In his book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum offers essential tidbits of wisdom most of us learned as children, including “Share everything. Dont take things that aren’t yours. Put things back where you found them.”

In the last decade or so, adults have been revisiting these essential lessons in new ways, creating businesses and opportunities for what has been dubbed “The Sharing Economy,” a business concept based on renting or borrowing goods and services, rather than owning them. Though this idea is not new — libraries are one of the oldest examples, volunteering another — the advent of technology has made sharing a variety of resources easier than ever, impacting how we live and how we choose products and services.

As described by Benita Matofska of The People Who Share“The Sharing Economy is a socio-economic ecosystem built around the sharing of human and physical resources. It includes the shared creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services by different people and organisations.”

Advocates of sharing who engage in this practice, which is sometimes called The Collaborative Economy, do so for financial and/or social/communal reasons, as well as flexibility and/or ensuring a more sustainable world. Examples of some of the better-known companies that have emerged out of the sharing concept include: Airbnb, ZipCar, Lyft, Uber, Craigslist, TaskRabbit, Pinterest, and GiftCardSwapping, to name just a few.

A 2013/2014 report based on two surveys conducted by Vision Critical’s Voice of Market states that there are 80 million “sharers” in the U.S. Though it claims nearly half of sharers across the globe are under 35, there are still a significant percentage (between 19-40 percent) of participants, particularly in America, and particularly outside urban centers, who are 55+. Regardless of age, location or other differences (e.g.: higher incomes), however, the study asserts that “..all businesses need to know that sharers are not a niche market. Sharers are part of the mainstream set of customers that businesses can’t afford to ignore.” Additionally, those over 40 are not only consumers but also solopreneurs and entrepreneurs, many focused on the Triple Bottom Line of people, planet, and profits.

As with all new ideas, start-ups in The Sharing Economy may need tweaks to ensure best practices for the greatest number of people (including safety and liability). That said, it appears this concept is here to stay. Despite any resistance we have to changes, what has been proven time and again is human’s ability to adapt to circumstances. As we move through life’s transitions, including the changes that come with The Sharing Economy, perhaps it is wise to be mindful of even more of the words from Robert Fulghum’s aforementioned book, which are excerpted below.

~ Play fair.
~ Don’t hit people.
~ Clean up your own mess.
~ Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
~ Live a balanced life – learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
~ Take a nap every afternoon.
~ When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
~ Be aware of wonder.

In what ways have you participated/are you participating in The Sharing Economy?

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For decades, I have spoken at length about, and coached clients regarding, the need for marketing products and services to serve the fast-expanding over-40 demographic. I even devote a chapter to the subject of over-40 business wisdom in my upcoming book, The Ageless Way. Here are just a few *sneak peek* excerpts below.

Everyone from solopreneurs to large corporations needs to recognize that this market is essential to staying in business in the future, or even in the present. Especially important is that Ageless Women themselves are in a unique position to serve this market just as they are in this market to be served. In other words, Gray is the New Green!

 As pioneering David Wolfe observed, “I believe companies are largely ignoring the largest and richest customer group in history for three reasons. First, stereotypical beliefs about older customers paint them as resistant to change, so why bother. Second, there is widespread uneasiness about how to market to older customers, so let’s spare ourselves the pain of failure. Third, people under 40, who are not in the same mental space as members of the new adult marketplace majority, dominate marketing processes. They relate most comfortably to customers of their own ages or younger.”

 Yet, the economy, business, and the workplace are all undergoing glacial change from the status quo, despite a combination of massive upheavals and a constant media focus on the aging Boomer population. Throughout history, chaos and major shifts have always been accompanied by renewed attempts to hold on for dear life to the (false) security of How Things Have Always Been Done. There is an ongoing conflict between the stories of our past and the stories of our future, and the battlefield between them is inevitably our present story…

 My message continues to be “Here’s how to stay in sync with the generation that keeps you in business.” I present to professional and corporate marketers, strategists and entrepreneurs (experienced and newbies) across many sectors. I attempt to wake up those who have the most to gain or lose in market share and reach if they close their eyes to the forty-plus market potential. While sharing my perspective on the truth about their future if they stay youth-focused, I cajole them by quoting popular lyrics like Fleetwood Mac’s “Yesterday’s Gone…Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.” I warn them that they best get on board fast because their ability to monetize going forward will be based on their willingness to serve this enormous force field of new Boomer demand in the workplace, the United States marketplace, and around the globe.

 No matter your industry or field, those who recognize the new rules of the game will reap the benefits and gobble up market share. For starters the new rules are customer-centric, not product-centered, as has been the case for eons. At least until Millennials turn forty, youth no longer rules! But “Prime Time Women” do!

 Let’s get back to the here and now stats that should blow your socks off! Based on a briefing paper prepared by Oxford Economics for AARP it is estimated that “…a 106 million-plus market is expected to grow by over 30% in the next 20 years.” If you snooze, you lose. Any entrepreneur or service professional that ignores the enormous power of the Big Gray already on our threshold might as well kiss their business goodbye. To anyone not paying attention I must ask, are sure you want to leave money on the table by ignoring this forty-plus market?

 If you are not already serving or planning to serve the forty-plus market, you are not only missing out financially—you are missing out on the chance to align what matters with an audience that is consciously choosing companies that are making a difference as well as a profit.

 The aftermath of the Great Recession can seem like the worst possible time to focus your business on your values, but the opposite is true. Boomers are an indication of how your clients are changing. Living your values and focusing on what matters in your business is not only what you need, it’s what the world needs—and it’s what the world is willing to pay for.

 Businesses that want to tap into this trend must shift their focus from value to values, from the bottom-line to the Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet, Profits…

A finding in a Nielsen study projects that by 2017 Baby Boomers will control seventy percent of the country’s disposable income. Whether or not you like Madonna’s style… or that of the millions of other active, engaged, energetic, successful performers over 50 (for starters: Michael Jordan, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Betty White, Denzel Washington, Hilary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Barack and Michelle Obama, Oprah, Nascar Driver Morgan Shepherd, or Yoga Teacher Tao Porchon-Lynch, 96…), there is no doubt that the new emerging story will be written by those marketers and product makers who recognize that it is worthwhile to get beyond the rampant malevolent ageism and misogyny in corporate marketing and product development decision-making.

What ways do you think the over-40 demographic can be best served by businesses? Have you seen examples of marketers already reaching out to this age group and doing it well? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Image Credit: Dollar Photo Club