For the past several years, I have thought that it was the baby-boomers, now that they are approaching retirement age, who had a problem with the word and concept, “retirement.” Recently while cleaning out bookshelves, I found a vintage book, Paths to Power, from the early days of women’s studies programs. First published in 1980, Natasha Josefowitz ended her book with a chapter titled “Re-tire to Re-start.” She briefly began with the necessity to plan your retirement, if that is what you wanted to do and her planning advice concerned not only finances, but exercise, nutrition, using your talents, and keeping your mind active. As for retirement she admitted it could be wonderful if you were using this time period to START something, rather than STOP. The remainder of the chapter focused on your other option – Re-tire!
Re-tire – put some new tires on the old car to make it run like new. Then roll along or bump along depending on what new roads you decide to travel. With your experience, she suggested that it may be time to consult, teach, or counsel (the coaching field had not been invented yet) or write. But if the re-tired vehicle was looking for a more exciting trek, entrepreneurship was among her suggestions.
Seems at least some of us read about reinventing retirement thirty years ago and promptly forgot about it. But the seeds were sown. Maybe this is why Profiting from Passions Coaching (R) is one of my encore careers.
Originally published in my blog: Reinvent Retirement Jan. 2011
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated in New York City in 1882, by 1885 the holiday was being celebrated in a number of industrial centers, and in 1894 Congress made it a national holiday. There is some doubt as to who proposed this holiday for workers. Some claim that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and cofounder of the American Federation of Labor proposed the holiday while others believe the founder was Peter McGuire a machinist and secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. Peter McGuire’s proposal did include appointing a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
Labor Day
In the early years of this holiday, street parades were common in cities and towns to show the strength of their community’s trade and labor organizations. Well the parades are a thing of the past and American workers participation in labor unions peaked in the 1950s and has gone into decline. What are we celebrating in 2013? According to the United States Department of Labor, Secretary Thomas E. Perez, Labor Day is a ”yearly, national tribute to the contribution workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well being of our country.” Besides the doubt as to who proposed this holiday, perhaps there is now another doubt about Labor Day. Is American labor valued? Interestingly the statement from the Secretary of Labor is in the past tense. Is labor still valued? Are American workers somehow at risk?
Unemployed
According to the Catholic News Service, “The economy is not creating an adequate number of jobs that allow workers to provide for themselves and their families. More than 4 million people have been jobless for over six months, and that does not include the millions more who have simply lost hope. For every available job, there are often five unemployed and underemployed people actively vying for it. This jobs gap pushes wages down. Half of the jobs in this country pay less than $27,000 per year. More than 46 million people live in poverty, including 16 million children.”tinyurl.com/oxs9rqm#laborday
Just a remnant of the Great Recession? Probably not. Time Magazine reports in its 9/9/13 edition that “According to a study published by the Reserve Bank of Chicago, by the end of last year U.S. manufacturing had recovered 75% of the output lost in the Great Recession but only about 21% of the lost jobs.” How is this possible? The use of new technologies brings greater efficiency and computer technology and robotics is likely to further reduce the need for labor. According to Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, authors of Race Against the Machine, “The root of our problems is not that we’re in aGreat Recession or a Great Stagnation, but rather we are in the early throes of a Great Restructuring.” This restructuring is that computer hardware, software, and networks are going to get more powerful and capable in the future and have an even bigger impact on skills, jobs, and the economy.
WARNING: If your job involves learning a set of logical rules or a statistical model that you apply task after task you are ripe for replacement by a robot. This includes not only jobs like issuing boarding passes and grilling hamburgers but jobs like completing tax returns. Professional jobs will not be safe either. Medicine, nursing, sales, teaching, stock trading all have aspects that can be automated.
artist
HELPFUL SUGGESTION: Learn the skills to migrate to occupations that are genuinely nonroutine and thus protected from automation. Successful, productive work will be based on mastering creative, analytical, or intuitive skills. Hair styling, plumbing, designing buildings, and plotting corporate strategy are all going to be difficult to automate. And low paying work will still be available in jobs that are currently low paying and not worth automating: cleaning hotel rooms, cutting shrubs. Jobs that require working with new information and solving unstructured problems will also remain.
If this is the direction of the Great Restructuring, more unemployment looks inevitable, but we are in the early stages of this restructuring and we don’t know how it will evolve or what role we can play in its evolution.
OTHER PERCEPTIONS: Many of the endeavors that part-time entrepreneurs take on are those that can’t easily be automated or that we would not want automated. A robot tour leader? A robot fitness or yoga instructor!!!! A robot wedding planner that does the wedding photography as well????? What are your creative, intuitive, or analytical skills? Build your part-time business around these skills.
Yes, we keep hearing and reading that “The economy is not expanding” and “No one is hiring or creating jobs” Being a halfpreneur does not mean that you have to work alone. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change that you hope to see in the world.” You can be the one that hires the fitness trainers or yoga instructors for your studio. You can plan and organize the garden tours or restaurant tasting tours, or the ghost tours but you can hire others to actually run the tours. It is possible for you to be a job creator.
In this “Restructuring” not only computers will become more powerful but also networks. We should maintain our interpersonal skills for in-person and online communication. I suspect a personal touch and knowing one’s customers by name and preferences may become even more valuable for a small business person. News already travels almost instantaneously, maintain high standards of customer service and honesty.
Martin Luther King Jr
If this “Restructuring” is going to continue to accelerate the gap between the rich and the poor, we need to consider the consequences of not valuing labor. “Work and love are the two essential ingredients of a well-adjusted personality.” (Sigmund Freud) We are currently seeing the stressful lives lived by the long-term unemployed. But with some creativity and concern it seems like we can use robots or automated devices to do dangerous jobs and still provide work that people will find meaningful or at least capable of providing support to themselves and their families. Maybe we need a society that will actively encourage more people to become entrepreneurs. Those who own homes, those who own their own businesses are more likely to be committed to their communities.
Those at the top of business and industry need to figure out that they cannot pay their workers like paupers and have them spend like princes”. (paraphrased from John C. Médaille, Toward a Truly FreeMarket), OK, we tried having it both ways for a while – an economy based on credit cards and unaffordable mortgages did not work out well for most of us.
Celebrating labor, supporting labor is not being against capitalism. “Labor without capitalism is unemployment; capitalism without labor is sterile.” (John C. Médaille )
If you search the Internet looking for ways to make additional money, many sites will point you in the direction of Internet marketing. It’s a great opportunity for some and totally unappealing for others. I will not say that Internet marketing does not help people but what if your ideas of helping others fall more into the areas of listening to them, caring for them, etc. What if one of your goals is to make the world a better place? There are plenty of opportunities for part-time entrepreneurs of all ages in the helping fields. And there are lots of ways to make the world a better place.
Coaches, Wellness Experts, Nannies, and Others ……
Coaching ……
Coach
Coaching. Coaching is not counseling or therapy. Coaching helps motivate people, set goals and make moves in their lives they may not have considered without support. This is a career in which life experience and maturity are major assets.
No state as of yet has certification requirements for coaches. http://www.fabjob.com has guide books on coaching and setting up a coaching practice.
Personal Organizer… Declutter Coach. If you hate clutter and love order, you probably have discovered that some people are clueless when it comes to organizing their belongings and space. Their lack of time or ability could be your next career opportunity. There are organizations for organizers. Visit their sites to discover what a Personal Organizer or Declutter coach does.
National Association of Professional Organizers www.napo.net
Personal Concierge … Get paid for doing all the things a wife used to do and more. Run errands to the bank, post office, pharmacy. Wait around for repairmen. Chaffeur children and older relatives. Get tickets for events. Plan dinners and parties…… Except for all the waiting, you can set your own hours. Information atThe National Association of Professional Organizers www.napo.net
Doula. Doulas help women through labor, childbirth, and the postpartum period using nonmedical interventions including breathing techniques, massage, aromatherapy, and massive amounts of emotional support. Dona has certified more than 7000 birth and postpartum doulas.
Hypnotherapist. Hypnotherapy is a growing area of the mental-health profession.There are plenty of niches for hypnotherapists: weight loss, smoking cessation, pain management, hypnobirthing, stress relief. For articles and information on training …
http://aaph.org American Association of Professional Hypnotists
Personal Trainer. Create a niche for yourself: mature bodies, special needs. Let’s face it; most of us over age 50 don’t have the bodies you see in the fitness ads. Get certified to build, shape, and sculpt. Two sources of training to consider….
http://nfpt.com Personal Trainer and Certification and Fitness Education
Yoga Teacher. Yoga is mainstream and for everyone. Start your search with Yoga Journal Magazine or visit yogasite.com and click on the link for teacher training. One of the best and most respected schools in the country is at the KripaluCenter in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Reiki Practitioner. Reiki is healing energy that facilitates balance, healing and personal insight. Many Reiki practitioners are inspired to share their Reiki energy and training by setting up a practice or a business. Reiki practitioners and teachers impart their love and supportive philosophy through classes and therapy sessions. Setting up a formal business or practice for Reiki is relatively easy to accomplish for an experienced Reiki Master or practitioner; it just involves paperwork and preparation to meet requirements of your state and locale, as well as your customers (clients and students).
Massage Therapist. A growing profession with much job satisfaction. In most states, you will need 500 hours of training to be licensed. Be sure any program that you select is accredited by the Commission on Massage Training. Physical fitness is essential for this job. Practitioners are on their feet all day and some forms of massage require physical strength.
Nanny. Love children but no children or grandchildren of your own yet. Look after other people’s children. There are many internet sites on the topic including the International Nanny Association an umbrella association for the in-home child care industry that provides information, education and guidance to the public and to industry professionals. Nannies work part-time as well as full time.
English Teacher ESL or EFL. English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) are in demand in the U.S. and around the world. You can teach English in your community, on-line or by Skype, or satisfy your wanderlust and take a position in a foreign country if you are looking for a seasonal half-time “career” or are one of the working “retired.”. Housing or a host family is usually provided.
Used Book Seller. Sell used books on Amazon.com. If you know what books to sell and the best ways to find them you can develop a profitable business. Some information is available from Thriving Business, but to get the whole story you will need to buy their 28 page special report for $7.00.
Tour Leader. Provide informative and entertaining tours showcasing your areas local attractions. Ghost tours have been popular for years and food tours are beginning to gain popularity. There are restaurant and pub tours, as well as tours to farms that allow picking veggies and fruit. This tour should end with a restaurant meal. Organic!? Garden tours are another option, and recently I met the founder of Boston Pilgrim – tours of some of the most historical religious sites in Boston, MA. www.bostonpilgrim.org For more information on starting a business as a tour leader, there are courses and informational web sites.
Chocolate Maker: Does chocolate make the world a better place? The business of making chocolate candy can improve your bottom line. If you would love to learn how to make chocolate cancy, EcoleChocolat (Chocolate School) offers professional Chocolatier training that consists of an intensive online three month program
Cake Decorating Instructor: Teach cake decorating as a free lance instructor. Or learn to decorate cakes first and then become an instructor. Bilingual English/Spanish instructors are in demand.
Wine Expert: Even wine experts have accreditations. You can become an accredited wine expert through The International Sommelier Guild which offers a six month diploma program. Their training is conducted in a variety of cities in the U.S. and Canada
With the 2008 recession and it’s effects, self-employment, home-based businesses and an entrepreneurial spirit have emerging as an economic trend. This trend is not new, but it has accelerated in recent years with statistics now showing that 61% of all Americans want to start their own business (Parkinomics, 2010).
If you are in this 61%, how do you make the transition from employee to being your own boss? Websites, books, e-books, and magazines may be helpful or they may leave you absolutely confused. Is it as simple as find your purpose and the money will follow? Do you really need to talk to your lawyer, your accountant, the volunteers at SCORE and then develop a business plan, decide on the legal form your business will take, and choose a domain name before getting started?
It is NOT as simple as just find your passion and the money will follow, but with the Internet, businesses are easier to start than ever before. Of course, if you are buying a business or a franchise then your lawyer and accountant definitely should be involved!
“Businesses are easier to start than ever before!” What if you want your own business but you don’t know what you want to do or where to begin? Get started by considering the FIVE Ps: Passion, Purpose, Problems, People, and Part-Time. For many individuals Passion and Purpose go together. Although they are different issues, the Problems you will solve and the People you will target are related. Your business is YOUR business, and it is your choice as to whether to pursue it on a full-time or part-time basis. If you are just starting out, there are good reasons to begin Part-time.
Passion: Yes, you do need to discover your passions or passions. If you feel that you have no passions or that this word seems too strong, what about your interests, skills, abilities or talents? If you won a lottery that would pay you for life with just one stipulation that you had to “work” at something until you were at least 65, what would you do? Dream a little – If you had your own business what would you be doing? If you can’t envision what you would be doing, ask yourself – would I be working by myself or with others? Where would I be working – from my home? In an office? On a stage? Would I be writing, talking, painting, walking dogs, arranging flowers, designing solar homes? Start off dreaming and brainstorming. Don’t be concerned yet as to how this passion will make money. Figuring out how to monetize your passion is a later step.
Purpose: Do your feel that you have a mission in life? A calling? A purpose? Some career coaches and counselors believe that having a purpose is essential, but it may be that a purpose is only discovered after one has had some life experiences. At this point, maybe you just want to make money, and there are plenty of young wealthy Internet marketers who know that they don’t want to work 40 hours per week. Knowing your purpose may make it easier to discover your passion. Purpose is related to the sense that your life is fulfilling and abundant, but a stool can stand very well on three legs or four legs. You can start a business without knowing your purpose or mission in life.
Problems: Businesses exist because they solve problems. Fixing cars, computers, plumbing… providing food, toys, and electronics from other areas of the world… assisting people to heal from sickness, find jobs, train their dog… Successful business continue to exist because they solve problems better than others do. These businesses or individuals make promises and then they over deliver. The solutions they provide are bigger than the promise that they offer so customers repeatedly return. What problem or problems will you solve? What can you offer that no one else is offering? Try dreaming or brainstorming again or look around your community and to see if there are any problems that no one is trying to solve. Do you have the passion or expertise to solve it?
People: Who, what niche or market, has the problems that you will solve? Do they have a common interest or need such as they need to lose weight or they’re technophobic? Are they members of a particular demographic group – working parents, baby boomers, etc. How will you market to this target group? An important aspect of monetizing a passion is to know who needs or wants what you have. This means your target may not be individuals; rather it maybe small or large businesses who need what you are offering.
Part-time: If you still have a job, build your new career on the side. When it is established, you can jump into it full time, or sell it, or keep it part-time. It’s your business! Starting part-time allows you to figure out whether this business really is for you, test the market for demand, master any web based technologies that you need, attend trainings and conferences that will improve your knowledge base.
In my last post, I mentioned that one thing that the Boomers had not questioned was the concept of work and employment.
This is perhaps because during the last 60 years, we have transitioned from the Industrial or Manufacturing Age into the Post Industrial or Information Age. The industrial world of their parents and the one they might have entered was not the demanding, dangerous Industrial Age but the end of the era when many workers had secure jobs for their entire work lives.
A job in this not so long ago age, was defined as continuous long-term employment with an organization that provided a regular salary, health benefits, a pension plan and the assurance of a continuing need for the worker’s skills. This relationship between employers and individuals was called “the social contract.” Basically it meant that an employer in return for the good service and productivity of an employee, offered lifetime employment with an inherent potential for promotion, regular increases in salary, a good fringe benefit plan and an assured retirement package. It was a given that the organization that offered employment was stable and would be around “forever.”
Since the 1980s corporate America has dramatically altered the context of work and the “social contract” is a relationship of the past. The Information Age (or PostIndustrial Age) is defined by the ease and rapidity of worldwide communication. Wireless communication, computer networks, the World Wide Web make almost instantaneous communication possible.
Manufacturing still occurs even in the US, but it is driven by computer technologies including robotics and nanotechnologies. The stability and long-term endurance of companies is no longer a given. Even profitable, highly regarded organizations can be sold or merged.
If you are over 50, you may remember the “olden days.” If you are over 60, you may have begun your work life expecting the continuance of the “social contract” or a hybrid version of it where employers honored the “social contract” but employees, especially early in their careers, would change jobs several times before settling into a good job and a good company.
So we are now in the 21st century looking for meaning in our work in a work world characterized by: a reduced workforce due to downsizing, a reduced workforce due to outsourcing, a reduced workforce due to automation and robotization, increased customization, increased hiring of temporary employees, a increasingly diverse workforce, globalization, fewer corporations, long-distance collaboration, an emphasis of skills not job titles, and an increased need for continuing education.
As Stephen R. Covey describes it …..
“We live in a new economy that is moving from the Industrial Age, top-down, command-and-control, hierarchical model to the Knowledge Worker Age of empowerment and courage and creativity. We also live at a difficult recessionary time, but that does not mean we a fundamentally a product of our environment. We are not victims of circumstances. We are the creative force of our own lives.
Unfortunately I do not think most of us were raised to think creatively about the economy and the role that we play in the economy. I sense a longing in many of my clients for the so-called good old days when everyone knew where they fit-in in often paternalistic corporations. In an evolving, creative, empowering, what are we supposed to do era, what are our new roles? Will we hold a job or be an entrepreneur or some combination of both?”
With a job loss after age 50, an individual can wait and hope that they will find employment in their field. Many become underemployed taking jobs in retail and telemarketing, Some cannot find work and live off their savings and spouse’s income. Some enthusiastically become the entrepreneurs they always wanted to be while others reluctantly begin to look at their entrepreneurial options.
By age 50, your employment, your leisure time, and your everyday life have given you a wide variety of skills and expertise. To identify potential areas of self-employments, I would interview a reluctant entrepreneur about their skills and expertise.
Here are some questions I might put to them if they are searching for business ideas and a niche.
What opportunities in the market place did you last employer seem to be missing? EG: parts for older models, refurbishing equipment, custom orders
What skills can you sell as a freelancer? EG: project management, website design, accounting, computer programming
Do you have the knowledge and experience to buy out an existing business? EG: gift shop, home security installation, photography studio, print framing shop
Do you have a manual skill that others would pay for? EG: laminate and hardwood floor installation, stained glass design and installation, bricklaying
Do you have a hobby product you can offer as a business? EG: knit goods, jewelry, customized wooden signs, Christmas decorations
Do you have friends who rave about your cooking or baking? EG: ethnic deserts, chocolate specialties, wedding cakes, catering for small groups, pre-cooked meals
Can you sell your talent in a sport? EG: canoeing/kayaking trips, running soccer or tennis camps
Do you possess talent in graphic or fine arts design? EG: Designing websites, designing logos, custom painting clothing or shoes.
Is there a service you need personally but cannot find? EG: taking children to after school activities, driving elderly relatives to doctor’s appointments, locating pieces of silverware or china
Can you provide a product or service your friends can’t find? EG: pet sitter, home delivery of live seafood, genealogical research
Do you do something as a volunteer that others would pay for? EG: teach ESL, transport elderly shopping or to medical visits, visit elder who are home-bound
Do you have experience in importing or exporting? EG: used machinery to India and other countries, scientific equipment to Eastern Europe, craft items from Africa, Asia, Central and South America
What knowledge do you have that you can put into a special report or book? EG: internet marketing, raising a child with ADHD, foreign travel with children
Are you experienced and talented in teaching or training? EG: English or foreign languages, music, job social skills, negotiation and mediation
Do you have experience in “New Age” disciplines or alternative health practices? EG: Tapping (EFT), Reiki, Reflexology, Fung Shui, card reading, past life regression analysis
For most of our past history (1945 – 1995) “regular” employment, working for someone and getting a paycheck and benefits has been the norm for most American workers. Since the 1990s this “regular” employment has been slowly fading, to the chagrin of many whose first work value is security. Dan Lacey predicted the decline of steady employment in The Paycheck Disruption, 1990 and Cliff Hakim’s book We Are All Self-Employed, 2003, stated the need for Americans to reassess their place in the marketplace. William Bridges predicted both the fading of steady employment in JobShift, 1994, and that each individual was his or her own enterprise, Creating You and Co., 1998.
So whether or not you start a business, every working person today has to regard themselves as self-employed. Working for a salary is renting your skills; we are all temporary employees. Over the past 15-20 years, more and more individuals have started small businesses as either primary or secondary forms of income.
If you are thinking about starting your own business, you are not only in sync with a number of authors but also in sync with an old tradition and with some of the past leaders of our nation.
Colonial Stores
The more people who own little businesses of their own, the safer our country will be … for the people who have a stake in their country and their community are its best citizens. —– John Hancock
The prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages for a while, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself, then labors on his own account for another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This … is …the just, and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way to all, gives hope to all. —— Abraham Lincoln —- “Annual Address before the Wisconsin Agricultural Society”
Re-tire – put some new tires on the old car to make it run like new. Then roll along or bump along depending on what new roads you decide to travel. With your experience, she suggested that it may be time to consult, teach, or counsel (the coaching field had not been invented yet) or write. But if the re-tired vehicle was looking for a more exciting trek, entrepreneurship was among her suggestions.
