Senior Startup-‘What not to tell your financial planner…’

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Entrepreneurship; is it in your DNA?

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● Is your financial advisor the only one making money... with your money?

● Is this one of your Bucket list items?

● What are your reasons?○ One of mine was I do not work

well for others.● Having problems pulling the

trigger? ○ Time is not on your side.

● Still working but burned out, stress related health problems?

● Retired, but golf and crossword puzzles aren’t working?

What is your passion?

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● Do you have a passion that could be monetized?○ My father was a pilot, he often

told me he was lucky because he loved flying and was paid to do it.

● What work experiences have you had that were exciting?

● What businesses have you worked in, or with, that you know you could improve?

● What did you really want to do but a boss said you weren’t qualified or took the credit for your ideas? That kind of suppressed anger can fuel a passionate drive to succeed.

Entrepreneur 'bug'Find your reason; think back on something you find motivates you, find anything, but not just money

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● The bug can be:○ Created because someone told you

■ “you can’t do it” or ■ you won’t be successful

○ Learned by observing successful people who have started their own business

○ Nurtured by being involved with other business owners, ask somebody to lunch you know is successful.

Is the ‘bug’ in your daily thoughts, driving, watching a movie or on the tee box…

The ’bug’ makes you look at your finances and get excited as opposed to afraid to spend. Fear is the biggest ally of financial advisors!

● The Bug ○ Keeps you awake in the

middle of the night○ Has you look at businesses

with a critical eye, thinking of changes you would do to improve them

○ Knowing you can do better than the other guy..

Have your years educated you to be successful?

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● What experiences do you have that prepared you to be an owner?

○ Pressure to perform?○ Thinking outside of the box, always

coming up with creative solutions?○ Have worked on a better product or

service nobody else has?○ Do you have a good business

education: ■ sales training, ■ management training, ■ friends or family that you have

watched for many years

● The best form of education is the ‘senior’ part of this entrepreneurial journey. You have many experiences that prepared you for this and hopefully the wisdom to apply them.

● Go forth!

Beware of ‘The sales prevention team’

Almost everybody I know that has started a successful company has the same description of their business and the time when they felt it had a life, a pulse of its own. If this is not understood by those around you it may derail you.

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This can also be called the success prevention team. I had a boss that once said to me I would be nothing until I got my masters degree. That has since turned into my biggest motivator.

● ‘Most Businesses fail’ while true, why? Look at the statistics and learn. How many ideas were:

○ Under financed- no money to even weather a startup no matter slow times

○ Bad locations- “no right turns allowed” on a street sign where you have to turn right to get into a business

○ Bad ideas- Ice cream shop in Alaska?

Also, do not forget family on this topic. If your spouse is not totally behind the idea or is risk averse, then you better reevaluate your plans. It can and will be a rough road, times without paychecks and many long hours with your new love. There will be jealousies of your time away, and passion unshared. Remember you will love your creation, others will not. When they tell you your baby is ugly you better be ready.

“Patience my ass, I am going to kill something”a poster on my dorm wall circa 1970

Patience:● Take heed, do not jump fast. Wait at least

3 months after the idea to act on it. That way you can recover from any disillusionary 'high' associated with an epiphany moment of a great idea.

● The best advice I ever received in business is take time to decide, to relax, to plan. Don’t rush, but watch and learn. It was great advice.

Planing:● Write a 5 year business plan. There are

100’s of templates out there. It will organize your thoughts

● Do a Pro-Forma No excuses● Be flexible, always follow your plan.

Know there will be changes; then update the plan and follow it.

● Have an exit plan.7

Embrace technology; no excuses!

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The start of the recession in 2007 was like a another reset button in the business world. Everything changed; costs, margins, and the way to do business. As a senior you must embrace and learn what you can do with email and Google adwords, Facebook etc. We all hear about the current success stories, somebody with a great new idea; Uber, TripAdvisor, whatever, are fantastic but totally dependant on these tools.

Remember radio then TV? Companies shot into our lives after came the internet and now Google and Facebook learned how to monetize them. It is not free anymore. SEO tools and ways to ‘game’ the system are everywhere, many are already outdated. Get ready to spend money on these. Remember your financial advisor? Find a social network advisor that ‘is’ not ‘has’ done ‘it’.

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When to take action? Where are you? Ready to move? There are now fabulous ways to try out your new business. We used Kickstarter to test launch a product idea. With tools like Facebook, Google+ and websites with stores you can get paid before shipping an item. I am doing things I have never done before like selling on Facebook, blogging, maybe I will even tweet!

Why not now? Do you want to enjoy something more fulfilling? Are you tired of golf? I have seen too many friends that tried to golf 5 days a week and that didn’t fill the void. Now in my mid-60’s you can call me a 'senior' entrepreneur and that ain't all bad. Remember Colonel Sanders? He was 68 starting a chicken store.

Patience- passion- focus- cause

Is the sun setting on your dream? Are you the guy that is always waiting for the next big thing, when you have a lifetime of training?

Before the sun sets....

Who are we?Really we are seniors.

Phil is a baby boomer and started Laser Magic in 1991. Laser Magic is an American manufacturing company that has over 500 licenses for colleges and universities around the United States and the unique position being one of only a couple companies in the US that manufactures plastic mirrors. His wife Diane retired in 2007 after 31 years as a flight attendant. Married to Diane they now work together. Together they have started PillSuite as a business they can build together; www.PillSuite.com a product to help people.

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We planned our new business on a cruise in the mediterranean, courtesy of owning our own business.