Are You Over 40 and Overwhelmed About Entrepreneurship?

 

5 Part Blog Post Series

 

 

Now you’ve decided or are in the process of deciding to start a business and you’re past the 40 years of age mark. Life is different, kids, family, mortgage, etc. Maybe you’ve been an entrepreneurial dreamer or maybe you just caught the bug and can’t shake it.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed. Take for instance just now. I’m writing this blog post and my 9 year old son has decided to interrupt my 11 year old son’s favorite show. So, I had to get up and deal with that situation then try to resume my thought process.

Believe me, I know how difficult things can get and be. We (us over 40) now have experience, some wisdom, at least enough to know we don’t know everything. We’ve also experienced serious life events of ‘get knocked down, brush yourself off and get back up”. Now we are ready to make a leap into having a business of our own.

 

The “Now We Have Responsibilities Challenge”

The challenge is we now have responsibilities. It’s not like we are 25 and can just wing it. We have to plan. We have to consider the potential consequences. This makes our decisions much tougher and sometimes we’re paralyzed with indecision.

I’ve been there and can get back in that frame of mind quickly. Don’t think for a moment that successful entrepreneurs don’t get overwhelmed every now and then. It’s just part of it.

Know you are not alone and the great thing about becoming an entrepreneur now is all the support. Support from experts and other people in your same situation who knows exactly how it feels because they are feeling it too.

How Quitting My Job Was Hazardous To My Health!

Let me give you a little background about myself and maybe it will help us relate to one another.

It was not long ago I decided to quit my corporate job and start a business. No, I didn’t have a perfect plan. I definitely was not sure exactly if my plan was going to work.

I had dreams of working my day job then coming home at night and working like a dog on my side business. The only problem is I never did it that way. I would work some on my side business but definitely not like I should have.

Then I had some health issues. I was all set to quit my job and had every intention, when about two weeks prior, I ended up with a bleeding ulcer, and was put in intensive care, it was that bad.  What was the cause – Stress? Yes, that was part of it, a large part but not the only thing.

This little episode set me back about a year and got me to wondering if I was doing the right thing about wanting to quit.

Fast forward a year, I was ready again to quit and the actual week I was turning in my notice I had a heart issue.  What? Seriously, it was a shock. I’m a pretty healthy guy at least from an eating standpoint. I could use more exercise but my eating habits are pretty good. I’m a big plant based eating type.

Turns out it was an arrhythmia which is pretty common and my doc said I could do everything I was doing before.

But man, this was jarring. I mean, both times when I’m trying to get the heck out of this corporate torture chamber I have health issues. Is somebody trying to tell me something?

The difference this time is I realized if I was going to keel over, I was not going to do it in a cubicle. I knew being in that cube and sitting all day was contributing to my health issues and also my lack of financial prosperity. Not just “getting by” financially, I’m talking about full out PROSPERITY!

It was time to get up and leave. To say goodbye to a place which did not value my most important asset. My time. It’s funny because I always thought it was a great place to work but really I was fooling myself. It was great for a corporate job I suppose but not great for someone who has incredible dreams and visions of a different way to contribute to the world.

Am I being melodramatic? Probably, but aren’t most marketers. Don’t we all dramatize things in order to get our point across?

Either way, it felt dramatic.

The “security” of health insurance or a steady paycheck makes it difficult to leap. However, I could no longer stand to be the type of person who watches others.  It was a now or never type of feeling.

Entrepreneurship 101 – I got schooled!

Fortunately, I did have some precedence on my side. About 15 years earlier I had quit a corporate job (ironically with the same company) to venture into the world of self-employment.

It was rough in the beginning but finally I started a business with a partner and it was pretty awesome, until… The mortgage market crashed. Instead of trying to ride it out I panicked and went back to corporate America. What a waste.

I am grateful I was able to get a job then and get the feeling of security for me and my family but I was disappointed in myself.

Working for almost 8 years in a cube really dampens your drive. It hurts your ability to live life as it was meant to be.

I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know. Maybe this is just good therapy for me to get it out of my head.

The point of this is to let you know you’re not alone and provide a little insight as to how to keep from getting overwhelmed.

Over the next few blog posts I’m going to dedicate each one to the top 5 things that keep the Over 40 crowd from becoming Entrepreneurs and how to overcome them.

These will not solve all your problems and they won’t include absolutely everything there is about getting past the feeling of overwhelm.

These posts will give you actionable content and food for thought. Once you understand these things and realize it is not as hard as you have it built up in your mind, you might be ready to step out onto the ledge of entrepreneurship.

So, keep an eye out – the posts are coming. If you would like to be notified as the posts come out just click here – Over40 Blog Updates and I will email you to let you know they are posted. Otherwise just check back in a couple days for number 1 on the list which keeps us overwhelmed– SECURITY!

All the best to you and whatever you choose to do. Let me know if you have any questions by either commenting or going to the Ask Ben page.

Thanks!

Ben Blackmon