Jenny and her Entrepreneurial Journey-Week 1

Hi. My name is Jenny and I’d like to bring you along on my entrepreneurial journey that will kickstart the next phase of my family’s life. My husband and I are putting our family BBQ business through the ropes of the Rocky Mountain Microfinance Institute’s Business Launch Boot Camp.

RMMFI seems to be a veteran at this, taking the fledgling business ideas and promising ventures of the underrepresented in Colorado and incubating them, putting knowledge in front of people and pointing out the best tools for the step-by-step of launching viable businesses, and then watching them fly. All to provide more economic stability in our community.

I heard about RMMFI a few years ago when my husband and I saw the work they were doing, holding workshops in different locations throughout the city of Denver. I remember meeting a group of participants on break, seeing how focused and serious they were, holding binders and traversing the halls that were lined with info tables, business owners already on their journey. That image stuck with me over the years, anytime I saw the letters RMMFI. I’m guessing that this focus, this earnestness - combined with where life has taken us after all these years of trying in business, seeing a spark, then seeing lightning bolts of progress and then the rains again – this determination and the promise of finally seeing lasting, sustainable progress at the end of a program like this is what led me to send that email and embark upon this journey. It is already an exhilarating ride, and we’re only technically in Week 2. Really. A baby has been born to one member of our group, and what a real live metaphor for what each one of is going through right now. There are six or seven of us. And we’re about to give birth. Many of us not for the first time. I’ll bring you along for the ride: A 53 years old mother and grandmother with many energetic entrepreneurial years ahead of me, I do believe I’m the oldest of us all, me and my husband. I have noticed as an older female, I have lately been written off more than I care to notice, and I plan to make this stop. It is a reality of life in the US, where aging and becoming an elder does not carry the same weight it does in many other parts of the world, but it is not a reality I intend to let define me, or throw up barriers. This boot camp is to be part of my strategy towards achieving future success, and I’m not about to let others treat us as if our future is done. In any case, RMMFI has orchestrated it where there is a mix of younger and older, male and female, educated and self-taught, and it’s a good mix. Our first day of introductions when I first greeted everyone and sat down, I felt the uncertainty that everyone in the room could feel. It was absolutely palpable. A feeling of not quite knowing what to expect, but also a definite sense of purpose and a determination on the part of each person that their budding ideas, this focus on business-building, was the ultimate reason for sitting here this day. That feeling is burgeoning into a full-blown mission. Already. At two weeks in. We each have sharpened our mission into an elevator pitch. Already. At two weeks in. We each know we have work to do, and that we can succeed. Already. At two weeks in. Because others have, we can, too. Without a doubt. Come with me on this journey.

AARP is proud to collaborate with Rocky Mountain MicroFinance to offer scholarships for those 50 plus to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities.