Boomers Make A Difference

March 30, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I want you to think about something. I believe that when people think way more gets done than when we just react to circumstances.

What do I want you to think about? I want you to think about how being a baby boom entrepreneur can help you and me make a difference in the world in which we live. Andrew Carnegie is quoted to have said you should spend the first half of your life making money and the second half giving it away. While many of us may not have been as successful as Carnegie in the first half of our lives, we can work in the second half as Carnegie did.

We live in an electronic age in which we can own and operate our businesses anywhere we have a network connection. We can leave the “daily grind” and pursue a second career that frees us to look at our passions and make a difference in our world.

I think that we boomers have deep desires to do important things. We have a history of just such desires. No matter which side of the political, social, or religious spectrum we have chosen to stand on, we boomers all feel deeply and have a burning desire to make a difference. In the second half of our lives we should choose to find ways to live out our deepest desires and passions.

So, as you consider your “retirement years” don’t forget to think about how you will spend those years. As entrepreneurs look for options that provides time and means to live your passions. Work as your needs require and give as your abundance provides and let’s live the second half of our lives with our passions and the needs of others involved.

Talk more later ….

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Two Week Test Is Over

March 27, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I wanted to understand something that I have read in nearly every book on blogging ever written. I wanted to see what change would occur in my traffic if I changed the number of times I posted over a week. Two weeks ago I had a new post every day (maybe 2) and this week I didn’t post at all.

WOW!! What a difference a few days make! In the week or so that I posted regularly, my unique visits and site hits were at all time highs, while this past week it was if I didn’t exist. A few folks checked back, but the majority of those who read my daily posts didn’t make it back on their own to see if there was anything new.

So, my baby boomer friends, from this experiment I have concluded that two things are necessary to be effective in blogging:

  1. Be consistent! Don’t let very many days go by between posts. There is so much out there that if you are not “in the mix” you will be forgotten.
  2. Provide value! If you write just to get a post out, people will quickly move on to something of value and forget you all together. While I like what I wrote, I didn’t find many coming back on their own to see what else I might have written.

I am now working on a schedule and hope that what I write becomes valuable to many boomer entrepreneurs. My experiment was a great training tool. Learn from it and you will have consistent growth, fail to and you will become one of those blogs that is seldom read.

More good stuff this week!

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Boomer Entrepreneurs Embrace Technology

March 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I am sitting at my favorite coffee shop this morning thinking about the week ahead of me. As I have been watching people this morning, I have noticed the number of baby boomers who have pulled out their laptops and smart phones to talk, check emails, text, and even go online. I can remember not so long ago when people in my age group were still waiting for the demise of technology and the return to yellow pads and pencils!

It is good to see that we are catching up with the younger generations of adults, because, like it or not this is the way business is going to be done from now on.

I remember being told that if a client called you that if you returned that call within 24 hours, you were on top of things. Now days if you do not answer back within an hour (two at the most) they might be doing business with someone else. Business today runs, as Bill Gates said, “at the speed of thought.” If we boomers are going to be successful in the development of our second careers, we have to keep up.

So, what are the three most important steps a baby boom entrepreneur can take to keep pace with the every changing world of technology?

1. Get informed. It is not enough to understand how to get online, you must take the time necessary to learn how to use the web, smart phones, texting, tweeting, blogs, etc. to the benefit of your customers and your business. Most people shy away from these because they don’t understand them. Once you get informed and allow your creative mind to embrace technology, you will be able to stand out among your competition.

2. Get involved. Once you learn what the options are in the technological world of modern business, get involved! Find one or two new ways to connect with your customers and become proficient at them. As you get better at providing information and service through those outlets, consider adding a couple more. Before long you will be readily available to your customers when they need you and if you are taking time off, you will have the technology in place that will be able to care for your customers while you are away.

3. Educate your team/customers. Just as you have been resistant to the “new” technology, your team and customers may be resistant as well. You need to patiently educate them so that they become aware of the benefits of the options that technology offers them as well.

I think that there is no better illustration than the day I got a text from my 76 year old mother. She had resisted the use of a cell phone for years. She kept her phone off most of the time and only used it for “emergency” calls. Then, all of a sudden, I get this text that says, “Hello David, this is your mother, I’m texting!” Since then I get pictures and texts from her whenever she needs for me to know something right away. Now, if my Mom can see the benefit of this new technology, surely a young vibrant baby boom entrepreneur can see it as well.

Talk more later ….

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Baby Boom Weekend

March 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Even baby boom entrepreneurs need some time off. I have decided that I was going to give myself a day to just relax, do some reading and put myself in the right frame of mind for a great week, which for me starts tomorrow.

I hope that everyone has enjoyed the series of articles that I just finished and will take time to implement them into the development of their second careers. I am looking forward to hearing great things from you all over the next few months as we spark our generation to new heights!

If you want to interact on a more personal level, I have started a fan page on Facebook. It is called Baby Boom Entrepreneurs (stunning, I know!). Stop by when you get  a chance and become a fan. Much can be accomplished when people get together to share ideas and do some good old fashioned brainstorming!

Have a great weekend and a powerful start to a new week!

Talk more later ….

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Success Traits of Baby Boom Entrepreneurs – Conclusion

March 11, 2010 by 2 Comments

Well, here we are. We have looked at seven success traits that when properly cultivated and put to practice can make baby boom entrepreneurs build strong, lasting, and valuable second careers. Today I want to issue a warning and a challenge.

First the warning: Just because the life and business experience of the baby boom entrepreneur provides them with special insight into these success traits, success is never guaranteed. Let me explain with a couple illustrations.

I have been told that on nearly any day, on dozens of basketball courts in the New York City area, that you can find players who have the same raw talent and abilities that can be seen on the courts of the NBA. What makes the difference between the two is not talent or ability it is the willingness to make application of this talent and ability in a way that will provide success in the NBA.

I have had the privilege of playing golf men who played on the PGA Tour or were attempting to do so. When I asked them about why the didn’t “make it” the story was always the same. They didn’t have the “head” for the game. What they meant was that they had all the necessary success skills, but couldn’t make them work under the pressure of a tournament.

You see, having a skill set (or the success traits) necessary to win big in a chosen field does not in and of themselves guarantee anything. The ingredient that brings all these traits together into a synergistic force for success is your willingness to cultivate and expand them, to develop a “head” for the game. Without continuous growth and expansion of your success traits and an understanding as to how to use them in the best ways possible, you will be found on the “local courts” playing for pennies instead of staring in the big game.

Now for the challenge: If you feel the need, the burning desire to stay active in the second half of your life, then don’t let anyone stop you! You will find all kinds of people who will tell you why you can’t, shouldn’t, or won’t be able to follow your dream of a second career. They will tell you that in this current climate you are making a mistake and that if you use the time and resources necessary to “do this thing” and fail, you will become a burden to others.

In all this noise, you need only ask yourself two questions: 1) Do I have the skills necessary to build a successful second career? 2) Am I willing to pay the price to learn, grow, and work to be a success?

If the answer to these questions is yes, you can use your baby boom success traits and accomplish great success in your second career.

Talk more later ….

(Thanks again to Amy Grossman and her list of success traits. I also want to thank her for the tweets and messages of encouragement as these articles have been published.)

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Success Traits of Baby Boom Entrepreneurs – Part 8

March 10, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Well, we are about to talk about the seventh success trait in this series of articles. My last article in this series will summarize this series and draw several conclusions about the potential success of baby boom entrepreneurs is starting a second career. I would like to thank Amy Grossman again for her article that is the basis for this series. Her work with baby boom women is outstanding! Thanks Amy!

Today we are going to look at the final success trait in this series. The one thing that most boomers have more than anything else is/are connections. Because of all of our years in life and business, we have made lots and lots of connections. Let me give you an example: I have a LinkedIn profile that currently has less than 100 connections. This small business group can provide me invitations to 122,463 people. If you carry my connections down three levels I have access through this small profile to over 3,482,800 people.

Think about it: All the people you know or have known in the days of your first career. Add to those connections all the people they know and then all of the people they know and you have a data base of people that you would never be able to service effectively or in any meaningful way. More potential customers than you could possible help, what a concept!

What it takes to bring these huge numbers into perspective is your ability to connect with them. To really get your unique message into their lives. You need to be able to provide them with the solutions to their problems and do so in a way that doesn’t seem to be “just another sale.”

Your skills and relaxed approach in this area will make you stand out in the crowd. Connecting effectively will make you a sought after business leader and someone who can use your second career to meet personal life goals rather than just a way to make money. Your ability to connect will truly make a difference here.

So … on top of all the success traits we have already discussed, baby boom entrepreneurs need to pay particularly close attention to their connections and let them provide an endless source of referral business and the greatest level of business and life success.

Talk again soon …

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Success Traits of Baby Boom Entrepreneurs – Part 7

March 9, 2010 by Leave a Comment

So far we have seen in this series of articles dealing with the success traits of baby boom entrepreneurs that those of us born to this generation have a lot going for us in the creating of a second career.

  • We understand autonomy and are resilient.
  • We are innovative and confident.
  • We are intuitive in our ability to make right choices.

Today I want to look at success trait number 6, as Amy Grossman has laid things out. The sixth success trait is the ability to be decisive. To be considered decisive you must be able to make a decision and then be able to stick to/follow through on that decision.

What makes baby boom entrepreneurs a decisive lot? Well, I think that we are decisive for a couple reasons. First, because most of us who are starting second careers, have lived through and succeeded at our first. You see, being successful in a career requires that we make lots and lots of decisions. Some succeed and some don’t. But, in making them we learn how to be decisive. The most important part for “second career” success is that we made the decision and learned how to stick to and follow through with the decision we made.

The second reason that baby boom entrepreneurs are decisive is that we realize that we are living in the second half of our lives and to be honest we don’t have the time to mess around too much! I personally love the idea of working in my own business throughout my productive years. That being said, I don’t want to waste any of those years just playing games. I had to decide what direction my business would take and now I am focusing my attention on all the necessary considerations to make it successful. I think that most boomers who are entrepreneurial in nature think the same way of this “second career.”

So, because we have successfully navigated our first career and because there are (like it or not) some time constraints on the successful development of our second career, we must be a decisive group. We must make right decisions, based in right thinking, and then follow through with those decisions in ways that make us successful.

Talk more later …

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Success Traits of Baby Boom Entrepreneurs – Part 6

March 8, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Wow! This  has sure been a fun series of articles to write. I am pretty fired up about being a baby boom entrepreneur and the possibilities of my second career. Thanks again go to Amy Grossman for starting my mind out of this direction of thinking!

Today we are going to look at the fifth trait in our list of seven. Baby boom entrepreneurs have the trait of intuitive behavior. To be intuitive, according to Merriam-Webster, is the power or faculty of attaining to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference. In other words, it means to “understand” the right or wrong of a situation without spending lots of time spent investigating.

Being intuitive means to “just know” the right thing.

What makes the boomer more intuitive? In a word, experience. We have been around the block a couple times, this is not our first rodeo, we have all been there, done that, and worn out the t-shirt. Having been around for a good amount of time now, helps us to see things through the window of experience and gives us the ability to make decisions intuitively.

This intuition allows us to make decisions more quickly in business and to become more innovate (see part 4 of this series) than our competition. It also allows us to build our team with greater success, while providing our clients and customers with service that is “beyond expectation.”

While intuitive behavior seems to come without much thought, it is a success trait that can be cultivated. All you have to do is to take some time to think and record your experience in the various situations you might find yourself having to make decisions. When were you in similar situations in your “first career?” When did you make the right decisions? What were the circumstances of those right decisions? What was the success level achieved?

As you replay these circumstances in your mind you build a sense of what the right choice would be in today’s marketplace. This “sense of understanding” is what will become a more intuitive way of doing business in your second career. The more you call on your past successes (as well as failures) the more you will be able to use the success trait of intuitive behavior.

Talk again soon ….

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Success Traits of Baby Boom Entrepreneurs – Part 5

March 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Today’s success trait is a very power one. Successful baby boom entrepreneurs must understand this trait and learn to use if effectively to secure their place in the market. This success trait is nothing more or less than personal confidence.

Personal confidence allows a business owner to entry the fray with assurance as to their ability to be successful. They understand the nature of their business and are convinced that they can overcome every obstacle. Confidence drives us to exceed the expectations of our own team and those of our clients/customers. While every business owner deals with the struggles inherent in business, those who have a sense of personal confidence know that none of their struggles will cause them to fail.

I need to caution us all in one area. Personal confidence can, left unchecked, lead to arrogance. The arrogant see themselves as people who cannot ever make a wrong decision and who are exclusively needed by their team, clients, and customer. Arrogance most often leads to destructive behavior and the eventual ruin of your business. Great care must be exercised with regard to personal confidence that keeps it from mutating into arrogance.

A healthy dose of personal confidence, on the other hand, will strengthen our relationship with our team, our clients, and our customers. They will develop a trust in us because of that confidence and we will be more often called upon to help meet their needs. As we act confidently on their behalf, a loyalty will grow toward us and our level of success will only be limited by our desires for growth and expansion.

The confidence of baby boom entrepreneurs comes from our time spent in the marketplace. We have learned from both our past successes as well as past failures. These lessons from the school of hard knocks have shown us that we can do much more than just survive. With these experiences we are less likely to be shaken by the current business climate and more willing to see things from all angles before making decisions.

I think that this point fits well as the center point of our current series. The reason is that personal confidence stabilizes us and gives us focus so that we can concentrate on strengthening all the other traits. With our confidence in the right place, nothing can stop us in the development of our “second career.”

So … Be confident, avoid arrogance, and watch success come to you!

Talk again soon ….

(By the way your comments, as always, are both requested and appreciated!)

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Success Traits of Baby Boom Entrepreneurs – Part 4

March 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Today we are going to look at the third success trait that are found among baby boom entrepreneurs. That trait is innovation.

Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, said that all business is about two things: Marketing and Innovation. That said, we boomers are arguably the most innovative generation in history. From muscle cars to mini-vans, from vacuum tube electronics to solid circuit, from bulky, slow desk-top computers to the new tablets and smart phones, the boomer generation’s fingerprints are all over modern innovation.

This ability to find new and dynamic ways of doing things makes us uniquely capable of being successful in any “second career” we choose. Not only will we be able to find points of difference that will separate us from the competition, but we will also be able to continue to innovate so that our businesses will never be seen as a “me too” kind of business.

Now let me make something clear, being innovative does not mean abandoning the basic truths of business success, but rather it takes those basic truths and wraps them in unique and innovative packaging that best fits your dreams/goals as well as serving your customers in ways that are best for them as well.

Boomers understand that innovation does not mean being “weird” but means finding was to make your product and services stand out in the mind of your partners and potential customers. These innovative differences will give you a top of mind position in your chosen field.

In order to make innovation work for you, you need to cultivate it. You need to look back at all the experiences that you have had in your life and business career and put them into play in the building of your new business. Take time to regularly look at your business as it relates to your desires, those of your clients, and the needs of your market. Look for ways to tweek things so that you continue to have top of mind presence in your field. Remember that without innovation you will eventually blend into the background and be just like everyone else.

Our generation has become experts at looking beyond the “normal” and find the unique and innovative. Your business will become more successful as you bring innovation to the basics truths of business success.

Talk more later ….

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