Okay, you’ve retired from the business world and are waiting for someone to come along and sprinkle a pound or two of magic ‘happy retirement dust’ on your head. You are waiting patiently for the ‘Voila!’ of happiness to occur where everything you ever thought retirement would be would magically be presented to you on a silver platter. It ain’t happenen’; right?

It was over 90 today, and you’re sitting on your patio swing that cost $179 or thereabouts …the one with the canopy. You have an adult beverage in hand and you’re waiting for the 6:00 o’clock news to come on the wide-screen-scram-jet-blue-ice-thinnest-thing-you-ever-saw TV you purchased for only $6000. Your spouse just came back from another shopping trip with still more stuff that will be sold at the garage sale next year for five cents on the dollar. All of which means you will go inside, have dinner, then sit in front of the over-priced and rightly-named idiot box and watch even more stupid shows than you thought anyone could invent being presented by brainless actors who flunked out at third grade. You might even holler at one of them now and then.

You are bored stiff and you know you’ve got years and years ahead of you, and the thought keeps flitting through your head that you ought to do something! Get an RV and travel. Visit the kids (again) and tell them they don’t know how to raise their children (and you’re probably right), but who cares? And there’s always the opportunity to stand at the door of your local Mart, stretch a painted smile, and say: “Welcome!” Do you HAVE to dance to this tune the rest of your life? NO! There IS a ‘something’ you can do, and I’ve got that ‘something lined’ up for you!

American small businesses need you! That’s right, they need your wisdom, experience, knowledge … and, of course, your money. Frankly, most of the schools of our country turn out a bunch of under-educated whiners and complainers who want everything handed to them on a Gold Card. No, make that WITH a Gold Card. Yet, there are a few out there trying to make a go of entrepreneurship, and you have the duty to not only find them, but to help them succeed! What I am talking about is you getting up in the morning and going to ‘work’ (part time) doing things that are simple (to you), and that will help some small business person to taste the success your wisdom, etc., can bring them. Maybe you’re an expert salesperson, a marketer, an accountant, a public relations whiz, a shop foreman, a back-hoe operator, or whatever! The point is, you have skills that are needed. While no one expects you to get out there and dig ditches, they certainly would benefit from your knowledge of HOW to dig ditches! So how do you do this?

It’s relatively easy. The first way is to watch the paper for an entrepreneur looking for an ‘Angel’. That’s you. The entrepreneur wants your money, and he/she may be willing to give you a position and/or a piece of the action for your money and experience. The second is to ask your banker or attorney how to get in touch with Angel groups that are either formed or being formed. Make it clear that you expect an active participation position in anything you fund, and stick to your guns! The third way is to visit an existing entrepreneurial firm and talk with the owner over coffee several times talking about HIS business and how you have experience, are bored, have a little money, and so on. Who knows, it could be your day! The fourth way doesn’t take any cash. Join the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), a division of the SBA.

I would expect you to use due diligence, hire your own attorney to look over (or generate) the paper, and not overdo anything. By the way, this might be the magic retirement dust we talked about earlier, so get off that swing, turn off the TV, and enjoy a happy, productive, and meaningful retirement! You will be helping the next generation and you just might leave a legacy!

(NOTE TO EDITORS: PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING.) Paul Tulenko is an International Small Business Success Consultant based in New Mexico, USA. Additional tips and suggestions are available at www.tulenko.com or call (toll-free) 1-866-TULENKO.