Newsletter Issue #484

                                 

Entrepreneur & Author
JeffCorbett.com

              

The Second Half Advantage!

“The second half of life should be bigger, not smaller.” 
 
——- 

We hear a lot about the disadvantages of getting older, but considerably less about the advantages. By the time we reach our 40s, 50s and 60s, we’ve accumulated something that can’t be downloaded, bought or learned in a weekend: experience. We’ve made good decisions and plenty of bad ones. We’ve built relationships, accumulated some capital, watched economic cycles come and go, and hopefully learned to recognize situations we’ve seen before. In business, that matters. A major study by researchers from MIT, Northwestern University and the U.S. Census Bureau analyzed millions of American business founders and found that the average founder was 42, while the average founder of the 1-in-1,000 fastest-growing new ventures was 45. Perhaps even more telling, prior experience in the particular industry was associated with substantially greater entrepreneurial success. In other words, experience isn’t necessarily baggage—it can be an advantage.

I find myself thinking about this more as I get older. There are certainly things I could do more easily at 30 than I can today, but I wouldn’t trade what I know today for the energy I had then. After decades of owning businesses, investing, traveling, making mistakes and occasionally getting things right, I’ve become much more comfortable trusting my own judgment—and much less concerned about following somebody else’s timetable. That’s the opportunity of the second half. We don’t have to spend it protecting what we’ve already accomplished or slowly retreating from the field. We can use everything we’ve accumulated—knowledge, relationships, financial resources, perspective and even our failures—as capital for whatever comes next. Whether that’s starting another business, learning a language, investing differently, traveling somewhere unfamiliar or completely reinventing a piece of your life, maybe midlife isn’t the beginning of the wind-down at all. Maybe it’s the point when experience finally catches up with opportunity.

I hope you enjoy this issue.  As always, thank you for being part of the Global Common Cents community. And if you think of it, please hit one of the share buttons to send this edition to a friend.

Jeff Corbett

Publisher | Global Common Cents

• To review other editions of our newsletter please see our website: GlobalCommonCents.com
• For more about my personal wonderings please see my blog: JeffCorbett.com

Jeff’s Favorites:

One of the benefits of publishing Global Common Cents is the opportunity to discover companies developing practical solutions to everyday problems. This week I’d like to introduce Medjet.

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Become a Beginner Again

“The power of starting from scratch.” 

——- 

One of the occupational hazards of being successful for a long time is that you can go days without doing anything you’re truly bad at.

Think about it.

If you’ve owned a business for 20 or 30 years, you’ve probably developed a pretty good sense of your strengths. You know how to negotiate. You know your customers. You know how to read people. And when possible, you delegate the things you’re not particularly good at.

That’s efficient business management.

I’m not convinced it’s always good personal management.

I’ve been working on learning Italian because we will be traveling to Italy later this year. I’m certainly not going to pretend I will mastered it. Quite the opposite. There is something humbling about struggling to remember a basic word that an Italian six-year-old uses without thinking.

But that’s exactly what I like about it.

For a little while, I’m a beginner again.

There is a useful business lesson here. Being willing to be bad at something is often the price of eventually becoming good at something new.

Think about how relevant that is right now. Artificial intelligence is forcing experienced executives to learn new technology. Changing markets require new sales techniques. Social media has turned business owners into publishers. Entire industries are being reshaped by tools that didn’t exist when many of us started our careers.

The person who says, “I don’t understand this yet,” has somewhere to go.

The person who says, “That’s not how we’ve ever done it,” may not.

The Takeaway: Expertise built your business.
Don’t let expertise prevent you from becoming a beginner again.

Opportunity Doesn’t Stop at the Border

“Looking beyond the market you know.”   

——-

For most American business owners, the United States is more than enough market to worry about.

That’s understandable. But it can also create tunnel vision.

The OECD reports that digital technologies have reduced some of the costs associated with international trade for small and medium-sized businesses. Digital platforms can help smaller companies find customers overseas, participate in global supply chains and access international markets that once would have required substantial infrastructure.

That doesn’t mean your company needs an office in London.

It means the definition of your marketplace has changed.

A consultant in Dallas can work with a client in Paris. A specialty manufacturer can locate suppliers in Asia. A newsletter can attract readers on several continents. A small company can hire expertise that isn’t available in its hometown.

And increasingly, AI-powered translation and communication tools are reducing another traditional obstacle: language.

The bigger lesson isn’t necessarily “sell overseas.”

It’s look overseas.

A business owner walking through a supermarket in Tokyo, a hotel in Switzerland or a small shop in Florence should be asking questions. Why do they do it this way? Why isn’t this product common at home? What does this business understand about its customer that we don’t?

Innovation often begins by noticing something outside our normal field of vision.

The Takeaway: You don’t have to become an international company to think internationally.
Sometimes exposure to another market simply helps you see your own market differently.

Investing Bigger Life

“When financial return is only part of the equation.”

——-

I’ve spent quite a bit of time looking at real estate recently—not only as an investment, but as a lifestyle decision.

That distinction has become increasingly important to me.

When we’re younger, an investment tends to have one primary job: make money. By midlife, I think we’re entitled to ask a more interesting question.

Can an asset improve my life while it potentially builds wealth?

That’s one reason international real estate intrigues me. Imagine owning a modest property in a place you genuinely enjoy visiting. Perhaps you spend several weeks or months there each year. You begin understanding the community instead of simply visiting it. Depending on the property and local laws, it might also produce rental income when you’re away.

But this is where enthusiasm has to meet due diligence.

The SEC warns investors that international investments can involve risks beyond those encountered domestically, including currency fluctuations, different disclosure standards, political and economic developments, costs and potential difficulties obtaining legal remedies. Those principles are important when evaluating any overseas investment.

Real estate adds its own complexities: local property law, taxation, insurance, financing, inheritance rules, transaction costs and restrictions that may apply to foreign buyers. Professional legal and tax advice in both jurisdictions can therefore become essential.

I’ve learned over the years that the investments that sound easiest over dinner are often considerably more complicated the next morning.

But complexity isn’t necessarily a reason to walk away.

It’s a reason to do the homework.

The Takeaway: As we accumulate wealth, diversification can mean more than owning different investments. It can also mean understanding opportunities beyond the geography we already know—but never confusing an appealing lifestyle with a sound investment

Please keep in mind this information should not be considered as financial advice. Investment decisions should be based on individual research and consultation with a qualified financial professional. The value of investments can fluctuate, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consider your risk tolerance and financial goals before making investment decisions.

It’s How You Make People Feel

by Candace Smith
The Etiquette Blog
Candace Smith Etiquette

Biography:  Candace Smith, wife of Nobel Prize-Winner Professor Dr. Vernon Smith and owner of the extraordinary blog, “Etiquette for the Business of Life” as featured by BBC, Chicago Tribune and USA Today offers her insights.

“The unspoken rules that drive outcomes.”

——-

When you make people feel recognized and acknowledged, it’s more than pleasant. When this happens publicly, even more so. Regardless of whether we are in good times or bad times, when another person makes us smile or laugh or reinforces something they notice about us or what we did, the experience is noted pleasurably in our minds. A connection is made with the experience and with the person associated with it.

On the Other Side of Me

Early in my time as an etiquette coach, I was leading graduate students through a coursed dinner. Cell phones were to be put away, but I saw one student texting, caught her eye, then frowned, signaling with my hand to put the phone away. She scowled at me the entire evening.

Afterwards, when I thanked her for coming, she did not smile. Had I employed good manners, always undergirded by the principle of respect and consideration–with one small meeting of the eyes with a smile during the incident, I have no doubt that a little bond of goodwill would have been made. Sadly, I imagine her lumping a negative view of the instructor into one negative view of dining etiquette.

The great question, “What’s it Like to Be on the Other Side of Me?” can serve as a solid guide through any social situation where impressions are being made. In teaching, it’s important to acknowledge participants’ sense of control, particularly when it comes to moments where they just haven’t registered what the situation calls for.

If a person feels that they were dismissed, left out, or made to feel “less than” after interacting with you, those impressions will linger in that person’s mind. Imagining a long-term relationship with this person, as if this person were always to be in your life, can work wonders for your mind-set. Even more, the commitment to etiquette-fulness sets an example to others that civility begins in the here and now.

Etiquette Can Make People Feel Positive

When courtesy and kindness are the aim, a positive impression is made. Employing etiquette in interactions will make people feel they are important. Have you ever met someone and left the conversation feeling that you were significant? You were seen, heard, and treated kindly?
I can assure you, you weren’t the only one who felt that way. Etiquette-fulness has a way of making everyone involved feel better about themselves and the people they interact with.

Some methods for interacting that always leave a lasting positive impression:

• Make an effort to remember a person’s name.
• Stay focused on the here and now in conversation.
• Be curious.
• Avoid “here’s my example that’s like your story” one-upmanship comments during conversation.
• Look for positives to compliment the person.

Making a habit of considering how you make people feel during your daily interactions can contribute to your long-term etiquette-ful quotient. And remembering, as Adam Smith reminds us, that “kindness is the parent of kindness” will inform anything you have to say.

Learning a New Language is Good for Your Brain!

by Morayma MaKay
Writer / Blogger & Content Creator
Adulthood Rewired

Biography:  Morayma Makay is a fashion model, mother, and writer.  She has
dedicated the last 20 years to working in the fashion and health fields as
both a researcher and content creator.

“Your brain loves new challenges.”     

——-

When you think of learning a new language, you may instantly associate it with school, travel, or a desire to finally understand what the locals are saying while you’re on vacation…but there’s another pretty compelling reason to pick up a language later in life…and no, you don’t have to become fluent. In fact, you don’t even need to be particularly good at it!

Language and Your Brain

Learning a language in midlife gives your brain something it doesn’t encounter nearly as often once we’re adults, and that is the opportunity to be a complete beginner again. Think about what happens when you learn a new language. You’re memorizing unfamiliar words, trying to remember grammar rules, listening for sounds you may not recognize, translating thoughts, and figuring out how to put everything together. Your brain is constantly making connections and retrieving information, and that kind of mental workout can be incredibly valuable as we age.

Research on bilingualism has found associations between speaking multiple languages and cognitive benefits, including improved executive function and cognitive flexibility. Some research also suggests that lifelong bilingualism may be associated with a later onset of symptoms of dementia. What’s particularly interesting is that you don’t necessarily have to start learning another language as a child to benefit from the process.

Keeping Your Mind Active

Adults learning a language are constantly asking their brains to do something slightly different. You might know exactly what you want to say, but suddenly you have to search your memory for the right word, or you hear someone speak quickly and have to concentrate to follow along. You make a mistake, realize what went wrong, and try again…that’s cognitive exercise in real time!

Learning a language also gives your memory plenty to work with. Vocabulary has to be recalled, pronunciation needs to be practiced, and words need to be connected to their meanings. Repetition strengthens those connections, while regularly using the language requires you to retrieve information rather than simply recognize it, all of which are so good  for cognitive flexibility. Switching between languages requires the brain to pay attention to context and adjust quickly as well. Even if you’re not conversationally fluent, practicing the ability to move between your native language and a new one gives your brain a different kind of mental challenge than activities you’re already comfortable with, and there’s something to be said for learning something simply because it’s interesting and fun.

Changing Things Up For Your Brain.

By midlife, most of us have become pretty good at the things we do regularly. We know how to manage a household, navigate our careers, organize our schedules, and handle the everyday responsibilities that come with adulthood, so, as funny as it sounds, it’s kind of nice to occasionally be new and maybe not so good at something again! Learning a language gives you permission to stumble through pronunciation, forget basic vocabulary rules, and occasionally put a sentence together that makes absolutely no sense. Kind of a throwback to being a kid again!

The social side can be just as rewarding. Language connects you with people and cultures you may not otherwise encounter. It can make travel more meaningful, help you communicate with friends or family members, or simply give you a new appreciation for another culture’s traditions, humor, food, and history…and if you have ever wanted to learn the language your grandparents or ancestors spoke, midlife can be a particularly meaningful time to finally give it a try.

The best part is that getting started doesn’t require signing up for an intensive course or memorizing hundreds of flashcards. You can try an app, take a community class, listen to a podcast, watch a television show with subtitles, or spend ten minutes a day learning a few new phrases.  Maybe you want to learn Spanish because you’re planning more trips or French because it has always appealed to you. Maybe you’re fascinated by Japanese culture or want to understand what your Italian relatives have been saying at family gatherings all these years. Whatever the reason, learning a language is a wonderful way to keep your brain engaged while adding something enjoyable to your life. Plus, there’s something pretty satisfying about realizing that you’re never actually finished learning. Even in midlife, there’s still room for a new skill, a new challenge, and perhaps a few wonderfully mangled sentences along the way! Bonne chance et bon courage!!! 

Keep Doing Hard Things

“Why a little discomfort is good for us.” 

——-

One of the rewards of success is that life can become easier. After decades of building a business, raising a family and accumulating financial security, we can afford conveniences that weren’t available when we were younger. We can delegate problems, avoid things we don’t enjoy and gain greater control
over our time.
We’ve earned some of that comfort. The challenge is not allowing comfort to become complacency.

Most longevity conversations focus on exercise, nutrition, sleep and medical advances. All matter. But there may be another dimension to aging well: continuing to voluntarily do things that are difficult.

That might mean lifting weights when you’d rather stay home, playing a competitive sport, tackling a technology you don’t understand, starting a project where failure is possible or learning an entirely new skill. According to the World Health Organization, regular physical activity provides substantial health benefits, including reduced risks of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, while also benefiting mental health, cognitive health and sleep. The body clearly benefits from being challenged.

There may be a broader lesson in that.

When we were younger, difficulty wasn’t optional. We were building careers, paying mortgages, raising families and trying to prove ourselves. Success eventually allows us to remove many of those pressures. That’s a wonderful achievement—but perhaps we shouldn’t remove all of them.

There is an important difference between chronic stress and deliberate challenge. We don’t need to recreate the anxiety of our younger years. But continuing to choose things that test us physically, intellectually or personally may help preserve some of the hunger and curiosity that got us here.

At this stage of life, we don’t need every challenge we once had. But a life without challenge may not be the goal either.

The Takeaway: Financial success gives us the freedom to make life easier. That doesn’t mean we should make it too easy.

The Dinner Table is a Business Classroom

“What the dinner table teaches us about the world.” 

——- 

One of the easiest ways to understand another culture is also one of the most enjoyable:

Eat with it.

Not merely at the hotel restaurant. Go where local people eat. Walk through the market. Notice when people eat, how long they stay, what they order and how they interact.

Food reveals priorities.

In some cultures, meals are deliberately slow. In others, efficiency dominates. Some cultures treat dinner as the center of family life. Others emphasize lunch. Ingredients tell you about geography. Recipes tell you about history. Service tells you something about expectations.

Why should a business owner care?

Because culture ultimately shapes customers.

People don’t leave their values at home when they go shopping or enter the workplace. Their attitudes toward time, quality, relationships, status, convenience, hospitality and price influence how they behave economically.

You don’t need an MBA course in international marketing to begin noticing those differences. Sometimes you just need to put down the phone and watch what’s happening around you.

And there is another lesson here for American entrepreneurs who live by the clock.

Not every meal needs to be consumed while answering email.

Occasionally the business value of dinner isn’t what you accomplish during it. It’s the relationship you build because you weren’t trying to accomplish anything.

The Takeaway: Understanding how other people eat, socialize and spend time can teach us something fundamental about how they build relationships—and relationships remain one of the oldest competitive advantages in business.

Give Yourself Permission to Be Impractical

“The surprising value of  wasting a little time.” 

——-

Business owners spend much of their lives thinking about productivity. We measure results, manage time and instinctively ask whether something is worth doing. But not everything needs an ROI. Sometimes being completely frivolous with our time may be exactly the reset we need. Binge-watch the Hallmark Channel. Read the latest Jack Carr novel while sipping a glass of wine. Spend an afternoon watching baseball. None of it needs to make us smarter, healthier or more successful. Research supports the broader value of simply getting away from work: according to organizational psychologist Sabine Sonnentag and her colleagues, psychologically detaching from work during leisure time is associated with better recovery and well-being.

That can be particularly difficult for entrepreneurs because there’s almost always something productive we could be doing. But perhaps that’s precisely why occasionally doing something wonderfully unproductive matters. A large meta-analysis published in Psychological Bulletin found a meaningful association between leisure engagement and subjective well-being, with satisfaction from leisure playing an important role. After spending decades building businesses, raising families and being responsible, we shouldn’t feel guilty about occasionally wasting a few hours doing something simply because we enjoy it. Sometimes the best use of our free time is having absolutely nothing to show for it.

The Takeaway: Not every hour needs to accomplish something. Sometimes the accomplishment is simply enjoying the hour.

Go Somewhere that Feels Foreign

“Comfort is nice. Discovery is better.” 

——-

Travel has a way of becoming predictable. We find hotel brands we like, return to favorite destinations, make reservations before we arrive and increasingly remove uncertainty from the experience. There is nothing wrong with comfort, but occasionally it’s worth going somewhere that feels genuinely foreign—a place where the language, food, customs and rhythms of daily life are different enough that we have to pay attention again. Research published in the Annals of Tourism Research has examined novelty as an important part of the travel experience, with unfamiliar experiences contributing to the emotions and memories we associate with a trip. The point isn’t to make travel difficult simply for the sake of difficulty. It’s to leave enough room for discovery.

That may be one of travel’s most overlooked benefits. Unfamiliar places force us to become more observant. Why do people eat differently here? Why are the shops smaller? Why is customer service handled differently? Why does everyone gather in the town square at night? Not every observation needs to become a lesson, and certainly not every trip needs a purpose beyond enjoyment. But occasionally stepping outside the world we know reminds us that our way of doing things isn’t the only way. There are different cultures, traditions, priorities and ways of living waiting to be discovered—and sometimes the trips we remember most are the ones that felt least familiar when we arrived.

The Takeaway: The best trip may not always be the one that feels most like home. Sometimes it’s the one that reminds us how big the world really is.