Are you starting over in life?

(Spoiler alert: It’s never too late.)

If you’re at the mid-point of your career — and your life — you have a lot of advantages, my friend.

You’re not a newbie in your field. You’ve acquired deep expertise. Sure — you’re starting over in life. But this time you’ve got experience and wisdom to spare.

And you’ve probably been knocked around by life, at least a little.

All of the above makes you a great candidate to start a business as you start over in life.

Your knowledge, coupled with your experience overcoming challenges, will serve you well on this journey.

In this article, we’re going to talk about starting a particular kind of business — an online business.

Online businesses are inexpensive and relatively easy to start. And as someone in the middle of life and your career, you are in an enviable position to create an online business that takes you through retirement and beyond.

Read on to discover why — and grab some resources that will help you get started!

Starting over in life? Here’s why an online business might be your best bet

By the time you reach the middle of your life and career, you’ve experienced challenges that make you the person you are today.

You may have:

• Lost a job through downsizing
• Lived through health challenges, both physical and mental
• Had to upend your life with a relocation
• Needed to re-learn your profession due to major changes

That may be only the tip of the iceberg. Most of my friends and colleagues in this age group have a long list of challenges they’ve had to rise to meet.

The beauty of an online business is that it can help make managing challenges easier.

With an online business:

• You own the business, so you won’t get fired at random
• Your business is flexible, so health and family challenges are easier to manage
• You can grab your laptop and take your business with you if you need to relocate or want to travel
• You’ll need to learn new things — and that keeps your brain young!

Your online business may take longer to grow than you’d prefer. Building it to the point that it supports you can take a while (more on this below).

But another advantage of building an online business in the middle of your life is that you may be able to support your business during its growing stages with another source of income — either from a current job or alternative business.

Tapping another source of income gives you the breathing room to let your new online business grow organically over time.

But online business building won’t be a simple, trouble-free path. Read on to learn why.

Let’s get real: Here’s why starting over in life with an online business might be frustrating

In case you haven’t noticed already, I’m not one of those “I-will-teach-you-to-earn-six-figures-in-a-month-by-next-week!” online “gurus.”

Yeah … that’s not me.

I’d rather you know the real story. And I’m not going to paint a picture that’s just not true for the majority of people.

Here’s the truth about online business:

There’s a lot to learn — and online business best practices are always changing.

This is not a once-and-done skill you can learn and practice. It’s an ever-changing industry.

Personally, I find this exciting! But for some people, the fact that the ground is constantly shifting beneath them feels terribly uncomfortable.

Here’s something else to keep in mind if you’re starting over in life and building an online business:

Success online will probably take longer than you wish it would.

Online business success happens as you build an audience of people who are interested in your area of expertise. As your audience grows, you’re able to earn more through your promotions.

But audience growth usually happens slowly.

It’s like a tree. When it’s newly planted, it doesn’t provide much shade.

It becomes more valuable as it grows. Once it’s fully grown, it provides shade and shelter.

Growth takes time.

As someone who’s in the middle of life, though, you have a pragmatic view of the world. You don’t expect miracles — you anticipate challenges.

And you’re ready for challenges when they appear.

Online business building has a roadmap

There’s no real shortcut to online business success.

But there’s a roadmap.

And if you follow the four stages laid out on the roadmap, you’ll stay on track — and feel less overwhelmed by everything you’re mastering.

Let’s go over the stages very briefly here:

Stage 1: Plan

The Plan stage is where you pinpoint who you want to help, and how you want to help them. You’ll create a business name and begin mapping out your first offers.

Stage 2: Build

The Build stage is where you’ll start putting together the pieces of what will become your online business. You’ll build a website, a first offer (whether it’s a product or service), and a first “funnel,” or step-by-step method for moving interested prospects toward becoming paying customers.

Stage 3: Implement

The Implement stage is where you’ll make the offers you’ve built live. You’ll grow your audience, and begin earning income from the solutions you develop. You’ll put yourself and your business “out there” and will start seeing the results!

Stage 4: Grow

The Grow stage is where you build on the successes you’ve had in the Implement stage. You have predictable income, so you can begin re-investing in your business.

Get the roadmap so you can see the BIG picture

Register here and I’ll send you a roadmap you can use to guide you through the four stages of online business growth:

You’re not too old to start an online business

People in mid-career who are starting over in life with and online business love  my BIG League program. It’s designed to put resources for navigating the online business world at your fingertips.

I asked a few BIG League customers to share more about the businesses they’re building — which are as varied, smart, and interesting as they are!

What’s your story?

Scroll on down to the comments and let me know. And don’t forget to grab your roadmap to guide you if you’re starting over in life by building an online business.