Entrepreneurship for over 40's - three tips from the last 5 years at Social Star

blog 2016
Written By Andrew Ford

Happy 5th year anniversary!! That was the tone of 70+ messages of support from my fellow entrepreneurs in my LinkedIn community when I awoke. (The LinkedIn app prompts work anniversaries, even when the person in question forgot this was a special day, kinda like Facebook for birthdays...)

On seeing those messages my first thought - where did the last 5 years go!! Then the slightly nervous self evaluation of 'have I achieved what I wanted' and the down right scary 'where am I going now??'

So what better way to celebrate the last 5 years than to write a blog to recap the adventure so far and what the future holds. If you are over 40 and have thought about starting your own business, these tips are for you!

Getting Started

For the last five years I have been working on building Social Star. We focus on helping people better Understand, Build and Leverage their online brands to get into the careers they have true passion for through out unique e-ttraction process. When I first started Social Star I was working full time at IBM, lecturing at Swinburne University and doing quite nicely, thanks very much. It was a part time business, loads of fun and made some beer money thrown in on top of my wage. Life was pretty good.

But then 18 months later the shite hit the fan - I managed to get myself fired from my last corporate job, get divorced and give my house away. So why not start Social Star full time and drop my income by 70% - YAY! I figured if you are going to suffer, might as well do it properly :) Five years on when I Iook back on those times, I realise all those challenges were 'on the way, not in the way' of chasing my dreams. Tough but worth it.

What did I learn from the last five year? Plenty. For my friends considering the same journey to your own passion business consider these three tips before you jump:

Fordy's 3 tips for over 40 entrepreneurship

Tip 1 - Don't quit your day job...yet.

I know what it's like. You have a billion dollar idea that will change the world and are so passionate about it that you want to do it all day! Not go to that boring day job with a boss like Bill Lumbergh from Office Space. Before you quite your day job remember this, mortgages are not paid with passion. It will likely take 3 years to make sustainable profits enough to pay you a reasonable wage. Most ideas fade. If the passion lasts a few years, you are onto the right idea.

I started heaps of businesses that I lost interest in or discarded after closer examination. Closest Beer, Tribe, MeeTooYoo, Coffee Club and more. Some of these are great ideas, but just not close enough to my passion for me to put all my heart into them.

Tip 2 - Sell something.

I strongly urge you to start your business part time. I'm not talking about planning or discussing your business. I mean actually doing it. Selling real products. It's not a real business until you have paying clients.

Save all that money until you have generated at least six months of your monthly expenses and have it in the bank. Then you could consider the transition out of your day job. If you can't make a product and sell it for a profit on a small scale, it's unlikely to work on a big scale. We generated $80,000 before I I managed to get fired. Unfortunately, we spent most of it on toys and parties, the rest of it we wasted.

Tip 3 - Start your endurance training.

It's tough to find the time to run your part time business with family, full time work and just life. But you will get use to the longer hours over time. It's endurance training preparing you for your own business where you will need to work 12 hour days. As Gary V says 'you work 8 hours a day. How cute, I remember my first part time job'. Find the time.

Finally, for all my friends who feel stuck in their jobs and can't get out due to financial commitments and time. Listen to me - THERE IS MORE TIME - be patient. Get over the hump, stay passionate, learn the skills you need and do it later!

Thanks for all the congratulations on the first 5 years of Social Star and I'm as passionate about helping people in their careers as all those years ago. In fact we are excited to be launching our new Social Star University platform in a matter of months! First part of the dream realised.

Keep passionate and stay tuned...

P.S. If you want to read the whole journey, you can read all about it in my book 'Creating a Powerful Brand'. Get a free copy here.

Andrew Ford
Marketing expert Andrew Ford, the founder of Social Star, has discovered the secret of ‘Powerful Branding’. With a fire for unleashing people’s inner brand and developing business models to generate profit from an individual’s passions, Andrew leverages ground-breaking digital and social media marketing techniques to create digital strategies for clients to attract maximum opportunities. Having established a strong name for himself in the field, Andrew blends traditional business techniques with now-necessary tools for entrepreneurs to achieve scale, quality, and influence in their niche. Andrew’s comprehensive business background and qualifications consist of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (RMIT 2003), a Graduate Certificate in Management (MBA Executive Program, University of Sydney 2005), and a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Swinburne University 2011). Continually on the cutting edge of his own education, Andrew has tested his marketing theories in forums such as the BCG Business Strategy Competition, which he won in 2005 against all Victorian MBA schools, and the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition (Swinburne University 2003), which he won in the Masters category. With experience working at Hewlett-Packard, Sensis (Telstra) and IBM, Andrew also has mentored dozens of junior staffs to help them achieve their professional goals. Meeting and influencing high-profile public figures helped Andrew to realise just how many professionals require more understanding and control of their public brands or appearance, and need help with the skills to use the many amazing free tools at their disposal to generate success. At Social Star, Andrew consults with clients to uncover their personal brand – both where it is today and where it can be tomorrow – and refine and define how that should be displayed in social media in order to attract their perfect target audience. Andrew mentors his clients to rapidly grow their business’ audiences, resulting in larger potential client bases and higher revenue. Applying formulas that integrate over twenty years of Andrew’s business experience and fifteen years of formal business education, Social Star specialises in building clarity and velocity for clients’ brands using the ‘Understand, Build and Leverage’ methodology. ‘Having a Personal Business enables people to have an authentic, congruent connection with their valued clients and partners, using their brand as the bridge,’ says Andrew. ‘I’m highly driven to work with the new breed of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people who have a passion for making the world a better place. Traditional business models are stepping aside as people follow their innermost dreams and my role is to see them operate within their values while creating wealth. Some people think you have to sacrifice what you love to be successful in your business, yet it is actually the opposite. Follow your passion and success will come.’ Lecturing at Swinburne University from 2009 to 2011 on brand dynamics and digital marketing, presenting at numerous conferences, and consulting to hundreds of clients, Andrew has seen his philosophy work that if you follow your unique path, based on your skills, experience, values and goals, you will automatically attract the opportunities you desire and achieve the success you deserve. Living his mantra, Andrew has created a successful business and attracts high-profile clients including musicians, athletes, authors, models, entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners, helping them find their ‘why’ in their business and fulfilment in their lives. Business for Andrew is more than work, it’s personal. Running a personal business means that he is able to fulfil all of his values rather than separating his life from work. It supports his two boys while providing social opportunities, educational development, fitness opportunities, spiritual fulfilment and many valuable friendships. Social Star has now become the vehicle for Andrew to crystallise his mission in the world, to help people love what they do, supporting his ‘why’, that if more people loved what they did, the world would be a better place.
http://www.andrewford.com.au/
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