What Kind of Business Should You Start When Launching a Business After 40?

I belong to several entrepreneurship-related communities, and I sometimes get asked this:

"What kind of business do you think is best to start with?"

Honestly, I can't answer that without first clarifying "Why are you starting a business?" In my own case, I started by pinning down the nature of the business I wanted:

As a result, I became a fully remote marketer, consultant, sales writer, and (partly) web director (I'll cover how I narrowed my options down from these conditions another time).

On top of this, as a kind of insurance, I plan to start working as an engineer too, and when this blog grows, I'd like to add blogger to my titles as well.

Unless you have a strong personal attachment, loyal customers, or abundant funds—in other words, if you're starting from zero—I strongly recommend narrowing down your business based on conditions like mine.

In particular, "zero startup capital," "can be done alone," and "fixed costs as low as possible, profit margin close to 100%" should be quite important.

When you start from zero, big money doesn't suddenly roll in. In any business, people won't pay attention to you unless you have a decent track record.

So to build your first track record, approaches like "free" or "low-cost trials" are unavoidable.

As a result, sales are small, but "daily payments" come whether you like it or not. "Daily payments" include not only your living expenses but also those related to your business.

So, since you can't escape payments, it's wise to choose something with fixed costs as low as possible at the stage of starting a business.

*By the way, my first sales were 8,000–12,000 yen a month. Even so, I think I was relatively fortunate.

Restaurants and retail are probably businesses you'd better avoid (and they have lots of competitors).

You can also start by having someone invest in you or by borrowing money, but that means handing the initiative to the investor or lender.

Then, if you started a business with the desire to "become an owner and live freely!", you'd have to live days that are the complete opposite.

Now, I wrote "daily payments" earlier, and for people over 40 (especially those with families), I imagine their living expenses alone are substantial.

That's exactly why I recommend choosing something that is "zero startup capital," "can be done alone," and "fixed costs as low as possible, profit margin close to 100%."

That matters even if you're single and the only one who'd get hurt—and all the more so if your family would be affected too.

Whether you can start from a side business is probably important too (there are both advantages and disadvantages).

Also, I think it's precisely people over 40 who should study the internet and marketing hard and make full use of them.

I wrote "1+1 can become 100 or even 1,000," and the internet and marketing are truly tools that provide leverage; people starting businesses from now on (especially young entrepreneurs) master them as a matter of course and will move into your market in no time.

Giving up by saying "I'm bad with the internet and computers" is like challenging an army with tanks and aircraft carriers to a fight with bamboo spears.

Technology keeps evolving while the tools themselves keep getting easier, so there's no reason not to use them.