Hey there. If you thought your ship has sailed and it's too late to launch or pivot your online business, this podcast episode is perfect for you. Today we're going to challenge the myths and mindsets that could decrease your revenue instead of increase it. We're going to dig deep into transforming those can't do's to can do. Whether you're wrestling what value you're going to bring to your audience, or perhaps you feel that age is a limiting factor, or technology feels a little bit intimidating, stick around. You're about to discover that your third quarter of life is going to be your most fruitful one yet. Here on this episode, Golden Hustle, Passion and Profits After 55. Stay tuned. Welcome. I'm Marissa Shadrick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm an online marketing coach and certified copywriter. And in this podcast, you'll find a different perspective on the external and internal challenges we face as online entrepreneurs. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips as we create positive change in the world. To continue the conversation, join me in my private resilient creator community. Go to Marissa Shadrick.com forward slash community. Hello everyone, and welcome to this week's podcast episode. I'm Arissa Shadrick, and I'm happy to bring this content to you. I am going to talk about the elephant in the room, and that is age. And there is nothing to hide about age. I just recently had a birthday. I am now 65 years old, and I am loving my entrepreneurial journey. I feel that in this stage of life, I have the wisdom to implement all the knowledge that I've accumulated correctly. Because sometimes we might have a little bit of knowledge, but we don't have that wisdom to back it up. And as you get older, you have different perspectives, you see different sides of things, and that can really help you in business. So I want to sort of dedicate this to those people out there that are in their 50s or entering into their 60s or maybe already in their mid-60s that have an online business or are thinking about launching and feeling a little bit intimidated about what to offer, and intimidated about whether or not age is a limitation and also technology, which is a big one that a lot of my clients seem to fear. And we're going to address some of those, and hopefully I am going to remove some of the fears, the obstacles for you, and see what is possible. So the first thing we're going to tackle today is I don't know what to sell that has value. So many people say this. I just don't know what to sell. I don't know if I could coach people. I don't know what kind of product I could create, a digital course. And the thing of it is, if you are older, and this isn't limited to older because lots of young people that have come out of college and have had some life experience. Maybe it's something passed down from their family. There's a lot of old souls out there that have a lot of knowledge and wisdom. So I'm not saying they're not, but I'm saying if you're in my age demographic, you have to realize that you've accumulated a lot of knowledge and skills throughout the years. You've probably implemented it in different ways, maybe in your personal life, maybe in your career, but you have these skills, you have knowledge, you have this insight, so to speak, intuition that comes from experience. And this is so, so valuable, especially because we're no longer in the information age. We are now in the wisdom economy. People don't want just information, they can get that on YouTube, they can Google articles, they want wisdom on how to apply it in a specific way for their business. So they need someone with experience. And so this is something that really can help you outshine your competitors because you bring that wisdom and that value. As far as value proposition, those type of things, those are easy to be able to craft that once we begin to mine and figure out what it is you know, what kind of skills you have, what you enjoy to do, and how you can help people receive that transformation they're looking for. Those things can be done, and you contain that wisdom within you. You have to realize that you have that wisdom there, and that is very marketable. So, number two, this one is really something that is more of a mindset than actual a uh physical limitation. It's really the idea that I'm too old to start or I'm too old to do this. That is really not uh a physical limitation, it's more of a mental limitation, it's a mindset issue, especially these days. Oh my gosh, even on television, they have now the golden bachelor, right? These people that are in their 60s and they're dating. It is a different life now for people that are considered senior citizens. They're no longer sitting in a rocking chair on a porch, you know, reading magazines or playing with puzzles, right? They're entrepreneurs, they're people with passion, they're people that are pursuing their dreams. Maybe they've had a career, but they haven't been able to really spread their wings, and now they're saying, this is my chance, this is my opportunity, and I can do it from the comfort of my own home. So kudos to you if that's you. So, in any event, um, for people that feel that maybe they've reached that age that it's too late, let me just remind you and give you some examples of people who started their careers in their either late 50s or 60s as well. Let's start with, of course, some of these you probably heard of. This was from biography.com, uh Ray Kroc. Most of you know who that is. That is the person who started McDonald's. He started at the age 52, but even though he started at age 52, it wasn't until he was about 59 that McDonald's really took off. So that was in his latter years, and of course, we know the rest of the story now with McDonald's. And then we have Laura Ingall-Wilder. Um, Laura Ingalls-Wilder, again, this is from biography.com. She was at age 65 when she wrote Little House in the Big Woods. And of course, there were lots of offshoot offshoots from this particular book, plays, and even the TV series Little House on the Prairie. But she started later in life. And so there again is someone that was able to just have her career take off at uh age of 65. Then we have Peter Marc Grogie. This gentleman was 73 when the first Thesaurus was published. Pretty incredible. Now, here I have some additional notes here. The first edition of the Thesaurus begun when he was 61, and he finished it when he was 73. So can you imagine that took a long time to do and uh was the product of his retirement from active medical practice. So he had a full career in the medical field, and then when he retired, this became his project, and it took a long time, but yet he had this published, and we still use it today, the Thesaurus. So we have another one, these are really fun. Colonel Sanders, right? Everybody knows about Colonel Sanders, age 65, when he franchised Kentucky fried chicken. Now, here's the interesting thing with Colonel Sanders. He was 65, he began the franchise, his uh chicken business using his $105 monthly social security check. So he was using his social security check to be able to invest in his business, and then that took off. Then we have Anna Mary Robertson Moses, who is known more commonly for Grandma Moses, and she was 78 when she started painting. So I don't know if you've ever seen her paintings. They're really beautiful, very soft, almost like um they look like pastels, but very beautiful. Here's the interesting thing about her story: she could no longer embroider because of arthritis, and her friends suggested she try painting and painting scenes instead. So she did this because she had a limitation, she couldn't do something she enjoyed to do, and all of a sudden these paintings ended up being so beautiful and something that we all know today about Grandma Moses' paintings. So to say that you're too old to start is really a mindset, it's not really uh based on your physical age. So the third um mindset shift here is really looking at the idea of technology. Now, this is one I am a tech geek, I have been since I was in my 20s, loved technology, uh kind of a tech nerd, you might say. And so I have followed along with technology for decades, and I've seen the evolution from floppy disk to AI. I've seen how it's changed, I've seen how it's gone to the phone, even before it was it was, you know, we had the phones, computers and the way technology was advancing. I remember having conversations with my husband, and he was saying it won't be long until everything goes to the phone. And I even thought at that time, are you crazy? Everything going to the phone? And it has, you know, all those things that we thought before, like, well, who would want a home computer? And now we can't live without those and iPads and laptops and everything else. So things have changed there. So one of the things that I want to share here is technology is not this um intimidating monster anymore. It used to be pretty um not user-friendly. Let's put it that way. There were a lot of things you had to do, and a lot of tools didn't work together. And so you learned how to do one thing and then to connect it to something else, it was it was just a pain to do anything with technology because it was so limiting. And way back in the day, we didn't have enough storage. Of course, now we have the cloud, but there was a lot of things that would limit from being able to do day-to-day stuff, but not so anymore. Um, nowadays it's very user-friendly. It's over the past 10 years, um, if not longer, even the past 10 years, there's been so much that has improved. Tech tools for creating digital products, and all of those things have evolved. Email service providers have evolved. There were things that you had to piece together so much, like even 10 years ago, and now you have platforms that do multiple things. So most of the things now are very much like drag and drop, much easier than it was when uh, if you're in your 60s when we were young. When we were young, it wasn't that way. So if you haven't visited technology, you should take a peek at it because it's changed a lot in the last 10 years, even in the last five years, it's changed a lot. And like I said, we have a lot of drag and drop features. Modern platforms have these um functionalities, these features in them, and it eliminates the need for specialized tech skills. You don't need specialized tech skills. Anybody can do it, there's no coding necessary. And then we have uh pre-built templates. Many of them already come, like WordPress and even some of the service providers have templates to create uh lead magnets, the opt-in pages and the thank you pages, and all of those things. We have templates now that we just customize it to fit our brand, making the setup really quick and straightforward. You also have the seamless integration. So many of today's tools easily integrate, like I said, with existing systems that makes it nice. So all of that is easy to do. When you're looking for a tool, you can just Google and see what the tool integrates with, and you can see all the various other online tools that it works well with and it talks to, so it makes it very simple. One of the other things that I look at when I'm looking at online tools is customer service because there is a time when sometimes we just need a question answered or something just doesn't look quite right, not like we expected. And so it's good to have good customer support as well. And then, of course, we have the AI and analytics. Now we have lots of data that can help us make better decisions about what our next step is, and that is really, really helpful. Looking at the data, even social media platforms have analytics so that you can look at it. It's so easily accessible with just a couple of clicks, you can see results right away. Um, and so that's very helpful so you can make informed decisions. So if you're over 50, over 55, or maybe even over 60, here's my game-changing advice for you. Embrace today's technology, embrace the fact that it's no longer an information age. It is really a wisdom economy. It really is. People want the wisdom behind it. And so, since we've already paved the way, we've already kind of made the mistakes and we know what works and what doesn't, that is very, very valuable as well. So if you're in that space, I wanted to create this podcast for you because that's where I'm at. And I continue to use technology, I continue to use online strategies, I continue to do public speaking, I continue to run the race, right? I continue to run the field, you might say, and score those touchdowns because I love the fact that I can work from home. And since I can work from home, I can systemize a lot of things and automate a lot of things. And the times I do have to speak, it's those far and few times that I need to pack my bags and go somewhere. But other than that, most of the day-to-day is from home. And so it makes it really easy. So I just want to encourage you if you need help just figuring out what do I sell or what technology do I need, or you're trying to figure out, you know, what's the best strategy online. I'm going to be opening up my Amplify Your Authority in January. So I'm I'm kind of doing a soft conversational call for those people that maybe might be interested in finding out more about that. We started Amplify Authority this year, and we had two cohorts that went through it, and we've seen amazing results. It's minimum technology, a lot of relationship marketing, and really a way of positioning you to become an expert contributor on established platforms. And so it is a system that we go through. It's a six-month program, and the first three months you learn the system, and we go through your unique message, then we look at traffic in the second month, and then we look at products because you you need to really look at the products that you're going to offer and look to see how you can diversify so you can bring multiple streams of revenue, not put your eggs all in one basket. And then the remaining three months is really implementation and ironing out any kinks and answering questions as you're moving forward. So if that's of something of interest to you, I'm very patient with those people that don't know technology or are a little intimidated with it. And if you have the wisdom, if you have some skill, if you have knowledge that is you can monetize that is needed today, then you know you can create something with very little tech. You need some basic things like an email service provider so you can create your systems. I would prefer a CRM so you can follow up with leads and so forth, but you need to be very strategic because I never tell my clients to be everywhere on the internet. I think that's a waste of time. You need to find where your audience is and really double down on that and figure out a unique strategy for your business and double down on how to get in front of those people. Now that might be on one social platform or it may be entirely different. It might not even include any type of social media. It just depends on what it is that you have to offer. So there are multiple ways, many ways to crack a nut. And I really love this program because I can bring everything to it. I can bring the speaking skills that help me become one of the top hundred speakers in the world. I bring my marketing, I bring my copywriting to the table. I'm able to bring all my skills in this one program, and that's why I'm so excited about it. And we have bonuses as well. So all of that later. But if you're thinking about it, kicking the tires, wondering if this is a good fit for me, now would be the time to get on a call and you can click the link to be able to schedule a call with me and we can have a conversation. So that's what I have for you today. Um, thank you so much for listening. And I hope you pursue your dream. I hope you continue to make a difference in this world, continue to show up and be that voice that so many people need to hear and bring a perspective that is the accumulation of all your knowledge, wisdom, and skill that some people might not see or know about. So until next time, take care.