How to make a fortune after 50

From Reuters online:

At an age when others might ready for pre-retirement, some folks pass age 50 determined to start a new life in the business world - and succeed beyond their rosiest business plan projections...

Reuters spoke with four entrepreneurs who have created successful businesses after 50. And take note: Three of the four leaders featured here are women, having shattered the twin glass ceilings of gender and age...


Carol Gardner, 66

HER STORY: While nursing a broken femur and a broken heart (she'd just divorced her husband of 27 years), Gardner got an English Bulldog named Zelda, who became the mascot of a humorous greeting card land gift line, Zelda Wisdom. A former advertising creative director, Gardner started the business at age 52 around 1997, and almost by accident: Cash-strapped, she entered a Christmas card contest held by a pet store to win free dog food for a year, and won.

TODAY: Gardner started her company with 24 greeting cards in the middle of her living room. Within six months, she sold more than one million cards. Today she produces more than 200 licensed Zelda products, from calendars to children's books. Sales are conservatively estimated at $50 million annually.

TOP TIPS: Listen to your customers...


Franny Martin, 65

HER STORY: A former marketing professional who worked with Domino's Pizza, Martin left the corporate world just shy of turning 56 to pursue her passion - baking cookies.

TODAY: Martin's Cookies on Call, based in Douglas, Michigan, ships 40 cookie varieties all over the world and should surpass $700,000 in sales for 2011. She provides work for more than a dozen part-time and full-time employees. She started the company in 2002.

TOP TIPS: Get a great business team and ask for sage advice. "Make sure that you have the best accountant, the best lawyer and the best web designer," Martin says...


Jill Boehler, 59

HER STORY: A self-described "do gooder," Boehler spent her career as a speech pathologist until she got the inspiration to make "portable shawls" (wrinkle-free wraps that come with a tiny carrying bag) after she shivered through a meal at a restaurant because the air conditioning was too high. Soon she was making cold calls at fashion stores; she was 54 when she started in 2006.

TODAY: The founder of Chilly Jilly sold more than $500,000 in products in 2010 and is constantly unrolling new products, from gloves to the Duelette bracelet and hair tie. Boehler works with 20 private contractors across the country.

TOP TIPS: Toughen up...

STARTING AFTER AGE 50: "It's the perfect time to do it. My kids were gone and I could start working at 3 o'clock and work until 1 in the morning. My husband was into it, and I don't have to wait for kids at the bus stop, change diapers, or take them to activities."


Wally Blume, 73

HIS STORY: The one-time dairy marketer struck out on his own in 1996 to form Denali Flavors, a company that specializes in making ice cream ingredients and flavors for independent dairies. He was 57.

TODAY: With Denali sales at between $80 and $100 million, Blume credits much of his success to Moose Tracks - the flavor he helped develop and popularize as his company took root. "You have a flavor that is almost as strong as vanilla, and the national brands will never be able to get it. As soon as we developed it, it just took off."

TOP TIPS: Know your industry.... He also stresses training and hiring people you can trust to mind the store. "I have such good people working for me that I'm hardly involved with ice cream. They just run it and they do a better job than I can."

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Link:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/23/us-usa-retirement-after-idUSTRE7BM0TO20111223