Small Business Boomers

Near the end of each month, I feature a round-up of 5 Small Business Boomers posts. 
 These are either ones my readers have indicated a preference for and/or ones I particularly like.
Here are 5 posts for November:
Branding Now an Important Aspect of Business
Do Baby Boomers Want Smaller Vehicles for Business & Personal Use?
Survey Says…Now’s the Time for Small Businesses
Get an ID When Giving Up Driver’s License
Take Action Every Day in Your Small Business
What was your favorite or most informative post in November at Small Business Boomers?

No Comments

Seniors and baby boomers do much of their shopping online these days. 
 It’s far different from the early era of online shopping when many were wary about giving their credit card over the Internet.  Also, many were concerned about paying shipping charges for the items they ordered.
As I surveyed the statistics and wrote the post, Seniors & Boomers Have Become Avid Online Shoppers, I wondered, “Why the change of attitude?”
Looking at my own situation and talking with others in this category, I can give the following reasons:

Convenience
Saving time
No more danger to credit card than having it disappear at a restaurant or …read more

4 Comments

According to statistics, seniors (particularly those over 65) are rapidly becoming some of the most avid online shoppers on the Internet.  Boomers aren’t far behind. 
Check out these articles:
Stats: Grandma Online Shops More Than You
How Web Savvy Are Online Seniors?
This is of interest to Small Business Boomers for their main market, depending on products and services, might be seniors and boomers.  Generally we’ve thought that young people, in their teens, 20s and 30s, are the online target consumers.  However, these statistics seem to prove otherwise.
So…don’t disregard these older age groups when you’re deciding what to sell in your online shop, or …read more

2 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Small Business Boomer readers. 
Even if you have to work, you can still count your blessings.  One of mine is that dinner will be cooked and ready when I get home from work.  My daughter enjoys planning the meal and cooking.  So I help with clean – up and relax at some of my writing business tasks.
What are your Thanksgiving boomer blessings? 
We might be thankful, too, that Sarah Josepha Hale diligently persisted until Thanksgiving was recognized as a national holiday.  Even though we think of the first Thanksgiving as taking place in Plymouth Colony, …read more

No Comments

Sometimes our businesses don’t get off the ground floor too quickly, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continually prepare and draw upon all our experiences as we take steps forward.  I have a dream of compiling a book of my poetry.  Some poems have been published and others are still in my notebook.
I also enjoy teaching writing and poetry to youngsters and adults.  I feel I can utilize this poetry book as a teaching tool.  (I also would like to publish a book of my grandfather’s poems, some of which have appeared in publications, but not all together.)
However, as with …read more

No Comments

Repurposing has become one of the new terms for recycling.  That’s the art of using something for another purpose than that originally intended.
To many Boomers, recycling or repurposing is an extension of a philosophy they were raised on.  Their grandparents, and probably their parents, experienced some phase of the Great Depression.  In those days, you didn’t throw much of anything away.  I didn’t experience the Depression, but my parents carried over that way of living from their experiences.
Not much was thrown away if we could find some use whatsoever for it.  You also saved anything you thought you might have …read more

No Comments

Ford’s prediction seems to be that Baby Boomers will continue to want smaller vehicles, even if gas prices don’t increase and the economy improves.  Apparently Ford is betting some of its production and sales predictions on this.
Many Boomers now are empty nesters without the need for vans and larger vehicles.  As they face retirement, there may be a need to downsize.
Where do you stand on this?
Personally, I prefer something larger, usually an SUV.  For a number of reasons:
I feel safer.  We were in a serious accident several years ago and hit head on by a tractor trailer.  If we had been in a …read more

2 Comments

A friend has to move her mother, with Alzheimer’s,  from Florida to their home in Vermont. 
However, there has been a delay because Mother doesn’t have a Motor Vehicle issued ID or a passport. 
It’s impractical to drive Mother those many miles, so they planned to fly.  Because Mother doesn’t have the proper ID (never thought of getting one when she didn’t renew her driver’s license), she can’t fly on the airlines in this day and age.
(I recall several years ago having to get my mother-in-law an official ID so we could take her and Dad on a flight across the country …read more

No Comments

With the current economic crunch, more boomers seem to be delaying retirement (if they have this option), getting another job (possibly parttime) or starting their own business. 
Perhaps they have a mix or two or all three of these.
Do you fit into any of these categories?  Has life affected you differently in recent years than you had planned?
We can either moan about it or treat it as an exciting adventure!
I took a parttime job in a supermarket delicatessen this summer, and it’s continued into winter.  It actually takes me back to my roots, since I worked in my mother’s small grocery …read more

1 Comment

Health has become one of the great concerns of boomers. 
As they age, they begin to realize their vulnerability to ailments they hadn’t considered in their youth and middle years.  They may find they’re slowing down, tire more easily, and thus discover it’s a chore to run a business.
However, with attention to health and healthy living, they also may find they’re in better condition and have more endurance than they did in younger years. 
“How do you keep going the way you do?” friends and business colleagues often ask me as I sprint around from business to outside job and still am involved …read more

No Comments