If you are not young, does it mean you cannot start a new business? There is stereotype thinking when you think about the age for entrepreneurship. Many people will think that best age for doing entrepreneurship is when you are young, perhaps when you are in the 20s or 30s. Probably, this comes from the idea that when you are young you are more creative and productive. Do you think this is true? Let’s go over some articles that talks about entrepreneurship of older adults, that they can still success doing entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is open to everyone; any people of any age can become an entrepreneur at any moment when they are ready to execute their business ideas. If you are thinking that you are too old to become an entrepreneur, you might have to think again. According to Entrepreneur magazine infographics, there are many successful entrepreneurs who did not start their own business until they are 40 years old. Founder of McDonald was selling paper cups until he was 52 and the found of Mary Kay was selling books until she was 45. What are the advantages for older adults over 30s and 40s to become an entrepreneur than people of 20s? First, their life and professional experience is a big asset for them to successfully launch a business. Their experience will reduce risks of business failure by minimising making mistakes that they have learned during their previous work experience. Second, they have better networks that might be helpful in becoming entrepreneurs. Business is about making professional networks and older adults have better and wider professional networks than those who are younger.
The positive view on older adults having more possibilities in starting a business is same in Harvard Business Review. One of the research suggested that the majority of entrepreneurs had more than 6 ye ars of experience in the industry which proves that there are many older adults becoming entrepreneurs.
As being mature gives you an unmeasurable benefit by having useful experiences in becoming entrepreneurs, there are some drawbacks for older adults to start a new business. As the business environment changes, rapidly and technologies are getting involved more, starting a business is becoming more complex nowadays. Therefore, developing fundamental business and entrepreneurship skills with the integration of technology is very important to start a new business successfully.
There are several programs designed for teaching older people about entrepreneurship. Let’s Guide project is aimed to help older adults who would like to start a new business by teaching them necessary entrepreneurship skills, and ICT skills through professionals from training and education organisations. If you are one of the adults who has innovative and inspiring idea for a new business, or interested in learning entrepreneurship, Let’s Guide will be an interesting way to start learning entrepreneurship.
For more information, please check the website links under.
FyG Consultores: http://www.fygconsultores.com
Let’s Guide: http://www.letsguide.eu/