Small Business Boomers

Over the past two days, I have been talking about Financial Independence for Baby Boomers.
First, I discussed the vital step of DSATM (Don’t Spend all the Money) so you can have enough to invest, and
Then, I talked about why you need to Start a business to generate income, to keep more of your money and grow your wealth.
Step Three: Park Your Money in the Right Places
This is the trickiest part, as we’ve seen from the current financial debacle. You need to find a place to park your money so it will grow at a reasonable rate with a reasonable …read more

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This week, I’m sharing with you my thoughts on achieving financial independence. I believe that is is absolutely possible to attain the goal of financial independence, whatever that means to you as a Baby Boomer. And it’s never too late to start working on that goal.
Yesterday, I talked about Step One: Don’t Spend all the Money (DSATM). The first step is necessary, so you can have enough money to move on to Step 2: Starting a Business.
What Kind of Business? First, let me explain what I mean about a “business.” The business can be anything …read more

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We all want financial independence, but we stumble around trying to figure out how to get it. I think I have the way. It’s pretty simple actually. Now, what I am going to tell you is not totally original. I found the concepts in a brilliant article on achieving financial independence by Joshua Kennon, Guide to Investing for Beginners at About.com. The article is titled “The 8 secrets to achieving financial independence.” What I’ve done is take the 8 secrets and compress them into 3 steps.
Today I’ll give you the first step, tomorrow the …read more

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To continue our discussion of what we learned in 2008…
In July,
We learned of the death of Randy Pausch of “The Last Lecture” fame. The book of his lecture went on to become a best-seller. And of the death of George Carlin, who also had much to teach us.
We learned how to estimate Social Security benefits online and how to use a financial planner ……
And how to invest in a business without getting a bank loan, and the single biggest retirement planning mistake baby boomers make.
How to deal with tough financial times (which we didn’t know were going to get tougher)…and …read more

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We Baby Boomers are probably the most over-educated, over-informed, and entertained generation ever.  And with the advent of the blogosphere a few years ago, we have found new ways to be informed and educated and entertained.  From the annals of Small Business Boomers over this year, here are some things we learned:
In January we learned
How Baby Boomers who are veterans can get help starting businesses
About Creative Capitalism (Bill Gates version)
About Muni Bond Insurance and its effect on small business taxes
Jim Norton started issuing “storm warnings about the coming recession.  Too bad I didn’t take his advice and start moving my …read more

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Over the next few days, I will be talking about what we Baby Boomers learned in 2008.  Today’s End-of-Year blog is about some business ideas to consider.  Maybe 2009 will be your year:
Some business ideas:
Home Typing Service
Leading Non-profits
A Beer-related Business
Wine Businesses, Wine Making,  and Wine Franchises
Senior Care Franchises

in several articles
Bed and Breakfasts, Part 1,  Part 2, an Interview with a B&B owner, and Do You Have What it Takes?
And a B&B Sitter or Caretaker
Chocolate Businesses
Coaching (the business and professional kind)
Classic Car Businesses
Fixing Things
Mobile Businesses
Pet Sitting and Dog Walking and more on Pet Sitting
Let me know if any …read more

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Baby boomer business owners, Gen Y business owners, and everyone in between needs help with their businesses.  And a new business reality show on A&E is here to help.  The show:  “We Mean Business” (sponsored by Dell).  The episode I watched was about a Baby Boomer named Doug of Outback Catering.  Doug needs to get his 20-year-old catering business back on track.
The format:  kind of a “make-over” show for businesses.  You know the kind.  Like “trading spaces” and “extreme home makeover.” Only for businesses.
The people:  Business owners with attitude and 3 experts with more attitude.  Bil Rancic, the original “Apprentice” …read more

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Over at Home Biz Notes, Mary Emma Allen talks about a business Baby Boomers might enjoy having: Pet Sitting and Dog Walking.  If you are an animal lover like me, this would be a great idea for a business.  I agree with the the comment, though, that walking dogs in Iowa in the winter might not be a lot of fun, but you never know.
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Here are some considerations for starting a pet sitting/dog walking business:
You can set up this type of business simply, as a sole proprietorship.  Then all you need to do is get a …read more

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I read today about a small business owner in Texas who had been a good customer at a bank, and who wanted a loan to expand his business. Yet the bank wanted him to have $1 million in the bank in order to borrow an additional $1/2 million (doesn’t make sense, does it?). These kinds of stories worry me, because they affect not only the business owner but the entire U.S. economy for the future as well.
Small businesses are the key to economic growth. Look at this one example:

The businesman was going to hire 45 more …read more

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