In my previous article we made the case that you are never too old to start your own business, and creating your own job is the best way to build a secure retirement income.
In this article we will cover your choices of businesses to start, and help you decide the best choice for you and your family. We will break down businesses in two major categories; Offline or Online.
We will start with Offline
If you choose the traditional offline business, you will need to consider your startup costs. They can be substantial.
Lets say you want to open a clothing store. You will need to find a high traffic location and sign a lease. Of course, you have to remodel the store. Then there's the business license, arrange for utilities, then start advertising, and finally the grand opening.
Now the real costs begin! What are you going to sell? What are the inventory costs? Keep in mind the variety of styles and sizes you will need to compete with Wal-Mart, K Mart and Target. Can you match their prices? To make things worse, are the state and federal reports and taxes you have to manage.
Its my considered opinion, after 45 years in business, this is probably the worst choice in todays economic climate.
Offline Services, is going to be easier than a retail business. You can set up a service business in your home. Lets say that you are an air conditioner repairman with experience, and your own tools. You decide to go independent and start your own business.
The problem will be that your income stops from your job, and you have to build your own customer base. That means you must have the funds saved to advertise and to live on. From my experience you should have enough to live on for a minimum of 6 months. It will take you at least a year, and maybe even 2 years to get into a profit. Another option is Franchising. When you buy a franchise, you buy a System and instant credibility. You also will get group advertising, specialty equipment and marketing tools.
The problem, however, is that you are sill starting from scratch, with no customers, with immediate costs of franchise fees. When I bought my Duraclean Carpet and Furniture cleaning franchise way back in 1965, the costs of a franchise was $7,000. Today it is $25,000. My franchise fees began after 2 weeks, and had to be paid even when I didn't have any business.
My conclusion is that either franchising, or going independent, is not very practical. Either option will be very difficult, if you are trying to build a residual retirement income. This series of articles is to help anyone planning to retire soon, such as baby boomers, or those retired, but forced to look for more income.
You need a business that will provide a secure residual retirement income, so lets take a look at Online Marketing.
Online businesses will involve either physical products or information products. There are three main ways to market online; MLM, Affiliate marketing, or your own product on your own website.
In the next, or third article, we will explore all three options. What we will be looking for are three things:
1. The fastest way to reach your goal.
2. The least expensive way to get there.
3. The simplicity of building this business.
Be sure to look for the next article, and I will help you decide which choice will be best for you and your family. These articles are posted on Ezine Articles, and on my blog. http://jerrygarner.blogspot.com/
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
You Are Never Too Old To Start Your Own Business!
Why You Should Start Your Own Business
With more and more jobs disappearing, baby boomers, who are starting to retire at the rate of 10,000 a day, as well as those already retired, are finding it difficult to survive with such an uncertain financial future. Social security, Medicare and Medicaid are going broke, and even if they weren't, the dollar is inflating faster and faster, and no one can survive on that alone.
Then we have those who have built up a comfortable retirement income with investments, real estate, IRAs and 401Ks. They have stood by helplessly and watched them disappear partially or completely. Finally we have the victims of scam artists like Enron and Bernie Madoff.
I personally know of several victims, such as the retired surgeon in Florida, who built up a sizable real estate portfolio, and was enjoying his retirement, until the current recession began in 2008. He had to come out of retirement when the mortgage market collapsed. He had to start over and find another source of income.
What was his solution? He created his own job. He was 71 years old at the time. The job he created for himself was as an online marketing consultant, an independent contractor with an established successful online marketing training company.
My Personal story
I have been a successful businessman in Atlanta for over 45 years, operating a carpet cleaning business. In 2009 I lost my entire investment account in the Forex Currency and Option Markets. That was to be my retirement. I had to find another source of income to retire on.
What was my solution? I joined my doctor associate in the same marketing training company as an independent contractor. In other words, I started creating my own source of retirement income. I was 75 when I started this business. This brings me to the point of this article.
You Are Never Too Old To Start Your Own Business
Business history is full of stories of people who have started successful businesses after age 65. I always think of Colonel Sanders. At the age of 65 he packed up his old car with pots, pans and spices and made personal calls to restaurants all over the U.S., trying to sell his chicken recipe.
He was turned down by everyone, but he never gave up, until he finally found someone that set him up in business. As they say, “the rest is history”.
If you use excuses, such as “I'm too old” “It's too much work” “I could never learn to use a computer” and similar ideas, you are probably right.
If you are a person of action, who can take responsibility, have perseverance, faith in yourself, and a “can do” attitude, then I promise you that you are not too old to start your own business.
I would have started my current online business, even I was 85 or 90 at the time. The point is, age is no barrier unless you put it there. So the next thing to do is find the right business.
The Solution
When you start a business in your retirement age, you need to consider several factors. Probably the biggest one is “how long will it take you to make a profit”?
The purpose of this article was to convince you to start your own business, and that you are never too old to do it.
I am writing a series of articles to help you start your own business. I'm trying to keep each article short to make it easier to digest. The next one will be “What Type Of Business Should You Start?”. Look for it.
You can follow this series by going back to the Ezine where you found this one, or you can follow along on this Blog, where I will be posting all my articles.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Welcome Letter to First Time Visitors, and Purpose of This Blog
Introduction to Jerry Garner's Online Retirement Income Blog
I would like to welcome first time visitors to my personal blog, and welcome back my regular visitors. I'm Gerald Garner, but I prefer Jerry Garner, and I created this blog as a communication tool to find and help people who are fed up with their financial circumstances, and are ready to do something about it.
Purpose
This blog is dedicated to finding motivated people with an entrepreneurial spirit, of any age, and help them to establish and build their own online business, with a secure source of retirement income.
My website, http://bit.ly/glSxgT is geared toward Baby Boomers who are now, as I write this, retiring at the rate of 10,000 a day. At least they would like to, but our current world-wide economic conditions have made it very difficult for some, and impossible for others.
This blog is also for those already retired, but have lost part or all of their retirement income, and have to find another source of income.
Some jobs are disappearing for everyone, and since nobody wants to hire older people anyway, the choices are very limited. The only real choice is to create your own job. How are you going to do that, and what kind of job? I won't answer that question right here, but I will be publishing a series of posts on this blog to help you do that.
My first blog post will be titled “You Are Never Too Old to Start Your Own Business”. I know first hand that is true, because I'm 76 years old as I write this in January 2011. I started my online marketing business in 2010.
If you are still working, and planning for you future retirement, the information I share on this blog can apply to you, too. Why wait until you're 65 to retire? You can retire at any age.
Conclusion
I hope you bookmark this blog site and join me often. My mission is to give you valuable free information that you can use, and get value from. If I do, you will want to continue joining me on this blog.
Some of the subjects I will be posting here will be:
- You're Never Too Old To Start a Business
- Retire or Retirement; Which is Best?
- What Type of Business is Best To Start?
- What Business Should I Choose?
- How Do I Find Customers For My Business?
There will be others added as I get your feedback, and you let me know what help you need.
For those of you who are in a hurry to do something quickly, you can join me on my free information page and on my primary program at:
Watch my video, read all the information, and if you have any questions contact me at jerry_garner@bellsouth.net
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