Getting Started in Small Business
A Third Age Small Business feature
by our Small Business Editor

Getting Started in Small Business begins with an idea. If you are in your Third Age then there must be plenty of ideas you’ve had in the past. Things you’ve seen being done by other people perhaps. Things you’d thought you could do better, simpler or more cheaply.

So to begin with, ask yourself a number of questions.

What is it that I enjoy doing?
If you are in your Third Age, broadly aged 50 and over, you may have come to the realization that life is simply too short to do something that you don’t enjoy doing. So don’t sit there with a blank sheet of paper trying to jot down business ideas willy nilly. Ask yourself what you really enjoy doing. Make a note of your favourite hobbies and pastimes.

Is there something you’ve noted down that you enjoy doing more than anything else? Do you have a particular skill in that regard that you could market? Do you have sufficient knowledge of that field that would enable you to turn it into a business?

Is there a gap in the market?
While you’ve been making those notes, have you thought of something related to that hobby or pastime that you think you could do better than someone else, or better than is currently being done? Is there a related product or service you think is missing that you could produce or provide?

We are not necessarily looking for muli-million pound business ideas here – unless of course that’s what you want. What we’re looking for is a product or service related to something that you enjoy doing that could be turned into a Small Business.

Take a look at our Small Business Opportunities page. It might give you some idea of the astonishing range of options open to you in your Third Age. Take a look also at the likes of our Artistic Pursuits page.

Is there something there that you particularly enjoy doing? Because if you enjoy doing any of those things, so do others. And if other people feel the same as you, there’s a Small Business Opportunity there.

You might be forgiven for thinking that Gift Wrapping for example is such an obscure hobby that no one could possibly turn it into a money making opportunity. And yet there are people who offer a Gift Wrapping Service and who have turned their hobby into a successful business. There’s no reason why you couldn’t do the same!

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