S1 – Ep. 8: Jeff Tidwell on Mid-Life Entrepreneurship and Work With Purpose
SUMMARY
Jeff Tidwell is a 35-year digital veteran who recently launched a new company, NEXT FOR ME. He is part of a new trend: entrepreneurs age 50+ who are starting companies driven by passion and purpose.
EPISODE NOTES
In today’s episode, Debbie interviews Jeff Tidwell, a 35-year digital veteran who has worked with big brands like eTrade and WebMD as well as with numerous startups on product, community, marketing and user experience strategies. He’s lived and worked in New York, San Francisco and LA. About two years ago, as he approached 60, he began to feel conscious of his age in a youth-oriented industry.
That’s when he got the idea for Next For Me, an online community for those 50+ with a particular interest in meaningful work. Next For Me also sponsors real life events across the country.
There are numerous other online resources that address everything else for this demographic: dating, sex, travel, etc. Next For Me specifically focuses on post-50 work and purpose.
Mentioned in episode
Jeff Tidwell on LinkedIn
Jeff on the launch of Next For Me
Jeff’s columns for Forbes.com
StartOut Growth Lab for LGBTQ entrepreneurs
How to Start Your Own Business After 50 (NextFor Me)
The Advantages Older Adults Bring to First-Time Entrepreneurship by Derek Lidow
Full disclosure: Next For Me is a sponsor of this podcast.
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- Interested in sponsoring this podcast? We have an avid audience of midlife, and older, listeners. Contact Debbie Weil.
Credits:
- Host: Debbie Weil
- Producer: Far Out Media
- Music: Lakeside Path By Duck Lake
Connect with us:
- Email: [email protected]
- Twitter: @debbieweil
- Insta: @debbieweil
- Debbie and Sam's blog: Gap Year After Sixty
Thanks to our media partners
Encore.org, our newest media partner, is an ideas and innovation hub tapping the talent of those 50+ as a force for good. Founder and CEO Marc Freedman is an award-winning social entrepreneur and author, most recently, of How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations. Looking for a great gap-year transition program? Check out Encore Fellowships, which match skilled, seasoned professionals with social-sector organizations in high-impact, paid assignments.
Modern Elder Academy is a program dedicated to navigating mid-life transitions. MEA, based in Baja California, Mexico, provides the place and the tools to start reframing your lifetime of experience. Grow whole, not old. Founder Chip Conley is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning hospitality entrepreneur and a rock star of the mid-life transition movement. His newest book is Wisdom @ Work: the Making of a Modern Elder.
Next For Me is an important new resource for the 50+ crowd focused on rewriting life. Taking a gap year or timeout may be the best way to figure out "what's next" when you're in this stage of life. Founder Jeff Tidwell explains, Next For Me "connects and inspires our generation to evolve our post-50 lives through new work, a new purpose, or a new social contribution."