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What does it take to become an entrepreneur?

It takes courage, fortitude, and a tolerance for risk to become an entrepreneur at any age.  Whilst most of us want flexibility and autonomy in our work, setting up and operating a business requires a high degree of confidence and enthusiasm, a wide range of skills, is time consuming, and is generally harder than working for someone else.  Nevertheless, there is an emerging trend for people to start a business for the first time in later life, and this has increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.  And, according to the New Zealand Office for Seniors, self-employment income for older people is projected to significantly increase in the future. 

Why do individuals in the second half of life choose to change gears, and go down this route?  What is the trigger?  What motivates them?  What is the nature of the businesses they establish, and how do they go about it?  Want to know more?  Check out ‘Changing Gears: Entrepreneurs@50+’.  In this book you’ll meet 33 later life entrepreneurs, who share a snapshot of their business ideas, their challenges and how they overcame them, and their aspirations for the future.  This easy-to-read book also offers lots of tips, and useful websites for anyone who is considering going down this route and has received excellent reviews from readers.

‘Changing Gears: Entrepreneurs @ 50+’ is available in Kindle and paperback formats from your favourite online bookstores e.g., Amazon, Fishpond.NZ, Barnes and Noble and Books & Co, in Ōtaki

Various events, including workshops about the book are being scheduled (for details see Workshops and Events scheduled 2023 Workshops / Events (angelarobertson.nz) If you are interested in hosting an event in your district, email Angela kiaora@angelarobertson.nz

#self-actualisation #fulfillment #encore careers #entrepreneurs in later life

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Entrepreneurs@ 50+

Yes, you can generate an income while crafting a life of independence and purpose ……. if you want to.

At last, the long-awaited book, ‘Changing Gears: Entrepreneurs @ 50+’ has now been published on Amazon.com A big ‘Thank You’ to the awesome entrepreneurs who feature in it. In addition to sharing their experience, they also share some of the challenges they faced and how they overcame them. These individuals create their own reality and show us it’s never too late to change direction. If you have that nagging feeling of ‘What’s next for me’, this book is for you.  Inspired by their example, you might like to give it a go too.  Watch this space for details of the official book launch which will be held in Kāpiti in February 2023.

Available in e.Book and paperback formats https://www.amazon.com/author/angelarobertson

If you purchase this book, I’d really appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to provide a review. Nga mihinui, Angela R.

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Changing Direction in Later Life

While ageing is inevitable, the second half of life is an opportunity to revision and re-ignite our lives.  We can:

  • Change gears – if we choose to
  • Scale back, change direction, start a business, exit the workplace, revitalize our lifestyle, re-train
  • Refocus our time and energy on things that matter
  • Make conscious choices about how we spend our time and who we spend our time with
  • Seek new opportunities and challenges
  • Channel our energy into activities that matter.

Transitioning into a new period of active life offers:

  • New perspectives
  • An opportunity to step outside our comfort zone
  • The chance to recharge our batteries
  • An opportunity to build and develop our inner resources and navigate and plan a more balanced and rewarding lifestyle. 

The choice is over to us.

Depending on your mindset, this phase of life can potentially be even more fulfilling than what has gone before, but can be daunting.

If you are ready to shape this new phase in your life and enter a new stage of renewal and personal growth, contact me, I can help. 

Kiaora@angelarobertson.nz

Mobile 027 633 2821

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Changing Gears – What’s next for you?

Workshop

Have you reached the stage where you want to:

  • Change direction in your career and/or lifestyle?
  • Release the brakes and step up in your career?
  • Scale back; reduce your hours/responsibilities?
  • Exit the workplace?
  • Start a business?
  • Consider new options, possibilities, and adventures?
  • Revitalise your lifestyle?

Regardless of your age and stage, it can be scary to step outside your comfort zone.  But you can take control of your destiny, create your future, and live the life you want.  This workshop is for those who are ready to stop waiting and make things happen.  After all, the best investment you can make is in yourself.

Where:  The Mahi Space, Bath Street, Levin

When:  Thursday 2nd June, 12noon-1.30pm

Facilitator:  Angela Robertson

Register here to reserve your place www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/changing-gears-whats-next-for-you-tickets-342468782347

Contact me if you’d like to host this, or a similar workshop in your area Kiaora@angelarobertson.nz www.angelarobertson.nz

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Life After Work

As our paid working life comes to an end, most of us plan to enjoy many years in what we traditionally call ‘retirement’.  In today’s world, the population is ageing, which means that we are probably going to have far more time in this phase of life, than any previous generation – maybe even decades!  Whilst we all age differently and have no way of knowing how long we are going to live, the potential to live longer, healthier, and enjoyable lives provide a golden opportunity to: –

  • Change our lifestyle and routines
  • Pursue new activities
  • Fulfil long-nurtured ambitions
  • Strengthen our relationships family and friends
  • Focus on our health and wellbeing
  • Meet new people
  • Reconnect with the community we live in, and
  • Grow in ways that were not possible when our lives focused on paying the mortgage, raising the family, doing the daily commute, and eons of workday stresses and cares.

Of course, there is always a period of adjustment when we make big life changes, but this stage offers an exciting opportunity – a chance to reflect, re-vison and re-ignite our lives. 

It takes skill and planning to ensure that our post-paid work years are happy, healthy, and secure, rather than drift into aimless, mind-numbing, monotonous leisure (doing nothing) – a luxury that can quickly fade into disenchantment.

The goal in retirement is not to give up, let go and stagnate.  You still have a life to live.  To get the best out of later life, plan for the transition and the foreseeable future.  After all, life is a continuous adventure and it’s up to each of us to make the most of it.

Dr. Angela Robertson is an inspirational author, speaker, facilitator, and coach with a wealth of experience in maximising individual and collective potential.  Through her coaching, writing, and speaking engagements she encourages people, regardless of their age and stage, to continually expand their horizons, leverage their strengths, and channel their energy into activities that matter.

E.mail Angela for more information kiaora@angelarobertson.nz

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What does later life look like?

What does later life look like for you?  Looking ahead to what we may traditionally call ‘our retirement years’, we’ll have potentially only lived for two-thirds of our lives.  Accepting that we all age differently, given the gift of healthier, extended lifespan, these years can be the best years of our lives – depending on our mindset. 

As life is a continuous adventure, our chronological age becomes less and less relevant.  Our functional age is far more important.  As Adlai Stevenson once said,

“It’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years that count”

I believe later life offers so many possibilities for personal growth and fulfilment.  We can change gears, change direction, and expand our horizons if we want to.  This phase of adult life provides us with the opportunity to channel our time and energy into the activities that we enjoy and the relationships that really matter.  Ageing is inevitable, so it makes sense to embrace the ageing process, take good care of ourselves, enjoy life’s pleasures, and make the most of the additional years later life offers. 

What thoughts come to mind when you think ahead?

Are you looking forward with excitement or apprehension?

Storytelling is a wonderful way to explore and learn from other people’s experience.  A huge debt of gratitude is due to the awesome men and women who generously shared their stories with me.  From diverse backgrounds, these individuals’ range in age from their mid-50’s to 100 years.  They all live in New Zealand for at least part of the year and have reached a stage in life where it is possible to both look back and forward.  With their permission a lifetime of wildly different experiences has been condensed into the four collections of inspirational cameo short stories in the ’Older and Bolder’ series of books. 

Despite the unique set of circumstances and the challenges these men and women have encountered, they appreciate that their experiences, and the lessons they learned along the way, have shaped who they are and the choices they make.  Each has responded to new opportunities ahead, despite their different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.  Their attitudes to life and their perspective on ageing is insightful and uplifting.  They embrace life and all that it offers on their own terms, and inspired by their example, so can we.

Along the way we learn that it’s never too late to change direction, start something new, live in a different place, make bold decisions, take on significant projects, and invest in meaningful relationships.  It’s up to each one of us to make the most of our extended lifespans.  After all, life is a gift for us to enjoy, and as Marty Rubin wisely said,

“Everything is irrelevant but this:

To embrace life.

To feel it.

To savour it.

To love it”.

‘Embracing Life On Our Own Terms’, the third collection of stories in the ‘Older and Bolder’ series, features 17 stories cameo life stories of 7 women, 6 men, and 4 couples.

Embracing Life On Our Own Terms Fascinating life stories of awesome individuals thriving in later life.

Paperback copies can be purchased directly from the author at Kiaora@angelarobertson.nz ($30 postage free in NZ), or from the following online bookstores Dr Angela Robertson Books: Buy Online from Fishpond.co.nz 

Amazon.com: Angela Robertson: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle 

www.kobo.com/nz/en/search?query=Embracing+Life+On+Our+Own+Terms

Dr. Angela Robertson is an inspirational author, speaker, facilitator, and coach with a wealth of experience in maximising individual and collective potential.  Through her writing and speaking engagements she encourages people, regardless of their age and stage, to continually expand their horizons, leverage their strengths, and channel their energy into activities that matter.

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Made A Commitment to Your Writing Project?

Like any project, we all start off with good intentions, but it’s easy to get de-railed if we don’t commit to a plan and develop the writing habit. 

Research shows that if we set a specific time to complete a task and have a plan of how we will achieve it, we are 8 times more likely to get on with it. 

Being specific about these details makes a difference to your level of commitment to your goal.  Decide:

  • Which days of the week you’ll write?  Be realistic
  • Identify the time of day you are most productive.  Schedule some of this time for your writing project
  • Where you will write? Make sure your documents and toolkit are handy
  • Track your progress.  Find out what works best for you and stick with it.

This is how I approach my writing projects.  It works for me so it could work for you too. If you need support and/encouragement, reach out.  I’d be happy to help.

Angela Robertson – Author, Speaker, Facilitator and Coach

Kiaora@angelarobertson.nz www.angelarobertson.nz Amazon.com: Angela Robertson: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

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A New Year’s Wish (An old Irish Toast)

May you have:

Enough happiness to keep you sweet.

Enough trials to keep you strong.

Enough sorrow to keep you human.

Enough hope to keep you happy.

Enough failure to keep you humble.

Enough success to keep you eager.

Enough friends to give you comfort.

Enough wealth to meet your needs.

Enough enthusiasm to look forward.

Enough faith to banish depression.

Enough determination to make each day better than yesterday.

Best wishes for the New Year. (Author unknown)

What do you wish for in 2022?

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Remembrance Day

It was the 20th anniversary of my father’s death that triggered this blog.  A former Royal Marine, he was awarded the Burma Star for operational service in Burma during the second world war.  Throughout his life he was a proud member of the Royal Naval and Burma Star Association and regularly took part in their activities.  In his late 70’s, he died in the UK, the day before Remembrance Day.  We were heartbroken.

Dad was born and raised in the heart of the Midlands and joined the marines in his teens.  Like many young men of the day, he hadn’t travelled far from home and had no experience at sea.  No matter, it was wartime and being a member of the UK’s Commando Force and the Royal Navy’s amphibious troops appealed.    

Following his basic training he served on several ships including HMS Phoebe, a light cruiser he was particularly fond of.  He wanted to name his first-born Phoebe in memory of this ship, fortunately my mother put her foot down.  My sister Linda considers this a near miss and is forever grateful.   

HMS Phoebe

Dad saw active service in the Far East, Egypt and in various countries the Mediterranean including Malta.  As children, we were enthralled with his stories of life at sea.  We loved to spend time looking at his photos in various uniforms; his regular uniform, dress uniform – the one got married in, and the tropical gear he wore in India, Ceylon, Burma and Egypt.  Looking at each photo brought back treasured memories, he could recall where he was at the time the picture was taken and could name the other guys he was with at the time.  It all sounded exotic and fun to us kids.  I wish we had written all of this down.

While he enjoyed the camaraderie life in the service provides, and his time at sea and abroad, it wasn’t an easy occupation, either during the heat of the war, or post-war as our family lived in the Midlands.  Dad signed up for the long-term, he wasn’t conscripted.  He was released from service when he contracted tuberculosis.  A sick man, it took two years for him to recover during which time my mother went back to work to support the family. 

Remembrance Day was very important to my dad – lest we forget.  I am reminded of the poem by John McCrae “In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow. Between the crosses, row on row. That mark our place, and in the sky. The larks, still bravely singing, fly. Scarce heard amid the guns below”.  My dad, as the saying goes, is always on my mind, forever in my heart.

Don’t leave it until it’s too late.  Capture your memories for your family and friends.  Reach out if you need a hand. I’d be happy to help. Contact me   Kiaora@angelarobertson.nz  www.angelarobertson.nz

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Exciting News – Double Book Launch

In association with the annual celebration of the International Day of Older Persons, the 3rd and 4th collections of inspirational cameo stories in the Older and Bolder series have now been published.  The awesome men and women featured in these books come from all walks of life and range in age from 50+-101 years – what’s more, they all live in New Zealand. 

These individuals challenge the stereotype that advancing age means a narrowing down of life choices. Despite their wildly different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences, and regardless of their age and circumstances, they are expanding their horizons, moving out of their comfort zones and take advantage of the opportunities around them. They show us that we can change gears, start new projects and forge new relationships at any age if we want to. Inspired by their example so can we.

The official double book launch is being held on 15th October, 10am at the Ocean Road Community Centre, Paraparaumu. The guest speakers are Diane Turner, the Director of the Office for Seniors, and Liz Koh, Director of Enrich Retirement and you’ll get meet some of the men and women whose stories feature in the books.  Paperback copies of the books can be purchased at the event or from your favourite online bookstores and are also available in Kindle and e.book formats.  Email Angela for more details kiaora@angelarobertson.nz

Watch this space as further speaking engagements are planned to be held in other locations in the near future.