Many people's vision of an entrepreneur may be a person in their 20s starting a business out of the garage. Jolie Solomon, senior features editor at More magazine, has a different idea of the modern-day entrepreneur—women over the age of 40. Jean talks with Jolie about the unique qualifications many midlife women possess and shares reasons why they should consider starting their own business.

• Confidence and Experience: "In midlife you've got all this experience and you know what works and what doesn't in so many parts of your life," Jolie says. "You've got the confidence to say, 'Ten people can tell me no and I am going to do it anyway.'"
• Age Discrimination: "Women in their 40s and 50s do have a harder time getting jobs," Jolie says. "[Also] there are plenty of layoffs to worry about, so going out on your own—either doing that before the ax falls or after the ax falls—is an increasingly popular option."
• Fewer Stereotypes: Jolie says work-from-home ventures that involve selling food items or products to your friends are no longer the only options for entrepreneurial-minded women. "Women are succeeding in business at all levels—they're doing construction, they're doing oil and gas exploration, they're doing financial products—they're really succeeding in every corner of the market," she says.
• Money Issues: You may have a pool of money saved to help finance your business, but Jolie says if you don't have a ton of money you can start small and still be successful. "Women all of the time started on their lunch hours and started on the weekends," she says, "They take small steps and start building it, and they cobble together money that can give them a dry run."
• The Internet: Once you decide to take a stab at an entrepreneurial endeavor, Jolie says the Internet can provide you with market research and a storefront. "The Internet makes it much easier to start small, test out an idea, see what traction you get and then build it from there," she says.