. They usually have better financial resources, better understanding of how they work and what they’re passionate about, better time management, and an easier time getting loans and licenses. In short, older founders have perspective that younger ones don’t. Sure, Bill Gates turned a garage computer business he founded when he was nineteen into a world-spanning behemoth, but that’s the exception and not the rule.
And honestly? Your fear is one of your strongest weapons. It shows that you know what you’re getting into, that you have the sense to worry about the consequences of your decisions. Fear, properly managed, births caution rather than cowardice, which means you’ll have a better grasp at which opportunities are worth taking – and you’llbe more likely to do your due diligence to find out. Fear can tamp down on rash decision-making.
As always, while it can apply to anyone, I’m particularly directing this at women, because we have a very real tendency to believe that we’re not the type of person who can start a business. Women of a certain age are generally depicted in media as wives and mothers and grandmothers, and very rarely as powerful, ambitious, energetic, daring, or brilliant. It’s hard to shake that much cultural programming, but we aren’t obliged to relegate ourselves to supporting roles in someone else’s story.
experience of household management, which we’re overwhelmingly expected to do even when we have careers. In short, all those wives and mothers supporting their families in the background have comparable experience managing resources, balancing time, and making hard decisions. It may not be business school, but it’s more valuable a skillset than you may suspect.
Life isn’t stagnant, or stale, or frozen in amber. We – me, you, everyone – tell our own stories and make our own fates. The core of everything I write here at Forbes is ultimately my desire to encourage readers to take command of their lives so they can make of them what they want, and I believe that entrepreneurialism is one of the strongest ways to make that happen.