“You Are Never Too Old”

Late Blooming Entrepreneurs

That’s what 64-year-old Diana Nyad proclaimed after she became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a protective cage to keep sharks at bay. As reported by CNN, Nyad finished just before 2 p.m. ET on September 2, almost 53 hours after she started in Havana.

It was Nyad’s fifth attempt at the 110-mile swim and her fourth since turning 60. This time, she wore a special mask to protect her tongue against jellyfish stings, a key reason for last year’s failed attempt.

Nyad was 29 when she first attempted the Cuba-to-Florida swim. Last week, she said her objective was to show that “you can dream at any age.”

The fifth time turned out to be the charm. Afterwards, the exhausted but happy Nyad told reporters she had three messages.

“One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary…

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Entrepreneur Turns Unwanted Gift Cards into a Business

Late Blooming Entrepreneurs

Gift cards can be a great idea. But what do you do when a well-meaning friend or relative gives you a card for a store where you never shop?  Or for a restaurant you don’t like?

Hossein Kasmai, a Florida-based serial entrepreneur, came up with a solution. He started a franchise venture — Gift Card Monkey — to help people get rid of unwanted gift cards and put cash in their pockets.

This Entrepreneur.com story provides a good overview of Gift Card Monkey and how it works. Consumers can trade, sell or buy discounted gift cards online or at brick-and-mortar locations (such as kiosks in shopping malls) operated by franchisees. Gift Card Monkey usually offers somewhere between 60-95 percent of the card’s value in cash.

But what really makes Gift Card Monkey different is a software package and small device, similar to a credit-card swiper, that franchisees sell to local businesses. Kasmai, an engineer and one-time executive for Motorola, developed the technology, which allows merchants to accept any…

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Bill Gates’ Take on Thomas Edison

Late Blooming Entrepreneurs

Thomas Edison kept inventing things for a long, long time. Several of his inventions, including the first silent film, occurred when he was in his 50s. He didn’t obtain his last (1,093rd) patent until age 83.

Among Edison’s admirers is Bill Gates, who says the inventor has been an inspiration to him in his own career. The Microsoft chairman penned the foreword for a new book, Edison and the Rise of Innovation, and recently shared what he wrote on his website, The Gates Notes.

In his post, titled “America’s Greatest Inventor,” Gates points out that Edison’s team-oriented work style and practical nature were factors behind his success.

“Edison recognized that inventions rarely come in a single flash of inspiration,” writes Gates. “You set a goal, measure progress using data, see what’s working—and what isn’t working—adjust your plan, and try again.

“This process can be very frustrating because it means running into a lot of dead ends. But each dead…

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