Being an Entrepreneur Is Not Just for Young People

I have seen more successful companies started by people at 40 than those started at 20.

Perhaps there are a set of statistics that say otherwise.

I’m sure there is a report that suggests you will improve your chances by dropping out from school after a few years so you have a better head start.

In some of those cases they’d be right.

If an idea and a commitment to its execution exist – you should implement a drastic change in your life to make it happen.

But entrepreneurship isn’t only about leaving school early, and it definitely isn’t solely for young people.

Here are several advantages of being an entrepreneur well into your 40’s.

Advantages of Being an Entrepreneur In Your Old Age

1.) Experience

You already have the jump you need if you seek a new venture in a field you likely worked in for a number of years.

It’s possible because you learned from your own mistakes, and that of others.

You’ve also seen trends come and go.

Someone without that level of experience of wisdom is going to spend their time trying out a variety of paths to make it work.

But you’ve been there, you’ve been in the trenches, and you know the best route without even breaking a sweat.

2.) Team Building

When you are young, your network is small.

It hasn’t yet reached maturity; it is built around your friends, family, and internships.

But as you move between jobs, projects, and different ventures, you get to meet more people.

You grow your network; you see who you work well with.

These are the people who really know what they are doing and who can hack it when the chips are down.

They know how to grind out a win.

You know what’s necessary to build a great team.

Being an entrepreneur requires that you understand the kind of players you need to bring together in the early days, so no one is sitting around twiddling their thumbs.

3.) In Understanding Their Mistakes

I touched on this earlier, but experience brings understanding – and understanding brings clarity.

All of this comes from your mistakes.

When you are young, you haven’t made enough mistakes to really be aware of their repercussions.

But with experience, you have the ability to see the mistakes you made, the long-term impact they had, and understand what you would do differently to avoid them.

4.) Knowing Where To Start

An idea without execution will always remain a great idea.

An idea with poor execution will become regret.

With experience, industry knowledge, and an awareness of how to build a team, you know where to start, where to allocate funds, what to focus on, and what needs to be done first.

If this is your first time being an entrepreneur and this is all new to you, you would have been around long enough to know what you need to do to shape that plan and get things going.

If you know where to start, then you already have a strong idea of when and where you are going to finish.

Being an Entrepreneur at Any Age

Just as entrepreneurship does NOT have a minimum age to get started, it also doesn’t have a maximum age for you to try again.

I’ve worked for organizations with young and old folks, and the only difference between the two was their commitment.

If I had to pick, I skew slightly to the older demographic (and yes, I have turned 40 this year) because generally, they offer a steady hand with the experience and wisdom to mentor a young group of individuals through the trials they know are coming.

At the end of the day, people are not going to care whether you are a young entrepreneur or an old one.

What they are going to care about is that you trust them, have their best interests at heart, are committed to your vision, and are ready to work in the trenches to see your vision become a reality.

Like the saying goes – “Age is but a number”.

Greg Thomas

Greg Thomas has been doing Software Development for over 15+ years on a variety of small to large scale projects. He continues to lead teams and writes about his adventures in developing and leading teams at rambli.com.