#9: Entrepreneurship Over 40... Why Age is Your Superpower!
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You’re Entering the No-Barrier Zone!
What if age was your ultimate superpower, propelling your entrepreneurial dreams to greater heights? I firmly believe that it is.
This episode is a celebration of entrepreneurial women aged between 40 and 60 and an exploration into why age is not a barrier but a powerful asset in the world of business.
Tune in as we delve into the advantages of experience, wisdom, fearlessness, and unwavering passion that come with age and how to leverage these qualities to fuel your business.
It's time to debunk the myth that entrepreneurship is only a young person's game - there's room for everyone! Age should be celebrated as a badge of honour. So, it's time to trust your gut, harness your passion and step into the life you've always dreamed of.
Listen in, get inspired, and start building the business and life you love, regardless of your age.
Main Points
0:00 Age as a Superpower in Entrepreneurship
3:53 The Four Pillars that Make Age Your Superpower
5:31 Pillar 1: Experience
7:37 The Advantages of Wisdom Though Age
9:56 Empowered with Fearlessness
13:51 Unwavering Passion!
15:26 Embracing Passion and Age in Entrepreneurship
16:34 Your Unique Perspective
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Hi, I’m Samantha Bell
I’m all about helping you build the business – and life – you’ve always wanted.
Listen in for the simple, actionable strategies, mindset shifts, and practices you need to make your business thrive. Plus, a healthy dose of self-care, health, and wellness so you can live the life you absolutely adore while building your beautiful business.
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Transcription
00:00
We're living in a world that often glorifies you, aren't we? So you might be thinking that you've left it far too late to start forging your own path in life if you're over a certain age. But let me ask you this, why should we limit ourselves to that old-fashioned biased belief? I don't think we should. So let's kick that ridiculous notion to the curb and start celebrating the extraordinary power that age brings, especially if you're a woman aged between 40 and 60 years old. So if you are a woman of that certain age, if you've been stuck in your corporate job and are yearning for more meaningful work, or if you've been trying to build your business but feel you're just way too far behind the game, then this episode is a must listen for you.
01:11
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Bell, and today we are shattering a myth that has held many of us back for far too long… The myth that youth is the golden ticket in the world of entrepreneurship. I'm here to say it loud and clear that age is not a barrier. Age is your ultimate superpower. It is. Entrepreneurship is not the domain of the young. In fact, more and more 50-plus-year-olds are launching more startups than any other age group, and not just here in Australia but also in the US, the UK and Ireland. It seems women over 40 have had enough and are taking things into their own hands, and I say it's about time. Plus, women aren't just starting their own businesses. They're creating a whole new landscape of what it looks like to be an entrepreneur, and this is because they're coming from a bigger perspective than just dollar signs. Most women who are a little more mature are interested in both the external and the internal riches that building your own business can bring, and by that, I mean they have such a strong need and a desire to love what they do and to make a really powerful impact in their own special way. It's an attitude of reciprocity. They want to get, but only through giving, and that's a super powerful motivator.
03:14
So today, I want to chat about how age is your superpower when it comes to starting or growing your online service business. Age is not a hindrance, and it's definitely not something to be ashamed of. Instead, you should be wearing your age like a badge of honour for all the richness it brings. There are so many incredible attributes that can only come with age, which will really help propel a business forwards into the fast lane to success. So I actually could go on for hours and hours about this, but I'm not.
03:53
I'm going to start with the four main pillars that make age your superpower and they are: Experience, Wisdom, Fearlessness and Unwavering Passion. Did you notice something really important? Did you notice that not one of those superpowers mentions tech? They don't mention sales ability, and they don't mention your Instagram profile, and that's because these four pillars are the key success factors that cannot be taught and are incomparable in their power. They truly put you at a distinct advantage over someone straight out of uni or very early on in their working life - the people that are glorified for being youthful. Now, I have no problem with youth. I love youth, and I love what they bring to the table. But youth doesn't rule the world, does it? Age has so much more depth, and brings much more meaning to the world and to business. So you can learn sales, you can master tech, or you can outsource it, which is a really smart thing to do, and you can get your kids to set up your killer Instagram profile for you. So put all that together with your experience, your wisdom, your fearlessness and that passion burning deep inside you, and you literally have everything you need.
05:31
Firstly, I'm going to touch on experience. Each one of you has lived a rich and varied life filled with invaluable experiences, and these experiences form the foundation of your business. Providing a unique perspective that younger entrepreneurs just might not possess yet. This is nothing against them, it’s just a learned thing. They haven't had the experience yet, have they? So this is one of your superpowers. So you may not realise that sadly for younger entrepreneurs, age is often used against them too, in the reverse. They have to waste a lot of time proving themselves because of their lack of experience. So you automatically do not have that issue.
06:22
You can dig deep into your well of knowledge and know how to communicate with all the different personality types. You'll be equipped to handle objections and difficult conversations without taking it personally. For instance, if you've spent years in customer service, you'll know firsthand what customers value, and that gives you an edge in creating a customer-centric business, whereas someone who is at the beginning of their journey won't have this experience, so they won't handle things in the same way you do. With the knowledge you have, you're ahead of the game. Plus, when you're getting ideas together for what type of services you want to offer within your own business, you're starting from a place of deep understanding. You know what you are best aligned with, you know where your strengths lie. And you know if something is going to light you up when you just think about it. Plus, you'll also be looking through the lens of sustainability and lifestyle, which means you'll be more in tune with spotting opportunities that others may miss, and you're more likely to make the best of those opportunities.
07:37
The next is wisdom. As we grow older, we understand ourselves and our values so much better, and we're not trying to compete with everybody else. We're more firm within ourselves, and this wisdom guides our decisions as we build our business, and it allows us to create a venture that aligns with our soul's purpose. We're more passionate about sustainable living. You can create a business that reflects this value and attracts like-minded customers. And part of this wisdom I've already touched on, and that's making values-based choices.
08:19
While younger entrepreneurs are driven, they're innovative and they're really happy to take risks, they can lack the empathy that comes with experience in age. So women over 40 have a greater understanding of other people, and they tend to be better at reading people. They're better at listening and appreciating and having a really intimate knowledge of their perfect-fit clients, and this all translates into creating wonderful relationships with both your clients and your team. And caring is a huge advantage, and your years of relationship building will have also built a great network of people that you can work with or who can refer clients to you. Your wisdom spills over into every area of your business, and that also branches out into your financial skills, the ability to exercise self-control and maintain a budget, knowing to put money aside for business development and personal development and when a great opportunity presents itself to you. The practical side of wisdom is another huge advantage that age gives to you. So if all this wisdom is not something that can be bought. It's not something that comes out of the can. It's not something that, when you step out of your university degree, you have. That's just not possible. But you have it, don't you? You've got it in spades.
09:56
The next, after wisdom, comes fearlessness. Age brings a certain fearlessness that can only come from knowing what truly matters in life. When you know what really matters, you don't care about all the fluff that surrounds it, do you? Think about how this fearlessness can empower you to take really bold steps in building your business. And remember, you have overcome far greater obstacles in the past than someone who's coming up behind you. Anything that life has thrown your way up until this point, you've gotten through it, you've learned, you've grown, and you've come out the other side stronger and more prepared for what comes next. You know what to do, and it's taken that fear away because you know that, no matter what life throws at you, it's not going to be a big enough hurdle that you can't jump it. You can jump anything, can't you? You can do it.
10:59
So that means you're more likely not to overthink things, and you know those butterflies you get in your stomach when you're about to try something new for the very first time, you know that those butterflies, they're there for a reason. They are there to motivate you. They're not something to be scared of. Those butterflies are there to lift you up and fan all that entrepreneurial spirit. They're actually saying go for it. You go, girl. But when you're younger, when you feel those butterflies, they stop you because you don't know what they're there for. You feel that energy, and you misinterpret it. You think it's there to stop you and that it's a ‘Warning, Warning, Danger Will Robinson’ moment. But it's not that at all. So you know that those butterflies are giving you the energy you need at the moment to do great things and to step outside of yourself and to get outside of your head and outside of your comfort zone and really take on something that you need to take on in that moment.
12:08
Now, many of my clients they're actually women in their 50s. I have some that are in their 60s or older, and they have thrown caution to the wind, and they've taken a leap of faith to pursue their heart's desires. And guess what? They've gone on literally from strength to strength, and despite it not being easy because it's hard work starting a business from scratch, it truly is. But they've gone in eyes wide open, hearts full, and they've left their fear at the door, and they're crushing it. They are just, you know. They amaze me every single day and I just love being a part of their journey, because this is what it's all about. You know they haven't been held back by the constraints of other people's opinions or going along with the youth rules mindset. They are thinking you know what? That's rubbish and I'm proof of that and they're showing it to everyone around them. They're inspirational. So, being older, the opinions of others it tends not to weigh as heavily on your shoulders.
13:17
So you are more empowered to take a risk, understanding that you know what your life won't end if it doesn't pan out. The worst that can happen is it doesn't work out the way you intended it. And then what do you do? You take another opportunity. You have another opportunity to pivot. So you go on and go into building your business with a healthy but rational dose of fearlessness, and that makes you unstoppable. You become unstoppable. And to back that up is your unwavering passion. You know there is no time like now to take control of your destiny. As women of a certain age, you understand that. You know how very quickly time just keeps ticking away. And all those excuses. They're causing you to suffocate, aren't they? They're keeping you stuck, they're holding you back.
14:20
You're in a really magical place right now, because your kids have either almost grown up or they've left home. You're more established financially. You don't have the same family pressures that you did when you were raising little ones. You don't have to think about daycare. You don't have to run the kids around to their after-school jobs or their weekend sports. Instead, beautiful flexibility has entered your life, and that's amazing, and that is an opportunity just waiting for you to harness. And you've probably also got a really deep yearning for more, because, as you've gotten older, you've changed Inside. You're a different person to who you were Five years ago, 10 years ago and definitely 20 years ago. Your focus has changed, and going to your nine-to-five job is most likely filling you with more frustration and wondering what on earth you're doing, rather than any joy or satisfaction that it maybe once gave you.
15:26
After all, this time, you've probably got a really deep, burning desire that is sick of being pushed aside and is screaming at you to be freed and given wings to fly. You know it's that butterfly, isn't it? It's in there fluttering away, saying come on, get going, you're all for this. So it's time to think about what you've always wanted to do and to pursue that passion, because that passion is strong within you, isn't it? And it's amazing to see so many women embracing that passion. It's inspiring, and, like I said before, I just adore seeing women step into their power and move away from the expectations of others and the guilt that causes them to live their lives for other people, which is what you tend to do as a mom. You know, working for the family, and you spend your life doing for other people, and it's a pattern, but it's a pattern that can be broken and needs to be broken.
16:34
So if you have this passion burning inside you, you've actually got another superpower backing it up. You've got a unique perspective driving your passion, because, over time, how it started probably started as a fleeting thought, a moment that popped into your head. Well, over time, that fleeting thought has had the opportunity to sit with you and to build and develop from nothing into a deep understanding of how and why you should further build out that thought and make it into a dream and then into a reality, because it's not a fly by the night thought. It's got weight, it's grounded in passion, it's grounded and grown, which means it's got long legs and far to travel. So you know that your passion is what's going to keep you going through the tough days that visit ahead when you do start your own business, if you choose to go down that path. You'll have the drive to keep going and to grow and to improve. Your passion fuels you to achieve that transformative experience that you've been craving and have been being denied of all these years, all this time. So, instead of falling, you will fall. Well, you will fall, but you'll fall forwards, not backwards, and you'll always keep falling forwards as you're keeping your passion alive and nurturing it.
18:17
Passion is the one thing that will always move a good business into a great one. So harness your passion, believe in it, trust it, trust your gut, trust your soul, trust that those butterfly feelings are telling you something. You know what, the time is now to unleash your passion like never before. So use this passion, fuel it, use it to fuel your business, create a ripple effect of inspiration for other people to follow, because you know as well as I do that people are drawn to other passionate people. They want to see you excited about what you do and they want to get all caught up in that drive and that energy, because it's a really fabulous place to be. So you're not only helping yourself by embracing your passion and using it within your own business. You're actually helping other women. You're showing them the way by embracing your passion, and that's sharing the joy, sharing the love and using this well, deep-seated passion.
19:26
I keep saying that word, but it's so important to really shine a light on your unique skills and what you bring to the table, so it's invaluable. So just remember, age is not a limitation. It is a source of immense power. Age is not an obstacle. The only obstacles you have are the ones that you put in front of yourself or that you allow others to put in front of you and to hold you down. So just stop that.
19:58
It is time to celebrate age as a superpower when it comes to starting your online service business. It is not something to be ashamed of. It is not something to be seen as a hindrance. Instead, wear your age like a badge of honour, because it brings so much richness to the entrepreneurial journey. Today, I have briefly covered four main pillars that make age your superpower, and I'll remind you what they were.
20:33
Experience, your wisdom, your fearlessness and your unwavering passion, and I hope, by touching on these even briefly, has given you hope and given you confidence and stoked that passion in your soul to get out there and do life on your terms, because your experience, your wisdom, your fearlessness and your unwavering passion set you apart. They make you a force to be reckoned with in the world of entrepreneurship. So, trust me, with these superpowers, you have everything you need to leave your nine-to-five job and to step into your CEO shoes, to start working and living on your own terms. You're already geared up, not just to succeed, but to thrive in the most exciting way possible. So embrace your age. Age is not just a number. It's a testament to your life's journey, to your resilience and your capacity to grow. It's your ultimate superpower in the world of entrepreneurship, and you know what? The world is waiting for your unique perspective, for your wisdom and unwavering determination. So now is your time to build a business that leaves a lasting legacy and fuels a lifestyle that you love.
22:05
If you are stuck dreaming about leaving your 9-5 to do something more fulfilling with your life, but you really have no idea if you can. If you're still doubting yourself, I have created a free guide, and it is your 9-5 exit plan. It's super practical, and it is for ambitious women to help you transition, I say this all the time, to transition from being a corporate hostage to becoming an empowered corporate escapee. And it is not just a typical download that's going to leave you disappointed. It is full of actionable steps. It has a special specific calculator, a transition planner, and everything you need so that you can ditch your 9-5. And I know you're going to love it. It is the five things you must do right now if you are serious about escaping the 9-5 to build the business and the lifestyle of your dreams. It's the opposite of what you've been told, and it will set you up for success. You can literally map out your freedom in just three hours. So go to my website, https://www.16thavecreative.com/9-5-exit-plan and download your copy, and it will help you. So let's ignite that fire within you and unleash the power that's been waiting to be set free.
23:38
It really is time for you to take steps towards building your business, and remember, age is your superpower. It is not something to be ashamed of, it is not something to hide, and it's time to use it. So until next time, stay empowered, and I would love to hear all about your plans to embrace your age and to build your dreams.
