Ageism Workarounds for Boomer Entrepreneurs

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. - March 22, 2018 - PRLog -- A growing number of people age 50-plus need to transition from employment to entrepreneurship. Traditional job opportunities have become scarce due to ageism in the job market and the pervasive devaluation of experience in many industries. The only option for these talented individuals is to launch their own businesses. Unfortunately, most of them—even those who have always wanted to be self-employed—are not equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary for success.

A new book titled, Workarounds: 50+ insider tactics for age 50+ entrepreneurs, by Doug Freeman provides the guidance new or struggling solo and micro entrepreneurs need to build successful businesses. It provides practical business development strategies and tactics for entrepreneurs with extensive skills, experience, knowledge and contact networks. The tips and methods take into account the unique challenges age 50-plus entrepreneurs face. Note that this book is about building career-related, professional level contract-based businesses, not low-paying gig work, temping or side hustles.

Workarounds is based on Freeman's more than three decades of self-employment experience in fields ranging from technical writing-editing and communications consulting to training development and marketing services. He also co-founded several small business startups in areas such as media production and publishing. His clients include multi-national corporations, federal government agencies and a variety of startup technology companies.

Over the last several years, Freeman has researched what has been called seniorpreneurship or encore careers, as well as gleaned stories and lessons learned from hundreds of age 50-plus businesspeople. Workarounds also includes insights and advice from his interviews with nationally prominent career coaches, business experts and futurists who study entrepreneurship, many who are best-selling authors, business publication columnists and international speakers. They include Seth Godin, Kerry Hannon, Whitney Johnson, John Tarnoff, Jacob Morgan, Dr. Ross McKenzie, Marc Miller, Nancy Collamer and Richard Eisenberg.

"I wrote this book because I've heard far too many stories about very talented under-employed and unemployed friends and peers who could not continue in their careers due to ageism and changing business models," says Freeman. "Self-employment really is their best option. But they need to recognize and appreciate the marketability of their unique professional assets. Then, they must learn how their skills, knowledge and experience can be repurposed in new ways as niche business services. That's when they'll employ smart tactics to creatively pivot around age-related myths, assumptions and bias in the marketplace."

Workarounds: 50+ insider tactics for age 50+ entrepreneurs is available through Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Workarounds-insider-tactics-age-en...) and Barnes & Noble (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/workarounds-douglas-free...), in paperback and e-book editions (189 pages). Information is available on Freeman's company Web site at www.ideascapeinc.com. Ideascape, Inc. is a creative communications services and consulting firm with clients that have included Intel, Hewlett-Packard, T-Mobile, NASA, Itron Inc., Scholastic Inc., Armed Forces Network, Oregon Health & Science University, the U.S. Dept. of Energy and dozens of startups in the U.S. and abroad.