Everywhere you look these days, between unemployment, mortgage foreclosures and investment losses, people are getting beaten up. In so many cases, older workers have seen a lifetime of scrimping and saving blow up in their faces and RRSPs and 401Ks have plummeted in value. It's bad enough that it had to happen, but think about all the people on the cusp of their retirement, who suddenly won't have enough money to make the ends meet. Will they need to keep working till they drop dead? There has to be a better idea.
There are probably a few better ideas than working til you drop dead, but they don't seem to be presenting themselves right now. In fact, I can't recall anytime in my life when the prospects - overall- have looked quite so bleak for the fifty plus generation- a.k.a. Baby Boomers. But there is one option that I think is workable and ironically, it wouldn't have been here if this mess had happened ten years ago. But I think the internet presents an opportunity for those who are close to retirement to make the ends meet. I think the number of online home businesses are about to explode.
Before you go crazy thinking that a generation who - let's face it- worked most of their lives without computers let alone the internet - are about to leap into a foreign medium and become millionaires. That's not what I mean. Actually, when you consider it, it's not necessary. We're talking about people who have most of the big purchases behind them. They bought the house years ago, the kids have probably already moved out (or at least they promise to soon). They're not looking to make a fortune, just supplement a living and an online business can do that.
Consider this:
1. Many different business models will fit the internet from a niche retail site or maybe something with a bigger range of merchandise in a similar vein. You can sell information products that relate to business experience or hobbies or just something you feel passionately about. It can be one freestanding product or a series or you can form a membership site when people will pay to learn from you. You can sell unique objects or antiques or other collectables via eBay or Amazon.
2. The size of the internet will support you in two ways. It dissolves the need for any physical proximity. If no one in your part of the country shares the interest on which you want to build a business - it doesn't matter. Your customers can come from anywhere and the distance won't matter. And because you can draw a clientele from anywhere on the planet, chances are there are enough people to support just about any good idea.
3. There's a phrase used in business start ups called "barriers to entry" and a further advantage to the internet is that there are actually very few barriers to entry. You can start a business on a relative shoe string. You don't need staff or offices or even inventory for many retail sites. It isn't free by any means, you will have to spend some money and you'll expend a lot of effort learning new things- but it can be done if you have the heart to do it.
4. Software to create and manage websites is easier now than it has ever been. It's also very affordable, so the technology barriers that existed only a few years ago, have largely fallen down. There will be many new skills that the next generation of online business owners will need to master, but many will also find that it's not such a bad thing to stretch the old noggin again.
I'm not here to convince you to start an online business. I'm just expressing an opinion that it's a route that necessity is forcing a lot of people into and more than that- it is a viable route. Just watch and see what happens over the next year or so because the world is in something of a mess right now. The baby boomers are in danger of losing their retirement. But they're not done for yet. You have a ringside seat to view a Phoenix Phenomenon- watching the baby boom generation rescue their retirement from the ashes of Wall Street.
There are probably a few better ideas than working til you drop dead, but they don't seem to be presenting themselves right now. In fact, I can't recall anytime in my life when the prospects - overall- have looked quite so bleak for the fifty plus generation- a.k.a. Baby Boomers. But there is one option that I think is workable and ironically, it wouldn't have been here if this mess had happened ten years ago. But I think the internet presents an opportunity for those who are close to retirement to make the ends meet. I think the number of online home businesses are about to explode.
Before you go crazy thinking that a generation who - let's face it- worked most of their lives without computers let alone the internet - are about to leap into a foreign medium and become millionaires. That's not what I mean. Actually, when you consider it, it's not necessary. We're talking about people who have most of the big purchases behind them. They bought the house years ago, the kids have probably already moved out (or at least they promise to soon). They're not looking to make a fortune, just supplement a living and an online business can do that.
Consider this:
1. Many different business models will fit the internet from a niche retail site or maybe something with a bigger range of merchandise in a similar vein. You can sell information products that relate to business experience or hobbies or just something you feel passionately about. It can be one freestanding product or a series or you can form a membership site when people will pay to learn from you. You can sell unique objects or antiques or other collectables via eBay or Amazon.
2. The size of the internet will support you in two ways. It dissolves the need for any physical proximity. If no one in your part of the country shares the interest on which you want to build a business - it doesn't matter. Your customers can come from anywhere and the distance won't matter. And because you can draw a clientele from anywhere on the planet, chances are there are enough people to support just about any good idea.
3. There's a phrase used in business start ups called "barriers to entry" and a further advantage to the internet is that there are actually very few barriers to entry. You can start a business on a relative shoe string. You don't need staff or offices or even inventory for many retail sites. It isn't free by any means, you will have to spend some money and you'll expend a lot of effort learning new things- but it can be done if you have the heart to do it.
4. Software to create and manage websites is easier now than it has ever been. It's also very affordable, so the technology barriers that existed only a few years ago, have largely fallen down. There will be many new skills that the next generation of online business owners will need to master, but many will also find that it's not such a bad thing to stretch the old noggin again.
I'm not here to convince you to start an online business. I'm just expressing an opinion that it's a route that necessity is forcing a lot of people into and more than that- it is a viable route. Just watch and see what happens over the next year or so because the world is in something of a mess right now. The baby boomers are in danger of losing their retirement. But they're not done for yet. You have a ringside seat to view a Phoenix Phenomenon- watching the baby boom generation rescue their retirement from the ashes of Wall Street.
About the Author:
By Louise Collins, author of Start Up Mistakes. Reduce your business risk by learning from her mistakes.
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