You haven't checked back so I will offer my advice without benefit of more insight.

I left the Navy as a O-6 with promises of the next level from all the right people. I was simply tired of "ground hog day" so I retired.

I was really good at what I was doing I just didn't want to do it anymore for the Navy.

As you may have guessed from my previous posts here, I am not frequently Mr. Happy and don't aspire to always be happy: That is unrealistic and pedantic. Any person that tells you they are always happy is to be avoided at all cost.

What you are looking for is to be satisfied with the content of your efforts, the peaks and valleys, the Strum and the other word German's say: There are infinite trade-offs between money, time, effort and satisfaction in whatever the next act is in your life.

Your choice.

BTW, notice I didn't say "do what you love", "follow your passion" or any of the other trite homilies that will leave you broke and suicidal.

Find something you think you will be good at, work hard and be honest with yourself at the three and six month in periods: If you are satisfied with the content of your efforts you may be on to something.

Best of luck. There are more opportunities out there than good people to fill them. Trust me.

So, LeeH, having read all this, what do you think? Any ideas of what you’d like to do? Being financially pretty stable, with a lot of experience and business sense, and presumably a reasonable bedside manner, is a heck of a good place to start from.

Do you like to be public-facing or to be in the back office?

Do you like working alone or with others?

Do you like doing very technical stuff or more general stuff?

Do you want to go back to school for a bit or want to dive right in?

Of all the people you know and encounter, what makes you think “I could / would like to do that”?

Do you need to make a lot of money or could you go for the satisfaction?

Do you see yourself doing the next thing for 5 yrs, 10, 20?

Do you have a good sense of your strengths, weaknesses, skills, failings, tolerance, interests?

What sort of first impression do you make on people - energetic, trustworthy, attractive, empathic, capable, codger, incel, meh, doddering old fool, sex offender?

Hey I thought of something - when I started this biz, I could not find a bookkeeper to save my life. I got recommendations from friends who owned businesses, I called and called, never got a single return call. Seriously. I eventually decided screw bookkeepers, I’ll do it myself. But I think there’s an opportunity there, and maybe in the related area of payroll.

I am a licensed CPA working in Corporate Tax. I hate it and hated it since I started 25 years ago. It pays the bills. Once my 2nd is out of college, I’m off to something else. Sitting alone in an office day after day, year after year is no way to go through life IMO. I’m a people person who likes helping others. I will follow this closely.

Lee, those are good problems to have.

I've got nearly 27 years working in Diagnostic Imaging. Eyeing retirement as soon as they offer it.
There are days I dread walking into hospitals and imaging facilities, but that's kinda rare...but I think it's gaining momentum.
The last 12 months have been just bonkers.

I'm also our Team's Environmental Health and Safety Champ and I'm the "go to guy" for all things safety. I really do dig that stuff.
I could see myself being a larger hospital network safety guy that visits site, etc.

Not certain what I'll do next, but I do look forward to working hard at whatever it is.

Thank you Paul, that's great to hear. I get soooo tired hearing that.
Not saying that can't happen, but to put all my eggs in one basket is a nonstarter for me.

Sage advice.

I think you need help with anger management Scott. :D

That's what being a serial entrepreneur is like - exactly!
BTDT more than once. It's almost like an addiction.

I think the official nomenclature is "kerplewie". I'm on the tech side rather than the effects side so you'll have to check with them.

Weapons are supposed to be safe to 1/billion per unit per year in normal environments and 1/million per unit per event in abnormal environments. There are lots of people working to find (and mend) cracks in that, whether bad-guy or god-driven...

I thought about this thread driving home yesterday evening.

I recommend spending some time looking at how this guys views the world:

https://guykawasaki.com/

I don't agree with him on many things, but his perspective is invaluable. I also use his Five Year Plan spreadsheets, start-up spreadsheets, etc. They have been very effective.

Worth the time.

Edit: At the bottom of this link are additional links to the spreadsheets. I am not recommending you do a start-up, etc, but Guy gives those interested a firm foundation and a potential path forward whatever trail you choose.

https://guykawasaki.com/how-to-create-an-enchanting-financial-forecast-officeandguyk/

I was adopted, and the only things I know about my birth family is that all the women had auburn hair, and I have a half brother who is 4 years older than I am...

So maybe?

We are rebooting right now. We sold our publishing business 4 years ago and sold our commercial properties 2 years ago. We retired onto this 5 acres and are as busy as we can be. We had no plans to go back into business, but that ember Mike was talking about fell in our laps.
We're filing the papers to form an LLC next week and we're starting a quilting business. I'll be 71 in May and she'll be 67. I guess it's never too late.

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, I've come to the PBT in the past looking for inspiration and motivation. I think I get frustrated with myself. I went into the Navy right out of high school because I didn't feel a draw to any certain career. I am the textbook, "Jack of all trades, master of nothing." I can do a little bit of just about everything, but am amazing at nothing. Perhaps that's why my business did well. I could deal with office conflict in the morning, fix a pneumatic saw before lunch, price out health insurance in the afternoon, then key and install a house full of door locks on the way home at the end of the day.

This, this, and this. I got so sick and tired of hearing that over the years as I would hit a wall and wonder if I am doing the right "thing." Work is called work because it is not play. It is not all puppies and rainbows with a paycheck at the end. It's all about balance. I thank God frequently for the door that was cracked before me and that I had the skill set to break through and make it work. There is a lot to be said for timing and perseverance.

Actually, I did follow my interest - not exactly my passion, but a strong interest - when I left engineering to become a publisher. I really enjoyed writing and photography and hated working for someone else. You won't necessarily crash and burn if you go off to do something you love doing, but you do have to understand the difference between loving to do something and making a living at it. If you turn your hobby into a job you'll have to get a new hobby. They are fundamentally not the same thing.

Let me stand up and say it. This is an awesome thread.

There is a lot of wisdom here. Also a lot of looking and longing. I am inspired.

I have been thinking what seahawk said about passion and I think I have to agree. The more I consider this idea and look back at the one time I worked in Corporate America and then met people at social gatherings, everyone in life has different passions and some don't at all. Actually I might say most don't. So I can see why it's an annoying trope.

But it can be done if you are lucky enough. 6 years of Tru6 and I have worked probably 2 days out of every year. It IS play. But that's most everything I've done. When most people say work, they mean work. When I say work, I mean interesting, evolving and challenging. Obviously that can't be for everyone but it helps if you can see the world that way. I can't even imagine spending 8 hours per day 5 days a week doing something that didn't bring joy to my life.

I am glad that Lee is in a really good position in life to be able to sit back and comfortably assess what he wants to do. I hope one of those embers lands in his lap this year, it's starting off to be a fantastic year and will only get better. A lot of opportunities will be presenting themselves as the country opens up again.

How you see the world and your place in it I think is a defining factor in whether you work or not.

I went to a seminar years ago and it was about combining 2 things that you are really good at and evolving a career out of them.

My tortuous path has been:

BS Biochem, MS Chem
Research scientist at a big pharma working on breast cancer, neovascularization, apoptosis, arthritis
Owner of a graphic design business
Work as graphic designer in a different big pharma
Stockroom Manager, Purchaser, Safety guy in an academic chemistry dept (WORST JOB EVER!)
Hazardous Waste Manager for a university which will be my last job.
My financial planner has given me the thumbs-up to retire in two years when I hit 60.

I have spent much time trying to figure out why I cannot be like others and stay in one occupation and build a career and have no answers yet. Seems like the grass is always greener and I believe that trying and failing would be better than dying not knowing.

Lee, have you given any thought to selling either residential or commercial real estate? From your description it sounds like you might do well in either one of those fields.

As for me, here was my midlife career change: four days after I turned 18, I joined the army. Airborne infantryman in the 82nd Airborne, and then a move over into the 3rd Ranger Regiment. I was enlisted the entire time I was in the Army and during that time managed to get a four year college degree. When I was 30, I left active duty, but stayed in the reserves. Crew chief on a CH 47 helicopter. I then went to law school and graduated when I was 35. I stayed in the Army reserves and was probably the only crew chief/lawyer in the military. 30 years later and I’m now retired from both the military and the law.

I would not recommend my career path to anyone.

As someone who sold RE here in Phoenix, I wouldn’t recommend it. At any given time there are 2-3x as many agents in AZ as there are listings. Everyone always has a cousin that does it on the side part time that will cut their fee and you lose out on the deal. I left the game after a year and let my license expire. Only way I would get another is if I was planning on using it to buy and sell investment properties for myself.