Q: Hello Steve! I listened to one of your webinars sponsored by SCORE - Marketing on a Shoestring. I'm 57 and I quit my full time secure job a few months ago to start my own business. I was also inspired by a new AARP program called Life Reimagined. Many people our age are quitting their jobs to be happy and more free. Money isn't the goal anymore. I am an example of one of those people. Kindly, Elaine
A: What do you do when someone actually takes your advice?
You better hope it is good advice!
Marketing on a Shoestring is a seminar and webinar that I have given for many years. One piece of advice I give people in the seminar is to take time to do some PR as getting someone to do a story about your business is marketing gold. I then explain how to pitch the writer/editor/reporter/producer with a unique hook so as to make it a potentially newsworthy story.
Meet (apparently) my master student, Elaine Povinelli, proprietor of the website Dainty Wrist Jewelry, a site and business that is, all at once, quite useful, very clever, definitely unique, and equally helpful.
Povinelli’s story is both interesting and illustrative, a tale not unlike many people in mid-life: She started a business with her husband early on, later got divorced, got a job, didn’t like that, and was looking for a second act she could believe in. (Or maybe it’s a 3rd or 4th act, but at this stage, m-m-m-my generation really isn’t counting anymore.)
Enter Life Reimagined. There are now many Boomers who, like Elaine, are looking to, well, reimagine their life and find new ways to find fulfillment. Says AARP Executive Vice President Emilio Pardo, “People today are living longer and staying healthier than any generation before. The gift of extra years in adulthood means people have more time for personal growth.”
Life Reimagined begins with an online assessment tool that lets you set a baseline for where you are in your life journey to achieve your goals and dreams. Additional online activities walk you through six steps of making a change: Reflect, Connect, Explore, Choose, Repack, and Act.
And act Elaine did: Her inability to find bracelets for her own small wrists for a party she was to attend made Elaine realize that a business opportunity was before her; a chance to reimagine her life as the entrepreneur she wanted to be once again. That she was working at a bank full-time was no deterrent; she started the business part-time at home.
Povinelli had never been an Internet entrepreneur before but that too was no deterrent. Needing a website for her nascent business, she first looked to hire someone but found that avenue cost-prohibitive. “So I taught myself.” She also taught herself e-commerce, social media, online security and all the rest. She attended SCORE webinars. “I realized that there is a lot of help out there if you look.”
“I love what I am doing now,” she says, having quit her job and is now working at her enterprise full-time. “I love making my own hours, having time for my kids and grandkids. The challenge is limiting myself to 40 hours a week. But if some things don’t get done, that’s OK.”
Is reimagining your life later in a life a good idea? “You bet,” she says, adding, “If you have a passion and self-discipline, and an idea that gets you excited, go for it. Keep learning and growing and trying. It’s really great.”
Just imagine. Or reimagine.
Today’s tip: Among her other talents, Elaine Povinelli is quite adept at social media. Her secret? “I call it E-I-E-I-O: Engage, Interact, Entertain, and Inform Online.”
Steve Strauss, @Steve Strauss on Twitter, is a lawyer specializing in small business and entrepreneurship and has been writing for USATODAY.com for 20 years. E-mail: sstrauss@mrallbiz.com. Website: TheSelfEmployed.
