logged
The average career change comes at 39…
I just saw two numbers on Facebook that completely changed the way I think about entrepreneurship.
The average person changes careers around 39.
And the average age of a first-time entrepreneur is about 42.
It explains a lot about the resistance I see in younger people around marketing and entrepreneurship.
I tried to start my first business at 22, so starting young seemed obvious to me. But looking back, I had no idea what I was doing, gave up easily, felt like business was a mystery I’d never solve, and went back to playing folk music at punk shows in hopes I’d get noticed one day and make it big in the indie music scene.
And years later, I was mostly fixed on how I liked to spend my time rather than creating something people actually wanted.
So the ideas I tried were never that great.
It’s important to build your business around how you like to spend your time.
And it’s even more important to take time experimenting with what you like. But at some point, reality taps you on the shoulder and says, “This is cool… but how does it help other people get what they want?”
Because that’s the only way to build a successful business.
Help other people get what they want.
And discovering how to really do that, takes time. So you have to care enough about what you’re doing in order to stick with while figuring out how it fits into the world around you. And most people don’t have that clarity yet in their early 20s.
I didn’t.
I started a construction company because I had the skill, I knew it made money, I knew my city was in massive revitalization phase with people swarming to rehab it’s vacant homes in droves. So I learned how to run a business while making money. Which is pretty cool.
But I always knew my heart wasn’t with it.
It was the “pay the bills” business, not the “this is what I want to build my life around” business.
So even when things were going well on paper, it still felt off. And what’s interesting is how this plays out online. I talk to a lot of younger people who say they want to start a business but when they see what marketing actually looks like, they start saying things like, “Yeah, that’s not for me.”
And it makes sense…
Starting something new is exciting. Sticking with it is the hard part.
I started writing on Threads more than two years ago, and 90% of the people who started alongside me (or more) are gone. They’ve given up. And they’re not lazy. I’ve talked to many of them on the phone. They’re driven, excited, ambitious… but they realized trying to grow on social media isn’t actually how they want to spend their time.
Some younger folks are absolutely crushing it early…
And that’s awesome, I want to celebrate that… but the truth is… most of them will also need to put in the reps, deal with false starts, and experiment with life and different contexts for their business before they really make something sustainable out of it.
By the time you’re in your 30s or 40s, you’ve lived enough to know what matters to you… and what doesn’t.
That’s not a disadvantage.
It’s an advantage.
I disappeared from social media for seven years right as it was becoming a real business tool. When I came back, people were building audiences, selling products, and making a living online. And on the outside it might have seemed like I missed the train and had to catch up.
But in reality, I was just showing up with different questions.
So if you’re feeling late, or behind, or like everyone else around you already has it figured out…
Just remember, you’re right on time.
You didn’t miss your window of opportunity.
You just have the exact amount of life experience now to build something that actually fits with your life.
And if you want to do that alongside the rest of us inside The Nature of Marketing Community, here’s the link:
Talk soon,
Kevin Hood