Business coach Mark Elliott is a household name among businesses in West London. He has been working with founders and leaders to deliver better business plans and shape their future trajectories. Elliott’s sustainable philosophy and forward-facing approach set himself apart from other mentors. He launched Startup School for Seniors with co-founder, Suzanne Noble, an initiative aimed at people aged 50+ to set up their businesses. It even got a front-page mention on The Daily Telegraph, single-handedly busting the ageism taboos at the workplace.
Q) Hi Mark. You’re an established business coach and supported many businesses including GLUE Studio. What inspired the founders to launch The Start-up School for Seniors?
The start of the pandemic saw all of my work dry up, teaching at university, mentoring on startup programmes, and coaching women solopreneurs, and for Startup School for Seniors co-founder Suzanne Noble, also similar with her mix of ‘dirty blues’ singer and her business arranging house sharing for older people.
But Suzanne and I started working together a year before, for Suzanne because she wanted to change the narrative around ageing (Advantages of Age) and me, because I’d worked on too many startup programmes that failed people because they were not the archetypal white, wealthy, young male startup founder. So, working together with Suzanne means we can change things, shake things up.
Q) I find that the education sector is biased on supporting a younger demographic, so providing an upskilling programme for the over-50s is pretty refreshing. What is your opinion on this?
I agree, whilst the over-50s may want to learn similar things, it’s not just what we learn, but also the context in which we put our new skills into practice that matters.
Q) Our studio is particularly interested in lifelong learning. We feel that developing knowledge acquisition could be a joyful experience. What is your approach in teaching mature students based on their needs and experience?
Lifelong learning is wonderful. Many people in the second half of life have been so busy getting on with life that they have forgotten the habit. At Startup School for Seniors we make learning fun.
Sometimes people need to unlearn ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ to make learning a lifelong joyful and not scary; we make it a conscious practice of learning. People are often scared of social media, so we help them create something new, something less scary and add to their business or their life.
Q) Running businesses is exciting but can be quite stressful. Do you have any advice for fellow entrepreneurs out there?
Ha, stress comes from many places and we need to remember to eat, sleep and exercise.
We also need to remember to make space for what brings us joy, whatever that is.
Visit Startup School For Seniors
“Lifelong learning is wonderful. Many people in the second half of life have been so busy getting on with life that they have forgotten the habit. At Startup School for Seniors we make learning fun.”
— Mark Elliott, Business Coach Startup School of Seniors
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