This Isn’t Your Mother’s Retirement: Women Are Redefining Their 50s

Gone are the days of traditional retirement plans for women aged 50 and over; this generation is flipping the script and redefining what it means to thrive in their second half of life. Starting a business for women 50+ has become more common. According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the age group between 55-64 is the highest for entrepreneurship globally. And entrepreneurial activity among that age group has increased by more than 50 percent since 2008.

What does that mean for you? If you want to start a new business and you are within this age group, it shows that you are in good company.

Why Many Women Choose to Start a Business Later in Life

The shift from traditional retirement to pursuing other dreams is front and center. There are many reasons why women shift and make the move from corporate to business ownership later in life, but the most popular ones are:

1. Financial security: many reach this stage in life and realize that they have a gap in the retirement savings and need to make extra money to secure their financial future.

2. Flexibility and control: having more control over your schedule and your work environment at this stage in life is enticing as you may have outside responsibilities and need to balance your time better.

3. Passion projects: you may have always dreamed of starting this business and the timing feels better as kids are older and you have more time to do the things you want to do.

4. Desire for impact: you may want to test yourself and grow as a person, and business ownership offers personal growth.

Tips for Starting a Business

Being a financially successful business owner requires that you wear many hats like marketing, sales, operations, and financial management. It can feel overwhelming. But when you follow these top tips, it will help give you the edge you need to succeed in business.

1. You need to bring to market a product or service that is sellable. There must be a demand for your offer where people are willing to pay. Too often people invest in ideas that have not been proven in the market yet, and a lack of demand puts the business out of business.

Test your business idea before going all in. Sell it to a few people, get feedback, make improvements, and sell it again until you know you’ve got the right product or service.

2. Put energy and resources behind marketing and sales. You may have the best offer but if nobody knows about it, then it will be hard to sell. This is not the time to outsource your marketing. You need to learn the right messaging that lands with your clients. At this stage there is a lot of testing that needs to be done with your marketing, so ensure you don’t give up at this stage.

3. Bootstrapping is a great way to build your business. Find ways to save on expenses in your business. Marketing channels can start off organically through social media, then once you hit traction and make some sales, you can use that profit to reinvest back into your business to invest in more marketing and other activities that will scale your business.

4. Be willing to learn as you go. It’s difficult to know everything about business, and the best teacher is experience. Build your network out and get support from others who have gone before you. People are willing to support other people so find those you can build reciprocal relationships with.

5. Listen to your clients. Your clients give you continual feedback about their likes and dislikes of your offer, so listen and adapt. Those who can change with their clients’ needs and pivot as needed are more likely to build a business that will be in business for decades to come.

The bottom line is that being a business owner later in life can be challenging and rewarding. You bring a lot of experience and wisdom to the table, and chances are you have more confidence and clarity in your 50s than ever. Starting a business isn’t for the young anymore, and in your 50s you can shape your life to what you want it to be. Enjoy this new stage in your life.

By Melissa Houston, Contributor