How Age and Life Experience are Competitive Advantages

How Age and Life Experience are Competitive Advantages

At Big Pixel, we work with a wide variety of startup companies. We find that many of our clients, after working several decades in a particular field, choose to leave their steady job and fulfill a desire to start their own businesses.

We love that!

Why? Because age can bring experience, skills, knowledge, and a plethora of other things that you don’t have when you’re a young whippersnapper. Here’s just a few.

Large Network of Contacts and Connections

When you’ve lived five, six, or seven decades, you’ve met a lot of people and made many connections. Your network can be very wide and deep. 

Instead of having to start with a smaller group, as often is the case with young startups, you can generate leads and clients for your business from a much larger network of people who have known you for years. 

This makes it so much easier to get your first clients and grow your business!

Wisdom to Stay in Your Lane of Expertise

Figuring out what you’re great at and enjoy can take years to figure out.

But when you’ve lived for several decades, your life experiences have helped you discover things about yourself that are important to know when you’re starting a business. 

You know what drives you and what stalls you. You know what gives you joy and what drains your energy.

Figuring this part out is important as a startup because you need to be able to clearly articulate your value and who and how you help. By being clear, you’re making it easy for people to say yes to you.

You avoid having to be all things to all people. You do what you’re best at and delegate the rest.

Little, If Any, Financial Pressure

Decades of accumulating wealth and getting out of debt has its advantage when you’re in startup mode.

When you’ve lived for many decades, you don’t worry when your corporate job income stops because you’ve paid off large debts and invested in opportunities that are growing your money. You’ve also learned how to manage your money better than you did when you were a young and hopelessly optomistic. You know you’ll be alright. 

Willing to Ask for Help

As an older startup business owner, your self-worth isn’t tied into your ability to figure things out on your own. You know that asking for help solves problems sooner.

You’ve learned to recognize when you need help and you’re not afraid to ask, saving you time and frustration and accelerating the business outcomes you’re seeking. 

Accumulation of Skills and Experience that are Needed with a New Business

When you’re starting a new business and it’s only you, you’re wearing a lot of hats. 

But as an older startup, you’ve acquired a toolbox of life skills, knowledge, and experience over the decades that a young startup hasn’t yet developed. You have the advantage of being able to open that toolbox whenever it’s needed.

Confidence in Yourself

And the highest competitive advantage you have as an older startup is belief in yourself. 

You’ve acquired a track record of success and a wealth of knowledge that can only be achieved by living through decades of life experiences. 

So when problems come with your startup, you’re not giving up because you’ve already proven that you’re capable of handling them.

Hats off to our older startup business owners!

Based on an excerpt from our BIZ/DEV podcast, Episode 51.