The Second Chance Revolution: Becoming Your Own Boss After 50

194 Pages·2009·1.53 MB·English

by  Edward G. Rogoff

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What Will do With the rest of your life? e

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For millions of individuals, changing economic and social trends have done away with c
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the “golden years”. As it turns out, this is not such a bad thing. In fact, it can be good!
n the second chance
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Emerging demographic patterns reveal an energetic, engaged, and driven group

of over 50 visionaries, all intent on creating new professional opportunities. c
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Whether out of practical necessity or personal fulfillment, members of the baby boom
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generation are refusing to phase themselves out of the workforce. Instead, they are n
turning age, expertise, and accumulated experience into a major advantage – by c
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starting their own business, and by living their long time dream.

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With an enlightening combination of real-life stories and hands-on advice, E
Second Chance Revolution: Becoming Your Own Boss After 50 breaks fresh ground. Its V
becoming your own boss after 50
many tales provide an inspiring yet practical how-to book for the entrepreneurially- O
minded men and women in this exciting phase of life – people who dream of finally L
working for themselves, and who, in this informative, no-nonsense book, will find the U
guidance they are seeking for taking this bold and life-changing leap. T
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“ What you will find by reading this book is that later-life entrepreneurship is
not one adventure, but many. Or said another way, not one story but many stories.
It could be a story in which your last chapter is your best chapter, a time for E
d
becoming your own boss, or, better, ‘becoming the person you were meant to w
be’…Professor Edward Rogoff and author David Carroll have put together in this ar
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book the indispensable tools needed to make that journey and, finally, to find G
the deep gladness that comes from successful entrepreneurship in later life.” .
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— Harry R. Moody, Ph.D., Director of Academic Affairs, AARP o
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about the h
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Edward G. Rogoff is a Professor of Management and Chair of the Department of .
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Management at Baruch College of the City University of New York. He was a founder and D
Academic Director of the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship at Baruch a
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College, one of the largest entrepreneurship programs in the U.S. He has extensive id
experience as an entrepreneur and is the author of Bankable Business Plans and co- L
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author of The Entrepreneurial Conversation. C
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David L. Carroll has written 10 produced TV screenplays (including one Emmy o
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Award winner), and 33 books, a majority of them on self-help and business topics. l
Being self-employed his entire life as a free-lance writer, he speaks with authority on
the challenges and joys of entrepreneurship.
Edward G. Rogoff, Ph.D. & David L. Carroll
Foreward by Harry R. Moody, Ph.D., Academic Director Affairs, AARP
USA: $17.95
Canada: $19.95
SCRup.indd 1 9/8/09 11:42 AM
The Second Chance Revolution:
Becoming Your Own Boss After 50
Edward G. Rogoff, Ph.D.
and
David L. Carroll
Foreword by
Harry R. Moody, Ph.D.
Director of Academic Affairs, AARP
Copyrighted Material
The Second Chance Revolution: Becoming Your Own Boss After 50
Copyright © 2009 by Rowhouse Publishing
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted, in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise—without prior written permission, except for the inclusion
of brief quotations in a review.
For information about this title or to order other books and/or electronic media,
contact the publisher:
Rowhouse Publishing
1375 Broadway, Suite 600
New York, NY 10018
[phone]
[email protected]
www.rowhousepublishing.com
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009906869
ISBN: 978-0-9791522-9-0
Printed in Canada
Cover design by David Grillo
Book design by 1106 Design
Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data
Rogoff, Edward G., 1951–
The second chance revolution : becoming your own boss after 50 /
Edward G. Rogoff and David L. Carroll ; foreword by Harry R.
Moody. — 1st ed. New York : Rowhouse Pub., c2009.
p. ; cm.
ISBN: 978-0-9791522-9-0
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Career changes. 2. Entrepreneurship. 3. Vocational
guidance. 4. Self-actualization (Psychology) I. Carroll, David, 1942–
II. Title.
HF5384 .R64 2009 2009906869
650.1/4—dc22 0910
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Chapter 1: If You Come to a Fork in the Career Road, Take It! . . . 1
Chapter 2: Choosing an Entrepreneurial Profession That’s
Right for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 3: On the Money: Conventional and Not-So-
Conventional Ways to Finance a Business After Fifty. . . . . . . . . 53
Chapter 4: What Every Entrepreneur Hates: Legal Issues,
Boards of Directors, Insurance, and Taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Chapter 5: Your Personal Work-at-Home Handbook . . . . . . . . . . 91
Chapter 6: Networking for Building a Solid New Business. . . . 117
Chapter 7: The Franchise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Chapter 8: Fifty-Plus Business—Plus Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Chapter 9: Why Build When You Can Purchase? The Ins
and Outs of Buying an Existing Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Acknowledgments
This book is very much the product of our interaction with entrepre-
neurs, experts, and the people who have helped create the environment
in which we work and learn. Author Edward Rogoff, as a professor
at Baruch College, Chair of its Management Department, and for-
mer Director of the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship,
has benefi ted from an extraordinary group of academic colleagues,
including: Ramona Zachary, Alvin Puryear, Thomas Lyons, Micki
Eisenman, Robert Foskey, Elissa Grossman, and Myung-Soo Lee.
These fi ne people have been teachers, friends, and co-authors at vari-
ous times. Bob Wolf of FJC Foundation is the person who started me
and the team at Baruch down the path of examining the phenom-
enon of later life entrepreneurship. Bob is a brilliant thinker on this
and many other topics. Author David Carroll, drawing on his many
years as a self-help expert and author, made many of the contacts
that make this book stand out.
Most importantly, Baruch College has been able to become a
standout in the fi eld of entrepreneurship studies because of the
leadership, support, and generosity of Mr. Lawrence N. Field, a suc-
cessful entrepreneur who built a real estate business through hard
work, smart strategy, and strong ethics. He returned to his alma
mater to create an environment that would help others do what he
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had done. And he has far exceeded his goal. Today, Baruch is not just
a top school in entrepreneurship, but its entrepreneurship program
is the largest in the nation.
At the Field Center, a superior staff has created a system that
allowed us to interface with literally thousands of entrepreneurs,
and learn from them. The staff at the Field Center includes Monica
Dean, Ulas Neftci, Lendynette Pacheco, Jim Daley, Alyce Mayo, and
Shaiu-Larn Hoang. We have also had the privilege of working with
many fi ne entrepreneurs. High on the list of those whose knowledge
and wisdom have found their way into The Second Chance Revolution
are Michael Corbett (with whom Ed co-authored The Entrepreneurial
Conversation) and David Roth of Get Stirred Up, an innovation-focused
consultancy.
We interviewed many people for this book, and their stories are
used as examples. Some people preferred not to have their names
used, lest their candor interfere with their businesses or, perhaps,
be seen as criticism of their partners or business associates. In such
cases, of course, we used fi ctitious names for the entrepreneur and
his or her business.
Among the people whose names are their own are Martha Zach,
Joseph Gooden, Leslie Krasner, Paula Hornbeck, Kurt Thometz, Anne
Homes, Darrel Skates, Ram Bahadur, Maxine Martens, John Lamie,
Gene Wayne, Alan Winter, Jim Lorenzen, and Tom Klein.
We can’t thank these men and women enough for helping us, but
more importantly, for helping you, the reader, to witness examples
of how entrepreneurship after 50 can help you to fi nd the meaning
in the workplace that has so long evaded you, and in the process
revolutionize your life.
Foreword
by Harry R. Moody, Ph.D.
Director of Academic Affairs, AARP
People come to entrepreneurship in later life by many roads. Think
of what Shakespeare said about greatness: “Some are born great,
some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.”
The same could be said about entrepreneurship.
We all know people who are “born entrepreneurs” from child-
hood: that girl with the lemonade stand at the end of the block, that
guy hawking class rings and mugs. Still others achieve entrepreneurial
skills as they move through life. Think of those who spend their lives
dreaming about running a sky lodge or a restaurant. They wonder:
is it too late for me? Some achieve the skills and live out the dream.
Finally, in today’s downbeat economy, there are men and women
who have entrepreneurship thrust upon them. The reasons for this
are many: downsizing, age-discrimination, loss of pension assets and
jobs. Among aging boomers today, an alarm bell has gone off: It is
no longer the age of your grandfather’s Oldsmobile (or retirement).
Today growing numbers of people over 50 expect to work much lon-
ger into what were once thought of as the retirement years. If assets
and home equity are down, work-life extension is the only solution.
But where will they fi nd the jobs?
The answer is, in many cases, they will create these jobs themselves
through their own initiative, talent, and perseverance. Which brings
us back to self-employment and entrepreneurship again.
vii
viii The Second Chance Revolution: Becoming Your Own Boss After 50
The United States may be on the cusp of an entrepreneurship
boom because of its aging population. As it turns out, the baby boom
that followed World War II is becoming the entrepreneurship boom of
the twenty-fi rst century. In the past decade, 55- to 64-year-olds were
more likely to start their own companies than any other age group,
according to research by the Kauffman Foundation. The average age
of technology fi rm founders in the United States is 39, with twice as
many over 50 as under 25.
What you will fi nd by reading this book is that later-life entre-
preneurship is not one adventure, but many. Or said another way,
not one story but many stories. It could be a story in which your last
chapter is your best chapter, a time for becoming your own boss, or,
better, “becoming the person you were meant to be.”
Theologian Frederick Buechner put it this way: “Your vocation is
the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s great hunger.”
Still, once we decide on self-employment, troubling questions
remain. Can I create a business that truly refl ects the person I was
meant to be? Is it too late to be on my own? Can I take the risk?
This book cannot answer those questions because each of us
must fi nd the courage to take the leap and fi nd our own way. This
book can give vital help to those who are getting ready to make the
great leap.
The fact is that others have gone before us, and the great message
of this book is: “It’s not too late.” Whether entrepreneurship is born,
or achieved, or thrust upon us, it is not too late if we learn the skills
necessary to make the journey. In this book, Professor Edward Rogoff
and author David Carroll have put together the indispensable tools
needed to make that journey and, fi nally, to fi nd the deep gladness
that comes from successful entrepreneurship in later life.
Harry R. Moody, Ph.D.
Director of Academic Affairs, AARP
Chapter 1
If You Come to a Fork in
the Career Road, Take It!
From lemons to lemonade stand
“I stumbled out of my manager’s offi ce into the very long, all-of-a-
sudden-too-brightly lit corridor,” Frank Denton told me over lunch
not so long ago.
Frank’s a large jovial man in his mid-fi fties, and a banker by
profession. “My legs were unsteady, rubbery. You know that feeling.
I was wondering if I was going to make it to the water cooler.”
During my years as a professor of entrepreneurship at Baruch
College in New York City, I had often come to Frank for advice when
banking technicalities came up in my courses. We hadn’t talked for
some time, and there was much catching up to do.
“I’d seen it coming for a while,” he told me, pulling at his collar
à la Rodney Dangerfi eld. “People were getting laid off right and left
at a lot of our branches. But you know, you think you’re bulletproof.
It’s never going to happen to me. When my boss waved the pink slip
under my nose, I was fl oored!”
Hearing Frank’s distressing and all-too-common story I began to
sympathize: Must be rough to lose a longtime job in your mid-fi fties.
It’s so scary out there in the cold world. Blah blah, blah. Before I got
off too many more commiserating clichés, he cut me short.
“Actually, Ed, losing my job was the best thing that could have
ever happened!”
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