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It looks like the face of small business will be a lot more mature soon. The stereotype of the entrepreneur these days is a twenty- or
thirtysomething guy, yet the average entrepreneur will be older in the next few years, according to research led by Richard W. Oliver, a
professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Business. Oliver points out that workers between the ages of 25 and 44 are the
largest source of new entrepreneurs, a shift that mirrors an aging trend in the workforce.
By 2006, that group is expected to decrease by more than 4 million people. In contrast, the ranks of those between 45 and 64 are expected to
swell by more than 15 million people.
Aren't those older entrepreneurs going to be retiring and closing their businesses? Yes, but the career path of the aging entrepreneur is
changing, too. Those elders aren't going to bow out on cue. They're likely to close down full-scale operations but stay in business as
consultants or start part-time "hobby" businesses with only themselves to manage.
That's what John Hexter, 54, a business and marketing consultant in Cleveland and chairman of NSBU, did when he closed his 11-employee
printing business in 1996, after 18 years. Now he works
solo from home, advising clients from his old printing business on marketing and management matters. "More and more [older entrepreneurs] will
do exactly what I have done," he says. "Exit does not mean quitting work. It means changing the nature of your work."
By
Jeremy Quittner
in New York
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