Gary Heavin

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-midlife-millionaires.html

Gary Heavin

Courtesy of Gary Heavin (Pictured here with wife Diane)Occupation: Co-founder and CEO, Curves International

Age: 57

Age when he hit it big: 40

Advice to midlife entrepreneurs: "You have to be willing to put security at risk in order to have the potential for wealth."

Heavin learned valuable entrepreneurial lessons watching his father, who was born poor, build a successful manufacturing supply company. In 1992, Heavin started his women-only gym franchise with wife Diane. It was an immediate hit. Today, there are nearly 10,000 Curves fitness clubs in more than 85 countries.

Heavin's midlife success didn't come easy, however. At 20, he dropped out of college to start his first gym business. He was a millionaire by 25 -- and bankrupt by 30. "I had lots of business ideas, but they weren't lasting," he says. "At 25, it was all about me, and that's a foundation for disaster." With his wife Diane's help, he was able to regroup and start fresh with a new, better business model for what would become Curves.

Heavin credits his success later in life to his early failure: "One big thing I've learned is that when you’re wealthy at a young age like I was, it has a lot to do with luck. When you're older, it has a lot to do with experience." For other budding entrepreneurs who are late bloomers, Heavin offers these words of advice: "People cling to security. I've found that the more educated a person is, the less they're inclined to take a risk . . . You have to be willing to put security at risk in order to have the potential for wealth."