Are you a workaholic who dreads the day your career ends? More likely, you’ve realized you need more income if you’re going to enjoy retirement at all. If you’re wondering what to do after retirement, becoming a late-in-life entrepreneur should be a consideration.
If you’re having doubts, you’ll be surprised to hear that entrepreneurs over 55 are twice as likely as people under 35 to launch a high-growth startup. If your have health issues or personal finance issues like a smaller nest egg than you’d like, it’s time to think about something new.
As a late-in-life successful entrepreneur myself, let me offer some other words of encouragement on why retirement is the best time to start running your own business.
You Have Experience
Retirement is the perfect time to use your hard-earned work experience. Spending decades climbing the corporate ladder is no easy feat. Over the years you’ve gained experience in all sorts of areas that make you a better entrepreneur. Strong leadership skills, self-motivation, and willingness to fail are all qualities successful entrepreneurs need to possess. You also wouldn’t have succeed in the corporate world if you didn’t develop them.
The ability to work in or run teams, pitch a project idea, communicate well with business affiliates are other examples of experience that gives you a competitive edge in entrepreneurship.
You may be up against MBA-wielding Millennial entrepreneurs, but you probably outperform them in terms of interpersonal skills — which brings me to my next point:
You Have the Network
Even if you’re a “solopreneur,” building a business from scratch isn’t a one-man show. You need expert advice, help setting up business elements, contacts to help you market it, etc. Younger generations may have innovative ideas, but they don’t have the same network of people to help bring their dreams into reality.
You’ve built up a lot of contacts over the years that you can call on to help with your new enterprise. You might even be able to convince some people to invest financially in your idea. Millennials don’t have the track record to convince investors that they’re knowledgeable enough to turn their bright ideas into profit.
Time is on Your Side
There’s no denying that entrepreneurship is a huge time investment. You have to be committed to developing a profitable idea, launching your business, guiding it to profit, and overcoming new market hurdles as they come. It is possible to do this while holding down a day job, but it’s not easy.
If you become an entrepreneur in retirement, you have a competitive advantage because you can devote all your time to it. You can even get the wheels turning in the years leading up to retirement then have an income-generating business already running when your regular income ceases.
Running a Business From Home is Easy
Entrepreneurship can be grueling. Long hours at the office, conferences, client meetings, networking and the rest can suck up a huge chunk of your life. That’s not a particularly appealing way to spend your retirement.
Luckily, it is possible to become an entrepreneur and still enjoy your retirement if you choose the right business model. Running a business from home is easy when your business is online.
Here are a few online business models that you can use to earn money in retirement:
Freelancing/Consulting
Remember that work experience I mentioned above? You can easily repackage it in retirement to offer as a freelance service. 30 years working in hiring is more than enough experience to help younger generations revamp their resumes (online, for a fee). Or if you worked in the finance sector, you can get certified to offer consulting services. The possibilities are endless.
You might also like our article on Freelancing Over 50: 4 Steps to Start Selling Services This Week
Learn Something New and Sell the Knowledge
If you have a commutable skill but don’t want to consult online, selling knowledge is the perfect route. Create ebooks, webinars, or video courses that people will pay to access. Then all you have to do is market them to your audience. Spend time reading and writing and you can make it a small business online.
What To Do After Retirement: E-commerce
Start an e-commerce business to sell your own products online, or products from a third-party manufacturer. Online e-commerce is booming niche. Double digit growth in e-commerce will continue until 2020, topping $4 trillion in annual sales. You can learn about my personal experience and success with e-commerce here.
Better yet… buy an online business
If you have the financial capital and don’t want to start from scratch, you can purchase an online business that’s already generating revenue. Reputable platforms like FE International and Empire Flippers are designed to help you find profitable online businesses to purchase and Professional Website Investors can educate you in the business of buying and selling websites.
Let’s face it… you need to
There are a lot of reasons why retirement is the best time to become an entrepreneur. But for me, one trumps them all:
You simply need to become an entrepreneur to afford the kind of retirement you want.
Maybe you haven’t saved up enough for retirement, and even if you did follow traditional financial advice, nest eggs aren’t what they used to be. Cost of living is ever rising, medical costs loom, along with many other terrors that keep us up at night worrying about our retirement accounts.
Entrepreneurship isn’t the only way to mitigate these risks, but it’s by far the best one. And today it’s easier than ever for people in their 50’s and 60’s to join the digital market and start earning money from home. All you need is an idea and a little guidance to get started.
Your Work in Retirement Doesn’t have to be Full Time
If you know you need to do more than start a book club in your golden years, consider being a senior entrepreneur online. Online businesses can be run part-time, so you can still enjoy your retirement with your family and friends.
If traveling is on your bucket list in retirement, keep in mind that working online can be done from anywhere. Your senior living can include frequent travel and a small business you run yourself. You can make new friends while traveling and create a retirement you love.
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