Why Women Over 50 Are Winning at Business Right Now

In this episode, I talk about why experience is one of the biggest advantages you can bring into your marketing, especially if you’re starting or growing a business later in your career. You don’t need to keep up with every trend or try to sound like everyone else. The real edge comes from credibility, clarity, and the kind of trust that only comes with time.

I also unpack the mindset shift that helps you stop seeing your experience as something to downplay. We walk through practical advantages you can lean on right away and how to communicate in a way that feels natural, confident, and aligned with who you are. If your marketing has been feeling forced or overly complicated, this conversation will help you take a simpler, more grounded approach.

Overwhelmed Entrepreneurs Marketing Strategy Playbook

Transcript

The “I’m Behind” Story In Marketing

Five Advantages Experienced Marketers Have

Turn Experience Into Clear Messaging

Janice Hostager 0:04

I'm Janice Hostager. After three decades in the marketing business and many years of being an entrepreneur, I've learned a thing or two about marketing. Join me as we talk about marketing, small business, and life in between. Welcome to My Weekly Marketing. Hey and welcome to another episode of My Weekly Marketing. Today, let me ask you something. Have you ever been in a conversation, maybe at a networking event, and someone finds out how long you've been in your field, or maybe how long you've been working, and you watch their whole energy shift? I've had this happen to me quite a few times. Suddenly they're like leaning in and asking better questions. Suddenly you're not just another consultant or coach. You're the person in the room they actually want to talk to. They might even have a question or two for you. That is what decades of experience does. It builds credibility on contact. And yet, so many brilliant experienced people that I've met and that I've worked with in my course or as clients, they're treating their advantage like it's a liability. So sometimes they're apologizing for being late to the online space, or they're trying to sound younger in their content. Or maybe they're second guessing whether or not they even belong on social media. Actually, I hear you. I'm totally guilty of that too. And I often think if I could just look like I did when I was 20, I wouldn't be so shy about making videos on Instagram. But the reality is I probably still would be shy about it. But anyway, that's one of the things I think that we struggle with when we are older, like I am, and we're starting a business. So I want you to know that some of the best marketers, the ones who actually connect, they actually convert and make sales, and they build real businesses, often didn't start at 25. They started much later. Often they start after careers, after kids, or after life had already kind of done its thing. And yet somehow we've been sold this idea that starting a business after 50 is a disadvantage, that you're somehow behind or late, or that you've missed the window. I don't buy it. In fact, I think the opposite was true. It was certainly true for me. I think you might be walking into your business with an advantage that most people don't have. And today I want to talk about exactly why that's the case, especially when it comes to your marketing. So first of all, I want to explain that there's a mocking bird right outside my window. I'm recording this in my office today. So if you hear some chirping, that's what it is. This very enthusiastic bird on the window or outside the window. So, but anyway, today I want to talk to you about just what it is that you bring to the table. Um, this episode is a direct rebuttal to all of the negatives that we think about. And honestly, like I said earlier, it's a little therapeutic for me too, because a lot of what I'm talking about today are things that I've struggled with as well. Anyway, if you're new here, welcome to My Weekly Marketing. I'm Janice Hostager, and today we're talking all about what I call the second act advantage, a term I don't really love, but we can use it anyway. And why, from a pure marketing standpoint, starting or growing a business after 50 is not a handicap. It is, in fact, one of the most powerful positions you can market from. Okay, let's name what's really going on. Maybe you're a coach or some kind of service-based business owner who came to entrepreneurship in your 50s or 60s, maybe after a corporate career, maybe after raising a family, or maybe after a career pivot, like you just found that what you were doing and what you have been spending your life doing just wasn't meaningful for you anymore. There's probably a story running in the back of your mind that has a big bearing on your marketing decisions. The story might sound like this I'm already behind. Behind the 30-year-olds with 100,000 Instagram followers. You might think that you're behind people who grew up with social media and are very comfortable in front of a camera. Maybe you think you're behind the algorithm or the trends or the learning curve of what you need to learn to be able to start a business and grow it. And here's what having that story in your head does: it makes you shrink. When this is in your mind, you write content that's cautious instead of confident. Or you avoid putting yourself on video because you're not sure you're doing it right. Or you're thinking nobody wants to see your wrinkles and some gray hair. Hey, like I said, this is therapeutic for me too, because I've felt every single one of these things. And what happens when we do that is that we undersell what we charge because somewhere quietly you've absorbed the idea that experience is a consolation prize compared to use and being trend savvy. But I want to challenge that story today, not with a pep talk, but with a marketing argument, because the marketing doesn't care about your Instagram follower account. I know it sounds counterintuitive to say that, but really, the market really cares about one thing, and that's this. Can you solve my problem? And your years of experience, those hard-won, field-tested, been through the fire kind of years, that's proof that you can get things done. And you can do it in a way that no amount of digital polish or Instagram filters can fake. So I think we've been sold a lie. The marketing world right now is loud and fast and it's very much, "look at me," and a lot of it is built around trends and hacks and quick wins. And frankly, a lot of that does not move the needle. It's a lot of distraction and it feels chaotic. So if you're there thinking, I don't want to dance on TikTok, or I don't want to chase every shiny new trend, good. That's not a weakness. That's actually your first clue that you're going to build something better. Because marketing is not about doing more. And the people who think that are the ones who get into trouble with their marketing because they get overwhelmed and they freeze up. Marketing is about doing the right things in the right order for the right people. And that requires something a lot of younger, less experienced people don't have yet perspective. So let's talk about what you can actually bring to the table in your marketing. I want to share five marketing advantages that you bring into your business that you maybe haven't thought about. Okay, here we go. Advantage one, you understand people. You've worked with people your entire career and your entire life. You maybe raised a family and been married, you've seen what works and what doesn't work. That means that your messaging is more grounded, your offers are going to be more realistic, and your marketing doesn't feel fake. And here's the kicker. The foundation of good marketing is just understanding people and reflecting that back to them. You already have that skill. This is one of the things I teach in my modern marketing mastery course is being foundational because really speaking the language builds trust. Advantage two, you have pattern recognition. And this one is almost invisible to people who have it. When you've been in your field for maybe 20 or 30 years, you've seen cycles. You've watched trends rise and fall. You've seen what works long term versus what works for maybe a month. You've made mistakes and you've corrected them. You've seen your clients make mistakes and corrected those too. That pattern recognition is extraordinarily valuable. It saves time and money. But here's the marketing problem. Most experienced professionals talk about the expertise in terms of what they know, not in terms of what their clients avoid because of what they know. When we lived in Wisconsin, the table in our kitchen was in front of a glass door. And my son loved to lean back on his chair, like you know, like on the back two legs of the chair. And I would get upset with him because in my mind's eye, I could see his chair slipping and him going through the glass. That's what I mean about pattern recognition. We can sometimes see things before they happen. And avoidance and knowing what to watch out for is a powerful marketing message. Think about what you've saved your clients from. The costly detours or the slow decisions, the expensive lessons that you learned so they don't have to. Content built around that is magnetic to a certain kind of buyer, the buyer who has already been burned, who's tired of starting over, or who wants someone who has actually seen this before. That buyer is looking for you. Your job is to make sure your marketing speaks that advantage. Okay, advantage three, you have built-in credibility, even if you don't think you do. This is a big one. You might be thinking, but I'm new to business. Or maybe this is a new kind of business for you. But you're not new to problem solving. You're not new to communication or results or responsibility. Here's something that you should know. Credibility is the single most expensive thing to build from scratch. I'm going to say that again. Credibility is the single most expensive thing to build from scratch. A 28-year-old business coach has to spend years creating content, collecting testimonials, getting media mentions, building a track record, all to establish enough credibility that somebody will hand them money for guidance. You walked into this with that credibility already in the bank. Think about it from a buyer's perspective. If I'm a CEO looking for an executive coach and I'm choosing between someone who took a leadership class in college and somebody who led teams for 25 years, those are not the same. The lived experience has a premium attached to it. The marketing move here is to stop burying your experience in the fine print and start leading with it. Don't say something like, I help leaders communicate better. Say something like, after 27 years in corporate communication, I know exactly where leadership messaging breaks down and I know how to fix it. That's not being arrogant, that's being precise. And precision converts. I want you to think about this. What are some ways that you can communicate your credibility in an offer? Maybe it's in your testimonials from your former employers or your coworkers if you don't have clients yet. Maybe it's your about page or your bio. Think about a phrase that captured your specific depth and shared on your social media profile or your website or anywhere that you're introducing people to you. Okay, advantage four. You have trust currency. The fourth advantage is what I call trust currency. And in today's marketing environment, this might be the most valuable of all of them. How many times lately have you heard that there's a trust recession going on right now? Lots of people are noticing the moment of profound erosion online. People are skeptical of overnight experts and they're tired of polished funnels and scripts. And they're looking for someone who actually means what they say and is truly authentic. Here's the thing about people who have lived a full professional life before stepping into entrepreneurship. They're generally done performing. They're not trying to build a personal brand for its own sake. They're not trying to become an influencer. They're not chasing followers. They're not willing to compromise their reputation for a quick sale. That's integrity. And the fact that it shows up naturally in how you communicate is something buyers can feel. It reads differently than manufactured authenticity. It sounds different and it lands different. The marketing implication is this. Stop trying to sound like a digital marketer. Sound like yourself. The directness, the depth, the willingness to say what you actually think, those are brand assets, not liabilities. And it's refreshing. Some of the most effective marketing content I've ever seen comes from experienced professionals who just got honest. They ditched the script and the funnel. They just said, here's what I've seen, here's what works, this is why I do this. That content builds a kind of trust that converts. Maybe not right away, but when it does convert, it converts deeply. Because people can sense authenticity. Okay, last one, advantage five. You're not trying to be everything to everybody. This is where younger businesses struggle a lot. They try to appeal to everyone. Marketing to everyone instead of marketing to the people who specifically need what only you can offer can cost you sales. Here's what I mean. When you have 25 years of experience in a specific field, you don't serve the same market as somebody who just got certified last year. You're not competing with them, and you shouldn't be. But a lot of experienced professionals write their marketing as if they're trying to appeal to the broadest possible audience, using general language and generic promises, and really it's content that could apply to any service provider or coach or consultant. Generic marketing is invisible marketing. The shift, the right shift is to get specific, not just about what you do, but about who specifically needs a person with your exact background. Because there is a client out there who's not looking for just a coach. They're looking for someone who has been exactly where they are and came out the other side. The more specific you are, the easier it is to attract the right people. When you write to that person specifically, your ideal customer avatar, then your content, your profile, your messaging speaks directly to those problems at a level of experience that only you can solve. And then you stop competing because you become the only option. Okay, now let's connect the dots. When you lean into your advantage, your messaging becomes clearer, your content becomes more intentional, your offers solve real problems, your audience trusts you faster, and you know exactly who you're talking to. And most important, you stop wasting time on things that don't move the needle. If you're a service provider who is building or growing a business after 50, I want you to hear this clearly. You're not behind, you're not too late, you're not competing on the wrong playing field. You have earned credibility that takes younger entrepreneurs years to build. You have pattern recognition that helps your clients avoid expensive mistakes. And you have a track record of integrity that, when you let it show up in your marketing, creates a kind of trust that no amount of content hack can manufacture. The actual marketing work is learning how to communicate that in a way that reaches the right people authentically, wrinkles and gray hair included. It's important to stop marketing like everyone else and start marketing like the experienced professional that you actually are. Now, I'm gonna be honest here. There's a real risk that I see all the time. It's that you hesitate. You second guess the tech or say, I'm not good at blank. You second guess platforms, you don't know where to invest your money, and you hold off. Sometimes we get in our own way. You think, maybe I need to learn more before I start. But here's the truth. Clarity comes from action. You don't need to become some kind of a different person to be good at marketing. You need to use the strategic advantage that you already have. And if you're struggling to know what this next step is, I can invite you to download my Overwhelmed Entrepreneurs Marketing Strategy Playbook. It will walk you through step by step of where to start and what to do next. I'll put the link in the show notes for today. So now I'm really curious about something. If this episode resonated with you, if you're in that second act or heading into it, I'd love to hear from you. Just send me a DM on Instagram or connect with me on LinkedIn and just say, I like the episode. That's it. Because this episode is a bit of a test, and your response is going to help me shape what comes next. So I just want to thank you so much for joining me today. For more information about anything we talked about, please visit myweeklymarketing.com forward slash one fifty one. I hope to see you next time. Take care. Bye for now.