Are you too old to be a small business entrepreneur

Filed in archive Bootstrapping Trends on May 24, 2010

© lilli2de

Apparently not, according to a trend spotted by Scott Shane at Small Business Trends: "...the incorporated self-employment rate is 4 times higher among those aged 65 to 69 than among those aged 25 to 34-and a whopping 25 times higher than among those aged 20 to 24."

Shane puts much of this down to increasing levels of unemployment, and the difficulties in getting re-hired, among the older population. But there is also much to recommend the entrepreneurial route to older folks even if they haven't been numbered among the casualties of the Great Recession. Although the tendency when we think of entrepreneurs is to think of young folks with their hair on fire staying up half the night working on products and proposals, as Shane points out, older entrepreneurs tend to have businesses that perform better and survive longer than their younger counterparts. Considering other recent evidence suggesting that caution and a conservative approach to business startup and operation is a greater success factor than gung-ho spirit, this should not be surprising.

Startups can be a lot of work, but older workers have hopefully learned how to work smarter, not harder, and can do what is necessary without burning the midnight oil. The attractions of success are even better for older entrepreneurs with families and interests outside their business; a schedule you set yourself, no one to report to, and a modicum of control over the progression of your life are not things to sneeze at as you head into your twilight years.