On Christmas Eve, I had the pleasure of interviewing Santa. "Santa" Ed Taylor that is. Taylor, age 61, has made more than $100k last year playing Santa in television commercials, apps, and personal appearances. He's even worked with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in a movie trailer. Taylor is the ultimate encore entrepreneur. He is over the age of 50, following his passion to make others happy and he's able to make a nice income doing so.
"Santa" Ed Taylor in a BandAid commercial
Taylor admits that he is extremely fortunate to be able to make this type of income and not all Santas experience his type of success. Part of Taylor's success as Santa comes from living in Southern California for part of the year where he's able to take advantage of Hollywood's need for the perfect Santa. Yes, that's right Santa lives in Southern California, not the North Pole. At least Taylor does. He spends the other half of the year in southern Oregon where his adult children reside.
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Encore entrepreneur, "Santa" Ed Taylor. Source: SantaEd.com
Talking to Taylor, you can see why Hollywood loves him. He's the perfect jolly Santa and he takes his role very seriously. He said that he wasn't always the perfect Santa. In the early years when he volunteered as Santa, he said that he wasn't as good as he is now but when he wanted to go pro, he took an improv class and honed his skills. "I challenged myself to be better," said Taylor, "Challenge yourself to be extraordinary!" Taylor's previous career was in marketing and those skills have served him well with promoting his business as Old Saint Nick. He even has a school teaching other Santas.
Listen to my interview with Santa Ed Taylor on his success as an encore entrepreneur on ENCORE.
Taylor says that encore entrepreneurs' biggest obstacle is usually themselves. He suggests starting small and encourages slow growth. He put his knowledge in a booklet that he penned titled, "How to Be An Encore Entrepreneur," available on Amazon.com. It's about 78 pages and it's an easy read to help new entrepreneurs to get a business started quickly.
Janice Celeste is the founder of the Encore Entrepreneur Institute, an advocacy organization for entrepreneurs ages 50+. You can catch her on Twitter and on her Blab live stream show, ENCORE @EncoreInstitute.
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Taylor admits that he is extremely fortunate to be able to make this type of income and not all Santas experience his type of success. Part of Taylor's success as Santa comes from living in Southern California for part of the year where he's able to take advantage of Hollywood's need for the perfect Santa. Yes, that's right Santa lives in Southern California, not the North Pole. At least Taylor does. He spends the other half of the year in southern Oregon where his adult children reside.
Talking to Taylor, you can see why Hollywood loves him. He's the perfect jolly Santa and he takes his role very seriously. He said that he wasn't always the perfect Santa. In the early years when he volunteered as Santa, he said that he wasn't as good as he is now but when he wanted to go pro, he took an improv class and honed his skills. "I challenged myself to be better," said Taylor, "Challenge yourself to be extraordinary!" Taylor's previous career was in marketing and those skills have served him well with promoting his business as Old Saint Nick. He even has a school teaching other Santas.
Taylor says that encore entrepreneurs' biggest obstacle is usually themselves. He suggests starting small and encourages slow growth. He put his knowledge in a booklet that he penned titled, "How to Be An Encore Entrepreneur," available on Amazon.com. It's about 78 pages and it's an easy read to help new entrepreneurs to get a business started quickly.
Janice Celeste is the founder of the Encore Entrepreneur Institute, an advocacy organization for entrepreneurs ages 50+. You can catch her on Twitter and on her Blab live stream show, ENCORE @EncoreInstitute.
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