A Note From Colleen

Hi, friend.

Being the first to do something can be scary. When there are few models to follow or examples to study you have to really pull out the imagination and let it run wild. You have to throw caution to the wind.

I feel this way about my 3rd Act. You?

We’re really among the first generation (we GenX and Boomers)  to get an entire 3rd life, full life, ahead of us - a life we need to plan for, execute and support.

Of course, we see celebrities and big names talking about ‘this next chapter’, but the advice feels unrelatable coming from people with wealth and access to things most of us will never have. 

I’m talking about us regular ladies. I want to know how my next door neighbor is tackling this next chapter. I want to know how you are thinking about it. 

What’s your vision for your 3rd Act? What’s your biggest goal? What steps are you taking to make it happen? What experience do you already have that you feel is most valuable for this next chapter?

Thanks for being here.

Cheers,

Colleen Kochannek, Publisher

*This publication may include affiliate links and links to products I sell. If you click and buy, I may earn revenue and/or commission. 

LEARNING HOW TO BUILD A DIGITAL BUSINESS IS JUST A SERIES OF STEPS AND SKILLS, LIKE BAKING LASAGNA 

The thing about starting a digital business, when you’ve never had a digital business, is that just about everything you need to do will be (mostly) unfamiliar to you. 

99% of women in this community come without business experience, and certainly not digital business experience. 

That’s okay.

Most everything you need to do to build and run a digital business is ‘skill-based’:

• Learning how to use an app like Stan.Store or Canva.

• Learning how to use social media for marketing. 

• Learning how to message your audience.

• Learning how to build a product.

• Learning how to use Google Drive to organize your business.

These are literally things you can learn by following instructions and studying examples. 

But, even though you’ll be a newbie at many things, it’s important to keep in mind that the one thing you cannot ‘simply learn with instructions’ you already have - your experience.

Your know-how in the thing you want to monetize is your superpower. This is the VALUE of what you bring to the table. 

People will pay you, not because you know how to do a FB Live. They’ll pay you because you’ve given them helpful information and resources that made their life easier.

So, as you’re learning all the things and feeling like a first-timer, I want you to remember that you’re a seasoned beginner. You’ve already mastered the most important thing you’ll need for your digital business. 

I also encourage you to put yourself in the right classroom to learn the skills-based elements to digital business. I built my Pilot to Profit Startup School to be the classroom for women over 50 starting digital businesses. Enrollment is opening again in August. Details coming shortly, and feel free to email me with any questions ([email protected])

I’m feeling a bit pensive…

Recently, I was talking about the fact that I don’t know how to create a vision for the future. A woman in my community suggested that maybe I was trying too hard and maybe our 3rd Act is when we finally just ‘get to be’. 

I like this idea. Our 3rd Act is going to be like no other. 

• We’re coming from a lifetime of experience and experiences, good and hard. 

• We’re in a place where we know ourselves better than ever. 

• We’re in a place where our priorities are far different than those of decades ago. 

• We’re in a place where we want to keep learning, but we have far fewer hard lessons to learn - they’ve been learned.

Not to be dramatic, but maybe the 3rd Act is where we finally just let our imagination run wild, throw caution to the wind and see what comes our way. 

Keep a list of your ‘links’ in a Google Doc. When you build your digital business you’ll soon find yourself always looking for your ‘links’: 

• The link to your Facebook Page. 

• The link to your sales page. 

• The link to your products.

I keep a simple Google Doc, called Links 2024, with all of my ‘links’ in one place. I access this list multiple times each day. It’s a time saver. Here’s a glimpse at my Links 2024 document (nothing fancy, but definitely helpful).

• Pilot to Profit Startup School is opening again in August. It’s my A-to-Z digital-business-starting program, built exclusively for women over 50. Grab a spot on the WAITLIST HERE if you want to receive program and pricing details.

• Have you joined my Facebook Group yet?  I host weekly Facebook Lives and talk about the practical (and not so practical) side to starting an online business as a digital immigrant.

The SUGGESTION BOX

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