of starting a business after you have passed the half-century mark.
(Note: When I discuss the differences between being a 50- vs. a 30-year old entrepreneur, I must by necessity make generalizations, since I don’t know you personally. So please, don’t be offended if some of the descriptions don’t quite fit you!)
Why is starting a business at age 50 so different than starting one when you are 20 years younger? There are several reasons, some of them positive and some of them negative. Let’s lay out the advantages and the challenges in a table so you can visualize them easily before we examine them in detail below.
DISADVANTAGES
ENERGY LEVEL
Energy levels between different generations vary. For most of us, our mental and physical energy wanes gradually as we age. That’s not to say that, at 54, I don’t have plenty of energy for my two businesses: freelance copywriting—which I’ve done for decades—and Internet information marketing, which I started a few years ago. But my store of mental and physical energy now seems more finite. Many friends, acquaintances, and colleagues in my age group tell me that they too are beginning to slow down and need to take things easier.
When I was in my 30s and 40s, I routinely worked 12-hour days and absolutely enjoyed doing so, because I love what I do. I’m a workaholic—pity me. There was nothing I liked better than to sit at the keyboard, typing away writing copy for a client, or for a book, column, newsletter, or article.
I’m still actively working in both my freelance copywriting and my Internet businesses, but when I hit 50 or so, I felt my energy had been dialed down a notch. My days are more like nine or 10 hours, not 12, and on Fridays I peter out by about 4 or 5 P.M. I would still like to put in a 12-hour day if I could, but after about 10 hours, my concentration and mental energy fade to the point where I am no longer sufficiently productive to keep on going; that point used to come after about 12 to 13 hours.
I still get a lot more done in that time than most people I observe because I work in isolation; there is no one to shoot the breeze with and few distractions. And, I don’t waste time on social media. Also, with three decades of experience, I know what I am doing and can therefore work efficiently. I included some of my time management secrets in a book, Make Every Second Count: Time Management Tips and Techniques for More Success With Less Stress (Career Press, 2010).
You may maintain peak energy well beyond 50, but at some point in your life—perhaps at 60, 70, or even 80—your mental and physical energy will start to decline. Your work hours will shorten, and you won’t be quite as efficient and productive when you are working. As a result, you won’t get quite as much done as when you were younger or achieve quite as much in a day as your younger competitors can achieve.
ENTHUSIASM LEVEL
The next human characteristic to be affected by age is enthusiasm, or, rather, degree of enthusiasm.
HOW BOB DOES IT
What happens when you realize that you don’t have the energy supply or reserves you did when you were younger? My advice is not to mourn it, as I initially did, but to accept this gradual decline in energy gracefully while taking steps to slow, halt, or—if you can—reverse it for a time. A regular program of exercise can give you more physical stamina and strength as well as make your mind sharper. There are also chemical means of gaining more energy.
I use a vitamin B12 oral spray when I need a shot of energy. It’s safe, and vitamin B12 in liquid form is more rapidly absorbed than it is from a pill. One or two squirts under my tongue and I feel more refreshed and energetic.
Also, for better or for worse—I’m not a doctor, so I can’t advise you here—I use caffeine as a way of boosting my energy. In my youth, when I worked in a corporate office, I didn’t use the office coffeepot because I didn’t drink coffee. But I noticed that my boss, 10 years older than me, couldn’t start his day without it. Today, I can’t get going in the morning without one or two cups of strong coffee. The second cup gradually cools off, and I sip the remaining cold coffee throughout the day until it’s gone. Sometimes I pour a third cup.
While I haven’t used them, there are a variety of energy drinks on the market today that may give you a boost, some with caffeine and some with vitamins, minerals, and herbs—and some with both. Sugar also gives people a shot of energy, but because I recently was diagnosed as prediabetic, sugar is not an option for me, though it may be for you. Be cautious, however. White, processed foods, such as sugar, salt, flour, and white bread, are not the healthiest foods for you.
People over 50 have a lot more accumulated life experience than entrepreneurs in their 30s. Decades of life experience can nurture a cynicism that makes a person cautious and wary; we’ve seen more than younger people, and done more, so we know that problems and pitfalls inevitably arise. By comparison, a 30-year-old may be too enthusiastic about a new business idea because he doesn’t know the reality of what’s possible versus what won’t work. There are pros and cons to both vantage points.
A good illustration for me is writing a magazine article. I wrote my first magazine article in my 20s, and I will never forget the excitement of getting a copy of the magazine in the mail and seeing my byline in its pages. Now, 30 years later, I will write an occasional magazine article, and I enjoy doing it, but the thrill and excitement are gone; I’ve done it a hundred times already, so seeing my byline on article #101 just isn’t an event for me anymore.
When you start a new business, you should—and really must—be enthusiastic about it, even excited. But you probably won’t have the unbridled energy and excitement that a Generation X or Y entrepreneur would have. At this stage in my life, I can say that I enjoy my two businesses, but my excitement is fairly contained. I have a cynicism today I lacked as a younger man; it makes me wiser, but perhaps also dampens my enthusiasm a bit.
In many fields, especially science and technology, the major achievements are made by young men and women. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, founded Facebook while in his early 20s. Albert Einstein published his special theory of relativity when he was only 26.
HEALTH ISSUES
Physical well-being—the degree of health and fitness you possess—invariably decreases with age. When you get older, you suddenly find yourself holding books away from your eyes so you can see the print clearly. You begin to keep a plastic case with daily pills in each compartment. You find yourself making a lot more trips to the pharmacy, as well as to your doctor. You wake up at night to pee. You have more aches and pains, and more concern about serious illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.
Taking care of and maintaining your own health becomes more time-consuming as you age, and those chores take time away from your new business. The majority of younger people are not burdened by health worries, so they are better able to concentrate on their business and spend more hours doing it without the interruption of a visit to the doctor’s office or scheduling a chest x-ray.
I’ve had my share of health problems, and because I was so focused on my work, I ignored some of them—to my detriment. For instance, a few years ago, while I was on the telephone with a client, I became temporarily unable to speak or take notes with
