Spice Up Your Second Innings With These Diverse Work Ideas

Top second career ideas that you must try out for exciting second innings. 

In case you are prepping for your retirement party (even if virtual nowadays) and wondering what you would do waking up the next morning, here’s why you must worry not. Gone are the days when you never worked another day after cutting your retirement cake. About 25 percent of Indians would want a second innings post-retirement in a career they love, shows a latest survey report. From launching a new business to joining a voluntary organisation to investing time in one’s long-lost passion and farming, Indians in their 50s and 60s are spicing up their second innings with diverse career options!

For Sugata Chattopadhyay, 60, a former export-import manager in a Kolkata-based private firm, gardening and farming have been a passion since childhood. However, he has hardly been able to commit enough time to it until his retirement in January 2021. “Since the last one year, I started putting up my rooftop kitchen garden and did some farming in the plot of land right in front of my home. I would utilise the weekends to strategize how I could go about full-fledged farming post-retirement and turn my passion into a small-scale business. I am physically fit, hardworking and love playing with the soil. That’s how it began and I don’t feel my days wasted since I retired,” says Chattopadhyay.

He contacted the local raw vegetable market and has started selling organic ash gourds, papayas, chillies, guavas, tamarinds, brinjals and pumpkins that he grows. “It is not about the money but the ample satisfaction I get by feeding people freshly grown organic vegetables and fruits at a time when most veggies and fruits are marred with pesticides and synthetic chemicals which are no less harmful than poison,” he says.

Farming is miles away from Chattopadhyay’s original career in export-import but close to his heart. Like him, several older adults are experimenting with out-of-the-box second career ideas to make their post-retirement years engaging, independent and purposeful.

Become a consultant: By the time one retires, an individual has extensive industry knowledge. Why waste your years of knowledge, experience, expertise and hard work? Mobilise all of them, become a consultant and offer your services. You can work for who you like when you like and can also charge what you like.

Become a personal coach or mentor: Intergenerational bonding could be a great way for both youngsters and older adults to learn from each other and do something creative and impactful. You can try becoming a personal coach or mentor for younger adults, either on a volunteer or paid basis. Getting a certification can help take your coaching career to another level. ICF Coach Certification Program is a globally recognized accreditation program to develop coaching skills that can be used in day-to-day professional and personal life.

Get in the shoes of a sports coach: If you are a sports lover, fitness freak and fond of any sports, you may become a sports coach as well. You can either join a sports team or a children’s club and start training them. While it is an amazing opportunity to shape the values of the younger generation, you get rewarded with exercise and physical activity – the two most essential things to keep you healthy in your silver years. Read about Coach Rufus D Souza from Kerala who is going strong coaching kids at 89!

Try freelance writing: If you are inclined towards the art of writing and have a soft corner for it, post-retirement is the best time to explore platforms to write. Take up freelance writing, reach out to platforms that you find appropriate for you and contribute as a writer. You get to decide your working hours, your own charges and you can write even while travelling. There are several courses available online to hone your writing skills and learn how to make an income out of it.

Become an entrepreneur: You can never be too old to start your own business and become an entrepreneur. It could be anything – from home baking, catering service, home-made food products, home-made cosmetics, organic veggies and fruits, a saree boutique, soft furnishings, handmade dresses and woollens, handmade ornaments, handicrafts and more, setting up a cafe or a holiday home, choices are plenty. Gurgaon-based Swadesh Chadha is 80, wheelchair-bound and runs a flower delivery service called Phoolon Ki Rani from home! You just need to love doing it and have a plan in place. Today business could be even online and you can do it right from the comfort of your home. Click here to know the things to be kept in mind before starting a small business.

Are these ideas encouraging you to become creative and start planning for out-of-the-box second innings? Good luck and hope you get going!