Am I Too Old to Start A Business & Become Successful?
Show Notes
Clay explains why you are never too old to start a business and that you must BURN your boats to succeed as an entrepreneur in the game of business.
- Question – “I’m in my late 50’s and am just beginning my business. Did I begin too late?”
- 10 Entrepreneurs Who Started a Wildly Successful Business After 40
- Donald Fisher co-founded Gap at 41
- In August 1969, at the age of 41, Donald Fisher and his wife Doris opened their first Gap store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco. At the time, they only sold Levi’s jeans; Fisher had convinced the denim giant to let him open a hip store that contained all sizes and styles of its jeans, as department stores carried spotty inventory. The Gap (GPS, +0.38%) quickly expanded to new locations and, in 1974, introduced its own denim label. In 1991, it stopped selling Levi’s entirely. Though it’s not without its struggles, the $9 billion company continues to endure today.
- Lynda Weinman co-founded Lynda.com at 40
- The self-taught computer whiz and former graphic arts professor recognized early on the potential of the Internet and the need for her students to learn how to publish to the web. In 1995, after struggling to find a book on web design to recommend to her students, she decided to write her own. Designing Web Graphics sold hundreds of thousands of copies and was the springboard to what would become Lynda.com, an Internet-based training company she started with her husband Bruce Heavin. It was sold to LinkedIn in April 2015 for $1.5 billion.
- Bob Parsons started GoDaddy at 47
- Former U.S. Marine Bob Parsons had started two companies — one of which was Parsons Technology, a software company he sold to Intuit for $64 million in 1994 — before he launched GoDaddy (GDDY, +0.64%), the $4 billion web domain registrar. It was after taking a year off as part of his deal with Intuit that Parsons realized he didn’t want to retire; he started GoDaddy in 1997 to have “something to do.” Since then he has followed one philosophy: “make a little money from a lot of people. This differs from many companies who have just the opposite philosophy,” says Parsons in his online biography. Parsons stepped down as executive chairman in June 2015.
- Chip Wilson began Lululemon at 42
- For Chip Wilson, it was his first yoga class back in 1997 that sparked the idea for a line of comfortable, stylish women’s yoga wear. Wilson had recently sold his share in Westbeach, a snowboard apparel company, and smartly bet he could use the same stretch fabric they used for long underwear to make high-end yoga pants that would appeal to the masses. It was both his ability to find a problem and come up with a solution, and his experience in apparel, that enabled him to not only create yoga pants that were comfortable and appealing to the eye but transform an entire industry. In February 2015, following a major recall, a series of controversial comments about women’s bodies and a standoff with the company’s board, Wilson cut ties Lululemon (LULU, +3.43%). His wife and son launched cashmere shop Kit & Ace in 2014.
- Charles Ranlett Flint launched IBM at 61
- Charles Flint was no spring chicken when he orchestrated the consolidation of three companies into the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. That was in 1911 which the established businessman and financier was 61; the company became known as International Business Machines (IBM, -0.02%) in 1924 when he was 74. Flint reasoned back then that it would be an advantage to have diverse products and revenue streams so that if one segment of the business were to have a bad year, the others would cover it — a strategy that remains true today. Flint stayed on the board of IBM, retiring in 1930.
- Bernie Marcus co-founded Home Depot at 50
- The impetus to start a business comes in many forms; for Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, it was an abrupt firing that sparked the fire. In April 1978, Marcus and his future co-founder Arthur Blank were let go from their executive roles during a corporate power struggle at Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers, a now-defunct home improvement chain. The two were convinced by friend and business colleague Ken Langone to open their own home improvement store; Langone arranged the financing and the rest is history. The first two Home Depot stores opened in Atlanta in 1979. Today, Home Depot has nearly 2,300 locations and boasts annual sales of more than $80 billion.
- Question – “It seems illogical to not have a backup plan, but why is this important as an entrepreneur?”
- MYSTIC STATISTIC – The majority (50.8%) of employees were “not engaged,” while another 17.2% were “actively disengaged.”
- 3 Action items you can take now:
- Attend the Thrivetime Show workshop
- Reach out to Tip Top K9 to find out about how to own your own location.
- Go to www.oxifresh.com to learn about the franchise opportunities they have.
- NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield. He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing his men before the first battle, he said, “You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice—we win, or we perish! They won.
- Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win, essential to success.” – Napoleon Hill
Audio Transcription
You are now entering the dojo of business conferences mojo and the thrive time show kick it. Yes, you can can I kick it? Yes, you can can I kick it? Yes, you can can i. Guess you can. This is click clock on the mic and can my optical castano pinochet and I’m focused on the mission beach, the skills and kitchen the plans broadcasted from advance to the left, to the portland dance, to see it, and I’ll be to see it? Yes, that would stick it like batmanyes. Yes, yes, declined, drive time, show jinx america. Typically, we don’t record a radio show segment from the bathroom, but you know:we’ve never actually recorded an episode of the drive time show from the men’s restroom, but I’m telling you what we have one of our sponsors and these guys are really really good guys out there and I’ll tell you why we decided to come on as a sponsor reached out to all the time from hundreds of people wanting us to sponsor their there they’re their product or to endorse their product or service. But we have our in-person thrive time, show workshops and those are coming up here. Actually, tomorrow at 6, april, 13th and 14th, we have one about. Every month, every two months and chuck, we have hundreds of people from all over green country from whitby people from florida. We have to go from guam guam come on california calif california california from new york minnesota, florida nashville. We had a seattle I know if montana iowa, how you’re doing this listing states arizona, arizona, jennifer, jennifer, dr. J out there, nashville suburbs of nashville, franklin and murfreesboro is a chiropractor.
He is just crushing it right now, he’s got two locations and the guy is a diligent do or he’s an acting all the business conferences systems and he’s growing a systemizing is hiring it’s going really good listener reach out to us, and they noticed that our workshop and we have hundreds of people in the workshop, and they said you know we would love to to deserve you guys, and you know we have the budget, the capacity that the connections whatever to hire in buddy. We want to do our janitorial service, but we wanted to do. Is we wanted to make sure that we can hire a cleaning service that we would you know, be proud of and sweetheart the same cleaning service that has done the cleaning for google for new star for dupont and they cleaners to do in telling you what I am personally so happy with her cleaning services that I decided to record to record the entire segment from the men’s restroom porcelain, palettes I’m, not proud of the fact that I want to drink out of that urinal right now. It’s so tempting to clear, soda porcelain. It said white and a little men’s urinal cake is so delicious. I mean I did not play I didn’t eat. That saying is if you want a bathroom, so clean the bathroom so clean that you might be tempted to use your urinal has a drinking fountain. You want to reach out to her good friends at classic janitorial store website classiccleam.Com v classic clean.Com is 918-671-2046 at one more time, etch-a-sketch get it in there. Okay, 918-671-2046 v, classicclean.Com to us to info at thrive time business conferences show.Com excited to get your take on this.
So the question is I’m in my late 50s and I’m just beginning my business and I begin to late. I think that if I had a dollar for everytime was asked that question at one of our business conferences, because so many people feel like they don’t qualify to have success right now. At this time they feel like gosh, maybe I missed out, and so we’re going to do is we’re going to redo some excerpts from an article that you can easily find and then we’ll also possible. They get on the show notes.. If you can just going to put this this link to this article on the show notes. But these are just some that I’m aware of outside everything here, but don’t fisher gap at the age of 41. So in august of 1969 at the age of 41, donald fisher and his wife doris open their first gap store on ocean avenue in san francisco. At the time they only sold levi’s jeans, pushrod convinced the denim giant to let him open a hip store that contain all sizes and styles of jeans, as the department stores clarified spot as department stores carry spotty inventory, the gap quickly expanded to new locations and in 1974, introduced its own denim label in 1991 and stop selling levi’s entirely, though it is not without struggle, but the company did do well now linda wyman. She started lynda.Com at the age of 40 and up selling the company to linkedin for 1.5 billion dollars. Bob parsons started godaddy at the age of 47 he’s a former us marine bob parsons. It started two companies, one of which was part, is technology. A business conferences software company sold for intuit for 64 million dollars in 1994 before you launch godaddy, be before billion-dollar 4 billion web domain registrar. It was after taking a year off as part of his deal with into it that parsons realize that he didn’t want to retire. He started godaddy 1997 to have something to do. Chip wilson started lululemon at the age of 42 chuck. Do you realize lululemon was started by a dude at the age of 42. I would not have guessed that in one year this isn’t real I mean so just think about that charles ranlett flint launched ibm at the age of 61 chapter I’ve heard about this. Oh, he was no spring chicken and he orchestrated the consolidation of three companies in to computing tabulating recording company that was in 1911, which he established business banner finance has.
It was 61 example, marcus co-founded, home depot at the age of 50, colonel sanders was impossibly old, i, don’t even think colonel sanders. They kept track of his age of me about today. The logo kfc. The look of kfc is what is it a picture of a young colonel sanders know it’s a picture of an old colonel sanders lot of people struggle to find their way until they reach the age of wisdom in the bible solomon prayed for wisdom, solomon said god I want wisdom, that’s the number one thing you prayed for I see so many people that you have to have a break down a lot of time to have a break through and if you don’t have your break down to later in life, champ breakthrough into your thirties or forties or fifties, and the cool thing is that it doesn’t have to take you a decade to have a successful business. You don’t have to find yourself a men’s restroom. Recording a radio show you can’t break through at business conferences. You can actually just listen to that radio, show and learn the tips and tricks that you need to scale and grow a business, and so, if you, you need to learn from mentors, not mistakes is what I’m saying if you’re out there-and you feel like you’re in your later years in life-then don’t waste any time. Reach out to us at thrive time show.Com and get a mint or don’t learn from those mistakes. If you want to make sure that you don’t end up to be a 37 year, old man recording a radio show from the men’s restroom in an attempt to support our sponsors classic janitorial they’re, going to help.
You make your first business conferences impression looking to make your bathrooms so clean, so clean that you might want to use your urinals as a drinking fountain that I did it. It’s not that bad chuck, the floors of our restroom, are so clean. It blows my mind. Their phone number is 918-671-2046 918-671-2046 and their website is the classic clean.Com. Is your bathroom clean everybody else? Is it a quick trip clean or everybody else? Ask yourself. Are you world-class I want you stay too back to the track time, she’ll on top radio 1170 well I tried nation, welcome back to the drive time show on your radio. My name is clark clark and the forward ussba entrepreneur of the year sent here on a business conferences mission to get you into a great financial position. I know so many people out there. So many of you, it’s like you know that you were called to do something powerful with your life. You know that you have these dreams of these visions and you know what you want to start a business. You know that you want to live. The american dream did forget america, you want to live the dream. You want to be able to have time, freedom and the financial freedom to do what you want to do. You want to go to have enough money in the bank to do whatever it is. You want to do and you want to spend your time doing things where you feel like what you’re doing has meeting you know when chuck we’re talking about this earlier today, but doing the radio show vocational perspective is absolutely in order. I mean it’s a thing.
We love doing, and it’s just it’s it’s it’s we we, we love you in radio, shack, yeah, it’s great! It’s something that it’s fun for us to. Do we prepare for it. We try to bring the best content. We can teach you guys. What’s going on a week, like you said it’s location to call when we feel like we’re having a great time doing this, the latin word for vocation is vocational, which means summoned to do something, as you stated. So we love that we all slept great wives, great families, and we were so blessed and so are our goal. We know a lot of people that needs to tistics show the average per doesn’t really like their job according to gallup. Sadly enough, over 70% of people do not like their job and I’ll. Make sure you put that statistic on the show notes, because 70% of people not my opinion, but 70% of employees do not like their jobs, and so the question that was emailed in from a thriver really gets to the the heart of that issue, and and I just want to encourage you out there. If you don’t like your job, I have three three business conferences action items you can take today that I know that every listener could afford to do. If you really wanted to write every listener, if you really wanted to, if you really wanted to, you, could attend our next in-person thrive time show workshop, because we’re going to give you a free ticket, all you have to do is leave us. One objective review on itunes just subscribe. The thrive time should I do and I don’t. Have you seen the new page here we made it really easy for the listeners. If you go to thrive time, show. Nobody’s listening right, now,, you click on podcast what you click on, that we have to leave a review, but right there, it’s blue to just go to thrive. Time, should I come pick up the podcast button band reviews right there. You click, you click! The button, leave a review and just leave us nf ejected review, and if you leave us a review, you subscribe to podcast they’re, going to give you two free, in-person drive time show workshop tickets to you could do if you really wanted to become proactive about your success. You could reach out to our good friends at tip, top k-9. You can email me. The info at drive. Time should I come info at drivetime.
Show.Com i, give you the details, but tip top k-9 is a company where you can literally make you can keep home after after you pay all the fees and the franchise fee senior dues. It is very realistic for you to make over six figures a year training dogs in your market, that’s tip, top k9., the opportunity and honor to work that brand over the past year-and-a-half the company’s been around for over 9 years, its tip top k9.Com if. You literally want to make over six figures your training dogs. You can do it another another, another, so many opportunities for so many opportunities out there. If you had an oxy fresh.Com xoxo.Com there, you can learn more about the franchise opportunities that they have in for an investment one time of less than $40,000. You can make over $100,000 a year cleaning carpets with oxy fresh.Com. They have a franchise, disclosure document that shares with you all the details, but you can find out more about it today by simple going to o x, I fresh.Com no chip. What’s the question we had just email from a driver, there says it seems illogical to not have a back-up plan, but why is this important as an entrepreneur? Can you read that question just one more time to process that question? He says it seems. Is it cool to not have a back-up plan, but why is this important as an entrepreneur and I’m just going to quote napoleon hill and then I’m going to help author of all time, I mean who better the best-selling self-help author of all time, the personal apprentice of andrew carnegie?
He says a long while ago a great warrior face the situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which ensured his success on the battlefield. He was about to send his armies against a powerful phone whose men outnumber his own. He loaded his soldiers into boats sail into the enemy’s to country, unloaded soldiers and equipment and then gave the order to burn the burn the ships. He then gave the order to burn the ships that carried them. Addressing it’s been for the first battle. He said you see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive. Unless we win, we have no choice, we win or we perish, they want. Every person who wins in undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining the state of mine, the state of mind, known as a burning desire to win essential to success. You’ve got to have a burning businesss conferences desire to win because I don’t care how motivated you think you are what a great business idea you have. If you don’t have that burning desire to win, you won’t have what it takes to get your business up into orbit and in sustainability. We talk about it, it’s the fire of desire that is required to inspire okay. If you’re not willing to burn your boats. If you’re out there trying to dip your toe into the jacuzzi I want to pursue her ship, he is not going to work out because you’re planning on failure. You cannot plan on your own taylor. You have to burn those ships, you have to plan to 6 and know that you will, when your back’s up against the wall as a business owner as an entreprenuer. There are two entrepreneurs, I can think of right now, who have absolutely burn their boats many years ago to get to where they are today,, miss, messick roofing. These guys are a proud show sponsor, but they’ve been in business trip. How long is mystic really what year did messick roofing start? Let me laughing was 1969 6262 own business.
That’s been in business since 1962, which makes roofing company in northeastern oklahoma right space, service, residential and commercial accounts, and they are the go-to roofing service for companies, like sunshine furniture, the hilton in chop. These guys get it done as relates to roofing, and you can get a free quote today:chop suey, by going to messick, roofing.Com m e s s, I c k, roofing.Com, messick, messi, okay, roofing.Com, where you can just pick up your phone and call him at 918-747-7141 one more time. It’s 918-747-7141 tired of messing around the leaky roof, just go to messick roofing check out check out those guys read the reviews, messick roofing. They do a great job and one more thing I want to give you this one more business conferences tip. If you’re out there and you own a business, you got to focus on growing the brand and you can’t be perpetually behind with your taxes. You cannot find yourself perpetually behind with your financial planning. The accounting is, is such a vital aspect of your company, and so one of our proud show sponsors in a guy that I would happily recommend to all of our listeners based upon the feedback that I’ve had from actual thrivers without reservation. Is a group called hood cps.Com cps.Com paul hood built? Is that not only is this guy cpa but he’s also been a business owner multiple times this guy doesn’t just look at your numbers as an accountant as a cpa right, if you’re a business owner out there he’s going to help you view those numbers and put them up as a dashboard instead of a rear view, mirror he’s going to show you where you need to go through your numbers, help you set your goals in reverse engineer those and the fact that he’s actually run businesses play. How long have you been looking for a cpa like this guy? Well as a business coach, flash 12 years, I’ve been asked repeatedly and who is a cpa to can help me finally get on top of my head I’m, not just going to call paul i, said paul.
If, if I can call your references and call your current clients in in in to get a report and feel like I could actually trust the recommendations of your real clients. I’d be happy to recommend you on on the shelf and so put cp.Com does a phenomenal job. If you want to get a free copy of warren, buffett only authorized biography a book by the name of snowball to warren buffett own authorized, biography, he’s giving it away today absolutely for free, and you can get that book by going to hood cpas. Com, that’s right! Nation I want to make sure everybody here leaves today with a bunch of free stuff. So if you got a hood cps.Com that you can get a free business conferences copy of the warren buffett book snowball, also, if you going to thrive time show.Com you can go up there. Click on the podcast button leave us an objective review and you can get a free ticket to our next in person. Drive time show workshop simply by emailing us proof that you did so to info at thrive. Time should I come loser review. You know it’s true. It to info at drive time should I come free tickets. Also drivetime.Com! You can find one on one business. Coaching you can find the conference’s. You can find thousands of videos it’s all there at thrive time should I come. My name is clay clark, it’s an honor to serve you and I wasn’t in the show, with a 3-2 in a one in the room. So here we go to one
