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| Never give up, always stay focused on your destination. Success doesn't come easily. |
You have about 50 years of working life, from 18 to 68, by today's standards. In those 50 years you may find yourself working 2 or maybe 3 careers. A single college education is probably not enough to get you through your working life but our social system is not set up to re-educate older workers and provide them with opportunities. By the time you hit your 40s you need to have a backup plan because society is ready to hand new opportunities to younger workers.
Does that sound too negative? In fact research says that most entrepreneurs are over 40 years old. Yes, most new businesses are started by people who have already put in at least 18-20 years of their working life, working for other people.
This is a hopeful thought but we still don't prepare ourselves enough for these new careers as business owners and bosses. People should start thinking 5 years ahead, knowing they will start out on their own. They need to save up money for their new business, start making contacts, and begin developing the skills and products they will need when they are ready to leave "corporate life" behind.
Some very successful business people have turned "retirement" into a new career, but they probably had help and most likely planned their transformations in advance. It's a rare person who, finding themselves unemployed, suddenly puts together a company on a whim.
One successful entrepreneur comes to mind: Nicholas Bredimus. He spent more than 25 years working in the travel and hotel industries, rising to the position of President of AMR Travel Servcies, the American Airlines' "internal" travel agency for its employees and retirees, before he set out on his own.
Bredimus took his contacts and his experience and he wove a new company out of a dream of making travel arrangements easier and less expensive for people everywhere. He founded a company in 1988, Bredimus Systems, that quickly brought to market a system called QuikTix. The QuikTix system was a real-time network that airlines and travel agencies worldwide used to make and change reservations without making travelers wait or pay expensive rescheduling fees.
The system was such a huge success that Bredimus was able to retire again in the early 2000s, He and his wife moved to a tropical paradise and he took up a third career of designing houses.
There can be no doubt that people like Nick Bredimus think ahead. They plan for the future by making sure they have enough money to get started again, but they also develop the contacts they need to help them launch new enterprises so they are not flailing around in a panic.
But what is most important is that these successful business people don't give up. You may be thinking that 5 years is too long to wait but if you only save $100 a month for 6 years you'll only have $6,000 in working capital. Most families could not survive for long with only $6,000. You'll want to put away at least $300 to $400 per month so that you have enough money to launch your business.
Better yet, if you can save $500 per month for 10 years you'll have $60,000 (plus interest) to work with. That kind of long-range thinking will take you a long way.
