On December 26, 2010, I launched this blog. My first story — a one-sentence post titled “Hello World!”– wasn’t exactly a barn burner. Yet it was gratifying to click on the “publish” button and watch the post go live.
My kids thought it was pretty funny. “Look,” one of them shouted gleefully. “Mom is starting a BLOG!”
I can’t blame them for having some good-natured fun at my expense. Having never written a blog before, I didn’t know what I was doing. But I did have a vision: to create a place where I could share the inspirational stories and interesting research I unearthed as I wrote my book about 40-and-older entrepreneurs.
Over time, the blog became so much more. After I wrote this post about a Five Guys franchisee, I heard from a former work colleague I hadn’t spoken with in many years. Soon after, we met for burgers and fries at a local Five Guys restaurant. That meeting rekindled our friendship. We enjoyed several more lunches together before she passed away from cancer five years later.
I’ve also connected with other bloggers and business leaders I wouldn’t have met otherwise. Some of these connections, in turn, led to conversations about a wide range of entrepreneurial topics, from finding the right business idea to dealing with setbacks. After I wrote about late-blooming entrepreneur Steve Fredlund and his first-ever TEDx talk titled “Putting the Right Peeps in Your Jeep,” Steve invited me to be a guest on his podcast. We had a great conversation about the value of public speaking for small business owners.
From these types of exchanges, I’ve seen that late bloomers who start successful endeavors tend to be persistent. They are also optimists. Rather than seeing themselves as “too old,” they embrace the many benefits – such as life experience, knowledge and resilience — that come with starting a business at an older age.
To mark 10 years of blogging, I’m re-sharing 10 of my favorite posts. After 264 posts, it’s tough to narrow the list to just 10 — but I hope you enjoy this walk down Memory Lane.
Whether you’ve just started reading this site, or have been visiting it for a while, thank you for joining me on my blogging journey. Wishing you much success in 2021.
Lynne
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How One Couple Found a Business Idea Seven Thousand Miles from Home
Late-Blooming Mompreneur Thinks Outside the Lunchbox
Building a Business One Bike Wheel at a Time
Cookies on Call: Franny Martin’s Sweet Success
A Love for Photography Leads to a Business
How Two Friends Built a Gourmet Licorice Business Together
Cyber Security Entrepreneur Turns Her Vision into Reality
How One Dad Teaches His Kids About Entrepreneurship
From Crunching Numbers to Chopping Veggies: How a 40-Something Found Her Calling
How a 60-Year-Old Entrepreneur Crushed His First Gravel Bike Race
