{"id":4293,"date":"2016-10-06T10:40:23","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T10:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/?p=4293"},"modified":"2016-10-18T00:55:22","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T00:55:22","slug":"best-time-to-become-an-entrepreneur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/fall-2016\/best-time-to-become-an-entrepreneur\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Time to Become An Entrepreneur"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Wyn Lydecker<\/p><\/p>\n

I<\/span>f you have felt the pull of entrepreneurship, you are not alone. Over half of new entrepreneurs are between the ages of 45 and 64. Given all the media coverage of young entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, that statistic from the 2015 Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity may surprise you. Even more interesting is the fact that over 80 percent of these founders started their businesses because they wanted to\u2014not because they were seeking employment.<\/p>\n

\"Arianna

Arianna Huffington was 54 when she started the Huffington Post. Photo: Deposit Photos.<\/p><\/div>\n

Heed the Pull<\/h4>\n

What makes you aspire to become an entrepreneur? For my co-author, Ed McLaughlin, the reason to start up came down to an overwhelming desire to realize a business vision. After years of working for others, Ed felt that his life would not be complete unless he started his own business. He wanted to take control of his own destiny rather than following an employer\u2019s dictates and being defined by a title and paygrade. The pull of entrepreneurship was an inexorable force, like gravity, making Ed yearn for the chance to spend his time working on an endeavor that was truly satisfying.<\/p>\n

But what if you don\u2019t know what type of business you should start? Don\u2019t let that stop you. If you are dying to start your own business, sit down and write a covenant with yourself that you will start a business by a certain date. Sign it and have a friend witness the promise. Ed did exactly that and kept the paper with the promise in his wallet until he finally started his first business, USI Companies Inc., in midlife.<\/p>\n

Even after founding three businesses, selling USI to Johnson Controls, and subsequently serving as CEO of JCI\u2019s Global Workplace Business for the Americas, Ed still kept that covenant framed on the wall. The pull of entrepreneurship \u2013 and that original promise \u2013 stayed alive, as it can for you. In his 50s, Ed left Johnson Controls to found a fourth company, Blue Sunsets LLC, investing in real estate and startups and spending time speaking to groups of aspiring entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

If you know you want to start up, use the power of that promise to motivate you to take the plunge. When you fulfill your covenant, you will be in the company of other highly successful entrepreneurs. Did you know that Leo Goodwin started GEICO Insurance with his wife when he was 50; that Harland Sanders didn\u2019t start KFC until he was 65; or, more recently, that Ariana Huffington was 54 when she started The Huffington Post?<\/p>\n

Distinctive Competence = Distinct Advantage<\/h4>\n

Even with a strong pull toward entrepreneurship, many aspiring business owners never take the fateful startup step for fear they will not succeed. If that is holding you back, consider whether you have what Ed likes to call distinctive competence.<\/p>\n

Distinctive competence is some combination of tried-and-true experience, a unique skillset, or a talent that sets you apart and will enable you to succeed. If you build your business around your distinctive competence, you are much more likely to have a feasible business idea. With distinctive competence, you have an intimate knowledge of your industry and the business models that work and don\u2019t work. You can use your freedom as an entrepreneur to draw on your experience, to innovate, and to address the unfilled gaps in the market.<\/p>\n

In fact, your distinctive competence can help you identify the right business to start, develop a bankable business model, and create genuine value for your customers and yourself. You can minimize your risks with knowledge of customer needs, market trends, operational requirements, financial models, relevant technologies, and potential competitors.<\/p>\n

To discover and define your distinctive competence, ask yourself the following questions:<\/p>\n

What special knowledge, talent, or skill do I have?\nDo I have a track record of success in a particular field?\nWhat unique experience of achievement can I apply to a new business?<\/h5>\n

When you challenge yourself to answer these questions honestly, you will directly fortify your opportunity for long-term success.<\/p>\n

Your New Life<\/h4>\n

Life as an entrepreneur will be unlike anything you have experienced before. You will have the ability to channel your creativity, your energy, and your enthusiasm into a business of your own creation. You will be the person in control. But first you need to make the promise to yourself that you\u2019ll get going. Then you can assess your distinctive competence to guide you to choose the right business to launch. Once you start up and experience the joys of entrepreneurship, you will never look back!<\/p>\n

Wyn Lydecker is co-author of the book <\/em>The Purpose Is Profit: The Truth about Starting and Building Your Own Business with Ed McLaughlin.<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to know if you can become an entrepreneur<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2016","category-fall-2016-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4293"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4787,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4293\/revisions\/4787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}