Ok... How does retirement work again? We retire and try to turn our hobbies into cash.
For men: Buy wood working equipment and start making sawdust.
For women: Hock the house and 401k and go open up a gift shop.
According to my SBA friend, most retirees fail trying to turn hobbies into cash within the first year. They simply do not know marketing well enough or at all.
Most craft shows around the country are chock full of retirees with wood or metal crafts.
Also, many retirees don't want to work that hard. They find running a "Production Shop" is a bunch of work. (We run two CNC's everyday and our shop is NEVER clean. Sawdust everywhere. Cans of paint or sealer everywhere. Big scrap pile of wood sits outside the shop waiting to be burned or thrown away. And here comes a new load of lumber that needs to be stacked somewhere.)
I run my complete business on my IPhone. Pictures galore. Accept credit cards - YES! Communication with the customer is a serious thing and we use phone-email-text-pony express like Mad People. Never want to leave a customer hanging or waiting... Big mistake.
We make and sell original art in wood. We never buy any ready-made vectors to cut. We make our own vectors.
We have a serious background in CAD. Been making vectors since 1985. Huge advantage.
If all of that wasn't enough, we now have to contend with the "Maker Revolution" spreading across the nation. Many younger artists and wood workers can find MAKER SHOPS to rent by the hour. We see many kids showing up at craft shows selling their "Maker Art."
So... Against all that, why do we continue to work so darn hard here? I love wood. I love art. I love making customers happy. I love being busy every day, with purpose. I am in my late 60's. Gotta be busy!
Our most important shop tool is the pencil sharpener!