KansasCity.com recently interviewed mompreneur and author Mary Beth Izard about her book titled, BoomerPreneurs. She offers advice to baby boomers that would like to start their own businesses.
A lot of people have lost their jobs. How hard is it for someone who was always an employee to become an entrepreneur?
I think for the ones that always had an entrepreneurial interest this is an opportunity for them. One characteristic of entrepreneurs is they are self-motivated. They look to themselves for answers. Even if they have been employees for years, they have that quality.
Your book is full of success stories, but what are common pitfalls people need to avoid if they try to start a business?
One mistake is just to pursue a passion without evaluating the marketplace. There has to be demand. You have to identify a need and satisfy it.
Another pitfall related to the first one is a lot of people want to keep their idea a secret because they are afraid someone is going to steal it. But you need to tell a lot of people about your idea to evaluate it. As soon as you start your business, everyone is going to know about it anyway, so you need to focus on doing it better than anyone else.
Anything else?
Don’t use credit cards to start a business. Baby boomers especially need to look at what they can risk without risking their children’s college education and their own retirement.
Photo from Amazon