#30: Launching A Business After 40

In Episode 30 of the Business 360 Podcast, we talk about the advantages, challenges and strategies of launching a business after the age of 40.


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Transcript

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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Business 360 podcast where we will take a 360-degree view of all things business. In under 15 minutes, I'm Rushab. Kamdar a serial entrepreneur consultant, speaker and business strategist. I help entrepreneurs and businesses get profitable while also saving them time, money and headaches,

[00:00:28] a business hero. Welcome to episode 30 of the Business 360 podcast. Now, many of you that are listening are quite possibly entrepreneurs while some of you have that entrepreneurial spirit. And what I mean by that is you want to be an entrepreneur, but you just haven't taken that plunge yet. Now listen, if you're in your twenties and thirties, how you may go about launching your business can be very different than if you are in your.

[00:00:55] So in today's episode, we're going to talk about launching a business after the age of 40 personally, I've been an entrepreneur since my early twenties, although I am now as of this recording nearing the age of 40, and I have a couple of friends who are in corporate America have done very well. And they're dabbling with the idea of becoming an entrepreneur.

[00:01:17] And these friends of mine, they are in their forties. So they had asked for some advice and I thought this actually might be a really good podcast episode. Now, my friends who are looking for advice, they have a lot of feelings and thoughts that are going through their minds right now because they're in their forties.

[00:01:34] They're asking themselves, is it too late for me to start a business? Should I take that risk? Do I need to be a tech startup to become successful? Or even if this is a smart move, At this stage in my life. Well, the good news is that most successful entrepreneurs have started their business in their forties.

[00:01:55] In fact, some statistics over here, the average age is 40 years old when launching the first startup, the average age of a successful entrepreneur is 42. And the average age. Of an entrepreneur who has a high growth startup is 45. So you're basically in good company. If you want to start your business in your forties.

[00:02:21] What I started off by telling them is let's look at the advantages. If you start your business after the age of 41st, I told them that you probably have a lot of access to. From all your years working in corporate America, you probably have enough savings or accumulated assets that you can liquidate.

[00:02:38] You may also have investments such as a 401k that you can cash out on when you're someone in your forties, hopefully you built the long enough and large enough credit line that you can actually borrow against. If you want to go down that route. The other thing is that when you're in your forties, it's a lot easier to approach VCs or investors because your age provides those investors or VC.

[00:03:01] Confidence in your ability. I also tell my friends that the second advantage is hopefully in your number of years with professional experience, you've built an established network. The people you have met during your professional journey can all help you reach your entrepreneurial goal. There'll be ripe with network connections and resources that can, they can provide you for whatever your need is.

[00:03:25] Maybe you need an introduction somewhere, or maybe you need access to a VC or an investor. Or maybe you just need assistance on building a right team, whatever that might be an established network can definitely open up those avenues for you. And if you don't have an established network, the internet is actually full of avenues.

[00:03:45] You can go onto different platforms and find so many different groups and organizations where you can actually meet people and get introduced to those that can possibly help you get where you want to go. I also tell my friends that your experience is an advantage because I'm sure that in corporate America.

[00:04:03] In their previous roles, they've had difficult professional situations that they had to manage and handle. They've held leadership positions. So they know what it takes when you're the person on top. And if you're the person that's up, you probably manage large teams. So you also understand what it takes to delegate tasks and ensure that deliverables are.

[00:04:23] Hopefully, they've actually been part of projects where they've developed it from ideation to execution, which is very similar to a startup because that's essentially a project that you're doing. You're starting it off from ideation and then taking it out to execute. And in the past experiences they've probably failed.

[00:04:40] And failure is a good thing because I always look at failure as lessons learned. And once you failed one, you know what it feels like. So it's not going to be a surprise in case you do fail in your entrepreneurial endeavor, but to failure also helps you anticipate what can go wrong so you can be better prepared.

[00:04:58] And finally, I tell them you, hopefully in your 20 plus years of professional, You have refined your decision-making skills. And I cannot stress that enough of how important it is to be a good decision maker. When you are an entrepreneur. See, when you're in your twenties and thirties, most of us feel invincible.

[00:05:16] Like nothing can go wrong, but when you get to your forties, you've gone through enough battles in life to understand that you have to pay more attention to detail. So I tell them lean in on your past experience and think twice before you take any action. And therefore you will have a more sound decision making strategy.

[00:05:36] After we discuss the advantages of starting a business after the age of 40, I always tell my friends, it's a good idea to look at what can possibly be the challenges, what are some of the hurdles that they may face? The first one is actually probably one of the most important ones, and a lot of us can relate to this.

[00:05:52] And that's the behaviors that we have. Over our lifetime. As the older we get, it's a lot harder for us to move away from our habits and routines that we formed over all these years. And so I tell them one, you have to be open to learning just because you did something in your past experience does not mean that is how it always is.

[00:06:13] And it also doesn't mean that you are the only person that knows how to do something. There are always new and more innovative ways that an entrepreneur should be open to trying, learning and implementing there's new technologies out there. And unfortunately it is. Uh, a tried and true statement, but as we get older, we tend to rely more on our experience and less on new technologies out there, which is why most people who get older don't know what the new technologies are, or don't want to learn it because it's just too hard of a learning curve.

[00:06:46] And I tell them, look, you don't want to get left behind because of being stuck in your way. The second challenge that they may face is possibly a lack of support from those that are close to them. And that could be very difficult when you're actually going into a high stress situation, like starting a.

[00:07:02] You know, some friends and family that are close to you may say, do you really think it's a good idea? You're leaving a steady job and a steady income to take a risk out there and they're coming from a good place, but it is going to be a challenge if it's friends or if it's family or sick, or even if it's your spouse, you're going to have to be able to sit down with them, explain to them what you're trying to do, and hopefully they can give you that support on a positive.

[00:07:26] There are also great coaching programs out there and great communities out there from other people that are in your same shoes that can also provide support as you go towards your entrepreneurial journey, that their challenge is sticking to the theme of getting older is the lack of energy. As we get older, we get more tired.

[00:07:45] We want to get to bed a lot earlier. And so I do tell my friends that when you're in this phase of entrepreneurship, you want to be much smarter with how you go about your business smarter. In the times that you wake up the times that you go to bed smarter with the type of food that you eat smarter with the exercise routines that you created smarter with how you operate within your business, so that you're not being distracted or wasting time or multitasking and things that actually is taking away from your.

[00:08:16] Bottom line is I tell them you need to work smarter, not harder. Another challenge is the financial obligations that you may have. Most people who are in their forties have either mortgages or living expenses, tuition for their kids college, or maybe private school. There's also financial obligations towards social life like family vacations, or we're having a circle of friends that you see on a weekly or monthly basis.

[00:08:42] The thing that I emphasize to my friends. We are no longer in our twenties where we can live in a shoe box size apartment on a ramen noodle budget. There is a certain lifestyle that we have created and we cannot force that on our families. So it's important that if you're jumping into entrepreneurship in your forties, understand what your financial obligations are and determine what can be eliminated at least in the short term.

[00:09:09] So you can actually have excess capital that you can use in your business. So now my friends have an idea what the advantages are and what the challenges are. The last piece of advice I give them is let's look at what strategies you can actually implement strategies that can actually help them when they go down this road.

[00:09:28] The first strategy that should be implemented is in relation to the last point of the challenges. And that's check your finances. A lot of entrepreneurs, young and old, make this. First, they don't look at how much it's going to cost to start their business, and then how much it's going to cost to run their business at least for the first year.

[00:09:49] So I always tell anybody that's getting into entrepreneurship, do your best to have at least one year of expenses ready to go. That means if you're not going to make money in that first year, you now have enough expenses to cover the cost, to operate the business. The second suggestion that I advise is for.

[00:10:09] The entrepreneur to determine how they will raise capital, whether it's through an investment such as VCs, or is it going to be alone? And if you are taking a loan, you want to be mindful on repayment, schedules, interest rates, and things of that nature. The next strategy I advise my friends is to actually have a sound and strategic plan.

[00:10:32] So you don't want to go into something blindly. I always tell people, understand the market and the industry that you're getting into, frankly, I'm not a big proponent of creating these 20 page business plans, but I do think it's very important to have a plan, a business strategic plan laid out from pencil to paper.

[00:10:52] I have something that is a guide that you can utilize as you're going through your journey and that plan, that guide can change. And that's great because that means you're making moves towards a goal. And you're recognizing what you need to do in order to succeed in that when you have a strategic plan, you are mitigating your risks.

[00:11:13] I'm not a fan of this phrase, go big or go home because most people that go big or go home end up going home. So, yeah. Take your risks, but make sure they're calculated risks. And that's where that strategic plan comes into place. The third strategy that I advise my friends or anybody that's starting entrepreneurship in their forties is that you should really consider building a team or have partners.

[00:11:37] Today. We live in a world of collaboration. Gone are the days of having a Microsoft mentality where you want to kill your competition. You want to find companies or people. Where you both can leverage each other's resources. Additionally, when you're building your team, you want to hire people that can compliment your strengths.

[00:11:58] That means if you're great with numbers, don't hire someone else. That's also just great with numbers. Hire someone else that may be great with running the operations of the company. And if you can't afford a team right off the bat, then you hire freelancers a much more affordable route. And at least a group of individuals that are skilled enough to help you.

[00:12:17] With tasks within your operations so that you're not stuck there doing all of it. And you can actually go ahead and grow your business. And lastly, in this point, I will also say, look into getting help from business coaches or mentors. It's great to have other individuals who have a strategic business mind, where you can almost bounce things back and forth as if they're your own executive think tank or board of directors.

[00:12:41] And the fourth strategy that I advise anybody that's starting a business after the age of 40. Really leverage digital marketing. You have to look at the internet as your friend, not as your enemy. Digital ads have amazing reach and amazing targeting capabilities. A social media presence is also vital in the digital marketing landscape.

[00:13:02] And with social media presence comes content creation, and these are all things that most entrepreneurs don't think of. But then soon realize how important it is to have a social pro. We are living in a digital world. It is a digital economy and more, more people are online. And the chances of your ads get being in front of them is a lot higher.

[00:13:21] If you put a strategy out there. So we looked at the advantages of starting a business after 40, the challenges of starting a business after 40 and some strategies that we can implement. What I like you to take away from this. Is that if you are starting a business after the age of 40, well, what I want to tell you is that it's never too late to start a business.

[00:13:40] So you want to avoid any regrets that you may have in life. You want to take a chance and you want to consider all the relevant factors when launching a business. First of all, if you're over 40, be open to change. And that means be open-minded leverage your experiences, rely on your established network, be strategic on all your decisions, partner with the right people and continue to learn as much as you can during your journey.

[00:14:09] As I mentioned before, most successful entrepreneurs have launched their business. In their forties and therefore there's probably no better time than now for you to build and launch a business. That'll just about do it for us this week. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next week and you stay classy, Business Heroes.