The wife and I are getting older. We have been working for decades at this point. But we are too young to retire, and we had kids late. But one of us could totally switch over to a lower stress second career. Ideally something with benefits, maybe even a chance to get a pension. And since we still have kids, needs to be flexible. One of our kids has autism, so lots of random doctors appointment and stuff.
We both work with computers all day. What are some good options for a second career that doesn’t need to have long term growth potential. We have 8 years where ideally both of us are working so we can cover each other with benefits if something happens. After that, the kids are out of high school at least. So it isn’t like it would be a “short” term career/job. Just not a 30 year thing. And ideally, something that could at least partially be done at home.
OK - this is going to be a crazy suggestion. Do you have any storytelling or entertainer chops? How do you feel in front of small audiences?
I am a part-time magician. (Thus my user name.) I started at about age 40, with a minor interest in magic, which grew over time until I started going pro. It hasn’t supplanted my regular job, but I currently get as much work as I can handle, and then some.
I joined a local club, the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM), but there are other groups: Society of American Magicians, Fellowship of Christian Magicians, and others. They are all over the world and in most major cities, holding local meetings.
You can become a strolling magician with a small repertoire of solid close-up tricks. I literally took one of my first close-up tricks out of the Mark Wilson’s Course of Magic - a beginner’s book. But most beginner’s magic books have a couple or more of hidden gems in there that are powerful stuff. There are absolutely amazing tricks that require no sleight-of-hand whatsoever. You can launch a complete career out of a beginner’s book. I use some in my own pro repertoire. Note that, magic is about 95% storytelling skill and acting, and only about 5% special effects.
After probably not enough preparation on my part, a friend asked me if I wanted to do walk-around magic at an after-prom party for a little money. That started me off. After that, I developed a few more tricks for a stage/parlor act. About 3-7 tricks can make a parlor act, depending how good you are at the communication/acting stuff. I’ve seen magicians entertain with one trick for 20-30 minutes, and it works.
Here is a step-by-step plan for an entertainer part-time-pro career path:
- Start doing free shows. Say yes to any that will let you perform and be bad.
- Do a bunch of shows. Learn more and expand your repertoire.
- Once you seem to be getting too many shows, and you are getting better with more experience, increase your prices just a bit. Go to Step 2.
I can give more details if anyone is interested. AMA.
Edit to add: I don’t know to what degree your kid has autism, but I’m come across an autistic fellow that became a magician, and uses his autism in his act. He uses magic to bring autism awareness. He’s a heckuva nice guy, too. Check out magician Cody Clark in the Louisville, Kentucky area - from the same magic club that Mac King and Lance Burton came from! Cody tours nationally.
A very interesting idea. Not something any of us can do. We aren’t what you call people persons. And none of us are good a practicing even the things we like. But that part is a longer story. Thanks for the suggestion though.