What do you do when you find yourself in your darkest moment? How do you balance and keep your emotional wellness? Let’s find out in this episode!
This show is multicast in different ways to adapt to your style. You can subscribe on iTunes, watch on Roku (Buzz and Biz channel – Special Interests category,) on Samsung Blu-ray players and in our channel on YouTube – Boomerology Revealed.
We invited a group of women to talk about their lives as Baby boomers, which issues baby boomers face today, aging and caregiving, we review the car caddy by Stander a very cool product to help you in and out of your car, have a health tip for you related to positive thinking and a very cool hobby for you to try- Birding.
A few days before Christmas I went to a bookstore and was impressed that most products highlighted at the front were mostly from the past. Yo-yos and books about yo-yos, old games, Ancient games etc.
Anyone knows that products get re-launched from time to time but we are seeing a major revival of products from the past. Why is that happening?
One might argue it is due to the large number of baby boomers. That is partially true. In an age where anxiety and frustration is high in the population, where people in a mall start running when they hear a noise, already thinking that some type of attack might be happening,when we spend more time feeding fear than feeling empowered, we as a society seek comfort in the past, in things to which we had an emotional connection and a time when we felt safe. A place and time were we knew how to navigate. The brain re-lives those moments and that empower us to move forward, to keep going.
It also validates our social identity and reinforce our values and the value we put into things.
I call this trend Nostalgia Wave
But this trend is not exclusive to baby boomers. It reaches millennials as well.
You can find evidence in the sheer number of vinyl records sold in 2016. A 28 year high. A industry that brought $416 million in sales. A vinyl record today is not something cheap either. During my teenager years I could get one for $10 bucks. Now, on average an album costs $40.
New vinyl records are released every day not only from old bands like the Monkees but from new artists like Justin Bieber.
Why, with all the technology available and clear sound would people go buy vinyl labels? When you can hear music from any device anywhere, you choose a media that needs a physical player? Because now we live in an age where most things are filtered in social media, where you add a selfie smiling and having fun when you are really feeling frustrated and bored. You do that and know others do too. Where do you anchor what is real? You listen to a vinyl record and they are not perfect. You can relate to that and lets face it, it makes it unique. Records have hisses and cracks, they are raw and this generation longs for real, for flaws. These records add texture to the experience.
Everything we have access today seems to be free and shareable. With a record you have a tactile experience. You can smell, open the wrapper, choose and turn to the side you want. It is a total different and real experience.
You can have a million songs in your device but that is not the same as collecting them. With vinyl records, you are a collector. Collecting is part of our nature. We like to collect what we value.
Then there is the spectacular revival of instant cameras during 2016 Christmas. Bought by Millennials like no other gear. They are not as expensive as they used to be and no, you don’t have to shake the paper for the photo to appear.
Why are Millennials so attracted to these cameras?
Because you can touch. Yes, touch and keep. Here is the tactile experience this generation longs for all the time. In this digital age, everything is somewhere, in some device or cloud. Sometimes is hard to find, sometimes it seems like it doesn’t belong to us as individuals. A printed photo is a very special moment that you want to keep and show. All other moments can go on your phone. Not the special ones, shared with special ones and that you can touch, feel and put in a special place.
This is just like before if you are a boomer but it is a new feeling if you are a Millennial and it is a good feeling. A very special memory, captured in an instant with a paper proof to keep. You can touch, look and feel that moment with your hands.
The nostalgia wave will be here for a while. Because it create peace, lowers anxiety, puts us in a safe place and give some of us a new experience.
Businesses that understand this trend can incorporate some of these aspects and give the consumer a different experience.
Let’s discuss Life by design when aging.
Baby Boomers want to have a say in every aspect, they want to have their individual choice and decide how things are going to happen. Very different than their parents specially because they don’t accept: “This is the way it has always being done”. Baby Boomers don’t stick to the script!
They will be active and independent for as long as possible and then more.
So when it comes to aging in place and how they are treated, things must be in their own terms.
Are all Boomers making the most prudent housing decisions as they approach retirement? Not necessarily. Regardless, their decisions will have important implications as this generation, once again, does it their way.
While many Boomers are planning major home improvements in the next three years, a significant number will make style and value a priority over aging-friendly features. In fact, the top Boomer reasons to renovate are similar to those of younger generations:
39% plan for major home improvements in the next 3 years
Top reasons for that:
Aging related reasons:
Note: major home improvement is defined as spending $2,000 or more on the job.
Source: 2013 Demand institute housing & community survey.
In some instances, baby boomers will move, but they still want to be close to home. When Baby Boomers do move, they don’t intend to go very far. Only one-third will move out of state, with the lure of “wanting to be closer to family” being just as strong as a “change of climate.” Indeed, more than half of Boomers will move within 30 miles of their current home. Further, only one in five Boomer movers wants to relocate to senior-related housing or active adult communities. For many Boomers, maintaining a connection to their communities and families is an important consideration as they decide where to live.
The population is aging, but Boomers are not necessarily looking for “senior” products and solutions. While there is limited interest in aging- and health-specific home improvements, those that make the home easier and less costly to maintain do resonate with Boomers. Among those moving, the majority will seek single-story homes, and subtle touches that make aging in the home easier without sacrificing style, like smaller yards and universal design elements, will appeal to Boomers.
As long as our homes are our private retreats, we will want them as comfortable as possible. As our needs for what is comfortable change, we will adapt our homes to those needs.
By Tyler Howell
Despite their rapid movement toward retirement — within the next decade, a majority of Baby Boomers will be of retirement age — boomers still hold a large percentage of leadership positions, especially in more “traditional” industries (i.e. manufacturing, utility and power, government, etc.).
So, how can more senior managers and leaders relate to and draw the most out of their younger employees? Here are 4 tips for relating to this young generation:
Like many of my peers, I was introduced to league- and team-based sports early in my life and participated in them religiously. Thinking back, I can still remember every coach I had and their impact on my performance and attitude.
The good ones pulled performance out of me, were encouraging but firm, tough but fair, and provided guidance about how to do the “job” well. Because of their influence, I learned to love the sports they coached.
The bad ones, however, played favorites, dismissed questions or concerns, didn’t listen, and were arrogant or hateful, and my perception of the sport was diminished.
The No. 1 reason a millennial will leave their job is due to a bad manager. If companies want to reduce their turnover costs and retain millennial talent, managers need to be coaches — not bosses.
Millennials have a strong inclination toward aligning justice and fairness across the various aspects of their lives. They want their work to be meaningful and make a difference — and to not just collect a paycheck every two weeks.
There is little forgiveness for companies that act unethically or hypocritically. Not only are they likely to lose their millennial talent, but their brand might also be blasted across social media and be publicly shamed.
If companies don’t have their values in order, or they haven’t communicated them to their employees, there’s no time like the present. If such corporate values are already in place, for the love of God live by them! Hypocrisy is an extremely toxic corporate value for millennials.
The average tenure for millennials in any one job is two years. Yep, you read that right — that millennial employee you just spent a lot of resources to hire at the beginning of last year might not be with your company for the holiday party this year. Why are they leaving?
One of the primary reasons millennials decide to pack up and leave is because they don’t believe they are receiving any personal benefit or growth. Millennials have grown up in an era of instant access to information, leading them to become more efficient in problem solving, decision-making and critical thinking.
Work with this generation to make a development plan for their job that includes continuing education, progressive job training and coaching. This type of development provides them more responsibility and will allow them to move up the proverbial corporate leadership ladder.
From my experience, if there is one key concept for working well with millennials, it’s communication. My generation is used to instant communication in almost every facet of our lives, from parents, teachers, coaches and peers, so it makes sense that we would expect the same from our managers.
However, this is a big shift for a lot of managers. Whereas older generations would only receive feedback during annual performance reviews, millennials want to receive feedback much more regularly. It’s not just the frequency of communication, but also the content. Millennials want to know if their performance may be suffering, as well as when they are succeeding.
Moreover, they want to be included in brainstorming about how the job could be improved, provide new ideas for productivity or efficiency, and learn how their role fits within the organization. T hink about your communication. If you believe you’re communicating too little, you most likely are not meeting the mark!
Maximize Your Resources!
If you follow these four tips, you will be well on your way to maximizing your millennial workforce.
Take this to heart: Millennial workers, if managed properly, can be your most productive, innovative and motivated employees yet! Once they feel invested in, the sky is the limit.
Baby boomers are looking for different solutions as they age.
How to market to baby boomers today. What do they want and what do they value?. See the changes you need to make when marketing to baby boomers
From 79 million baby boomers in the US, 43 million of us are taking care of someone older than 50.
Baby boomers are also not getting any younger. Every day 10,000 boomers hit 65 years of age and since all boomers want to live forever, they are conscious about their health and consume more supplements than any other group, they might as well become the first generation to take care of its parents for as long as it cared for its children. But they want to do it their way.
Care giving is really becoming a common word in any boomer vocabulary.
Even though care giving might be the right word, many boomers just see themselves as the spouse, the son or daughter and they see themselves doing what is expected of them without any labels. Boomers after all don’t like labels. But this can also be an issue since they don’t tend to look for resources related to caregivers which impact them as caregivers as well as the aging parent.
For businesses selling online this means thinking outside the box when looking for keywords. The obvious is not what people search. They search for a solution to a problem according to their views.
For example, instead of searching for a “bed rail” for an aging parent, he/she might search for “stop falling out of bed”.
Because boomers want to live forever, talking about aging or care giving can lead to a stressful conversation but is also important that this type of conversation occurs.
Again, to make this conversation easier specially when addressing the fact that baby boomers are aging, refer to “a new phase in life”, just never call a boomer “old”
Freedom is an important concept to boomers specially when we take into consideration that most of them are empty nesters really immersing in a whole new phase in their lives. They can easily understand the importance of being independent when relating to their aging parents. These are concepts to explore in your marketing as well.
The concept of their parents being safe and having peace of mind is also crucial when we take into consideration that many boomers become distant caregivers and parents tend to stay into their own homes longer.
When marketing to boomers, words matter a lot. They want innovation, a honest conversation, freedom, peace of mind and are not so price conscious as their parents.
This different behavior might provide an extra challenge when marketing to this generation but can be extremely profitable since this group is known to be big spenders and hold a tremendous buying power.
There are 90 million baby boomers between US and Canada (baby boomers are people born between 1946 and 1964.) Although this generation is known to spend 2 trillion a year and is said to have a disposable income of $24,000 a year, a significant part of this population is in trouble when it comes to retirement.
Yes, baby boomers want to live forever, we are entering middle age kicking and screaming, and we say we never want to retire because we love to be active but reality shows that many boomers wouldn’t be able to retire even if they wanted to.
First we are big spenders. We like to buy, we love Infomercials, we fall for advertising all the time because we grew up with it, and we don’t save.
According to a survey done by EBRI, here are some staggering numbers when it comes to baby boomers and savings:
As a point of reference, of all workers surveyed:
Just to put this into perspective, one night in a hospital could cost you over $10,000
You can add to these grim figures the fact that a lot of baby boomers work because they have to, and not because they are connected to their own higher purpose, and baby boomers want to live their purpose, they care about leaving a legacy, participating and becoming relevant in their communities.
So, is there any hope for baby boomers or is it too late?
If you didn’t start saving early can you still have a confortable life and be finacially free in your late years?
Yes you can if you consider network marketing. Yes, I know, there is a lot of prejudice in this industry, but there is a lot of prejudice in other industries as well. Any car sales people out there?
Network marketing is just a distribution method where your investment to start is usually very low, no prior knowledge or degree is necessary, and a lot of support is provided! Very different than starting your own business from scratch where you have a lot of uncertainties, have to go without a salary every now and then (probably more often than you would like to admit,) you have to erase the word security from your vocabulary, and you have to figure out things on your own all-the-time!
Network marketing offers you recurring income which means you know how much is coming in for the month. It comes when you get sick, or when you travel, or when you spend a week visiting grandchildren.
It is a great way to supplement your retirement income.
Network marketing companies offer a lot of personal growth resources which is always very appealing to baby boomers, but most of all it is a channel through which you can impact other people’s lives, live your passion and feel relevant.
Yes, some people never accomplish anything in network marketing companies, but the sad truth is that for most that is mostly just a matter of attitude and wrong mindset. If you stop to think about it, network marketing has a simple model that is aligned with the sharing economy we now live in.
In the end it comes down to a simple choice: to spend the rest of our life working without being connected with something that really matters to us and be afraid of not having enough in our late years, or to align ourselves with a passion.
Now, in order to save your retirement you need to start fast, and start as soon as you can. Time is our most precious asset and we don’t have enough of it.
Which type of network marketing company should you choose? There are many options out there and the compensation plan is a key point to look at carefully.
Remember that we tend to duplicate with people like ourselves and baby boomers have a new appreciation for a healthy lifestyle. This group spends a lot in diets, supplements and exercise. The diet, nutrition and personal care industry is a 56 billion dollar industry and it is expected to double in the next five years.
Shahar Boyayan is a marketer that specializes in Selling to baby boomers. She hosts a weekly TV show called Boomerology Revealed and yes she is involved in networking marketing.
She has a thriving organization in a Natural healthcare company where we educate people on essential oils. They are phenomenal, affordable and effective. You just educate people.
She is looking for leaders that want to build an organization and have around 1 hour a day to devote to it.
If interested call me at: 801-680-7220 or write: letschat@healthessentialists.com
Quick note to let you know that the Medtrade newsletter has featured one of our articles this week. I’ve pasted the link below for you.
Medtrade is the biggest trade show for the HME industry. We are speaking there in October
We have 2 sessions this coming October: Monday Oct 20th at 3:15: New rules to market to America’s biggest, wealthiest and most influential group- Baby boomers
and
Thursday Oct 21st- 4pm- Online Video Revolution- How to reinvent and market a HME business using online videos.
Don’t forget to add them to your calendar.
Here is the link for the article: Boomerology Revealed
Here is an example of a video ad from Duracell that talks on an emotional level. Notice that is does not promote the product but the message.
The brand engaged a new campaign called “Trust Your Power” with its debut on January 10th. The video strikes close to 5.9 million views in a week after being launched. Now it has over 22 million views
This is something quite special because Duracell didn’t run the ad on TV.
Marketing on an emotional level works for any generation but it is very powerful when marketing to baby boomers
