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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCredit:\nICON of Youngstown<\/em>Bergen Giordani (R) & Morgen\nGiordani Reamer (L), One Hot Cookie<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boomers\nand Gen Xers are on the rise as entrepreneurs and the variety of businesses\npeople are starting in mid-life is amazingly diverse. How do I know? I\ninterviewed 20 of them for my new book, Never Too Old to Get Rich: The\nEntrepreneur\u2019s Guide to Starting a Business Mid-Life<\/em><\/a>. (Full\ndisclosure: Next Avenue is the co-publisher, with Wiley, because I\u2019m a regular\nblogger on entrepreneurship for the site.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something else I learned about these startup founders: their five secrets of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read on <\/strong>FORBES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of these risk takers started their businesses from a passion<\/a> or\nhobby. Others paired up with someone younger<\/a>. A few started\nventures as social entrepreneurs. They range from a gin distiller to a movie\nmaker to an interior designer and packaging manufacturer. If you\u2019re thinking\nabout starting a business after 50 or already have, you\u2019ll want to hear what\nsome of these entrepreneurs did and what they recommend for succeeding.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One more thing about the women and\nmen I talked with for Never Too Old to Get Rich,<\/em> their paths\nto riches \u2014 financial and internal \u2014 were lined with challenges. But these\ngo-getters didn\u2019t let naysayers get in their way. Now, onto their five secrets\nof success:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Sales Skills Are\nNon-Negotiable<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I asked the entrepreneurs about\ntheir biggest challenges in starting a venture, their blunt response was\nfrequently the same: sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not a natural salesperson,\u201d\nsays Paul Tasner, 73, who five years ago founded Pulpworks<\/a>,\na San Francisco-based firm that designs and manufactures sustainable packaging\nfor the consumer products industry. \u201cBeing successful at sales is very\ndifficult. I have a whole new admiration for good salespeople. It\u2019s an art \u2014\nand a science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>Credit: Courtesy of Faye Sevel Photography<\/p>\n\n\n\n Linda LaMagna of 341 Interior Design<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sales skills were often either\noverlooked or considered a lower priority as the entrepreneurs hatched their\nplans. Yet, nearly everyone I talked to quickly realized that the ability to\nsell their product, service or just their idea was crucial. Selling, they said,\ncan help you raise capital and convince those close to you that you\u2019re not\nheaded off a cliff with a pure leap of faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, the entrepreneurs had a\nsales background, which proved a huge help. Take Linda LaMagna, 54, of Fort\nMill, S.C, the owner of 341 Interior Design<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more than 25 years, LaMagna\u2019s\ncareer had been a whirlwind trajectory, including living in Germany and\nthe Netherlands and working in marketing and strategic planning for Spiracur, a\nmedical device startup, and for the medical device company, ConvaTec, Says\nLaMagna: \u201cIt really was my passion to be in the corporate world working on the\nsales and marketing side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what does a background in sales\nand marketing in the medical device industry have to do with a starting an\ninterior design business? \u201cI was a marketer and had to understand what the\ncustomer was thinking and what their needs were,\u201d says LaMagna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Insider Industry\nKnowledge Provides an Edge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s tempting to view the launch of\na new business as a time to take your career in an entirely new direction. But\nthat\u2019s often not the wisest strategy. The best way to leverage decades of\nexperience and many business contacts, entrepreneurs I interviewed said, is to\ncontinue to do work related to what you\u2019ve been doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>Credit: Courtesy of Sali Dimond<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mike Kravinsky of Nextnik Films<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tasner said the network he\u2019d\ndeveloped in a career handling supply chains at corporations like Clorox and\nCalifornia Closets was a big benefit. \u201cWe don\u2019t always have the perfect person\nto sit down with,\u201d he says, \u201cbut we always have someone I know who can at least\nopen the door to us and point us in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I heard a similar story from Michele\nMeloy Burchfield. Before she started her beverage company Blume Honey\nWater<\/a> in her 50s, she was a director of national accounts for\nthe Boston Beer Company and ran the MBM Group consulting firm, catering to\nclients such as Fiji Water and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another example: Mike Kravinsky, now\n65. When he went to work as a video editor at ABC News in 1981, he figured he\u2019d\nspend a year there and then head to Los Angeles to become a filmmaker. It\ndidn\u2019t quite work out that way. Over 29 years, Kravinsky worked as an editor\nand technical director for news broadcasts like World News Tonight<\/em> and Good\nMorning America<\/em>, and news magazine shows like 20\/20<\/em> and Primetime\nLive<\/em>. After retiring in 2010, Kravinsky followed his dream to be a\nfilmmaker, but in his hometown of Arlington, Va. And he credits his previous\nwork as critical to his success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kravinsky has now completed three\nfeature films<\/a> with his independent film company,\nNextnik Films, and is writing his fourth. \u201cWorking in TV prepared me to be very\nexacting in my preparation of a production,\u201d Kravinsky says. \u201cMuch of what I\nlearned creatively, technically and running on deadlines on shows was movable\nto narrative films.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. You Must Love the\nNitty-Gritty of Operating a Business<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>Credit: Courtesy of Michael Morgan<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ginny Corbett of Sal\u00fad Juicery<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Ginny Corbett, 56, founder\nof Sal\u00fad Juicery<\/a>, in Sewickley, Pa, loves her\njuices and quaffs them regularly, the art of preparing a perfect juice or\nsmoothie isn\u2019t what drives her. \u201cI enjoy talking to the customers, but the\ntruth is I\u2019m in my business office every day,\u201d she says. \u201cIf I\u2019m at the store\ntoo much, I\u2019m not doing my job \u2014 making sure we have the product and dealing\nwith food costs and payroll. It\u2019s not just the product you need to love. You\nhave to love running a business to have <\/em>a business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Corbett, the business has also\nhad a family affair<\/a> flair, with all three of her\nchildren (ages 29, 25 and 19) habitually sampling juices, working the sales\ncounter or helping design marketing materials, including coaching her on how to\nbuild an Instagram following to communicate with customers and post free\nbeverage offers. She now has over 9,300 followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. A Career Coach Can\nSmooth the Move to Entrepreneurship<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was fortunate to have a career\ncoach<\/a> to work with as I was making the transition,\u201d LaMagna\nsays. \u201cMuch of the work we did was understanding: \u2018What am I carrying with me\nthrough my experiences that is beneficial and supportive of this new set of\nskills that I want to do? How do I actually make that transition to change\ncorporate speak to design speak? How do I introduce myself differently now that\nI\u2019m not in the corporate world?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, LaMagna adds, \u201cOften someone\u2019s\nidentity is tied to what they have done for so long, so to start something new\nhas all those challenges with the new career, new role, new skill set \u2014 but it\nis also shifting your identity. How do you position yourself the first time you\nwalk through the door into a cocktail party and someone asks, \u2018What do you\ndo?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Consider Starting\nYour Venture as a Side Gig<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2013, Bergen Giordani and her\ndaughter, Morgen Giordani Reamer, launched their dessert shop, One Hot Cookie<\/a>,\nin their hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. The two eased into the business by\ninitially sharing cookies they made with friends and family to get feedback.\nGiordani also took an executive-MBA-type program offered by the Small Business\nAdministration \u2013 the SBA Emerging Leaders Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe idea for the business came from\nour desire to do something together,\u201d says Giordani, president of the company\nand a single mom. \u201cWe both love hot, gooey desserts and sweets, and since\nMorgen [now vice president of the operation] was a child, we would go out and\nget a dessert somewhere and have that special time together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, it was an opportunity for\nBergen to find work she loved and a chance to combine that with baking cookies\nalongside her then-teenage daughter, an activity they\u2019d relished doing together\nsince Morgen was tiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While waiting to see if the side gig<\/a> would gain traction and become profitable,\nBergen worked as development director at the Rich Center for Autism, on the\ncampus of Youngstown State University. And initially she worked part time as a\nbartender, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI wanted to make sure Morgen \u2014 who\nwas sixteen when we started \u2014 and I were provided for. And I attribute a lot of\nour ability to grow to that work ethic of working really hard on our business\nwhile I was still working outside of the business,\u201d Giordani says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One final reflection from me: The\nfreedom to determine their own future was the seductive siren song for most of\nthese small business owners, and not a dangerous one. \u201cI now have the freedom\nto take on projects and execute them in my own vision,\u201d Kravinsky says. \u201cEach\nfilm that I do is like starting a new business. It is a new crew, new actors,\nnew locations. That\u2019s liberating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amy Bass, owner of Nota Bene<\/a>,\na fine paper boutique in Pittsburgh, agreed. For her, \u201cIt meant the ability to\nown and create something of my own and then being directly rewarded for my hard\nwork.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Kerry Hannon,<\/a><\/em>Entrepreneurship and Personal Finance Expert<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kerry Hannon is the author of the <\/em>book, Never Too Old to Get Rich: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting a Business Mid-Life<\/a>. She has covered personal finance, retirement and careers for The New York Times, Forbes, Money, U.S. News & World Report and USA Today, among other publications. She is the author of a dozen books including Money Confidence: Really Smart Financial Moves for Newly Single Women<\/a>, Great Jobs for Everyone 50+: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy…and Pays the Bills<\/a>, Getting the Job You Want After 50<\/a>, Love Your Job: The New Rules for Career Happiness <\/a>and What’s Next? Finding Your Passion and Your Dream Job in Your Forties, Fifties and Beyond<\/a>. Her website is kerryhannon.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter @kerryhannon<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Next Avenue Editors\nAlso Recommend:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/LaMagna.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1\")
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