AARP Eye Center
About 50 older adults interested in starting their own business attended an Encore Entrepreneur Workshop in Lansing on April 29.
The workshop, sponsored by AARP Michigan and the U.S. Small Business Administration, featured expert advice on writing a business plan, developing a marketing strategy, securing financing and other topics.
Speakers included experts from the SBA, AARP Michigan, Small Business Development Center, SCORE, Lansing Economic Area Partnership, Michigan Women's Foundation and FranNet.
The session concluded with success stories about business startups from two Michigan encore entrepreneurs.
Lloyd Kendall of Williamston is a 52-year-old engineer at General Motors who is nearing retirement. He attended the workshop to explore his options.
"I'm looking for ideas to challenge me and to see what avenues are out therefor me to pursue," Kenall said. "And a big thing is networking and looking at all the resources available to me."
Jennifer Feuerstein, AARP Michigan Associate State Director for Community Outreach, noted that 63% of Americans plan to work during retirement and 20% of people 50 and older are self-employed. She also said 25% of new businesses are launched by 55-64-year-olds -- a higher percentage than for younger groups.
"These numbers show that people in their 50s, 60s and 70s are relevant in the work force," Feuerstein said.
Nancy Grose, Economic Development Specialist for the SBA, talked about access to capital and guaranteed loans.
"We partner with others to help you succeed," Grose said. "There's a lot of help out there if you know where to look."
Tom Donaldson, Regional Director of the Small Busines Development Center, said there's plenty of no-cost counseling available for budding entrepreneurs.
"We can help you look at feasibility. We can answer the question 'is this a good idea?'" he said.
Scott Schmidt of Schmidt Grant Counseling related a success story about his two-year-old grant-writing business located in Brooklyn.
"There are great tools out there to help you write a business plan," Schmidt said.
He added: "Since I've started I've been able to write myself a paycheck every two weeks," which elicited "woo-hoos!" from the crowd.
AARP Michigan also had Encore Enterepreneur Workshops this month in Grand Rapids and Metro Detroit.
For more information, visit: www.aarp.org/startabusiness
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