Age & Entrepreneurship, Female Entrepreneurship Advice, And 2019 Business Trends To Follow
You’re Not Too Old to Be an Entrepreneur
The media is packed with stories of young entrepreneurs who’ve made it big, but that narrative is a bit misleading. According to researchers from MIT and Northwestern University, the average age of an entrepreneur who started a business between 2007-2014 was 42. And the entrepreneurs with the highest-growth businesses were even older — 45 on average.
If you’ve been dreaming of launching a startup, you’re not over the entrepreneurial hill just yet. Capitalize on these three advantages of older founders to get your business idea off the ground:
Better access to capital
Tasks like obtaining licenses or a tax ID and applying for loans are easier for older entrepreneurs, according to the Kauffman Foundation’s 2018 State of Entrepreneurship Address.
Bigger network of professional contacts
Networking has likely played an important role in your success thus far. Keep networking to connect with younger mentors and mentees who can help inspire you to keep an innovative mindset.
Wealth of experience
Be proud of what you know and humble about what you don’t. Your ongoing personal growth is what will ultimately determine your long-term business success.
There are plenty of smart reasons to keep your a day job rather than launching a new business: lack of funding, low tolerance for risk, or no viable market for your idea (among others). But age is one factor that should never deter an entrepreneurial spirit.
Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/325194
5 Hugely Successful Female Entrepreneurs Share the Same Advice to Find Success This New-Year
These five women run hugely successful businesses in a variety of niches, from healthy living to money mindset to motherhood. They’re heart-centered entrepreneurs, meaning they’re all committed to making a difference in the world (as well as achieving success in business).
They also share a common message when it comes to finding success in the coming year. All five women believe in prioritizing a year-end ‘review’ or evaluation phase before jumping into plans or resolutions for the year ahead.
1. Kris Carr — NYT best-selling author, wellness activist, cancer thriver
Kris advocates ‘honoring your year’ before charging ahead with ‘intention-setting.’ She cautions that often we want to skip right to planning without fully appreciating what has been and celebrating past successes.
2. Marie Forleo — Entrepreneur, writer, philanthropist, creator of award-winning show MarieTV and world-class online training programs for online business entrepreneurs
Marie advocates reflection. She quotes Margaret Wheatley (a leadership expert) in her year-in-review advice: “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”
3. Kate Northrup — Entrepreneur, best-selling author, mother, teacher of sustainable success to achievement-oriented women
Kate believes there are real psychological benefits to looking back and reviewing previous years. She devotes a full day or two each year to reviewing the past before setting intentions for the upcoming year.
4. Denise Duffield Thomas — Money Mindset Mentor, award-winning speaker, author, entrepreneur
Denise recently shared a year-end review blog post that highlighted what worked for her, what didn’t, and what needs tweaking for next time around. A great example of the year-end review process in action.
5. Danielle La Porte — Entrepreneur, author, Forbes “Top 100 Websites for Women” and HuffPost “12 of the Wisest Twitter Accounts Worth Following”
Danielle believes that you must create ‘goals with a soul’ and start with how you want to feel in order to live a life (and grow a business) that truly makes you happy. Her year in review questions are similar to the others’: What worked, what didn’t, and what are some highlights?
This year, creating space for review may make all the difference to your future success.
Resolution-Worthy Trends for Your Business
The last days of December are upon us. It’s time for small business owners to take stock of their wins and losses in 2018 and create impactful resolutions for the year ahead.
If you’re ready to make some powerful changes for your business in 2019, keep the following trends in mind:
Consumers will demand more control over their data
In the coming year, avoid purchasing data or otherwise acquiring it without consumers’ consent. Regulatory pressure is increasing, and studies show that 71% of purchased data is inaccurate.
Instead, data firm Jebbit recommends leveraging seasonal promotions like holiday gift guides, themed polls, and holiday quizzes.
Alternative lending will continue to grow
2018 saw a boom in nontraditional lending. Not only do non-bank lenders have triple the acceptance rate (banks reject around 80% of small business loan applications), they also simplify the entire lending process.
Everything that can be personalized will be personalized
Personalization is exploding, with studies showing that a supermajority of customers now prefer to work with brands that offer personalized experiences.
The most popular varieties are coupons based on customer location, communications on the customer’s preferred channel, and recommendations based on past purchases or service history.
Subscription services will continue to skyrocket
The subscription service industry continues to grow by an impressive 1% per month. Food, beauty, apparel, and lifestyle subscription boxes remain the most popular (in that order).
Companies with revenue-related resolutions should capitalize on this trend, as subscribers place three times more orders than customers of non-subscription companies.
Socially irresponsible firms will struggle
Expect social responsibility to continue gaining popularity in 2019 and into the future. There are countless ways to participate in the movement, from choosing socially responsible suppliers to encouraging employee volunteerism.