Episode 215: It's never too late to start a business
Age does not determine your success, whether you're older or younger. IN today's episode, Fiona shares a couple of instances of people in their fifties and above who have started businesses. This is a reminder to everyone that it is never too late to start something. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
People in their fifties and above who have started businesses
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
Hello and welcome to episode 215 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast. Today, it is a quick tip episode. A missed episode is brought to you by my birthday, which is coming up tomorrow. If you're listening to this in real-time, but no, seriously, it is, what would you say it is? It's a tip, I guess. I mean, these episodes are really a tip tool or tactic. And I would say that this is just a tip, not just a tip, it's an important tip. So, stick around. Before I jump into that, I want to of course acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on the land, on which I live and work and play and record this podcast. The Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation and I pay my respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded.
I also wanted to just remind you that if you are looking to work with me and also meet a whole bunch of really wonderful small creative business owners, small creative business owners, creative, small business owners, some of them have really big businesses. You may want to check out our group coaching program. It is kicking off in early August and we already have people locked in and I can't wait to yeah. Talk to some more people and just create a really wonderful group. So, you can find all the information for that at mydailybusinesscoach.com/groupcoaching. If you have any questions, you can feel free to send me a DM at my daily business coach, or you can shoot us an email, hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com. All right. So, I'll link to that in the show notes as well, but just again, it's mydailybusinesscoach.com/groupcoaching. Let's get on with today's quick tip episode.
I joked before that today's episode is brought to you by my birthday, which is this week if you're listening in real-time, but it is actually brought to you by a wonderful woman who I recently had the pleasure of connecting with. She booked in for a consult call and she knows who she is. She said she listens to the podcast. So, hello! And I mentioned that I was going to make an episode about this because she was ringing out. She was talking about the business that she started a little while ago and her career to date. And she made a comment that I'm going to paraphrase, but basically went something like, “You know, I'm in my early fifties and obviously that's not a great time to start a business.” And I was like, “Why isn't it?” And when I sort of said that back to her, she was a little stumped.
And she's like, “Oh, you know, I really should be in my twenties doing this sort of stuff, social media.” And, you know, she kind of listed off a few things. And when I really pushed her though, she was like, “You know what? I don't know. I guess I just said that because that's what I've thought.” You think that creative, small business owners are kind of up and coming and young and fresh and, you know, traveling the world and have got no responsibilities and the whole digital nomad lifestyle, which I have to say, I work with a couple of people in their twenties, but the majority of the people that I work with and the majority of the people that are in the group coaching programs or the buy programs I would say are in their thirties through to sixties. So, I personally think that if you're in your fifties starting a business, oh my goodness. The amount of life experience that you can bring into that, the amount of dealing with people, dealing with different types of people, the amount of career experience, no matter what your career has been in every career, you would've had to deal with people, management, supplier issues, contracts, you know, your own contract. There are so many things that a career, regardless of whether it's in a completely different industry is going to give you with that amount of time working for other people that, you know, you just can't get if you're younger. And that's not to say that young people aren't as you know, successful or anything else, of course, they are age does not determine your success, whether you're older or younger, but age equally does not determine your failure, whether you're older or you younger.
So today on that note of this wonderful person in her fifties, who is starting a business for the first time, I wanted to share a couple of instances of people in their fifties and above who have started businesses. Some you'll know some you may not have heard of, but I just think that it's a reminder to everyone that it is never too late to start something and not just start a business, but start something else that you may not have done. I am in my forties. I still feel older when I say that, but I'm in my forties, fabulous forties, and loving my forties. And I have to say that I am starting to do things that I have never done before. I am literally this week doing a ceramics class for the first time. Something I've always wanted to do for years and years and years. I'm also starting Pilates classes like in an actual physical class for the first time. I have done Pilates many times on YouTube. And I probably went to a few Pilates classes as part of like a gym that I was at. Not probably, I did go to them, but I've not gone to a specific Pilates studio.
And so, it's never too late to do things. My mum actually started learning another language. I would say in her fifties, she also started doing creative writing classes in her sixties or seventies even. And she also went back to university and completely changed careers in her late forties while also raising four teenagers at the same time with no, I mean, besides my dad, there were no other relatives in the country. So, you know, it can be done. It is done all the time. So, if you are listening to this and regardless, maybe you're stressed about turning 30, maybe you are worried about the big 40, maybe you are closer to 80. Who knows? But I just want you to know that nothing is too late. There is never an I'm too late in life until I guess you get to the, you know, the death bed.
And you're like, oh, well, can't do a ceramics class from the hospital. But before that, and God, I don't mean any like bad energy from that comment that I've just said. But before that literally, anything is possible. So let that be a message from today's tip episode, but I wanted to go through four examples of people who have started their businesses far, far later in life. Then what we see on the kind of the digital nomad, #entrepreneu. So I know I actually just said that I would do four. I'm going to do more than that because I just found more than that. And I just think it's super important. So some really big names that people know around the world, Martha Stewart, she was 50 when she published her first magazine, Martha Stewart, living the guy who started McDonald's I forget his name. Actually, I've got to hear somebody somewhere.
Ray crock, he started McDonald's in 1954 and he was 52, actually. I don't think he started McDonald's. I have watched the movie founder and I believe that other people started it. And then this guy kind of took their idea, but regardless he was in his fifties when that happened, other people that are quite famous, the guy who started KFC, whatever his name is, he was I think, in his sixties. And then you've got people like Ariana Huffington, who a lot of people know through her books, but also through the huge news and commentary site, the Huffington Post, which she started when she was 55. And you think about that. I mean, I think that's been going for like 20 years or something. So she must be in her seventies now. And she's still, you know, her books are still topping the least, she is still out there as a, you know, coveted speaker as somebody that people need and want to learn from.
So there are so many examples, especially if you look at the kind of bigger companies, but let's look at some other companies, some of which you know, are big, but people may not have heard of, but I wanted to kind of highlight a couple so that if you are there, just know that even if you're in the business that you love right now, and maybe you're not in your fifties, you may decide to sell that or to change careers or to do something completely different and then start another business. And it's never too late. So the first person I wanted to point out is Julie Wayne Wright. So she actually did run a business. So it's, it's a perfect example. She had a business and then I think sold it. So she was the CEO of Pets.com in America. And I think they shut down the company or she sold it or something like that, but she then decided to start her own company. In 2011, she was in her mid-fifties when she launched The RealReal. Now, if you are into designer items, even if you are not necessarily, it's kind of a fun site to have a look at. The RealReal is basically where people will resell designer hammers and all sorts of accessories and stuff like that and clothes. And I think there is an option so that you can quantify or check the proof that that is actually a designer item. I think it was worth something close to 250 million or maybe 220 million. I should probably check that, but well, over 200 million and that was years ago now.
So, you know, she started that in her mid-fifties and she took all the experience and all the knowledge and I'm sure all the networks and contacts and just life that she had had prior to that and started The RealReal. I also found an article when I was looking these things up from the UK in 2021 from the express newspaper in the UK. And it was all about, you know, the silver entrepreneurs. And when you Google silver entrepreneurs, you will find so many articles. I think there was one in whether it's financial times or AFR or something else that was saying, these are the generation to watch because they have the cash, have the life experience, have the know-how, have the experience in just, you know, figuring things out and they make things work.
One of the things though that came from this one particular article and I'll link to that in the show notes is they interviewed this person called anew, who has started a business called Mum & You for mothers and all sorts of things of, you know, what people need. And she is in her mid-fifties. And one of the things that I really loved that she talked about was when I started Mum & You, I had already had everything in life. Like I had the career, I had the kids, I had the house, I had everything. And she says, at some point you say, what am I here for? Am I going to do something more than just work and get my salary? We felt that if we were ever going to do it, then this is the time to do it. We have these years of experience and we felt we could actually create something that would make a difference in the world. And again, it goes back to my earlier point of if you are in your fifties or any kind of age, but if you have had a chunk of life experience that life experience, yes, it may not be small business experience specifically, but it is going to help you in your small business.
Another example of this, which I think is awesome is a woman who became an entrepreneur when she was 90 and her name is Sylvia Lieberman. And she started Archibald's Swiss Cheese Mountain mouse books. And so created children's books when she was 90 that have gone on to do so. So well, another one from China is a woman in her seventies called Cheng Shilian actually had horrible things happen. So basically I think her daughter had cancer. I know her son had cancer and she couldn't afford the family. Couldn't afford to pay back the debt to the hospital. And then her daughter got cancer and also had a huge amount of hospital debt. And so despite being in her seventies, she actually cultivated and opened a tea garden and was able to sell out 30,000 of her tea plants in a short amount of time. Again, that comes from horrible circumstances, but it can be done.
And finally, the last one, again, it comes from the UK and it's this awesome woman who just before her 50th birthday, she decided to use up 2000 pounds of saving and create the SEW London project as in SEW because she had previously worked as a seamstress and basically, she upcycles old textiles and turns them into new clothes and accessories and has a brand called, I don't know how you pronounce it - Recycle clothes like recycle. We’ll link to that in the show notes. But yeah, she has said in this particular article that I read on The Guardian and again will link to that, that she took about two years to get it to be super profitable. And you know, she's in her mid-fifties now and it's working. So just a reminder for this, not-so-quick tip episode, it's gone a little over the 10-minute mark that you cannot limit yourself because of the age that you are. There will definitely be things that might be harder to get your head around if you are, you know like I'm in my forties, I did not grow up with the internet. I had the internet after I finished university. I mean, we had the internet, but it was definitely not like it was now.
I think it came in at the very end of my year 12. So I did not use it in the universities. I went to libraries and I photocopied and had all the, like, you know, black stain hands from the photocopying machine. No one used the internet when I was at university, except for like, I don't know, Hotmail addresses or something. And so I have had to learn things on the internet that people who have come up and grown up with it, especially my kids will just know better than me. So yes, there are some things that may be harder, but there are going to be a whole lot of things that are easier because you have had the life experience. So no matter what age you are, I hope that today's episode has just really inspired you and reminded you that anything is possible. And it's never too late to start. All right.
That is it for today's quick tip episode, you can find the show notes, including links to those articles that I mentioned at mydailybusinesscoach.com/125. If you found this interesting, or maybe there's somebody over 50 in your life and you think they need a little bit of inspiration, please share it with them. And please also leave a review if you have time. And if you found this useful, thanks so much. See you next time! Bye.
