Senior business start-ups surge
Posted in Starting a Business on March 11th, 2010 by Karen Axelton – Be the first to commentBy Karen Axelton
My dad has long been convinced that the next big wave of business startups will be seniors starting businesses. Looks like he’s been right: The Wall Street Journal recently reported that, according to the Kauffman Foundation, Americans age 55 to 64 have posted the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity for the past 10 years.
The Journal took a look at some senior entrepreneurs, many of whom have found their niches targeting people in their own age group. Many do so because they feel no one else cares about or understands their age group.
Entrepreneurs cited in the article include a woman who helps clients deal with Medicare paperwork, a woman with a memoir-writing service and a man who coaches seniors on how to start businesses. “The aging boomer is the ideal customer,” says Jennifer Campbell, the memoir writer.
Statistics bear her out. In a recent Ipsos Mendelsohn survey of affluent adults (household incomes $100,000 or higher) baby boomers were still America’s wealthiest generation; their annual spending power is estimated at over $2 trillion.
Matthew Taylor, a consumer market analyst at Datamonitor, which recently did a survey of boomers, said size and affluence make boomers a market to be reckoned with and noted that boomers–especially “empty nesters”—are still likely to upgrade and buy premium products despite the recession.
If you’re targeting boomers, realize they are still price-sensitive and want value. Yes, they’ll spend more—but only if they’re getting quality.
Within the boomer cohort, an especially good market to target is boomer men. Author and marketing consultant Brent Green, writing in MediaPost’s Engage:Boomers e-newsletter, notes, “nearly 6,000 baby boomer men turn 50 every day and a boomer male turns 60 about every 15 seconds.”
Boomer men have “transformed every life stage they’ve occupied,” writes Green, who cites studies from the National Marketing Institute showing that boomer men have been spending discretionary dollars despite the recession—a trend he believes will continue as we move towards recovery. “Boomer men are changing the meaning of aging,” writes Green, who predicts that as they pass 50, boomer men will continue to “acquire more.”
Cupcake businesses remain hot, but now some new twists are popping up. Here are two we’ve seen recently.
some of America’s biggest brands are turning to franchising in my post on the 
Jen Groover, inventor of the Butler Bag, is an innovative entrepreneur who’s a real inspiration to others. If you’re thinking about starting a new business but your fears are holding you back, pre-order a copy of her forthcoming book 
Today, the world’s most recognized online trust mark, VeriSign, announced an extension of its authentication and verification services. “We recognize what small businesses want is to establish credibility,” explained Fran Rosch, senior vice president of authentication for VeriSign. For Web sites that outsource their shopping cart or payment functions to third-party providers or for information-only Web sites, the new VeriSign Trust™ Seal will bring the same image of confidence and trust to customers that the long-established VeriSign Secured® Seal does. The VeriSign Trust Seal pairs the familiar VeriSign checkmark circle with the words “VeriSign Trusted,” enabling Web sites of any size to capitalize on displaying the highly-recognized and respected brand seen on well-established Web sites. For a small company, a reputation of trust can increase traffic and secure customer loyalty.
Follow Rieva on Facebook
Follow Rieva on Twitter
Rieva's Radio Show