Late Blooming Baby Boomers

Too Late To Be A Child Prodigy? Idiot Savant Carries No Age Barrier. Just Be Ready For Changes.

Who doesn’t like a good label. They make things so understandable.

Steve Jobs was a ‘genius.’ What else do you call the man who reinvented computers, phones, and music delivery?

What did his employees call him when he told them, “You’re best isn’t good enough and you’re staying right here until it is.”

Mozart was a musical prodigy. That’s what you get when you start composing at five years old. Imagine his parents discussion:

“Why is Mo in his room so much? He needs to get out and play with the other kids. This isn’t normal.”

Was Mark Zuckerberg a prodigy when he started Facebook, then turned into a genius? He’s got plenty of other names when adults started seeing the information they thought private show up in places they didn’t want.

“Look, I signed in on everything online with my facebook account. It was easier than making a new name and password for everything. How was I supposed to know the places I used my facebook sign up harvested all my information and all my facebook friends. Thanks a lot, Huffington Post.”

Portland baby boomers and boomers in general are all late bloomers when they dive into the Encore Career pool, when they take a dip in Lake Solopreneur. All they need to do is create a successful enterprise then milk the story for all it’s worth. Or start a new enterprise to eclipse the old.

Either way, working new ground is nothing new to boomers. Let’s agree that breaking new ground is what boomers have been conditioned to do from the get go.

Go back in time and ask a teenager in the mid to late sixties what they wanted to do when they grow up and the answer would be, “Anything except what my parents do.”

How’s that working out so far?

Was it our generation or the one after that got tagged with the ceiling of not moving beyond our parents quality of life. It goes something like this:

“You won’t live in as nice a house, won’t drive as nice a car, and won’t have as good a job.”

Let that terror sink in.

It doesn’t mean you’ll be living in an abandoned van down by the river and hitch hiking to your sewer job to join Art Carney’s character Ed Norton in The Honeymooners. It probably means you’ll redefine ‘quality of life.’

Redefining is part of the boomer lifestyle. And we’re good at it. Of course we’ve had help along the way.

Getting fired from a long term job because boomers cost more to the employer than a younger worker became ‘downsizing’ or ‘laid-off’ or ‘we’re going another direction.’

Call it anything you want and you’re still picking up a box of personal goodies from the company security man in a parking lot one morning.

Lost your retirement on a speculative investment, a scam artist, or another economic downturn? It all means get up and do something else.

On careerchoiceswithlaura.com, Jackie Peterson guest blogs a post aimed right for the sweet spot with:

Turning your passion into a living might sound scary, but it’s completely doable—as long as you focus on doing the work you love to do (not hiring other people to do it for you!). Solopreneurship is the perfect way to build on your knowledge, support your financial independence, and monetize your expertise. 

It sounds about as scary as learning to swim while you’re busy drowning, but Jackie throws a life vest to thrashing boomers to stay afloat.

The advantage of being a late blooming Portland baby boomer is the competition. If you have friends from other countries, then you’ve heard this:

“I come to America with no money and didn’t even speak the language. Now look at me. I drive a new Kia, wear Nikes, and own my home. Why? Because I saw opportunity. I sell sunglasses in a land of clouds and rain, something everyone said wasn’t possible. Well, it is. It’s never too dark to be cool. I don’t know why Americans born here don’t get it.”

Younger people in high tech have a similar slam:

“Like, you know, it’s more than thinking outside the box. When we brainstorm on a bike ride, or toss ideas while we skateboard, we say “What box?” We open the door and set our thoughts free. And it makes us free after our seventy hour work weeks.”

Too many forget that late blooming baby boomers come from another garden that produced beautiful flowers. When boomers rise in another field, they’ve got the same dew on their lily as the other plants, but they appreciate it more.

Comments are open. Take a moment to tell boomerpdx about your second act career, your drive down the solopreneur highway.