Starting your first business at age 50 or older

Starting a business later in life isn't about starting from scratch – but starting from experience.

Yet many people over 50 find themselves held back because they have no idea where to begin.

In this practical Lunch and Learn, Mark Elliott, founder of Startup School for Seniors, shares insights from working with over 3,000 later-life entrepreneurs.

He lays out a clear, realistic approach to turning your experience into a viable business, and explain what actually helps people move from thinking about it to getting started.

This session is equally valuable for anyone who supports people aged 50 and over with going into entrepreneurship, including educators and programme leads.

Topics covered in this session

• How to build confidence and overcome the common fears that hold older founders back

• How to turn your life and work experience into a viable, realistic business idea

• A simple, step-by-step approach to starting a business

• What to focus on first (and what to ignore) in the early stages

• What Mark has learned from supporting more than 3,000 later-life founders – and how you can apply it

About the speaker

Mark helps solo business owners overcome all the challenges that come with trying to start a business. With more than 15 years of experience, he uses tools like the Lean Canvas, Customer Factory and RAISE goals to turn learning into action that sticks.

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Transcript

Lightly edited for clarity.

Ryan: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today's Lunch and Learn. My name is Ryan, and I will be your host today.

For those of you attending Lunch and Learn for the first time, Enterprise Nation is a vibrant community platform for start-ups and small businesses.

Today I'm really pleased to introduce Mark Elliott, who is the co-founder of Startup School for Seniors.

In this session, Mark will share a clear, realistic approach to turning your experience into a viable business.

As always, if you've got any questions, post them in the chat and we'll do our best to answer them at the end.

The webinar is recorded, so please do keep an eye out for an email later today, because the recording will be sent out with any further resources.

So over to my fellow striped T-shirt friend, Mark. I hand over to you.

Mark Elliott: Thanks, Ryan. Good to know you got the memo.

Welcome, everybody, to starting your first business at 50.

I don't know about you, but has everybody here actually started a business? Maybe you can let me know in the chat.

So who am I? Well, I'm older. I'm over 50. I've been working in start-up programmes for the last 25 years. I've had a couple of businesses myself, some of them quite large and some not very large or successful.

I'm a mentor here on the Help to Grow programme, and I have a couple of slots available for mentorship if anybody is on that programme and interested.

I'm also co-lead of Startup School for Seniors, and over the last five years we've worked with many thousands of people who have started their own business later in life.

What we've found is that there's no single type of founder over 50. Being over 50 doesn't reduce you to one kind of person or one kind of founder.

We all have different life experiences. We all have different risk profiles. We all have different motivations for what we want from our business and our career at this point in life. And we all have different starting points and levels of thinking when we come to starting a business.

So we are all very different people with very different business ideas and ways of working.

But something we have found is that people our age, over 50, are often dealing with a lot at once. There can be many pulls on our time, different priorities, caring responsibilities, financial expectations and health concerns.

So it's not that we are all the same. It's that the wider pressures we face in life can be surprisingly similar.

What have we learned?

Well, one of the big things we've learned is that if you're starting a business, you are not starting from zero.

You may look at younger founders or other programmes and think your business idea isn't strong enough, or that other people describe theirs better. But what we've found is that you don't necessarily need a better idea.

What you may need is to stop thinking, stop wondering, stop planning and start making steps to get in touch with the world of commerce.

Some of the things we've found that stop people from starting are that they may know too much. You may be an expert in your area, and actually the first steps to getting your first client may not involve all of your expertise.

You may spend too much time thinking about your niche instead of getting on and obtaining the client.

You may feel that you don't know everything, or that you don't know enough about social media or AI, and that can distract you from the opportunities already available to you.

We also often find that people who've had successful careers set themselves an impossible task of being perfect from day one in this new career. There are elements of what you do that do not need to be perfect before you start putting them into practice and making money from your skills and experience.

And, because of where we are in life, there may also be pressures around caring for parents, children, grandchildren, partners or ourselves. The need for flexibility is often a real constraint, and one that people can overthink rather than moving forward with the time and resources they do have.

So what we've found is that hesitation often comes from our past and from what we were used to when we were employed by someone else, or when someone else was selling our time and energy.

So what actually helps?

Many people focus on social media content. They think the answer is LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram or Substack. But actually, for first customers, conversations are often more important than content.

You need to understand your ideal clients before you start trying to sell to them. Find out about them. Find out about the type of people who have the issue you solve or the ambition you can help them realise.

Planning is another one. I hate business plans. I've written many of them. But planning can become the enemy of action.

Having a perfect plan will never be enough, because things change from one day to the next. So testing is much more important than planning.

Trying something, seeing what happens, and learning from that experience is often far more useful than writing a 20-page business plan with a five-year cash-flow forecast.

There is also a fashion at the moment for having the perfect brand, brand voice, website, Shopify setup, and overall look. But often people focus on all of that before they've actually clarified the offer, the product or the service itself.

Your first offer is probably going to be much simpler than you think. So simple offers are more important than perfect brands.

One of the other things we've learned is that community is really important.

Going it alone can be lonely and isolating. So finding a peer group you can work alongside, and socialise with in some way, really matters.

And when it comes down to it, what brings the most success is clarity, action and confidence.

Clarity about what you do. Action in the real world. And confidence that builds from doing the thing.

There's a quote often attributed to Einstein, though I'm not sure it was him: if you can't explain your business simply, then you don't understand it enough. That's a bold statement, but I do think there's some truth in it.

We've worked with many businesses where the buying pattern is quite complex, and in every case, if you can't explain your business simply, then you probably don't yet understand what matters most about it moving forward.

So clarity, simplicity, action and confidence are what we're looking for.

It's interesting that many of us were brought up to think of ourselves as having one career.

One of the things that's really important now is that people are living longer and staying active longer. That means there is often room in our lives for another career, a different focus, another form of meaningful work.

Even if starting a business wasn't originally your choice, it can still open up a really positive future.

I'm not just saying that because I'm over 60 and optimistic. I've seen it in practice, over and over again.

Starting again, even almost from scratch, can actually be an exciting opportunity once you decide to get into it.

I just want to draw out three examples from recent cohorts. Ruby had a business idea focused on educational materials for Black History Week and beyond. She had an Etsy store, but it wasn't selling anything.

By uncovering what her business model actually was and identifying the right audience for her materials, she was able to rethink her business. Even within a six-week period, she was having useful conversations with people who were buying multiple sets of her materials.

So she moved from an Etsy store that wasn't working to a B2B sales model that was generating proper income.

Then there was Bill. Bill came from a software background. He had been head of department and was made redundant. He was trying to sell everything he could do to anyone who might want it.

What helped Bill was finding clarity on who would buy which part of his skill set.

By defining who he helps and how, he was able to go into his existing network and sell services he enjoyed doing to people who already knew him. That gave him work and a wider network to continue building on.

And then there was Sarah. Sarah came to Startup School for Seniors before she had actually left work. She was going through a redundancy process and trying to decide whether to take voluntary redundancy.

She came with a vague idea and wanted to explore what life would be like if she left a job she hated.

Working through the programme, she found real clarity about what her next steps were. And even within the cohort itself, she found people who would have become customers if she'd been ready to take them on.

So she left with confidence, knowing that if the redundancy process worked out in that direction, she would not be stepping into nothing.

Those are three very different examples of people in different situations finding a way forward.

So what actually helps these people? That, really, is Startup School for Seniors.

I thought I should mention what we do. We are an online programme. Wherever you are around the country, we are online only.

We provide online learning, live support, action plans and worksheets, live one-to-ones with business advisers, and practical actions that you can take.

It's a short course. It lasts six weeks, with roughly two hours of study time a week, including the live lessons.

At the end of those six weeks, you should leave with a clear business idea, confidence, and an understanding of what structure you're likely to use moving forward.

About 70% of our learners identify customers who would buy from them when they start their business.

So if you'd like to come and join us at Startup School for Seniors, the QR code is on the screen.

One of the people I bumped into at networking had come through Startup School for Seniors and also gone through Help to Grow. He told me we were better than Help to Grow. I probably shouldn't say that, but the point is we're more focused on the individual.

We are focused on the reality of a one-person company, whether you're creative, running a green business, working from expertise, or trying something totally new.

We're more focused on what you, as a person, need in order to make it work.

So if you'd like to come and join us, you can find more details through the QR code or the website, and if you're unsure about anything, you can come and have a chat with me.

I'm going to take questions now.

Ryan: Amazing. Thank you, Mark. Really great session.

And just a nice comment from Jeffrey, saying: "I'm nearly 70 and have been involved in facilitating commercial and not-for-profit start-ups in urban and rural areas since 1985. I'm finding your presentation extremely refreshing and useful."

So that's lovely feedback.

A couple of questions, Mark. First one: can you suggest where to find any business grants for those over 50 starting a business?

Mark: Yes. It depends who you are and where you are. A lot of business grants are location-based, and often they are for specific things.

So the short answer is yes. Part of what we do is help people get clear on what money they need, where they might find funding, and what kinds of grants may apply to them.

There are different grants available for different types of businesses. We also look at things like how you fund living expenses while you're building a business.

And if you're looking at equity finance, that is another layer again.

I had a conversation the other day with someone looking at equity-based finance for software development, and I've also spoken at the World Finance Forum about how to obtain that kind of funding when you're over 50.

There are particular routes that may work better depending on whether you're a woman, your sector, and the kind of business you're building.

If you're looking for equity investment, then you may need quite a specific strategy to make that happen.

Ryan: Brilliant. Thank you, Mark. Another question from Deepak. He says:

"I find that a lot of people start full-time in business when they lose their jobs or are made redundant. I've been waiting to be made redundant because I don't have the information or guts to take the decision to go into business full time.

What do you think should be the criteria to move from full-time work to business when you're still in work?"

And he adds into that mix that he's a single parent with a disabled child and another child in school.

Mark: It's complex. There is no standard answer.

You have caring responsibilities. You've come from a salary-based income. And when that stops, it can feel like diving into the ocean and suddenly there is no bottom.

So my advice for people facing the possibility of redundancy is to start thinking now about what the business would be, to start clarifying the idea, and to start testing the mechanisms of finding clients.

That way, you begin to learn whether this path is going to be for you.

The added complication here is flexibility. When you have primary caring responsibility, that comes first. So designing a business that gives you the flexibility you need is critical.

There are certain types of business and certain ways of finding clients that are better suited if you need ultimate flexibility.

About 30% of learners on Startup School for Seniors have primary caring responsibilities, so you certainly would not be alone. And remember, it's only two hours a week.

There may also be an emotional drain because going through redundancy, even when it seems like the right thing, is difficult. It isn't clean, and it isn't easy.

There are emotional ups and downs, just as there are when starting a business. So we try to be a safe space where people can deal with difficult emotions while also sorting out their life and their business.

So, genuinely, I hear you. I hear the fear in that, and I'd say come to us and lose some of that fear.

Ryan: Brilliant. Thank you, Mark.

I guess, on that topic, how can somebody rebuild their confidence if they've been out of the workforce or they've experienced redundancy?

Mark: Rebuilding confidence is hard. There are things that happen to us in life which can really flatten us.

One of the things we try to do at Startup School is help people tell a new story about themselves, both to themselves and to other people.

We practise that. We help people speak that story out loud in front of others who are also trying to build a new story for themselves.

We also focus on rebuilding confidence bit by bit from where you are now to where you need to be moving forward. That means encouraging small steps that lead towards a business.

It may not be about leaping out into the sunshine and saying, "Oops, I've now got a business."

It's more about gradually building confidence and learning how to do that alongside other people who are doing the same thing.

We usually have a really good cohort every time, full of different life experiences, and people are often very generous with each other.

So yes, confidence takes time, but you do not have to rebuild it alone.

Ryan: Brilliant. Thank you, Mark. And we'll do one more question.

Dee was asking about the Startup School for Seniors programme, if you could just share a bit more detail around how long the programme is and what the costs are.

Mark: Of course. We are a central-purpose organisation, and we rely on funding from a variety of sources.

Our programme costs £360, but if you're in England, then you may be eligible for a concession.

If you are not in work, or if you are earning less than £2,400 a month either through employment or self-employment, or if you're in receipt of benefits, then the course is free.

The course lasts six weeks and the next one starts on the seventh of March.

We provide support for you over that period and for some time after. We also have an alumni group that meets every month, where people come together, solve problems, celebrate wins, and keep each other moving forward.

If you'd like to come and join us, the QR code is on the screen.

There's also a lot of material available, including inspiring interviews with people like you who have started their business, both with us and without us, as well as the practical materials you need to get going.

And if you have any further questions, do use the QR code or the contact details on our website to have a chat.

Ryan: Amazing, Mark. That was brilliant.

Some great feedback is coming in as well. People are saying it sounds great and looks really useful.

We're just at the end of time, but I'd definitely recommend everyone scan the QR code or connect with Mark afterwards.

I've popped Mark's Enterprise Nation link and LinkedIn into the chat, and they will also be sent out in the follow-up email later this afternoon.

Do reach out to Mark if you want to ask any further questions.

Mark: And just a quick note for Scotland: we are looking for funding in Scotland, and we do have some corporate sponsorship.

So it may be that if you register your interest and find that you're being asked for money, we may be able to come back to you later if sponsor places become available.

It's a very fluid situation, so we may have some sponsored places later in April.

Ryan: Amazing. Thank you, Mark.

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