It’s fabulous to see so many young entrepreneurs growing successful businesses but why should they have all the fun?
By the time you reach your 40s and 50s you’ve often survived years of corporate life, built up a bank of great contacts and have enough skills and experience for a ten-page CV! If you’ve always dreamed of running your own business then now’s the time to go for it.
The benefits of owning your own company include escaping large corporate politics, being your own boss, flexible working and, perhaps surprisingly, improving your health.
When you have final responsibility for everything – finding customers/clients and keeping them happy, recruiting and developing your employees and building stable relationships with suppliers and communities, you might think that the stress levels would be sky high. However, this is where your experience can really help. If challenges arise, you can draw on the knowledge gained from surviving previous, similar, tricky situations.
Of course, alongside flexible working can come flexible pay. There is no regular pay packet – if you have a quiet month that will be reflected in your earnings. Likewise, self-employment may mean that you don’t get any money when you are ill or go on holiday.
Thinking about these issues beforehand and factoring them in when you write your business plan will help you to build a successful company. Discuss your plan with an outsider and check it’s both well-judged and commercial.
Then it’s time to go for it! If you are still hesitating it’s worth knowing that “late-career workers who switch to entrepreneurship experience a significant increase in quality of life”. (Journal of Business Venturing Volume 32, Issue 3, May 2017, Pages 318-333)
So, what are you waiting for?
©Kings Hill Marketing Consultancy Limited
