What to do during retirement?

Yeah, travel, but what else?

Yes, I am healthy enough to handle some type of part time work. So what to do? Whatever I choose to do, it would have to be flexible and work from home. After all, my wife has waited several years for me to join her in retirement. But she works part-time for a non-profit and volunteers for another. That type of routine looks attractive to me. I know it would be a challenge to be on my feet for a set period, so bagging groceries is out of contention (thank the forces of nature for that!). I have extensive experience in both purchasing and inventory control, but those positions are seldom part-time. And I have already done that for more than 25 years. I’d like to avoid committing to regular hours and a commute of any type. Thus the work from home preference.

I am a naturally curious person and enjoy lifetime learning.  I enjoy writing, but am not sure I have enough potential subjects to write about to make it a paying gig. Another interest lurking inside my beady little brain is editing other people’s writings. I enjoy reading and I often have to suppress the urge to correct someone’s grammar, particularly on social media. You know the common ones; their/there/they’re, your/you’re, its/it’s, affect/effect, me vs. I, less/fewer. Sorry… I know, I was getting carried away. Anyhoo, I spot the common mistakes quickly and they drive me crazy. So I researched how to go about starting an editing service and found a few courses to take from home. I selected one, earned a certificate of completion in proofreading and copyediting and had to realize how much I didn’t know. I spent a few more months researching the work from home environment in proofreading and copyediting, and realized I needed to become much more familiar with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, maybe Instagram and other social media sources. I am familiar with Facebook. But Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram will be new to me. Then there are business cards, a resume, a website and even all that networking to be done. It may be time to jump in the deep end of this pool.

And how to get started? Since I am not relying on this side hustle for income to support my lifestyle, I wondered if I can scour the non-profit organizations in my area to see if any of them could use an editing service for their ads, publications and social media postings at little or no cost. Then leverage those assignments as a portfolio of sorts to attract business from profitable sources. I am interested in using my engineering, supply chain and manufacturing background to help companies present owner’s manuals, blog posts, marketing materials and technical manuals in the best possible light for their customers. Fortunately, I have found a couple of companies interested in my writing rather than editing skills. I suspect a combination of all might be in my future.