Our personal journey in sharing about midlife happiness - doing what we love

This is our story about midlife happiness, pursuing our passion, and doing what we love: sharing our experience and knowledge. We started our own web-based business devoted to adult transition and reinvention. By reading this story, you are encouraged to lead a fulfilling and meaningful life. You may also see the possibility of starting your own business (which may very well be an Internet business.)

In 2007, Dr. Fred was holding a Biz Builder group coaching session. It met semi-monthly and brought together business owners, both men and women, and freelance consultants looking for new perspectives and directions on their business, midlife happiness and life challenges.

The idea for our Internet business grew out of these meetings. In one meeting in October of 2007, Dr. Fred talked about the prospects facing people in the "3rd Age" (their 50s, 60s and 70s), just like ourselves. We have the chance of living another 30 years - a period providing unexpected opportunities and exciting challenges. Dr. Fred referred to experts like Dr. William Sadler who wrote extensively about 3rd Agers creatively redesigning their lives and making it a time of fulfillment. Wow! That made us feel good. What opened up was a new perspective on midlife happiness. Dr. Fred threw out the challenge of starting an Internet business focusing on the interests and needs of men and women in the 3rd Age. Mark Yerbury, at the time owner of a small publishing company and now director at Dale Carnegie joined us in taking up the challenge. Yes! So with all the energy and enthusiasm we could muster, we decided to start an Internet business.

What our Business is about

We put on our thinking caps and consulted one of Dr. Fred's favourite business planning books, The One Page Business Plan, by Jim Horan.

As the author himself claims, it is the fastest, easiest way to write a business plan. By focusing on vision, mission, objectives, strategies and plans, the book cuts to the quick in getting you thinking about what matters most.We also asked ourselves key questions from a long list provided by Small Biz University Let us share with you some of the tough questions we faced and how we answered them as honestly as could:

What business are we in?
We're in the information products business, including website building, podcasts, webinars and e-books, for people in midlife and beyond. Our intention is to offer a new paradigm of aging in which midlife happiness is a possibility.

Why are we in this business?
We love educating and learning from people, sharing our knowledge and experience, and writing informative materials. Our passion is in coaching, teaching and facilitating individuals, groups, organizations and the Internet world on transforming the quality of life.

What will it give us personally?
It will fulfill our dreams of being successful entrepreneurs doing fascinating work and earning additional income. It will provide us a "bigger game" worth playing - just for the enjoyment and fulfillment of the project. It will allow us to create conversational communities that deal with the bigger issues of humanity.

Do we intend to make this business our life's work?
Yes, we intend to work at this business for another 10 to fifteen years. Educating and making a difference is who we are.

What is the company mission?
Our mission is to support individuals, organizations and communities in building a positive 3rd Age identity and to show that the best time is now because that's all we have or, as William Sadler phrases it, the "the best is yet to be." Midlife happiness is achievable.

What pain does our product or service eliminate or reduce?
We will address the needs of 3rd Agers or midlifers for renewal, transformation and self-fulfillment. Our intention is to reduce the concerns and fears associated with the aging process and provide a new future integrating midlife happiness.

How will we get a 1000 perspective visitors in what we offer?
We will give midlifers and beyond what they want - resources, information, advice and strategies for living a reinvented life.

What can we do to make our success an absolute certainly:
- know our audience
- give them what they want consistently
- believe in what we do
- stress quality and excellence in what we do
- have a top-notch support team
- have mentors or an advisory board working with us; we got a lot of value and insight from Joe Vitale's book on the topic
- use the best website tools available, such as SiteSell's Site Build It!.

Producing a Webinar

One of the first action steps that we took was to produce a 20 minute webinar, "The Third Age and Reinventing Aging," in which Dr. Fred is interviewed about the "Rising Energy Model of those in the Third Age." This webinar whet our collective appetite to share more of our expertise and experience in dealing with 3rd Age issues.

We also consulted savvy Internet-minded business people for advice on marketing and technical issues, such as Edmund Nash of mPaevum Multimedia Inc. and Danny Iny. Both are fine examples of "giver's gain," the philosophy of caring and sharing generously to help others in their path to success.

Get our latest offering: a FREE copy of our e-Book, 25 Reflections on a Happier Midlife and Beyond. It offers thought-provoking questions and insightful reflections on midlife happiness that help you view aging as a time of rejuvenation, regeneration, revitalization, and renewal.

Listen to this
informative interview between Dr. Frank and Dr. Fred about how they came together and developed their online business.

To hear other interviews and to subscribe to our podcast,
visit our midlife happiness podcast page.

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