Am I too old to build a Successful Online Business?

“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.”
— Criss Jami

If I had a dollar……..

I’ve had the privilege of working alongside women aged 40 years and over for well past a decade now. What started with my own first midlife reinvention in my early 40s – retraining to become a personal trainer – has morphed into my now being an international speaker, podcaster and author, with a business that includes me helping other midlife women create their own purposeful businesses. 

It’s interesting though, as even though there are inspiring stories of celebrity female entrepreneurs like Vera Wang, Martha Stewart and Julia Child who started their businesses in their midlife years, the women I connect with still wrestle with the same questions:

Am I too old? 

I’m not tech savvy like the younger generation – how can I launch an online business? 

What skills have I got that anyone would want? 

My answer to all of the above? 

Sister – you have SO much to offer the world, and the world NEEDS you to be brave and launch your business!

You don’t make it to midlife – 40 / 50 / 60 years or beyond – without learning a few things. You’ve learned how to budget, to be flexible, to be resilient, to deal with curve balls and to negotiate with people who don’t see eye to eye with you – hello, teenagers? 

The wisdom that you have learned from your years of employment and motherhood, gives you an advantage over the average millennial.

Not only do you have experience and wisdom gleaned from years in the workplace – both professional and domestic – you have also soft skills that are invaluable for an entrepreneur starting out in a new venture, including:

Self efficacy – the self belief based on years of experience, that you have the ability to research and learn the skills you need to build your online business. 

Patience – honed after years of raising your children, living with another adult, dealing with bosses, coaches, teachers and more. Essential when you are creating something new.

Stickability and resilience – you’ve hung in there with jobs, relationships and parenting, weathering good times, not so good times and downright tough times. And you’re still standing.

Insight and empathy – of what others are going through. Insight built on years of relating to people of all ages and all walks of life. 

As well, you don’t arrive at midlife without having built a network of people. Business colleagues, regular mums and dads and friends, doctors, dentists, lawyers etc – you would be amazed at how many people you know, and even more so, of how many of them might want to interact with your business.

It goes without saying that the events of 2020 onwards have sent many people scrambling to the online space due to the changes to our world. For some, it has been an urgent move as their regular job was made redundant, for others, a natural progression of their midlife evolution. For women especially, launching an online business is becoming more and more common as they look for financial security, self expression, the chance to choose their own schedules and in so many cases – the chance to create something that is transformative and significant in the difference it can bring to others. 

If we’ve learned nothing else over the past year, it’s that life can throw the most unexpected curve balls and tomorrow is not guaranteed. If you know that you have a burning passion to serve others and a desire to make a difference through your own purposeful business, you owe it to yourself and to the people you want to help to step up and make it happen. 

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer” –Nolan Bushnell.

Be encouraged – it’s your time now!

PS: Want to be part of a supportive community of midlife women? Join the sisterhood at Rocking Midlife® – it’s FREE to join!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/RockingMidlife/

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