
A few weeks back while riding the subway, I started reading the overhead advertisements. Plastered throughout the car was an offering of free adult education in NYC. Turns out I can take PhotoShop for free. I am a 56-year-old small business entrepreneur. I have been schooling myself behind the scenes of my retail store for years. At the moment I am trying to conquer SEO. This will be a while! Â Honestly, there is no excuse nowadays not to take advantage of what is available to us. It takes a little digging, a lot of time and the internal fight with night time Netflix and red wine:)
Sometimes I get frustrated with my age limitation. Not that I am incapable of running a small business, but I definitely feel the clock ticking. Sometimes I fantasize I am 30 years old and I have an extra 26 years to play with.I had to rework my thinking. I obviously have to accept the fact that 60 is getting closer and closer. What I now ask myself is what do I, as an older entrepreneur have to offer myself and others? In my discovery, I was surprised with an almost instinctive bag of tricks and tools I kept heavily guarded in my aging brain, I even questioned myself. Why do I know this? How am I capable of figuring this out? I don’t remember anyone teaching me!
The positive aspects of being an older entrepreneur are two-fold. We can still have the enthusiasm of our youth but we also have the experience of our life.
My self-discovery is just this. I am grateful for my longer life. I am at ease with myself. I innately know cool stuff and don’t second guess myself like I did as a young adult. I am thrilled that I can be in control of my own responsibilities. If I question why something isn’t working, it is me and only me that will  rework it until it does.
So, back to my Photoshop class. I absolutely love it! I have wanted to learn the program for many years. I can’t hire someone to do all the photo editing for on my website, so now I get to do it!
I am including a few links to help with contacting resources.
A great place to begin is the Encore.org site, ‘a leader in the work-retirement ecosystem. It features a  calendar of local encore career events’.
directory of local organization resources
Transition Network,
Small Business Development Center
Plus 50
www.score.org