Why Elephants Can’t Sell Chinaware

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The rise of the silver dollar group, together with their aspirations to start up businesses is admirable to say the least. Here you have those in their 40s, 50s who have aims of owning companies and being their own bosses.

I am concerned however with the theory of memes that creeps into these aspirations. Too many are trying to be something clearly they don’t have competitive advantage in. Here are some examples:

• A woman in her 40s selling english eBooks on “Secrets of Affiliate Marketing” on a site that hardly has content that builds credibility.
• A man in his 50s talking in his blog with a slang that clearly shows he’s forcing it rather than being young at heart through his words.

A trend I notice is that they tend to swerve towards the motivation aspect of choosing what to offer. However some of the pitches are sometimes plain weird, feel unnatural and clearly, the aspiring businessperson on the other side is not feeling that he/she fits in that role too.

Here is my advice to all you aspiring businesspeople in your late 30s to early 50s:

Do lateral marketing. Lateral means you take two concepts and make them into one. For example Gas Station + Shopping Store = 7 Eleven, Coffeeplace + Malay Barber Shop Sitting Area = Starbucks. So you guys definitely can bank on the experience / wisdom factor. Choose another factor, combine the two attributes, and create something. Here are some examples:

• wisdom + nasi lemak making = write books on nasi lemak
• wisdom + engineering = consultation and work life balance sessions for engineers
• experience + kuih making = be a kuih product consultant
• wisdom + youth = social care service especially targeting your ethnic group who want to be what you were working as.

So many things you can do. And please please please, be yourself. Move away from being the motivation + communication model if it doesn’t fit. You can do those in your normal functions as parents or in other settings.

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