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start-your-own-business

For many people, reaching retirement doesn’t mean they want to spend their days playing golf or knitting. An increasing number of retirees are thinking about working. For some of these, it’s not that they want to, but they have to. If you haven’t got a pension, haven’t saved enough for your retirement, or have skills you want to continue to use, starting your own business is a viable option. In America alone, one-quarter of the startup businesses in 2015 were run by people between the ages of 55 and 64. If you like the idea of working for yourself, here are a few tips to help you.

Determine Whether There is a Market

Before you get too excited about your new business venture, you first have to make sure there’s a market for whatever service or product you want to sell. Whether you’re planning a home based business selling cupcakes or are planning to manufacture a product, identify your market and whether it’s something people want and will pay.

What is it Going to Cost to Start?

If you’re planning to run your business from home, the startup costs will be minimal. There won’t be a lot of equipment required, and you won’t have to cover the rent. When calculating your costs consider the cost of starting it along with the cost of running it for the first year. Are you going to need to invest in an inventory? Do you plan to advertise your business? If so, how much does it cost? Think about the cost of utilities. If you’re having problems answering some of these questions, there are plenty of experts who can help.

Have a Plan

Once you’ve answered the questions above you can make a business plan. This will be a map to guide you through your first year. Write a good business plan, and it will guide you through each stage of starting and managing your business. There’s no wrong or right way to do it, and there’s plenty of help available online.

Work on Your Online Presence

An important part of running a modern business is to have an online presence. Your customers will not be looking in the telephone directory. Most of your customers will be looking for businesses like yours online. At the very least, you need to have a website so that customers can find you using a search engine.

business-in-retirement

Analyze and Review

Once your business is up and running, give yourself six months before you check to see whether you’re making a success. You should see some kind of steady income after this length of time, and if you’re not you need to tweak your business plan and try a different approach. Marketing your business is where you need to concentrate your efforts and there are many different marketing strategies you can try.

If you’ve long had a dream of running your own business, then why not use your retirement years productively?

Carol
Information sourced by the author for luxuryactivist.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only.