When I started These Are The Heydays I didn’t imagine it would lead to me connecting and becoming friends with so many wonderful, inspiring Heydayers through discovering and following them on-line.

Tracey McAlpine is one of those people. She runs a truly fabulous health, beauty and fitness website and YouTube channel, as well as Facebook and Instagram accounts, all called Fighting Fifty

I started following Tracey on Instagram and now we’re friends in real life

As someone considerably less far down a similar road to her, I was fascinated about how she’d come to launch her brand and what she’d done to grow it over the years. I think you’ll find the story of her journey equally interesting on so many levels

Our conversation covered self-confidence, the challenges and opportunities of ageing, the need for sleep and throwing yourself back into the world of work after being a stay-at-home mum for 25 years.

When did you start Fighting Fifty and why?

It was seven and a half years ago and it was born out of my frustration at the the misconception of ageing, I got to 50 and found that suddenly people were marketing things to me like walk-in baths and stair lifts!

I also saw a lot of negativity surrounding older women. What I wanted was good advice on how to look and feel good as I got older, but I couldn't find it in one place, and certainly not in a way that spoke to me. It was either aimed at women much younger than me, or much older, there wasn't really a lot for women in midlife.

How did you decide what content to focus on?

When I stopped working before I had my children, I was in the beauty industry, so that’s something I had knowledge and experience of, which made it easier to go back in to. I also wanted to explore health and fitness. All the things that make women feel better about ourselves as we age.

How has your initial concept changed over time?

It hasn't grown in quite the way I'd hoped it would in terms of numbers, but on the other hand, its authority has become very well respected and that’s because I involve a lot of really good experts. So it's not just me talking about my experiences, there are a lot of other people who bring their expertise to the table. So it’s found its niche in that way.

Tracey involves a wide variety of experts on her site. This is her with beauty industry veteran Nikki Taylor who does a monthly product review with her

I don't know if I've quite discovered my voice yet. I feel I'm still working on that. It takes a lot of confidence to put your name to something and a lot of determination and effort to continue being creative for seven years. That's quite a task in itself.

In that vein, what have you learnt about yourself in these years of working for yourself and fundamentally alone?

My biggest learning is that age is never a barrier to anything.

I hadn't worked for 25 years and I really had to push myself out of my comfort zone to start something new. To go out and new people and make new contacts. And I’ve proved to myself that I have the confidence to do that. A lot of people say that women lose their confidence when they get older. In my experience, a lot of women gain it. Because they get to a stage where they think: ‘You know what? This is me. This is who I am. This is what I do. And I'd like you to listen to me.’

Obviously, there are plenty of people who don't want to listen. But equally there are also a lot who will not only listen but who will say: ‘Hey, I agree with that. I'd like to come along on this journey, and I'd like to help you and tell you what I'm doing.’

So I've learned that it there's no barrier to reinvention.

Tracey loves encouraging women to join her on the ageing well journey.

What have been the particular challenges of building something from scratch by yourself?

The biggest has definitely been the amount of time you have to dedicate to it. In the first couple of years, I didn’t stop working. I didn't go on holiday, I didn't go to bed before about four o'clock in the morning, and then got up again about eight o'clock in the morning (which, by the way I used to be able to do easily and I absolutely can’t now!) I just didn’t stop, and when you juggling a family and a husband, and trying to keep keep to deadlines, there's a lot involved in doing that.

I realised I had to find a balance so I still had a life and a decent night's sleep! Finding that balance between home life and work life has been my biggest challenge. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm working it, and on being better at saying no. Which, it turns out I’m not very good at doing either!

And what about the biggest joy?

That’s definitely been the women I've met and connected with. (I have met some amazing men as well, I should say!) It's been an absolute pleasure to meet so many people through Fighting Fifty. Some have started amazing websites and businesses, some, like yourself, who have come out of a creative industry and started their own business. Pilates teachers, yoga teachers, inspirational women fighting health challenges. There are so many remarkable women doing inspiring and things.

What are your ambitions for what you’ve created?

I want it to continue to grow, obviously. And to continue to get great experts involved, giving really good information so that it’s a place to find authoritative information about health, beauty and fitness.

What’s so exciting is that when I started there were very few websites like this and that’s changed now. And there are so many amazing bloggers as well, which is great.

There are a lot more of us talking about similar things and sharing each other's content, which is wonderful. I hope that inspires people to have the confidence to go out there and do whatever they want to.

Trying out and reporting on treatments and sharing her experiences is an important element of Tracey’s work. You can see me having a go at this one in this blog post

What does running Fighting Fifty do for you on a personal level?

It's a great outlet for my creativity. I hadn’t worked for 25 years and was was pretty much unemployable. When I stopped working we had just progressed from telex machines to faxes. There were no computers, no mobile phones, no sat navs. That’s hard to imagine isn’t it!

It’s given me a great sense of achievement to create something from literally nothing. After those 25 years at home I didn't have a single contact. So to have built a network of great experts and friends, gives me a a huge sense of achievement.

It’s also so rewarding seeing what you create on the screen, and getting emails from people saying: ‘I took your advice and it worked’ or ‘I bought something and it helped.’

Sometimes people just write to you because they need someone to talk to, and that for me is worth more than anything.

Quick fire questions now.

Top beauty tip?

You can't beat eating well, so start with that. I'm a huge lover of supplements and a big fan of skincare, but nothing will replace a good diet, so that needs to be your starting point.

Top health tip?

That has to be - drink more water. Generally we don't drink enough water and I'm definitely guilty of that too. I fill up my water bottles in the morning so that I can actually see how much water I've drunk in the day.

Top tip to anybody thinking of starting their own thing, whatever that might be, whether it's business, whether it's a website?

Take the plunge! Because you you never know what you’re capable of achieving until you try. I don't believe there's ever a point in your life where you can't start something new, or try something new. Age is not a barrier to reinvention in any shape or form. And what's the worst that can happen if it doesn't work? You've tried and that’s what matters most.

What challenge have you taken the plunge and tried? How did it turn out?