Get Help Bringing Your Business Idea To Life

Have you been thinking about starting your own business but don’t know where to start? AARP Foundation Work for Yourself@50+ is here to help you gain the confidence and knowledge to succeed.

Barbara Simmons turned to this free program to launch her own business because it makes it easy for older adults with limited income to explore options for self-employment.

Work for Yourself@50+ helped her make her dream of an internationally focused business become a reality.

Barbara first developed an interest in all things international after having a Japanese pen pal in 6th grade. In law school, Barbara was president of the International Law Society and an intern at the United Nations Development Programme. She has taught at universities and also served as the dean of international education at Tubman University in Liberia.

With a successful career under her belt, Barbara felt that starting her own business might be an option one day.

“Even when I was teaching here in the States, I always told my students that regardless of their major, they need to have an entrepreneurial component to their career.”

While teaching in Liberia, Barbara arranged for architectural students from historically Black colleges and universities to design a building there. The collaboration set her down the path to her own business.

She learned about AARP Foundation’s Work for Yourself@50+ program through an email listserv she belongs to, and she decided to attend a workshop. “You can never have too much information, and I’m an advocate of lifelong learning,” she says. “Being an entrepreneur is something new to me, so I’m looking for all the resources that I can find.”

Work for Yourself@50+ turned out to be the ultimate resource. After participating in the program, Barbara launched her business, which she describes as “bringing together partners from the United States as well as other countries — at this point primarily in Africa — to work on projects together.”

The program also provided much-needed support to help realize her vision.

“More than 95% of future markets and opportunities are outside of the United States, and Africa has some of the fastest-growing economies. When I’m there, I see a lot of people from other continents like Asia and Europe and I think, ‘We need to be here, too.”

About Work for Yourself@50+, Barbara says, “There’s nothing to fear about coming to the workshop. It’s very supportive, very warm, and very realistic. I think people over 50 want to hear the real deal.”

“I appreciate AARP Foundation for putting this together,” she adds. “It’s given me a sense of comfort and at least feeling like I’m not out here alone, and I think that’s very, very critical for entrepreneurs.”