Golden-Years Startups

When Jim Walters retired from
Bank of America in December 2001 after decades in the business, he
thought of looking for a similar job. He was just 56, after all.

But in the months after Sept. 11, 2001, few companies were
hiring.

"The headhunters Bank of America connected me to said, 'Don't
bother,'" said Walters, who lives in south Charlotte, N.C. "I had a
year's pay coming to me, and I couldn't play golf in the winter. So I
taught myself how to build a Web site."

A short time later, Great Golf Memories, a company that sells
golf equipment, accessories and novelties, was born.

"I wanted something that could keep me occupied into my 70s,"
Walters said, "and still allow me to play golf."

As people retire earlier and live longer, many are going back
to work to pass the time or pay the bills.

Some, like Walters, are making that work fun, starting
Internet businesses based on hunting, fishing, golfing or the beach.

These entrepreneurs say the work combines their talents from
the corporate world with the leisure activities they want to enjoy in
retirement.

And because such businesses can be both successful and easy to
maintain, they give retirees the money to afford their hobbies and the
time to enjoy them.

There are 76 million baby boomers in the U.S., and as many as
80 percent of them plan to work into their retirement years, according
to AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons.

In an AARP contest going on now called "My Dream Job," people
have shared their visions of the perfect job for workers 50 and older.

"Ninety percent of what we're seeing is people wanting to turn
their hobbies into some kind of viable business," said Deborah Russell,
the organization's director of work force issues. "It's easier than
trying to start a company with a product you know little about."

The formula has worked for Walters, now 62.

He started small, with one or two products on his Web site, he
said. Now, Walters gets orders from across the country and has employed
a full-time staff to handle customer service.

Others have followed his lead, like Harvey Grasty, Walters'
brother-in-law, who worked on Great Golf Memories before leaving to
create his own Web site, which sells nautical gifts and decor, in 2006.

"Part of the success and gratification of having a business
like this is, we all have different themes that match up with our past
and hobbies," said Grasty, who worked as a manager at Apple Computer
and in the commercial printing ink industry before retiring. "We have a
passion for the products and (know) how they'll do in the marketplace,
based on our past experiences."

Walters, Grasty and other Charlotte retirees who have started
Internet businesses have been meeting for breakfast weekly since 2004.

The sites aren't difficult to maintain, the men said on a
recent morning. But starting them can be time-consuming, often
requiring 12-hour days in front of the computer, they said.

Now, most spend about two to six hours a day online, they
said.

Some retirees say they've started the Web sites to help afford
health insurance or vacations. Others say it's not about the money at
all.

"It keeps me younger," said Nancy Fahey, 62, of Gainesville,
Ga., who started the Professional Support Network, an online business
that provides customer support for online marketers, in 2005. "And I
can spend time with my husband. If we want to take a trip, OK, we take
a trip. I pack up my laptop, and off we go."

Marc Polish, 66, of Ventnor, N.J., started two Internet
businesses after retiring, partly because he loves interacting with
people across the country via the Web, he said.

"I was retired for about an hour," said Polish, whose sites
sell monogrammed toilet paper and novelty clothing and accessories. "I
got up the next morning, and I had nothing to do, so I started a Web
site. It's not the money aspect of it, it's just, I love it."

Polish knows other retirees who have done the same, including
an 80-year-old former plastic surgeon who now scours flea markets for
old pipes to sell on eBay, he said.

"You can sell anything in America," Polish said. "You've just
got to do it."

Some people are starting Internet businesses before they
retire, hoping to establish a career they can maintain into old age.

"I wanted something I could do that appeals to my creative
side," said Pam Hawthorne of Myers Park, N.C., who started a Web site
two years ago that sells high-end furniture and accessories for
vacation homes. "It was a brand-new venture."

Hawthorne, 54, is a managing partner of an advertising agency
and said retirement is a long way off. She plans to continue the site
after she leaves the corporate world.

"Absolutely," she said. "It's kind of a canvas, and the
palette is constantly evolving."

Source: The Charlotte
Observer, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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