn’t doing that for you, then it’s a sure sign that you’ve got the wrong

person for the job.

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HEALTH ISSUES

Human life expectancy is expanding by leaps and bounds, and we hope that you

have a long, happy, satisfying life with no significant health issues along the way,

but sometimes, life doesn’t work out that way, and we get thrown a health curve-

ball. It could be stress-related (as much fun as living your passions can be, it is not

without its share of stress!), or a family history of heart trouble, or pretty much

anything else.

The problem, of course, is that you, as the parent of the vision around which the

start-up was formed, carry an outsized voice in the company. Should you become

even temporarily incapacitated by an unforeseen health issue, it can bring progress

at your newly formed company to a screeching halt. That’s why it’s important to

hope for the best but plan for the worst.

Built into your company’s strategic plan should be a series of instructions for what

to do in the event that you should fall ill or become otherwise incapacitated for a

period of time. You want your team to be able to react to a potentially extended

absence by you, and to continue pursuing the vision you laid out and got everyone

excited about when you first formed the company.

Odds are that you won’t need this plan, but it’s important to draw it up anyway.

Once you’re sick and out of commission, it’s too late to do anything about it. At that

point, your company is essentially adrift until you manage to return, a state of affairs

that will cost you both time and money. Far better to plan ahead!

TECHNICAL GLITCHES

Sometimes, despite your best intentions and best-laid plans, the technology just

doesn’t cooperate. Things relating to the new product or service you’re trying to

build take longer, or cost more than you originally thought. Sometimes, what

appears to be a simple aspect of the design at first glance, is MUCH more complex,

once you really get down to the nitty gritty.

These things happen. The good news here is that there’s never yet been a technical

problem that couldn’t be worked around or overcome by some means or another.

Yes, it may mean that you have to temporarily leave out a feature you really like.

Yes, it might also mean scaling back your initial ambitions a bit, but with some

creative, outside-the-box thinking, you can overcome all of these.

The culture you create in your start-up can make all the difference in the world.

Perhaps the worst thing you could do is to run your start-up like a privately owned boot

camp. Don’t push your people too hard with punishing schedules, and don’t try to

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micromanage every last detail. A far better approach is to hold the reins of power loosely

and empower your employees and supporters to find clever ways around problems as they

arise.

If you do that, and get really good at it, what you’ll find is that a lot of the smaller

problems never find their way to your desk at all, because some enterprising member of

your team has figured out a way around the issue.

True, this can sometimes lead to unexpected results, and some of those unexpected

results can be quite different from what you had originally envisioned, but to some degree,

you’re at the mercy of the capabilities of the current technology. No matter how clever they

were, the cavemen couldn’t build a rocket to the moon. The technological base just wasn’t

there to support it. That doesn’t mean that they didn’t dream big, and it doesn’t lessen the

importance of what they were able to accomplish, and it’s the same with you and your

company. Be mindful that no matter how good your team is, you’re going to be, at least to

some extent, at the mercy of the technology you’re using, and the limits of its capabilities.

The other problem (empowering employees to find workarounds and getting a

result you don’t like) can be solved, by and large, by having a solid business plan in place as

we mentioned earlier. That will help ensure that everybody’s on the same page where the

vision is concerned, and will decrease the likelihood of getting a fix to a problem that is

totally out of left field.

Actually Starting A Business

If you’ve never gone down the road of starting your own company before, then the

prospect of doing so can seem a little daunting. It doesn’t have to be. Sure, there’s some

paperwork involved, but isn’t that true of most anything? Actually, this is one of the

simplest steps in the whole process. MUCH more difficult is spending some quality time

alone with yourself to figure out what you truly want to be doing before life so rudely

interrupted you with the whole “need for a career” thing.

There are three basic approaches here, and mostly, this depends on your lifestyle

and preference.

DO IT YOURSELF

The first choice is obviously to slog through all the paperwork yourself. I don’t know

of anyone who actually enjoys paperwork, so I don’t anticipate that this option will

see many takers, but if that’s what you want to do, you can download the blank

forms or apply online by visiting the Secretary of State on your state website, fill

everything out, send your money off, and wait to hear back from the Powers That

Be.

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HIRE PROFESSIONALS

Far better and easier would be to use a service like Legal Zoom. They can

incorporate you in all fifty states (Delaware and Nevada being the most popular,

thanks to their state tax laws and minimalistic reporting requirements). To use the

service, you simply fill out a simple form, they do all the actual paperwork, and you

get your Certificate of Incorporation and relevant papers in the mail.

OFFSHORE

Then there’s option three: Setting up an offshore corporation. You might be

wondering why you’d ever want to do such a thing, and it’s a fair question. First,

there are some attractive tax and privacy advantages to setting up offshore. Coupled

with an offshore bank account, you can actually open up expansion and investment

opportunities that would be somewhat more difficult to take full advantage of if all

your assets are based in the US. Also, if you plan to see the world in your retirement

years, having an out-of-country “base” can have numerous advantages. There are

even many countries that offer special residency visas, allowing you to claim

citizenship in another country, buy property, and keep a second home there. All

the more reason to spread the rest of your assets around a bit.

If you’re interested in setting up an offshore corporation, there are many companies

like Legal Zoom that can help you do it.

The main point here, now that you’re retired, is that your start-up doesn’t have to

be based in your own back yard. You can think globally, and live locally. Or, live in

multiple places. Travel. See the world, and all the while, pursue your passions and

dreams. The technology available today makes it easy to run a small business from

pretty much anywhere in the world. You could even become a member of the

growing ranks of “Digital Nomads” if it suited you and your family. Not being tied

to any one location, but spending most of your time traveling to exotic destinations,

and all the while, being able to run and manage your business from wherever you

happen to be. What’s not to like about that?

Support Structure – You’re Going to Need It!

Seth Godin, one of the most brilliant marketers of our age, and the founder of

(among other things) the hugely popular website, Squidoo, said it best: “It takes, on average,

about three years to become an overnight success.”

There’s truth in that. In the span of days between when you first start out, and when

you finally see the breakout success you’ve been dreaming of, you’ll endure countless

PAGE 14

sleepless nights, headaches, bouts of self-doubt, and probably throw yourself more than a

few pity parties. If you stay with it though, if your vision is clear and true, and the team you

have assembled to help you is every bit as excited about the idea you’re trying to bring to

life as you are, you WILL succeed. We’ll talk more about what success “looks like” just

below, but even if your start-up ultimately fails (and let’s face it, many do), you can find a

measure of success and fulfillment even in that.

Of course, we hope you DO succeed. That’s why this book was written, but in order

to find the kind of longevity that a successful start-up represents, there’s one additional

thing you need, over and above the items we’ve covered so far.

You can have a rock solid business plan, assemble an all-star team to help you, and

live your passion with gusto, but if you don’t have the support of your immediate family,

you’re going to have enormous difficulty finding the kind of success you’re looking for.

That’s why it’s especially important to get your spouse, your kids, and every other

member of your family you maintain regular contact with behind you and your idea 100%.

You probably won’t be leaning on them for financial support, but forming a start-up is an

act of creation and creativity in many of the same ways as sculpting or painting a

masterpiece, or writing the Great American Novel. In some ways, building a successful

start-up is even harder than these others, simply because there are so many more moving

parts and so many things that can go wrong.

Take a cue from the great artists and creators who have come before you. Nobody

succeeds in a vacuum. Not you, not anybody. If you want to maximize your chances of

success, you’re absolutely going to need your friends and family behind you, for emotional

support if nothing else, because being at the helm of a start-up is an emotional rollercoaster.

Is it worth it? Absolutely! But don’t think that you’re going to skate through the process

without your fair share of ups and downs. No start-up in the history of history has ever

managed that.

The support of those closest to you, your spouse, children, and inner circle of friends

is the most crucial, but don’t discount the ongoing support of siblings, close cousins, and

the like. When the waters get stormy and you need to unplug for a while, or when you need

someone to vent to about how things seem to be going off track, your family will be there

for you to give you the shot of encouragement you need to get back in the game and see it

through. It’s something that many books on small business don’t even mention, or if they

do, they just touch on it briefly, but the truth is, you can at least double your chances of

success with your friends and family behind you. Get them onboard from the start, and

you’ll find the whole process to be much more enjoyable and rewarding.

PAGE 15

What Success Looks And Feels Like

When you take a step back and really think about what you’re passionate about –

what does success “look like” to you? That is to say, when you think about where your start-

up should be in say, five or ten years, where is it?

Has it been bought out by a major corporation, and you’re back in retirement?

Is it a vibrant part of your local community?

Is it a fast, nimble, wildly successful family-run business? One where you spring out

of bed each morning, happy to get back to so you can continue working to improve it?

Success means different things to different people. You may even decide, after

reading this book, that for you personally, success is none of those things, and while you’re

interested in pursuing your passions, you want to do it as more of a hobby than a start-up.

There are no wrong answers here. If you’re happiest pursuing your passions as nothing

more than a hobby, then that’s what success looks like to you, and that’s absolutely fine.

This too, is an essential part of the equation. Before you start on your newfound

adventure, you should have at least some idea of where you expect to end up, so put some

thought into it and write it down. On the darker days, when it seems that nothing is going

the way you expected it to, you can pull out your “destination log” and remind yourself why

you’re ultimately pursuing this dream, and where you’re headed.

Over time, you may find that you need to revisit your “destination log.” Sometimes,

when we begin a new adventure like this, we have one end point in mind, only to discover

later that that’s not really what we want at all. For instance, you may initially have the goal

of building a fantastically successful start-up and getting bought out by Microsoft for scads

of money, only to find out that you love working in, and building your company so much

that you wouldn’t part with it at any price. That’s fine too. This is about YOUR passion and

chasing YOUR dream, so if you want to change where things end up, that’s your prerogative!

Remember that as a Boomer, you have enormous advantages when considering

launching a start-up. Advantages that will make the young twenty-somethings with whom

you find yourself in competition green with envy.

You have the wisdom of decades of practical, hands-on experience in your career.

You have a vast resource base, compared to most people who launch start-ups and chase

their dreams, and you have a proven track record that can make your life easier on a number

of levels, including getting other people (banks, investors, etc.) to take you seriously enough

to help finance your dreams. Also remember that your generation CREATED most of the

marvelous technology we enjoy in today’s society. As a part of that generation, you have it

PAGE 16

within you to add a verse to that ongoing story. You, with the courage of your convictions,

your wisdom and experience, and the freedom to pursue your dreams, are exceptionally

well-positioned to succeed.

The final piece of advice for you regarding coming to terms with what success

ultimately “looks like” for you is this: Remember that the end point, the destination, isn’t

the end all. It isn’t the purpose for founding the company, but rather, one possible ending

to an open story that could go in an infinite number of directions.

At the root, this is, and always will be, about your loves and passions. About

FINALLY getting the chance, after decades of hard work for someone else, to do the things

you truly want to do. To live life on your terms and make your dreams a reality. That said,

remember to take the time to enjoy the journey, even as you keep one eye fixed on your

ultimate destination, it is an enjoyable journey. An adventure in every sense of the word.

Don’t give into fear or doubt. Don’t spend too much time second-guessing yourself.

This is your dream and your story. Live it like you mean it, and enjoy every second.

‘The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker

PAGE 17

From the Author,

Thank you for reading this E-Book! I hope you find it

helpful.

I hope this E-Book gives you valuable information to

prompt you to begin thinking about your life in the “Silver”

years ahead.

Like many of you, Boomers, I spent over a decade working

for someone else for the sake of having to survive. Once I

found my passion in entrepreneurship, I decided that it was time to “jump with both

feet” into what seemed, at the time, a risky and terrifying situation. Since that time,

despite a few start-up failures and with no jobs available for someone at a mid-life

age, I never wanted to look back and regret the decision to go it alone!

I want to continue to share and with the hope that it may encourage some of you to

find your passion and to feel energized about getting started in pursuing your

dreams.

Keep an eye out for my new E-Books packed with useful information for your

ventures.

Please send us your success and not-so-success stories, inspirations, questions and

concerns. Remember this, C.S. Lewis said it best: “You are never too old to set

another goal or to dream a new dream.”

All the Best to You,

Aura Alex

www.thefundinggroup.net I 888.630.6620 19869 7th Ave SE, Suite 183 #156, Poulsbo, WA 98370

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