(Newswire.net — January 3, 2023) — Entrepreneurship is often sold to us as something that young people do. Yet, the evidence shows that the average age of startup founders is 45 years years old, and that the older a founder is, the more likely their business is to succeed. At 60 years or older, a founder is more likely to succeed than a person below the age of 30. What we are learning is that some industries are particularly fruitful for older founders.
Founders with prior experience in an industry are 85% more likely to succeed than those without experience in that industry. So, a guiding light for you is to start off by looking at your wealth of experience and the skills you have picked up. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go into the same line of work as you did before, but it does tell us that you should lean into your skills and experience.
Consultancy
The most obvious advantage of consultancy work is that it gives you the freedom to set your own work hours. This is important for many people who want to achieve a good work-life balance. In fact, in a study published in the American Economic Journal, over 60% of retired people over the age of 60, would return to work if they had more flexible hours.
Secondly, consultancy work is a wonderful way to leverage your past experience. Quite literally, you are helping people by providing advice based on your experience.
Craft Work
Many people over 60 take to some craft as a way to pass the time. This hobby can be the basis of a new business. Platforms such as Etsy can be used to start an online store through which you can sell the arts and crafts that you make.
The great thing about many arts and crafts is that the materials you will need are typically low-cost. So you won’t need an enormous amount of capital to start an online store selling arts and crafts.
You can also sell your wares at a farmer’s market, a flea market, Facebook Marketplace, or even Craigslist. You can even build a business on Instagram, Pinterest, or even WhatsApp.
Engage in the Passion Economy
The internet has made it possible to start niche businesses serving as few as 1000, or even 100 “true fans”. This frees people to build businesses on their passions, no matter how niche they are because the internet makes it possible to match you to your potential consumers. True fans are those people who love your work so much that they are willing to pay to consume your content. How you charge your true fans depends on the number of true fans that you aim to build your business on. So, if you can get $100 per year for 1,000 true fans, that can get you $100,000 per year in revenue. Similarly, if you could get $1,000 per true fan every year, you can earn $100,000 as well. This shows how the size of your true fan base has a massive impact on your strategy. You have to be able to provide content that will justify the amount of money that your true fans will pay.
There are a number of ways that you can participate in the passion economy. For example, you could teach a course on Patreon, Podia, or Teachable, or even on Udemy, or Coursera. Or, you could write a newsletter on Substack, or your personal website.
The fundamental principle is that your content has to be worth the money that you are charging.
Walking Dogs
Walking dogs for a living is a great way to get exercise while earning a nice stream of income. Since the pandemic, dog ownership has exploded, and as more people return to in-office work, demand for dog walkers has risen. The pet industry is expected to triple in size in the next decade, with demand for services such as grooming, daycare, and walking, growing.
You don’t have to walk the dogs yourself. You’ll build a business offering dog walking services, and perhaps other pet care services, and have your employees walk the dogs.
Dog walkers typically charge $19 to $29 per 30-minute walk. If you walk several dogs at once, then your earnings will rise. Rates, of course, are dependent on where you live.
Growing Plants
If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s the value of having clean air and spaces with lots of plants to bring nature into our living spaces.
People over 60 have often enjoyed being out in their gardens, growing plants, enjoying the fresh air, and being part of something earthly and greater than themselves.
Growing plants can be the basis of a new business. You see, although many people appreciate the importance of having plants in the house and outside, many people don’t know how to grow plants. That’s where you come in. You can grow plants and even sell them from home if you’re comfortable with that, or, you can rent out a space somewhere to sell from. You can even sell your plants online, on platforms like Shopify.
Look around and you’ll see that plants can go for as much as $20 to $100, and the bulk of your costs are for pots, seeds, manure, and water.
Get Into Real Estate
If you’ve been lucky enough to accumulate ample savings, you can invest in real estate. Real estate will provide you with a steady stream of income. If you have about $100,000 in savings when you retire, this will allow you to make a downpayment on a modest property. You can either invest in real estate to (a) fit it and flip it, (b) rent out, or (c) short-term rent on platforms like Airbnb or Booking.com.
Real estate is very capital intensive, so you should have a good understanding of the costs, and the market, before engaging. This can be an investment that not only provides a stream of income but also substantially increases your wealth.
For more information on starting a new business, click here.