Since handing over the stewardship of my business Flying Solo to David Koch and the team at Pinstripe Media, I’ve been planning my next venture.
At times, I’ve wondered whether I’d still cut it, in what I saw was very much a young person’s game.
Over the summer break I spent a stack of time researching ‘the older entrepreneur’ and discovered some pretty enlightening stuff. So grab your cocoa and let’s have a little chat in the sunroom.
Shock, horror: you’re old AND wise!
Last year, the Australian Institute of Business (AIB), delved into senior entrepreneurship in Australia and unequivocally confirmed that we get better and more businessy with age.
Yeah, I knew that.
And it seems plenty of you do too. It turns out that while I wasn’t watching, us baby boomers now account for 34% of all start-ups and there’s more start-up activity for 55-64 year-olds in Australia than any other innovation-driven economy. Blimey.
But wait, there’s more….
Another program of research, this time from Swinburne University of Technology, and Queensland University of Technology, found in 2015 that not only are we stampeding to soloism, we’re better equipped to succeed than our younger peers.
Pinch me. I must be dreaming.
Lured by the appeal of a lifestyle business it seems we have better developed networks, more experience and are generally in a stronger financial position. Makes sense.
By my reckoning, that’s Oldies: 2, Youngsters: Nil. Ha! Take that, good looking, energetic, still-awake-after-10pm, young people.
Ditch the twinset, embrace the mindset and live longer.
No guarantees or anything, but Swinburne Uni also discovered that around 8 out of 10 older entrepreneurs significantly benefited from non-financial aspects of running their own show, notably better health and a reinvigorated mind.
And I thought it was the meditation and yoga.
So there you have it and I for one am totally convinced. So much so, I can announce that at 61 I’m ready to tackle the world anew and start a suite of shiny, new things.
Who’s with me?