Volunteer

I am retired from corporate life now. I missed it for a while – the rush of being busy, the feeling that I was doing things that were important (were they really?) and working with people I respected and enjoyed. Now I am doing exclusively volunteer work. I am on several non-profit boards and I do a variety of other volunteer activities, such as teaching, tech support for the elderly, trail work and helping my son with his business (it’s volunteer work if I don’t get paid, ya?),

A friend gave me some good advice when I was still in the prime of my professional career. I was busy busy busy of course, but my friend said that if I aspired to doing non-profit work after I retired I should get started well in advance. It was simple yet genius. By doing some volunteer teaching for Junior Achievement (first in NYC and then in CT) and then joining their board, I started to discover where I could be useful, what I would enjoy and which causes would be most important to me. I cannot stress enough how useful this advice is. I hope my kids are taking it to heart as they progress through their chosen career choices.

Now I live in NH and Maine. I have zero’d in on the causes I get motivated about. They include helping kids, teaching, animals and helping in my little community in Maine. I enjoy teaching, though I wish I could find more opportunities to do so. I will keep looking.

One of the local non-profits in my community in Maine asked if I would provide tech support at their weekly breakfast for the elderly. I was a little intimidated by this request as I do not consider myself a deeply skilled technician, but I showed up. This breakfast meeting – held every wednesday of the year – attracts quite a crowd. I am writing this as I sit at the breakfast, waiting for it to get organized. I can see something like 50 people here enjoying being waited on and getting some social time. Most are at least 80 years old and all are at least 70, by my estimation. They tend to wander over and ask me questions about how to use their phone that one of their kids or grandkids gave them. The “tech support” I provide is basic “how to” advice that I realize I can handle. It’s quite enjoyable and the folks that sit with me really appreciate it, which is rewarding. I never considered working with the elderly to be a preferred cause for me, but this is fun and appreciated.

When I join a non-profit I try to find out where I can add value. I spent 40 years in the IT industry. I needed to be reflective about my skillset so I can determine how to help. I have led sales teams, marketing teams, been a senior executive and helped with corporate strategy. I developed skills and experience in leading teams of people, people management, HR issues and planning. So…I try to help with strategy setting, fund-raising tactics and organizational capability issues. As many people like me find, a lot of non-profits lack those skills and value the advice.

I am also lucky that my son asked me to help him set up and run his business. He started Osprey’s Echo Sea Kayaking (www.ospreysecho.com), a small family-run business dedicated to taking people out on guided tours of the Stonington archipelago up here in Maine. It is beautiful here and never disappoints. My son is a real expert when it comes to kayaking, but he needed some help with getting the business up and running and operating efficiently. I helped him with this, we developed a business plan and a P&L. We have a marketing strategy and have built a customer experience that is a real differentiator (450 customer reviews so far, and all of them 5*). I still help with those things, but also with talking to customers, handling bookings, greeting them (with support from our two dogs, who are the real attraction).

I am also on a couple of other non-profit boards. One is the Island Institute (www.islandinstitute.org) which helps working waterfront communities up and down the Maine coast. Another is Project Launch (www.projectlaunchdis.com) who helps local high schoolers on our island chart their own courses. I am still involved with Junior Achievement and am on the board of JA in Maine too.

It didn’t take me long to forget how important I thought my corporate life was. I do admit that the transition took me a while (6-9 months at least) to accomplish, but now I don’t miss it at all. I also know that my former colleagues at my companies took even less time to move on. The work I did is over.

I would encourage anyone who can make the math work (i.e. afford this lifestyle) to consider it. I don’t make money any more, but I feel pretty good about the many things I am now involved in. I am busy, but I can take time to exercise, visit my kids, walk the dogs, and read a lot.

Okay, gotta do some tech support (“help, i don’t know how to use my phone!”).